get dizzy!

brush my hair?

Can I tell you one of my secrets? I ABSOLUTELY love it when I get my hair brushed. Sounds weird I know but it relaxes me so much and can put me to sleep. When I would babysit in high school and college, I would always ask the kids if they would want to do my hair. Of course, I would often end up with frizzed out, messed up hair but gosh, it was completely worth the 10 minutes of bliss. I love getting my haircut because of the part when they shampoo and blowdry and brush my hair. Ahhhh....I love just thinking about it.

Tonight Addelyn was taking her little doll's brush (it came in a pack of doll supplies- the miniture versions of everything from a bib to a potty chair for her "babydoll") and started to brush my hair. I was extremely excited as I realized I have entered the stage where I can ask her to brush my hair. It only lasted for a few minutes but she found those few minutes extremely entertaining and hilarious; she laughed the whole time she did it for some reason!

The best part....Mark asked Addelyn if she would brush his hair too. He leaned his head over and she took the brush and ran it through his hair for a split second. Then, after a moment's thought, she took the brush and began to run it through his leg hair! The mind of a toddler, I love it!

pictures tell a story

My energy level for blogging lately has been low. Everytime I think of what I'll write, I lose energy to sit down and do it. Hang in there with me today. We'll see how this goes!

My friend Jess invited Addelyn and I to go along with her and her boys for a day trip to the Iowa State Fair. It was the first time I have spent a day there since high school (going there at night to see The Nadas probably doesn't count!) We had a great day. It was ninety degree weather so we TRULY experienced the fair in it's fullness. My fair food of the day was a Gyro. Not bad but I'm kicking myself for skipping the funnel cake. GRRR....In the above and below picture, we were at Little Hands on the Farm, where kids get to do all the things they would do on a farm- plant and pick veggies, ride a tractor, milk a cow, sell their produce, etc. It was such a fun kid's activity. Addelyn is not quite at the stage to understand (as she chewed on her fake carrot) but still it was lots of fun and very hands on.

With the HOT weather, what a better place at the state fair to be than by the fountains?! Addelyn LOVED playing here and running around, splashing in puddles and screaming!

Sweet corn. YUM. My sister Jill was hanging out the other night and we realized we eat our corn exactly the same (with only two rows left when we get to the end.) Must be a weird Kramer girl thing!

Bye Bye ba ba. We said goodbye to the bottle during the day months and months ago but still Addelyn drank her bottle at night before bed. Finally a few weeks ago, we decided it was time to put the bottle away for good! We made a game of it and set bottles around the house. She had a bag and ran around and picked them all up. Then she "helped" Daddy put them in the trash and said goodbye to the ba ba. (Don't worry, we snuck them back inside to save for baby #2). The transition of goodbye to the bottle went well. We have a new routine where she gets a cup of milk while we look at books and pictures (she loves photo albums) and then we brush our teeth and head to her room to say our prayers and go to sleep. I think it was harder on me to say goodbye to the bottle! It marked a milestone for me- that Addelyn is no longer my little baby.

My Dad and Lora have baby kittens on their farm. Addelyn absolutely LOVES the kitties and last time she played there she figured out she could pick them up and carry them around. The kitties were such good sports! They would let her carry them and purr the whole time. Once she even carried one by its hind legs and it just hung there, as happy-go-lucky as could be.

This summer, our relatives from Alaska came to visit. Addelyn had fun hanging out with her cousin Kendall and we even took time for a visit to the pool together. Autumn (who is 6 months older than Addelyn) is her other cousin and it was fun watching them interact. Of course, it isn't easy to get a picture with everyone looking!

we don't have a dog....

....so instead, we teach our toddler new tricks. :)