Splish Splash

We got AB a little swimming pool to play in.  She adores it.  Every time she sees it she says, "I wanna play in the pool" and begins taking her clothes off.  Here are some photos of her first time playing in it.

Hooray for water!  She loves it

Magnolia Gardens

We went to one of the local plantations several weeks ago (slow at posting pics).  The gardens were absolutely beautiful.  Vines grew up the trees, moss covered the ponds, and flowers abounded.

 Mike and AB on this cute red bridge

 The moss covering the water

 Smelling flowers

 Look at these cool trees.  The middle one grew almost completely out over the water.  They remind me of the tree on "My Girl". Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Gathering rocks (one of her favorite things to do)

 to buckle them into her stroller :)

 One of these ponds had a baby gator in it

 In front of the house.  We didn't go inside (that was an additional fee for the house tour).

 Isn't the plantation house gorgeous?!

It was a lot of fun to go there.  They even had a little petting zoo for the kids.  We got to see goats, pigs, bunnies, turtles, turkeys, deer, and more.  We even got to feed some of the.  Fun day.

1+1=2

No, not twins, just total children.  I had an ultrasound yesterday, and our baby is looking fabulous, moving his/her arms around and showing off a strong heartbeat.  It was so neat to actually see the heart pumping up and down.  I am now 9 weeks and 4 days along.  The due date is December 2nd.  We are so happy and excited to welcome this little one into our family.

Anabelle is finally starting to warm up to the idea a bit.  The first several times we mentioned to her having a little baby, she was completely and adamantly against it.  She would say, "No, I don't want another baby" each and every time.  Now, she will point out that the baby is in my belly and will carry one of her babies with her most of the time.  She is so good at taking care of them (except for the times she gets bored and throws them on the floor).  It will be fun to see her as a big sister.

As for how I have been feeling, it comes and goes.  I didn't have any symptoms until about 6 weeks, and then it was major stomach and lower back pain.  This past week has been magnificently free from headaches and/or migraines (unlike the previous 2 weeks).  I still have indigestion almost all the time.  I have had enough energy to go about my daily business (with a small nap in the afternoon).  Those same 2 previous weeks, I could hardly do anything productive, I felt so completely devoid of energy.  Hopefully I will continue to feel pretty well.  I am grateful to say that I have only had 2 or 3 days of nausea, nothing too bad.

To the zoo

 We went up the the Columbia Temple last Saturday, and afterward, we took AB to the zoo up there.  It was a great zoo, and a lot of fun, despite the mid-80s humid weather and crowded zoo.

Monkeys are my favorite animal to see at the zoo, with gorillas high up on that list.  This one just rolled around covering his face with this branch, right up next to the window where everyone was standing.

 The elephants were awesome.  We got to see this lady feeding them.  They were pretty active and walked all over while we were there.

 Yee-haw!

 AB loves aquariums, so this section of the zoo enthralled her

 Oooh, look, a shark!

The baboons were a blast to watch.  The baby kept chasing his daddy around.  We watched for probably 20 minutes.  Very cute

Grinding wheat

I have had buckets of wheat for over 2 years, and have only ground it into flour on one occasion.  I don't own a wheat grinder, so that makes it difficult.  I have a friend here in my ward who let me borrow hers.  It was awesome, an attachment for my mixer.  I ground a lot of wheat that day so I wouldn't have to borrow it again for a while :)

 It looks so wonderful.  I love baking with wheat flour.  Don't get me wrong, I've got a definite soft spot for homemade white bread and rolls, but wheat is a whole different ball game.

In the past, baking wheat bread has been kind of a problem area for me.  I have never found a recipe that I really like, so I get discouraged and take a break from trying.  Well, I was ready again!

 Anabelle wanted to help me the whole time it was grinding

 So she scooped up more wheat for me.  What a good helper!

 We didn't get the attachment hooked up properly our first try, so wheat went everywhere.  

 I forgot to take pictures of my wheat bread, but it turned out fabulously.  Delicious!  I will definitely be making more.  Yay for not having to buy bread at the store :)

Since I don't have pics of the bread, I thought I would include some of the tasty chocolate pudding cake I made in my crock pot.  Yummy!
 Topped with homemade whipped cream and chocolate shavings....I will be making this again too.

Of course AB approved

I will post pics of bread next time I make it.

It's finally COMPLETELY finished!

I made this quiet book for Anabelle last summer (with a lot of help from my mother-in-law, Annette).  It is now finally complete.  The reason it took so long...

grommets.

I was mostly just being lazy and putting it off.  As it turned out, putting them in was pretty simple, and cheap.

 Appliquéd letters

Here are all of the different pages

The safari page is probably my favorite.  We came up with the concept completely on our own, and I designed and sewed all of the little animals. (complete with zipper and magnetic sun attachment)

Velcro helps the apples stick to the tree

Different textures for little hands to feel 

Finger puppet animals

I also really love the mailbox

Button-on flowers (she's still working hard at that skill) 

 
Vinyl fish bowl stores all of the little swimmers
Foam puzzle pieces fit into the stencils

 Sorry it's sideways. She can match the crayons with their colored pocket and draw on her notebook, which also has its own pocket :)

 Pocket on the back to store any loose pieces

Magnetic flap to hold the book closed

 Rings, placed through our loops, bind this wonderful book that keeps my daughter occupied, especially at church (even if it's only for 5 or 10 minutes)

 Even a little pocket inside the front cover with my info., in case it gets lost.  I would most definitely cry if I lost this quiet book.  I cannot count the number of hours that have been put into it.  I probably like it more than AB does...hence the bragging :)