Dollywood

We went to Dollywood yesterday for Associate Appreciation Day with my employer, DENSO. We had even taught Jenna how to say "Dolly," in case we ran into her, but no such luck. The day started out looking a bit stormy but it ended up being a very pretty day in the 70s with a light breeze. Here are some pictures of Jenna on her first amusement park rides.

She looks upset in this picture, but she was really having fun.
Her least favorite part of the rides were waiting for them to start.

We let Jenna walk around while the park wasn't very crowded, but then she took a shoulder ride with Dada. She loved the freedom while she was walking, but was glad for the break and the new vantage point from the shoulders.


The flowers and trees were absolutely beautiful! Here's one picture I was able to capture.

Girly Girl

Here are some pictures of the outfit she wore to church today. We thought she looked really girly in it, so we thought we'd share them...

Bloomin' Butterflies

We went to the Knoxville Zoo on Friday night for a sneak peek at their new Bloomin' Butterfly Exhibit. We waited a long time, but enjoyed it once we were in there. Here are some snapshots:





Jenna also enjoyed the petting zoo (she slept through it last time). She really enjoyed hitting--I mean brushing--the goat with the brush. All in all, she seemed to get a lot more out of the zoo this time, and enjoyed laughing at some of the animals too.

Weekend Pics

Here are some pictures from this weekend. Jenna likes to empty her canvas bin then sit in it. We had to take a picture because at the rate she's growing, she won't fit in it much longer. She really seems to be getting tall fast! I've heard you can determine your adult height by doubling the height at 18 months--we'll see how tall she is in 2 months!


Here are a couple of pictures on our front porch this morning. Jenna's really been enjoying spending time out there, and she's also enjoying taking care of the flowers she helped me plant a few weeks ago. She even helped me water them yesterday. What a big girl!

Bathtime Fun

If you have 3 1/2 minutes to spare for some funny entertainment, here is a video of Jenna as she finished her bath one night. Mimi and Poppa were visiting, so she was really performing for her audience.

Our Growing Girl

We took Jenna to her 15-month checkup this week (a little late) and here are her stats:

• Weight: 23 lbs, 8.5 oz. (57th percentile)
• Height: 30.75 in. (52nd percentile)

So she is about average in both. The doctor said she was very healthy and was developing well. He seemed to be impressed by the number of words she could say (a little over 20) versus the average for her age which was 3-5. She's definitely a very verbal child!

Here's a few pictures of her playing earlier this week and eating today.

She cleaned and reorganized my Lazy Susan.

Dada and Poppa arranged her stuffed animals
to greet her when she walked in the room.


Jenna's reaction after eating something she liked.

Jenna's reaction after eating something she didn't like.

First Trip to the Zoo

We took advantage of the first weekend of spring and took Jenna to the Knoxville Zoo for the first time. The weather was perfect, the flowers and trees were in full bloom, and Jenna really enjoyed the experience of seeing all the animals. Mimi and Poppa were visiting from Atlanta, so they shared in the fun too. We bought season passes so we'll have lots more pictures to post in the future!

Laughing at her Poppa while waiting in line

Enjoying a piggy back ride from DaDa while entering the zoo.

An up-close look at a camel

Posing for a picture with Mimi and Poppa

Attempting to stand still for a picture with Mommy and Daddy

After about 2 hours, Jenna had to take a nap!

Springtime and Smiles

We took Jenna outside this afternoon to play with bubbles in the yard. It was so windy, though, you can't see any bubbles in the pictures. She did chase some though, and kept saying "bubble" while doing so. The pictures aren't great (I think my camera was on the wrong setting) but you get the idea of how pretty of a day it was and how much fun Jenna had being outside.


When we came back inside, she was pretty hungry so she started eating dinner right away. I asked her to smile for a picture, and this is what she did. We thought it was pretty funny!

Mommy's Cape

I had to get a picture of Jenna wearing a cape that I wore when I was little. I tried it on her yesterday, and she loved wearing it. The cape looked so big when I took it out of my hope chest last year; it's amazing that it actually fits her already!

