Mimi came to visit for almost two weeks – we had a wonderful time enjoying the weather and even enjoying the rain! I think I’ll let most of the pictures do the talking…
We went to Duke gardens on a beautiful spring day.
The new Japanese garden is open and is just lovely!
Of course, all that exercise made us hungry (but we stayed stylish with our hat)!
We played in the rain…
(will it ever stop?)
And splashed in the puddles…
and read books…
and painted…
and dressed up (I think the tu-tu/sunglasses/sleepsack could be the next fad, don’t you?)
Ta-da!
All worn out…
A wonderful visit!
Last week, Brianna and I went strawberry picking for the first time. She LOVES strawberries, and I thought she would enjoy picking them from the farm around the corner from our house. We had a great time, although I think Brianna is still more interested in eating the strawberries than picking them… 
Here are some photos from our adventure.
First pick
First sample (notice how clean she looks here…)
Ooooo, a big one!
All done picking! Here is Brianna’s take (she spent most of her time asking “eat more srawbeddies”?
Our combined take (we got 11 – 12 cups give or take).
She sampled about half a dozen while we picked – she looks pretty clean still, don’t you think? Ah, but the best was still to come…
After we paid for our loot, we sat under a shady tree and enjoyed more strawberries. Yummmmm!
At the end of our snack – she had strawberries everywhere (all down her shirt, all down her face and arms, on her legs, on her shorts…)! We had a blast!
The next day she wanted more strawberries. So, I stripped her down to her diaper and let her have at it.
She practically looked like she had been in battle by the time she was done…
More please?
Thinking about going again next week.
Brianna is all about doing things herself these days, and in general she prefers to do whatever I am doing. If my hair is in a pony tail, her hair must be in a pony tail. If I have “naked feet” she must also have “naked feet.” As a bonus, this behavior even extends to chores! I got out some gloves to pull a particularly nasty and prickly weed – she could not wait to put them on and pull some weeds herself.
Hard at work searching for some weeds…
She also insists that she “help” load the dishwasher, put the soap in the dishwasher, and she loves to sweep! Is it too much to hope that she will always want to do these things?
Today we took Leia to the vet for a follow up appointment. I am very happy to report that her blood pressure has significantly improved thanks to two different medications (down from 220 to 140!), and her kidney values are only mildly elevated from where they were before. We are all hoping that with the improved blood pressure, her kidney values will return to normal (at least what is normal for her) – the doctor assures me this is quite possible! Brianna has come along to most of Leia’s recent doctor visits – she is so cute about it too! She insists that Leia’s carrier be next to her in the car so she can pat the carrier and tell Leia “it o.k. Pooh Bear” (sorry it is a little blurry).
She took it one step further after we got home and decided her Bla Bla needed to go to the doctor too. Packed up and ready to go (see the Bla Bla in the carrier…)
Off we go!
Might need to do some shopping too…
Brianna is fully into her twos – complete with opinions, crazy antics, and sheer fun. For example, she is fascinated by my shoes – me wearing my shoes, her wearing my shoes, Colleen wearing my shoes…
When I took her in for her two-year checkup, she came in at 34″ tall (50%) and 24.8 lb. (25%). I am not too sure the height is correct. First, she wouldn’t exactly stay still (she was not pleased to be participating at that point). Second, she has pretty consistently stayed at 25% for height, which would put her just under 33″. Lastly, as you can see below, her height according to her giraffe her Poppa installed is closer to 33″ (really closer to 32.25″ when you get her to stand right and push down on her hair).
She “passed” all her milestone tests, and did pretty well with her doctor until it came time to get a blood sample. And then a shot. She was not happy about that at all, but what really set her off was the bandaids they tried to put on. I have never known a kid to love bandaids so much, except when it comes time to wear them on an actual boo-boo. NO BANDAID! she says…and she means it!
She is, of course, full of all kinds of personality and attitude. I captured these pictures of her while we were playing on the front porch (in between hat modifications, she was rearranging my patio furniture…)
Showing her street cred.
Contemplating the best place to move my patio chair.
And Jason’s personal favorite, the “Kaaaaahhhhhnnnnn” photo.
Saturday afternoon we received an emphatic request for bubbles. Now. Pweeze. She is much better at it than she was the last time she tried. Part of that is because I bought better bubbles, but another part is she just understands better how to wave her wand around (video coming soon).
I am including this photo just because I like it. She explicitly requested a pony tail like Mommy’s, and then made me put mine up in one too.
And finally, last night we had ribs – she LOVED them. She repeatedly pestered us for “big one”. Since she was so cute eating her big ribs, I had to get a picture.
