New Words

Harper is a jabber-box these days, at home anyways. Our daycare told us that Harper is very quiet and only will say 'mommy,' 'daddy,' and 'duckie' when she's there. Which is surprising because she says around 50 words now. I'm not surprised that she is quiet at daycare; Harper is very shy and it takes a while for her to warm up and be herself around new people and/or large groups. Daycare said that she is very good and smiles all the time. They also said that she is very good with the babies and gives them toys all of the time :) Harper will be a great big sister someday!

I initially took this video to capture Harper saying 'Maggie,' who is one of Harper's babysitters. I am going to show them this video to show them that she DOES talk....all of the time!

Here are some of Harper's newest words!

(my favorite is 'basketball')

Explanation on 'Dora': The theme song for "Dora the Explorer" sings d-d-d-d-d-Dora. Which is why Harper says 'di-di' for Dora. A funny story about Dora: Dora is Hispanic and when we were at the park last weekend, Harper saw a Hispanic lady and her daughter and started saying 'di-di-di!' She said the same thing a few weeks ago when we went to a Hispanic friend's wedding....I think I need to teach Harper that not every Hispanics name is Dora!

Basement Update

We are s-l-o-w-l-y making progress on the basement. We work on it when we have time, which is hardly ever since I'm at school during the day and Adam works at night. The goal is to get everything completely finished this summer. We just got our last insurance check so we are able to buy any last items that we need. Here are a few pictures:

We brought down our furniture that used to be in the living room since the other got ruined from the flood water. Adam just had to buy a 50" TV for downstairs. The TV stand is also new, and so is the area rug. I choose to paint the walls a shade of yellow to brighten up the room.

We still need to buy trim and carpet the stairs. And then decorate of course! Then it's on to the laundry room! Which was never finished to begin with, but we are going to continue the tile into the laundry room, paint the walls the same yellow color, and hang new shelving. The work seems never-ending!

Felt Food

Looking for a fun and unique gift for a toddler/preschooler? A colleague/blogger friend of mine is having a raffle for some play food that she sewed out of felt. It is adorable!

Click HERE to see pictures of the food.

She is having a raffle to help raise money in order to fulfill a wish to adopt a baby from Ethiopia.

You can enter the drawing 5 different ways (each one counts as an entry)

1. Donate $5 using the paypal feature set up on her blog (this is needed in order for the other entries to count)



2. Become a follower of her blog



3. Post a link to her blog on facebook



4. Post a link to her blog on twitter



5. Post her link on YOUR blog

I have 4 entries!!!!! Please help this family better the life of an innocent child!

Hurry - raffle ends on Sunday!

Harper's 2nd Easter

We hope everyone had a Happy Easter and enjoyed time spent with family and friends. Adam had to work so we spent the weekend at home. My parents and Brett came down on Sunday afternoon to deliver Harper her Easter basket. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and we had lots of fun playing outside at the school playground. Here are some pictures from Harper's SECOND Easter - that seems so surreal to think about!

Checking out her Easter Basket - a bubble gun (she loves bubbles!), Dora sing-along microphone, Dora book, Gerber cereal bars and fruit strips, and a pair of crocs

Harper loves the plastic Easter eggs

Going through her basket from Grandma and Papa - Dora doll, bunny pillow pet, dora bowl and snack container, bubble necklace, shorts and tank top, hot pink flip flops, swimsuit cover up (it matches Grandmas :), ball, rubber duckie, cookies, and candy!


Time for the egg hunt! Harper LOVED finding the eggs - we hid the eggs 3 different times! She did a great job!

Trying to ask Brett where the rest of the eggs are....

She thought the candy was so good that she ate the wrapper too!

Overall, we had a great day! We has so much fun this year with Harper now that she is bigger. Next year will be even better when she starts understanding more about the Easter Bunny!

1st Haircut...finally!

I finally decided that Harper's mullet had seen its days....it was a cute and curly mullet, but it desperately needed to be trimmed! Harper had a few l-o-n-g strands that just didn't fit it with the rest. See below!

So, against Adam's wishes, I trimmed off a few strands tonite while Harper was playing in the bath tub. It was much easier cutting her hair while it was wet because the long strands really stand out when they're wet!

Ta-da! It doesn't look bad after all! Now if only the front and sides would grow.....

Honor Society

I remember telling Adam that one of my goals for nursing school was to 'graduate with honors.' I'm not exactly sure what this all entails, but I know I'm heading down the right path. Why? Because I have been selected to be a member of Iowa Central Community College Honor Society! A recognition ceremony was held in Fort Dodge on Tuesday night but we decided not to go because of the nasty weather. Now i just have to go pick up my award (which will look great on resumes) and my gold cord (which I get to wear at graduation).

I don't want to jinx myself, but nursing school is going better than I predicted. We were told at orientation that if were were 'A' students in high school, then we would be 'B' students in nursing school. So I've been expecting to be a 'B' or 'C' student - but have gotten all A's and B's so far! I think it helps that I ENJOY what I'm doing - I love nursing school! I wish I wouldn't have waited so long to get started. Anyways, I just thought I'd share with you all that my hard work is paying off!

Cedar Falls

Last weekend I went back to my old stomping grounds, Cedar Falls, to celebrate Kerby's bachelorette party. Kerby is a childhood/high school/college friend. It was great seeing Kerby, and being back in Cedar Falls. I love that place!

