Papa stuff

The other night Rosalyn was pitching a fit for "papa stuff" and pointing at the kitchen counter, but we couldn't figure out what she wanted. We offered her bananas, cookies, crayons and my phone - all of which were laying in the same general vicinity on the counter. Finally, this container of hand cream like my dad uses when he gets dry skin was identified as the reason for her convulsions. She dug her finger in to get a small blob of hand cream and was happy as can be.

Cousins

Rosalyn played outside on the hammock with her cousins on Thanksgiving.
Luckily they weren't playing outside the following day when our tree fell!
She had so much fun with her cousins - we hope they can come visit again soon.

Our thanksgiving tree

Well, we were planning to cut down a tree this weekend, though a Christmas tree would have been preferable. Instead, the tree decided to fall down for us in our own backyard.
As we were just sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch a few minutes ago, we heard a terrible crashing noise and looked out the sunroom windows to see this tree falling in our yard. Luckily it seems to have only damaged the deck and some potted plants, but it certainly gave us a scare!

Tree

Sewing and football

Rosalyn and daddy sew while they watch football. :)

Party time

Here are the photos from Rosalyn's party - finally! Bubbles were a big hit, as they always are with Rosalyn. The big wands we bought at the beach this summer were lots of fun.

Rosalyn looked absolutely adorable in the skirt my mom got for her - it was very appropriate for the farm theme.

Mom had fun entertaining the kids with wand-fighting.

Rosalyn blows out the TWO candles on her birthday cupcake. I made pumpkin apple cupcakes without frosting so we wouldn't have too much of a sugar-high. They were tasty, especially with a light dusting of "organic fertilizer" (powdered sugar).

The barn Corey and I made, and one of the balloon decorations my friend made. We also had some wheel-barrows for the kids to push around.

It was a gorgeous day to be outside!

In addition to the bubbles and barn, we had some farm stamps and markers for the kids to color with. Those didn't get used that much at the party because it was so beautiful outside, but we've had fun playing with them at home too.

Rosalyn shows off some of her other balloon decorations after the party.

Luckily she didn't float away holding all of those balloons!

Rosalyn takes "her baby" (our neighbor Ansley) for a wheelbarrow ride. Don't worry - there were many spotters all around. Isn't Miss Ansley's little bow adorable!

Rosalyn wants a turn in the wheelbarrow for herself. She won't be able to fit much longer.

Ansley is mesmerized by Rosalyn's bracelets.

Rosalyn gives Ansley a dental inspection.

Rosalyn poses with Uncle Clint and Mary Alston. Clint let her draw all over his face with marker.

tricycle and elmo

Rosalyn's new tricycle, with her new elmo backpack in the background.
She's got her own wheels, and her own bag - watch out world!

Birthday bubbles

Rosalyn and her friend Isaac have fun making bubbles.

Barn

I just realized that I haven't posted any photos from Rosalyn's birthday - busy week! I just loaded the ones from the camera on the computer and will try to post those soon, but in the meantime here are the two photos I have on my phone.
This picture was taken right before her party, after Corey and I finished painting her barn- she and Iffy decided to try it out.

Panda 2

Panda 1

When we went to the zoo today, we say the panda that was born a couple months before Rosi.
A new Panda was born last week, but it isn't on display yet.

Trike 2

Trike 1

My parents got Rosalyn a tricycle for her birthday. Pap (my dad) put it together in advance, so when my mom arrived today, it was ready to roll - literally. Iffy and Rosi took a quick spin around the neighborhood, then we took it to the zoo for the afternoon. She loved it, and I love the handle bars in the pack so parents can push and steer without killing your back!

Back pack 2

Rosalyn chose am Elmo bag, which Corey and I agreed was the least obnoxious of the options. Disney princesses and monster trucks just weren't doing it for me.
Whatever happened to a simple bag, perhaps with a pretty flower or cute animal on it?

Back pack 1

We got Rosalyn a backpack for her birthday - what a big girl. This is kind of a selfish gift since I've been getting so frustrated with her wanting "my bag" but not being able to carry the diaper bag.

Shape-o-ball

Rosalyn is loving her Tupperware! :)

Jezzie lovin

Tent 3 (Rosi the thinker)

She is sitting on her ball in the tent mimicking gestures that Corey is making. This one is 'the thinker'.

Tent 2

Rosalyn 'naps' in her tent.

Tent 1

Rosalyn has her own tent. I don't think it will be very good for sleeping outside, but she is having a lot of fun in our living room. She has moved a bunch of books, her shovel, some blankets, a soccer ball and several other items into the tent.

Inked

Shh... Don't tell my dad that Rosalyn drew on her hand! He always got so upset when my brothers and I drew on ourselves.

Hat 2

Hat 1

Rosalyn can't get enough of this knit hat!

Random stories

Several stories tonight, but no photos. I have a few videos, but they aren't posting properly... they are on Facebook though.

First: tonight Rosalyn was being silly - spinning until she was dizzy and falling down, then complaining that something hurts. I think the body part was different each time, so I'm not too worried that she actually injured herself. She just likes to identify her anatomy - "knee hurt" or "foot hurt" or "eye hurt", etc. She also found a way to make all of the hurts go away - a Taffy kiss. We've been kissing her booboos for a while, but tonight every time she came up with a new hurt, she would walk over to Taffy (and a couple of times to Jezebel) and hold the problematic body part up to her mouth as well as possible so the dog could "kiss it". This approach seems to be very effective, as all of her hurts were immediately healed after a Taffy kiss. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo or video of this.

Second: Rosi has been singing a lot lately. We can tell there are specific words and tunes she is trying to express, but we often can't decipher it. Tonight she was clearly singing "Patty Cake" and "Monkeys jumping on the bed" - I got videos of these, but they are only on Facebook as I'm having trouble getting any of the videos to load on the blog. She has also been singing "Row your boat" recently, and she loves to request the "ick, ack went the little green frog" song by saying "mama, more ick frog, peees!!!"

Third: I can't believe how polite and helpful she is. She loves to say please and thank you - probably because we obnoxiously praise her every time she says it. She is so proud. And she continues to be "helpful." When we finish her breathing treatments, she takes great pride in unplugging the machine and carrying the mask to the kitchen counter. She gets upset if I try to do it for her to speed the process along.

Fourth: She's so darn stubborn - big surprise, you all say! Tonight she took a bath and was having lots of fun playing. When she started shivering because the water had cooled off, I told her it was time to get out and she refused. So I let the water drain, and she just kept on playing in spite of the shakes. The only way I could coax her out of the bath was to say we needed to check on Taffy. Since Taffy disappeared yesterday (and thankfully returned late last night), Rosalyn has been obsessed with her (hence the Taffy kisses, etc).

To quote Rosi: Bye Night!

Sunglasses 2

Unrelated story...
I have a rule that Rosi has to hold my hand in the parking lot or I will "carry her like a baby" (usually a bad thing in her opinion). She likes to be so independent ("my turn now" and "I do it"), so this is often a battle.
For weeks she has been crossing her arms to keep me from grabbing her hand, but I still pick her up.
Now she has come up with the clever idea of holding her own finger instead of my hand to see if that satisfies the rule. It doesn't, but it sure is cute when she tries.

Sunglasses

She came home from church yesterday with these sunglasses (her fifth, yes fifth pair - the other four courtesy of iffy). I'm not sure if they gave them out or if she stole them from another kid.
She doesn't want to take them off, so she walks around the house like she's blind.