The First Frost

We woke up just before 7 this morning. It was still dark and Sammi said, "Is it still sleeping time?" Although I wanted to say yes and take us all back to bed, I explained that in the winter the sun comes up later. As it started to get brighter I noticed frost on the grass.

We bundled ourselves up and headed out for some fun. We had fun crunching on the grass and seeing how much ice had formed in different puddles of water. Then we decided to check Daddy's car and make sure he didn't have frost on his windows. Thank goodness for the carport, so we were safe :)

Wordless Wednesday: Door Knob Surprise

Check out the wild creation we found over at Because Babies Grow Up. Find other Wordless Wednesday posts at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes For Mom. Come back tomorrow for Tell Me Thursday.

Random Cute Pics-Again

One day Sammi had a late afternoon nap and was just not interested in bedtime. I braved it and decided to introduce her to life after she goes to bed: laundry! Oh, and I think we watched So You Think You Can Dance. I had her sort the clothes into two piles: Sammi's and Elli's. Then I had her sort her clothes into pants, shirts, dresses, sockes and underwear and pajamas while I started to fold Elli's clothes. After a bit I looked over and instead of just sorting her clothes, she was folding them. She made this beautiful collection of folded clothes on the little staircase we got from Brent's parents. I was so impressed.
This was during a long drive to Morristown to get our Tennessee driver's licenses. Brent was trying to study while we drove so we introduced the girls to the headphones. Elli was fascinated and not at all concerned she couldn't hear the movie!

Trip to the Knoxville Zoo

We love the Knoxville Zoo. Sammi loves it so much, in fact, that we haven't really seen anything else in Knoxville! So when Grandma Devine was visiting we just HAD to take her. Here are our adventures from this visit.
The Wee Play Zoo is like a mini Discovery Gateway Children's Museum centered on animal themes. Above Sammi is wearing a dress up hat for a seal or otter. Below she is dressed as a Vet and playing in the animal hospital room.
We also got to see the baby chimpanzee, George. He appears to be curious just like Sammi's favorite cartoon character.
I was so excited the lion was posed just perfectly for this regal shot. Lions are my favorite (next to cougars, of course!) and this was the best view of him we'd seen yet.
Sammi and Elli are turning into such sweet sisters and friends. They hold hands and take turns leading each other around. Sometimes they take my hand and we become a train. Such fun times.
Here's a rare shot: all three of us! Thanks, Mom. What's not so rare: we're all wearing the same color. That seems to happen frequently. Unfortunately, we forgot to get one of Grandma with the girls.

Cup of Dirt

I thought it would be fun to make "Cup of Dirt" for dessert one night. I made the chocolate pudding and poured it into bowls, added gummy worms and topped with crushed Oreo cookies. I put them in the fridge to get cold.





I wasn't sure how I was going to introduce the idea to Sammi, but the perfect moment presented itself. She was starting to fall asleep on the couch at about 5:30 which only spells disaster. In trying to wake her up, I told her we were having a special dessert after dinner. Intrigued she perked up and asked what we were having. I told her a cup of dirt.

She looked quite concerned and told me we don't eat dirt. I told her it was okay and I'd found a few worms to make it that much better. She spent from then until we presented the dessert saying over and over, "But we don't eat dirt, Mommy!" I started telling her she'd just have to see it before she decided. I thought once she saw it she would know it was a gummy worm and Oreos.

But I was wrong. She wouldn't even touch it! Brent went and got another Oreo, showed it to Sammi and then crushed it in his hand so she could see that the crumbs were the same as the ones in her dessert dish. She just took the remaining cookie from Brent's hand and ate it! She wouldn't try it until she saw us take bites.




She was still worried about the worm and didn't ever eat it. Once she got a taste of it, she started to warm up to the idea. She was even able to joke about eating dirt. But she isn't a big fan of pudding so she didn't finish her dessert. Oh well. The build up was PERFECT! I couldn't have asked for it to be better. I didn't think she'd buy it so it was a lot of fun to play it up and drag it out through dinner.

Elli had fun playing with the Oreo crumbs,
but wasn't a fan of the pudding, either.
As you can see, she loved her rice at dinner.