Dancing Queen

Yesterday, Randy picked Jenna up from school. When he looked through her classroom window to see her, he couldn't find her with the rest of the kids who were in a circle. Her teacher saw him and motioned for him to come in. When he walked in, the teacher said, "She's over dancing in front of the mirror like she enjoys doing." What a funny personality she has!

A Few Random Pictures

Jenna has turned over a new leaf this week: she's now tolerating pigtails and ponytails! Big step! Here's a picture of how cute she looks in the pigtails. Her hair is getting so long so her pigtails are really long too. When I picked her up from school that day, her hair was in a ponytail up high. Randy said she looked like an Olsen "single", but just cuter. So true!



Here's a picture of Jenna last night. We'd just gone to Kroger (her favorite store), but we must have forgotten something. Soon after we got home, she put Snoopy in her shopping cart, grabbed her "purse" and keys, and told us "bye, bye." Here's a picture of her heading out the door. She's such a big helper.

A Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday, we enjoyed the beautiful fall weather by going to the zoo. It was probably our best visit yet--the temperature was perfect so it was very pleasant to be walking around for us, but most of all the animals were out like never before! We saw bears, elephants, zebras, giraffes, gorillas, red pandas, lions, cheetahs, and much more. They were out enjoying the cooler temperatures too! Jenna really enjoyed seeing all of them!

On the way out, we walked by the carousel, but Jenna pointed to it and let us know she wanted to ride it. So she rode a carousel--for the second time in one week--this time on an elephant. She wasn't too sure about the experience while it was moving but afterward acted like she had fun. We'll see how she acts next time.


P.S. I added a third collage to our Chattanooga trip post below.

Chattanooga

Last weekend, we met Mimi and Poppa in Chattanooga to enjoy time at the aquarium and relax downtown. We had a great time! Jenna liked the fish and animals at the aquarium, the weather was perfect, and we even has time to spend several hours relaxing in Coolidge Park. I'll post more pictures soon.

Outside Play

We've been trying to take advantage of this gorgeous weather. Here are some pictures of Jenna enjoying playing outside. She was so excited to be going outside, she even let me put a ponytail in her hair! What a cutie!

Let's Go Krogering!

Just within the past month, Jenna has started saying Kroger when she recognizes that we're near it. The other day, I had to go to a store in the same shopping center, so she was obviously getting excited. When we left to go home without going to Kroger, she was very upset and cried the whole way home saying, "Kroger, Kroger, Kroger." What a funny kid!

After Randy and my dad putting me on a guilt trip for not just taking her to Kroger, we went on my way to work the next day. She wanted to get her own cart, which she's never done before. She had a blast! What a big girl she is becoming. She truly loves to shop--even at the grocery store!

A Fun Shopping Saturday

Saturday morning, Randy had to go to a school function in the morning so I decided to take Jenna and run a bunch of errands. She had a few moments where she was tired/bored/restless, but overall she did really well for the 4 hours we were out. She even slept for about an hour in Kohls so I could shop. After we spent an hour or so at the mall, I bought a treat for Jenna--dippin' dots. Based on the price for a small size, this will be a rare treat for her! She loved it though, and it was much less messy than real ice cream would have been. Here is a picture of her enjoying the treat for her good behavior! We're working her up to longer and longer shopping trips, and she's doing really well at it. We'll be sure to have many fun shopping experiences as she grows up.


Here is a shirt I found and bought for Jenna to commemorate our good day. It says "We love to shop!" How appropriate!

Hot Air Balloon Festival

Here are some pictures from our weekend activities--a hot air balloon festival. We went to the balloon glow last year with Mimi and Poppa, but this year we went back during the day. Also, Randy and his band were able to open the Saturday activities with an hour concert. They did a great job! Jenna and I were obviously very proud of him.


At the end of the day, we took this brief video of Jenna. She's gotten into the habit of grunting when she means yes, so we're trying to work with her to say "yes" instead. I think she's missing the "ye" part and only hearing the "ssss." : )

Last Weekend in Atlanta

I've finally gotten the chance to post some pictures from our trip to Atlanta. This was my first time traveling this far with Jenna, but without Randy. Jenna did great. She slept at least 2 hours both directions, and didn't seem bored while she was awake. Here's a picture taken towards the end of the trip, so she was ready to get out of the car by that point. I've also included some collages of pictures taken during the activities of the weekend (click on them to enlarge).

The Empty Highchair

Within the past couple of weeks, Jenna has decided she no longer wants to eat from her high chair. She'd rather eat at the table, even if she barely sits tall enough to see what's on her plate. She's such a big girl, and is becoming so independent!

Wordie

I found this website which creates collages based on the words on websites. I thought it was a cute idea and turned out really cool too! If you'd like to play around with it, the website is www.wordie.net. Very creative!

What a ham!

Jenna and I took a road trip to Atlanta this weekend (I'll post pictures later). She did great in the car, but by the end of it, she was ready to stretch out her legs. So we took a walk before meeting up with Daddy. I thought she did well posing for this picture. Doesn't she look so grown up?

September Sweetie

We went to a wedding this weekend and took some cute pictures of Jenna. She's growing up so fast! Enjoy!

Meet our new friend Fuzzy

This weekend, we took Jenna to Build-A-Bear for the first time. It was quite a cute experience. They start out by giving the child a heart which they tell them to kiss, hold to their forehead, and hold to their ear--so the bear will be full of love, a good thinker, and a good listener. Jenna did well obying all of these instructions immediately. Then they put the heart inside the unstuffed bear and start the stuffing machine. After the bear is sufficiently stuffed, a few quick stitches are made to sew it up, and a friend has been made! We couldn't decide whether it was a boy or a girl, but finally decided it just looked like a boy. His name is Fuzzy.

Jenna listened intently to the instructions.

The stuffing machine.

This is where animals are given their first bath (puffs of air).
Jenna didn't want to give the bear a bath; she kept saying, "no, no!"
and finally grabbed it out.

Jenna and Fuzzy are good buddies now.
Oh, yeah, she got a stroller too, which she loves pushing around!

Snoopy might be feeling a little jealous,
so we're trying to be extra sensitive to his feelings. : )

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.