The Bride-to-Be

We all met at a hotel in Cedar Falls for snacks, drinks, gifts, and games. Our age is showing because NO nasty gag gifts were given - I'm quite surprised by our maturity ;) We ate supper at a new restaurant in Waterloo called Blacks 501 Steak House. It is also a piano bar, with dueling pianos on the weekends. Luckily one of the bridesmaids new a manager so we got a seat right next to the pianos. It was a blast! I highly recommend that you check it out if you're ever in the area.

The group - we were supposed to wear the wedding colors - purple and gray

Instead of driving to Cedar Falls, I drove to Northwood to drop off Harper with my parents and then rode down with a few friends. Here is one of them - my long lost friend Jennie! I love this girl!

We are looking forward to celebrating with Kerby and Chris on May 7th when they tie the knot!

Competition Results

Adam and Ali are back from the Canine competition. Adam said there were about 70 dogs competing, and he finished in the top 20. Adam and Ali received a high enough score that they certified nationally as a canine team, which was his main goal. They didn't win any trophies, but Adam said he had fun and learned a lot. As you know, he and Ali competed in the "Rookie of the Year" category. The senior judge told Adam that he didn't look like a rookie handler, which was a big compliment to him. Adam is already looking forward to going back next year!

19 Months

Weight: 24 lbs ( I don't think she'll ever get past 24 lbs)

Clothing Size: 18-24 months

Diaper Size: 3

Speech: Where do I begin? I feel like she's learning new words everyday. New words this month are: bath, book, car (minus the r), thank you (coo), please (peas), cheese. I'm sure there are more, just hard to think. It is so sweet to hear Harper say ''please' and thank you' with out being asked.

Eating: Harper still LOVES canned oranges. Other regular foods include: grapes, buttered toast, yogurt covered raisins, goldfish, fig newton bars, apple juice, yogurt w/ granola, cottage cheese, and apples.

Sleep: Depends on the day, sometimes she wants to go to bed/take a nap and sometimes it is pure torture trying to get her to sleep. She has actually slept in bed with us 2 times this month, which is the first 2 times in her entire life. We are both against kids sleeping in bed with us, so we will really try not to make this a habit! I think she may already be starting to get some her 2 year molars b/c she has had some pretty restless nights this month.

Favorite Toy: Outside = cozy coupe, Inside = babies

Favorite Activity: If we're inside, she is obsessed with her babies and baby blankets! She will play with them ALL day. She feeds her babies, rocks her babies, burps her babies, and then covers up her babies. She has 2 babies plus Elmo, so after she gets them all settled, she starts the process over again. Yesterday I caught her yelling "No No!" at all the babies. She got right in their faces and gave them the business - I was laughing hysterically! If we're outside - she loves riding in her cozy coupe. She says "Caaa" - kind of sounds like she lives in Jersey :)

New Things:

• loves being sung to - a few new favorites are 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,' 'The Barney Song,' and 'Happy Birthday'


• helps us unload the dishwasher


• getting very good at using a fork AND spoon

Sorry for the lack of pictures. Harper has learned how to turn on my camera AND take pictures. So when I went to take some pictures yesterday, my camera died right away because someone decided to take 55 pictures of the floor.

Sunday Funday

Despite the weather forecast, today has turned out to be another beautiful day. Harper and I are on our own until tomorrow night because Adam left for Des Moines today for a canine competition. The competition is sponsored by the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) and is a national event. If Adam and Ali do well enough tomorrow then they will advance to nationals down in Louisiana! Adam thinks he and Ali have a good shot in the "Rookie of the Year" category, as this is both of their first times competing. What are they competing in, you ask? Basically, finding drugs! The judges will judge both Adam and Ali. It takes a good handler and a good dog to be successful. I wish them both the best of luck! I'm excited to hear how they do! I'll make sure to update you in a few days. With the afternoon to ourselves, Harper and I played outside for almost 2 hours! Harper is well aware that the school playground is right across the street from our house, so we made a trip over there. She loves playing on the equipment and watching the other kids play. She also loves her Cozy Coupe that she got last year for her birthday. We've already made numerous trips around the neighborhood this year. She also has to have her Dora ball with her at all times. Now that Harper is older this summer and actually runs around outside, she experienced her first wipe out of the season and skinned up her elbows and knees :) She has quickly learned to just brush everything off and then she's on her way again. I'll leave you with a sweet story: I was sitting on the step watching Harper play. She walked up to me, smiled, and sat down right next to me. She took my water bottle, chugged it for like 30 seconds, smiled at me again, and then sat there with me in silence for a few minutes. It was the CUTEST thing ever! I just stared at her in awe- she is growing up so fast!

Beautiful

What a beautiful weekend! I love the first hint of Spring weather - it makes me happy! It was beautiful weather for a beautiful wedding. Adam and I drove to Iowa City/Coralville this weekend for a wedding of a college roommate/friend. Everything was beautiful! It was great catching up with old friends. Congrats to Brooke and Zach Davis!!!

Me and my best friend :)

Me and my other best friend :)

Brooke was a beautiful bride!

Thank you Gary and June for staying over night with Harper. We greatly appreciate it. Although we love Harper dearly, it sure was nice to get away for a night and have some 'couple time' again.

Love is in the air! Let the wedding season begin! We have another wedding to go to next weekend, and then I have a bachlorette party the following weekend. Another wedding in May and a few more this summer. Harper will get plenty of opportunities to see other flower girls in action so she is prepared for Abby's wedding this fall!