Zoo Day

Our day was perfect in so many ways. The Nashville Zoo was a breath of fresh air and offered so much more than I expected!

This was Mary Ella's face most of the day:


She loved the aquatics exhibit... And I loved this polka dotted sting ray. Have you ever seen one of these? I'd like to hang him on my wall.



They also have elephants...


Meerkats... (here she is with cousin Ashley)...


and an island of monkeys... which this monkey loved.



This little nugget didn't make a peep all day long. We could have left him on the kitchen table in his bouncy seat and he probably would've been fine all alone. He's such a good baby. But Vicki (his grandmother) didn't complain about getting to carry him in the sling. She was in heaven. I can't blame her. He's an angel.


They had a play area especially for toddlers with big mats. Mary Ella loved running as fast as she could then falling and getting right back up. I love her face here. Pure joy.
She took a little longer to get up after one particular wipeout... I think she must have realized how tired she was!


Her favorite exhibit by far was the petting zoo, of course. I'm not sure if it was the up close and personal contact with the baby goats or the freedom to run around or the dirt. Every chance she got, she'd just sit down and dig in the dirt and throw handfuls of dirt over her head. It was hilarious. And despite my tendencies to chase my child with Germ-X, I decided to let her have fun and be a kid, and that she did. She was filthy by the end of the day. I'm thinking we might get her a bag of mulch for Christmas this year.





All in all we had such an exciting time. We did a WHOLE lot of walking because the zoo is HUGE, so we're pretty wiped out. But what a great way to start the weekend.

A Room with a View

This is my view from the couch:


Vicki has a beautiful home on top of the mountain in Huntsville. It overlooks a nature preserve and the sunsets are out of this world. I always feel like I'm a guest at a snuggly resort when I'm here. Right now she's in the kitchen whipping up a "simple" dinner of smoked bone-in chicken breasts, potatoes au gratin, and a fresh kale salad with a green onion and bacon dressing. Hmmm... sounds pretty simple to me. (Riiiight.)



We spent the early afternoon at Bridge Street walking around with the girls and baby Jack. He is beautiful and tiny. He grunts and poops and rarely opens his eyes. I love this age. I will post some pictures of him later. I didn't have my camera handy earlier today.

Random News

With three straight days of 68-72 degree weather, we plan to take full advantage... which is why I am up so early. Who knows, this may be the last of the warm weather. And I hate being cooped up inside for winter.

This morning we are leaving for Huntsville to go and visit baby Jack. Haven't seen him since the hospital and I may have to bring him back home with me. We'll let the girls play while we cuddle with him. I'm spending the night and then tomorrow, my aunts Vicki and Amanda (they are aunts but more like sisters) will join us for a quick day trip to the Nashville Zoo. I had no idea Nashville even had a zoo. But I'm willing to try it out; anything has to be better than the Birmingham Zoo. Every time we go, another animal has died or mysteriously disappeared. The hippo stays under water and never comes up for air. The highly advertised Rhino "Encounter" is more like a "hope you can see the Rhino from this viewing stand that is 50 feet away" encounter. The zebras are obstructed from view by the dead palm branches. Basically the giraffes and seals are the main attraction. And the $2.50 5-minute train ride. Ok, enough complaining about our zoo. But I do think they need to invest more money in it or just let those poor animals transfer to another zoo.


I actually finished 2 applique projects in one day this week, which is a huge feat for me. Since my designs are drawn by hand, I can't just pop them in a machine and let the machine do the work. It takes some serious time. There are advantages and disadvantages to this; advantages being that no one else has the same designs that I do; disadvantages being the fact that I can't just "crank it out" and there is usually a wait on the orders of at least a couple weeks. With a toddler, getting one order finished in a day is unthinkable. But somehow I managed to do it; I guess the rain was good for one thing. Happy Birthday to Brady. (Who is the cutest little orange-headed pumpkin of a baby boy... he belongs to a friend I work with, Lora.)

In other news, my blog is finally getting a makeover. I have changed the colors around so much that I am getting sick and dizzy. So Hilary Keegan, an awesome graphic designer with her own blog business, is in the process of working a miracle so that my blog is cute and colorful and represents ME more than this blah-blah template I have right now. She sent me the header last night and all I can say is that she is so talented. Everyone needs to use her! She is so easy to work with, VERY reasonable compared to other blog makeover sites, and she's super creative. I can't wait to see the final design.

For those that have asked, my new camera is a Canon Rebel T1i. I bought mine at Best Buy because they price match and offer great warranties/protection. I would suggest checking prices here, here and here before you shop, just in case they are cheaper than the Best Buy price. I bought the body only; meaning it did not come with a lens. I bought a separate lens. I actually already had the lens that the camera came with, because Chad has a Canon 35mm Film Camera and it came with that lens. So I did some research and bought 2 lenses; I knew I wanted one that would take great portraits and would make the background look "blurry" while the subject (Mary Ella) was in focus. I don't know a lot about photography but what I have learned I learned from this funny lady, who gives an excellent tutorial on taking great pictures and using all those fancy settings on your camera that you never knew about. This camera also takes HD Video, which I love because I don't have to follow Mary Ella around with my Macbook anymore. (I've been video-taping her using my webcam.) We do have a video camera but it's just not worth the trouble. If anyone is interested in the lenses I bought let me know and I can give you info on those. In my opinion, they make all the difference in the quality of the photos.

Happy warm weather to everyone! Enjoy it while you can!

Yesterday

The dishwasher looked like this:


The house looked like this:


And Mary Ella looked like this:



All. day. long.

It's no fun when it's raining.

Needless to say, we're thankful for the sunshine.

Chuckles

Current Cravings

In my last pregnancy I had one steady craving from the end of the first trimester through about 20 weeks. Plain Lay's potato chips. Which I never eat. This time (well, so far) I have craved different, random things. Like a Wendy's hamburger. I can't even tell you the last time I ate a Wendy's hamburger. But one day last week I needed one so Chad had to go get it for me. After I ate it, I wondered why I had craved the thing. Other things have included a strawberry milkshake, a Chips Ahoy cookie, Ramen noodle slaw, and, thanks to a recent snack suggestion, French toast (Thanks, Kayla - I did make it twice last week and it hit the spot!) At least I have an excuse for wanting all this random food.

THANKS for all the snack suggestions! They were brilliant and they all made my mouth water! My grocery run is tomorrow so I plan to stock up.

New Camera

Blueish Eyes, originally uploaded by HaleyM82.

Green Eyes, originally uploaded by HaleyM82.

Took these with my new Canon Rebel T1i. Love it so far.