More Time in the Kitchen

Jenna helped me make peanut blossom cookies this week. she loved unwrapping the Hershey kiss and deciding where on the cookie to place it. The third picture is of her clapping when she finished the last cookie on the plate. Amazingly, she hasn't thought to taste the chocolate yet--when she does, we're in trouble. She hasn't eaten chocolate very often at all, but when she has, she really seems to like it. Enjoy the pictures!




This is another cute thing she's started the past couple of weeks. She'll use both hands to grab our face and just look at us. It's very sweet!

A Cook and Shopper in the Making

Yesterday morning, Jenna helped me make a small fruit salad! I thought to get out the step stool so she could reach the counter without me holding her. She thought she was big stuff! She enjoyed stirring the fruit and sampling it. I affectionately call that "cook's profit"! She's learning the concept early. Yesterday afternoon she also helped me make chex mix too. She's definitely going to be a big kitchen helper.





Last weekend, I tried my hand at making my Papu's fresh apple pie recipe for my Dad's birthday. It was definitely a success so I'm sure Jenna will be helping me with those in the future too. We served it hot with french vanilla ice cream. YUMMM!!!!

Here's a picture of the finished product:

Here's a picture of my teacher:

This weekend, Jenna and I also went shopping twice! Usually, she's pretty anxious to get in and out, wants to get out and walk, etc. However, she was a little angel both trips! I think we have a born shopper on our hands! The second trip was supposed to be a short one, but she fussed so much when I put her back in the carseat that I took her to another store, and she did great for another hour!

What fun we will have with many shopping trips and cooking experiences!

Quack Quack

Mimi and Poppa visited this weekend, so we decided to go to the Great Knoxville Rubber Duck Race on Saturday. Although we didn't win any prizes, we had a great time. The weather was great...cloudy and cooler than a typical August day. Here are some pictures to commemorate the event.

Jenna wore a hat like her Poppa and Daddy

Three generations

That's a lot of ducks!!!

Sweet baby girl

Jenna Reading

Well, to our amazement on Friday night, Jenna began reading!!! "Reading" is a bit of an exaggeration, but we'd never heard her use such inflections. She was reading the book Hand, Hand, Fingers, Toes, and you will just have to see the video to experience it.

Funny Girl

Here are a few pictures of some funny things Jenna has been doing within the past couple of weeks.

1) Every time Randy gets up from where he sits on the couch, Jenna climbs over to be sitting there when he gets back. She loves to see his reaction!


2) She really gets a kick out of a certain section of her Baby Einstein movie. Here's er reaction to it.



3) She LOVES yogurt! She hurries through eating it, then raises it up and says "all gone" so proudly. Little does she know that a quarter of the container is around her mouth and down her stomach!

4) She grabbed Dada's shoes today and started walking around in them. How cute!

In other news, tomorrow is a big day for her at school--she moves up to the Toddler II class! She is in the Toddler I class right now, but with the older kids starting Kindergarten, the rest of the kids get to advance to the next class. Her current teacher said the Toddler I and Toddler II classes are very similar, but the Toddler II class has a little more structured time and they even start working on potty training if we want them to. WOW! She's growing up so fast.

Popsicles

We introduced Jenna to popsicles a couple of weeks ago, and now she eats a whole one by herself! It probably originally felt good on her teething gums, but now I think she just likes the flavor. Smart girl! She'll even ask for one by name ("cockickle") and especially likes to eat it outside, although it's harder for her to finish it with the summer heat. Yesterday we enjoyed them in the cool, air-conditioned house! Enjoy the pictures!

Snoopy

Well, we made it through last week, but it was rough! Jenna cut her last 3 canine teeth, so she was not a happy camper. She woke up screaming several times during several nights, and just could not be soothed. She used to fight us when we tried to apply tooth numbing gel; however, last week, she would look for it and then open her mouth for us to put it on her. She knew it meant relief! How pitiful!

She and Snoopy really bonded though, as we previously posted. He's certainly not as white and clean as he used to be! Here are some cute pictures of them cuddling while she was asleep. Isn't she getting so big?

Girly Girl

For several months, Jenna has enjoyed it when she gets to play with Mommy's makeup while I'm getting ready. She likes scraping her fingernail in my eye shadow then rubbing it on her forehead. Occasionally, she will "help" me put on makeup by putting eye shadow on my nose or lips. I tried to capture her fun this evening.

First, I'll put on my powder with this brush.

Hmm, what color should I wear today?

Next, I'll comb my hair.

It seems like I'm forgetting something...