the porch

 

coloring

i was hanging out with a friend the other day, and learned that she let her 1 year old color with her older son. so what did i do later that day? yep, i strapped emma taylor into her booster seat tried to teach her how to color. i long for the day that we can sit together and color for an extended period of time. i love to color so i am hoping she will too. for the first time she did great. most of her "coloring" was simply banging the crayon on the paper, but she made marks so it counts. she just needs a bit lot more practice.

 

...of course she had to taste some crayons too!

 

wordless wednesday

 

feeding abby cheerios

so today e.t. was a mess after her afternoon nap (if you can call it that because it was so short). the only thing that really kept her happy was feeding abby cheerios. normally i wouldn't condone this type of behavior but when you have listened to whining/crying on and off for 2 1/2 hours you get desperate. in her defense, i am pretty sure her teeth are killing her and tylenol plus orajel didn't really put a dent in the pain. i decided to videotape it because her laugh is infectious. p.s. ignore the fact that i am taping abby's butt for a bit. that was an accident.

working out

i got a great living social deal to a local gym in columbia. i have been wanting to join a gym but didn't want to sign any kind of year contract and didn't want to pay what most of them cost. well for only $20 i got a free membership, 1 month, childcare, and two 30 minute private training sessions! i wish i could have gotten a second and maybe third month but still its a great deal. i am going to start in Sept. so emma taylor and i decided to start getting ready for the gym. i pulled out my yoga mat and weights because let's face it i haven't really worked out in 2 years. i walk almost daily and have run maybe 3 times this year but otherwise have been a bit lazy. i did learn however it is hard to do any kind of work out with a one year old. she thought the new "toys" were great to play with, and then sat on me while i tried to do crunches. i am so excited to start working out while emma taylor can go play in nursery.

a new way to ride

our night away

 

this past weekend glen and i left emma taylor overnight for the first time. we went to greenvillle and dropped her off at glen's brother and wife's house and then spent the night at a downtown hotel. i have to admit it was a bit hard for me. since i bf'd emma taylor for the whole first year i never was away from her for too long. she had a great time and i am so glad for that. this was my trial run for october when i will be gone from her for 2 nights in a row.

 

 so here's what we did since we had total freedom...we walked around downtown and checked out some stores. we ate at The Nose Dive which was conveniently located next door to our hotel. i highly recommend it, and if it's nice weather you have to sit outside! i had the morrocan burger (lamb with goat cheese and chili bbq sauce) and sweet potato fries (which strangely taste like krispy kreme donuts and are quite addicting). we also tried the bacon brownie which lots of people rave about it but it was just too wierd. we spent the morning walking around the main street farmer's market and grabbing bubble tea at the park. i am so glad that we went and so thankful that emma taylor was in good hands.

we've been computerless

there have been a lack of posts for several reasons. for one thing our camera is broken or at least kind of broken. you can use it as long as you turn it off and then back on in between each picture you take. and second our computer's power cord stopped working a week ago and we have been without a computer since. although i hated not having access to my email at all times, it ended up being kind of nice not to feel tied to technology. i realized how much useless time i spent on things like facebook and pinterest. i am glad to have our computer back up and running, but hope to spend less time being unproductive...

a basket

e.t. and i went with our good friend elizabeth to look at some antique malls last weekend. it was a fun girls outing. i saw a lot of fun quirky stuff, a lot of overpriced stuff, and a good amount of stuff i thought would be fun to have. i only walk away with one thing though. e.t. tore up her cheapo book basket that i had found at hobby lobby so i was on the lookout for something sturdy and still fun. i found this metal wire basket that looks to be an old bike basket. and. i. love. it.

 

wordless wednesday

wordless wednesday

the olympics are over

so i am really not sure what to do now that the olympics are over. they have dominated our free time for the last 2 1/2 weeks. maybe we should make up our own little versions of the pentathalon which happens to be the most ridiculous thing to me. its 5 events which includes laser shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrianism, and cross country running. that seems like a crazy assortment of things to lump together, and i can't quite get the reasoning. so emma taylor decided to do some horse pushing, around the table scooting, and chewing on things all while holding a bucket. i would say it's pretty impressive.

13 months

13 months and a bit less smiley than usual. our only big 13 month development/news is that e.t. is cutting her canines, chewing on everything, and not happy about it.

8-11-12

more books

books are still a pretty big part of our life right now. i take emma taylor to story time most weeks at our big awesome downtown library. we also have a regular book reading time right before bed each night. other than that we pull out the book 2 or 3 times during the day.

things that drive me crazy

that one missing puzzle piece or one missing block

words cannot describe how crazy it makes me to not be able to find the one missing piece, but with a little one i can only expect that this will be my life for the forseable future.

morning hair

friday

both my sisters and i have memberships to the zoo. i love it because they come to columbia for it and i get to see them without traveling anywhere! they came to hang out at the zoo on friday and back to our house for a bit afterwards.

{this was right before the gorilla rolled over and scared e.t. to death}

{one of these girls favortie places at the zoo}

{watching the outside world}

{the boys who were extremely calm for a change}

{aunt carrie and emma taylor}

{reading books with hannah}

{why do all our cousin pictures always seem so awkward? check out last time}

{sisters and kids...of course only half of us are looking at the camera}

{grandpa lentz and the grandkids}

sitting on everything

not sure why but emma taylor has started sitting on everything. maybe it started with her wooden horse she got from her birthday which she loves to ride (read: me and glen push it up and down the hall while e.t. rides happily and screams when it stops). today i caught her squatting to sit on her snack cup. she will sit lay on pillows or blankets she pulls off the couch and even the dog. the other day she sat on her pillow pet and had a little snack. it was too cute so of course i took some pictures.