Jenna is really starting to talk a lot more recently. She's saying such words as eye, nose, teeth, please, juice, etc. She's also doing sign language for a few words too, so it's really getting much easier to understand her wants and needs.

Long Pigtails

WOW! Two posts in one day! I just had to share some new pictures of our big girl taken just this morning. Her hair is getting so long, which makes her pigtails look so long too!

Around the House

Here are some pictures of Jenna around the house. She's getting so big and is developing such a personality. It's scary what she's catching on to! We won't be posting any more pictures of her playing with cookie sprinkles--at least not until she's old enough to help me decorate cookies. She was playing with them in the kitchen while Randy and I were in the living room. All the sudden we noticed that she'd gotten very quiet--not a good sign. We went over to find that she'd somehow managed to open the red sprinkle container. Half of it was on the floor, and the other half was either on her mouth, in her mouth, or on her hands; she was not making a peep hoping she'd be able to continue enjoying her sweet snack! We'd definitely caught her "red-handed." Ha, ha! Anyway, now the containers are hidden safely out of reach, and we're more aware of her capabilities as a toddler! Enjoy the pictures below!

Beautiful blue eyes!

On her way to a very important mission--she's always very busy!

WOW!!! Dada's shoes are half my size!!!

Sleeping Beauty

Here's a sweet picture of Jenna taking a nap in her carseat with her buddy Floppy the Bunny. She's looking less and less like a baby everyday.

Updated Pics

Jenna looked too cute in her ballcap to not take a picture. This was about 5 minutes after her bath, and take a look at all her drool! She's still a cutie, though! We bought her a corn popper this weekend--a must have for all toddlers--and she absolutely loves pushing it around and making noise!

As we suspected, Jenna cut a tooth yesterday. This was her 9th one. We're sure more will come soon the way she's still been drooling, as evidenced by the picture above!

One of the little one's favorite pastimes is digging in Mommy's cabinets--especially the lazy susan. Tonight she found the sprinkles for sugar cookies, and took them one by one out of the cabinet and across the room. Then she spent several minutes stacking them and did a great job doing so! We were first impressed by how she was able to pick out the matching containers, but then she stacked them so well too! What a smart baby girl!

Life at School

This week, I finally took my camera to Jenna's school so I could document her days there. This week, she's really gotten into eating breakfast in the "big kid's room." She knows the routine: we check in at her room, she opens the refrigerator door for me so I can put her milk in, then she closes the door for me, then she walks down the hall to eat her breakfast, and I kiss her goodbye there. Doesn't she look so grown up sitting in the real chair?

"And can you believe what happened next???"

This is one of Jenna's favorite teachers and two of her buddies.

Super Bowl Halftime

Jenna and Da Da really enjoyed dancing to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during the Super Bowl Halftime Show. You can't quite appreciate how much she was dancing from this picture, but she really was getting into the music. She has been "dancing" for quite a while by bending her knees and kind-of bouncing up and down, but she's recently added to her repertoire by adding a twist-like move where she rotates at the waist back and forth. We'll have to try to get it on video sometime, but our luck is usually not too good in that department. She typically stops doing whatever cute thing she had been doing as soon as the videocamera is out. In the second picture, Jenna is soloing along with the band during the concert. She had a blast! (Did you notice her rocker hairdo?)

Bathtime Fun

Jenna has gotten very active in the bathtub. She loves to splash and kick, and she usually gets me pretty wet in the process too! We captured some pictures of her in action tonight. We're excited to see how much she enjoys swimming in pools this summer. She seems like she really likes the water and will even put her face underwater!

The Stacking Smartie

One of Jenna's favorite things to do right now is to stack. Since she loves playing in the cabinets too, she decided to show Daddy how well she could stack our storage containers, and Daddy was able to capture her look perfectly! Doesn't she look proud of her accomplishment? We were pretty proud of her too--she's such a smartie!