Tower Nap

It's emotional struggle for me while Ziva is napping to pick up everything that she has gotten out. Part of me struggles with the whole it's only going to end up back out in a few hours anyway thing. Then there is the part of me that has better things to do than pick up 35 bangle bracelets all over the house again and again. I can only spend so much of my time doing that. Lastly, some of the stuff goes in her room. Which I'm not going any where near there while she is sleeping. Such a struggle right?

Well, taking a page from my mother's parenting book, I "stage" some of the bigger toys or the ones that go in her room. Then put up the others. This day involved stacking her blocks for her when she woke up. She loved it! And so did we!

"Look! Wow!"

"There it goes."

"Fun!"

Getting Situated

It is hilarious and quite time consuming to watch Ziva try and sit in her chair with her bear. She just can not get it to work. Every day, many times a day she tries but she just hasn't mastered it.

"You sit here."

"No. Sit here."

"This just isn't working."

With a little help from Mommy everyone can sit in the chair.
Yes, this is her idea. Not mine. Once we start helping her get in the chair with the bear she insists on everyone getting in on the fun.

This is What Happens When Daddy Gets Ziva Ready for Bed

Finger...Body Paint

We've already covered the fact that Ziva probably won't be some art prodigy...at least right now. Has that stopped me from trying...NOPE! I bought finger (should be called body paint) paint and thought what a fun activity for outside. It was fun. Just not how I had it planned...as usual. The time Z did spend with the paint was standing up the bottles and keeping the paper from flying away. She did manage to get paint all over her.

Standing up the paint bottles.

Before the Mess

After the Mess

"Hmmm...apply liberally."

Father's Day

How's this for late? This isn't really a Happy Father's Day post, though Jason totally deserves it! Honestly, I could type or talk forever about how awesome Jason is and never even get close to completely expressing how I feel. We did celebrate Father's Day. It was a sweet, special day. My favorite highlights are below. Ziva working on J's card and then her waking him up. She loves to wake him up. Also, below you will see an image of one of J's gifts. His main gift was a grouping of pictures I framed for him. I need to get them hung and then take pictures to show them off. It is so hard to get motivated to get stuff on the walls when you are renting. Anyway, here are just a couple of moments of Father's day at the Brown house.

Z working on the card. I drew the heart but she also worked on it and in the same color too!
*Note: By now you all have surely noticed the "boyish" PJs she wears. I like them because they are short sleeve, light weight and they say "space monkey" on them.

WAKE UP DADDY!!!

BaconSalt. That's right. You're reading it right. BaconSalt. I read about it on the Internet and had to get some for Jason. The stuff is actually amazing and it's low sodium! Now he can have bacony flavored eggs without having to cook them in all that bacon grease. Yea!

Color Time

I would love to say that Ziva is already a budding artist. Alas, I don't think that is one thing she'll do. She will color and has already started. I believe she enjoys it. I know she enjoys examining the colors as well as taking them out of the bag and putting them back in. Now that floats her boat.

Out of the Bag

Into the Bag

Chop Sticks

I was eating noodles of some Asian sort and using chop sticks. Ziva felt that she too needed chop sticks. She shared this by taking mine. Thus the videos below. One is her actually trying to use the chop sticks. The other is her smiling. She smiles now when we ask her to. It is funny because she keeps smiling over and over again. Which in turn makes me smile...if I wasn't already.

Laser Tag

While trying to win 10K on AFV, like every other red blooded American, we discovered something funnier than a cat chasing a laser.

Does this make us mean?

Stormy Weather

We don't get a lot of lighting storms here in Savannah...well not unless they come with hurricanes. We had one the other day. Jason really enjoyed watching it. He wanted me to take pictures. I don't enjoy lighting storms. I've been electrocuted way too many times to even test my luck. Anyway, these are his photos of the lighting storm. Didn't catch any lighting but caught the beautiful colors of the storm.

Playtime with Daddy

Here try this.

No. Like this.

Nose Ring

Eskimo Kisses

Food For Thought

I am finding the toddler eating stage to be one of...real discovery. Discovering that my child can eat everything on her plate and then some. Discovering that she won't eat a thing. Discovering that carrots are one of her favorite things. And then there are Z's discoveries. Chocolate shakes, brain freezes (this was awful by the way), mash potatoes, cheese eggs and then the discovery of the item that made her her father's daughter...ranch.

Say What?

And Then He Said...

I love this picture. I know it is not really all that technically awesome. It does capture perfectly how Ziva reads and shares. Too cute!

She's a Hat Girl

Ziva loves hats! She still has to work on getting them on just right but that doesn't stop her.

This is my beach hat. Z loves it!

In this picture, Z had just gotten up, picked up my hat I left out and her bracelets and was ready to go.

Is There Anything on My Face?

FYI: That's a Rice Crispy