Ladybugs, Ants and a Fart Machine

Danae was helping Daddy put a small garden patch in while mommy was sleeping (this day time sleeping / night shift stuff is getting old...but almost over) and they found a ladybug. Danae was intrigued with it and let it crawl on her. After I woke up, I joined them. Daddy found the ladybug again, so I got a couple photos. She let it crawl on her and when it got to the tip of her finger she ever so gently moved her hand to her tongue...WAIT...yep...she touched it to her tongue before I realized she really was going to put this bug in her mouth. Then it was back to letting it crawl on her arm until she pinched it to try to pick it up.

Danae had left her peanut butter cracker on the ground earlier in the day and it was now covered with ants. I turned to give the camera to Michael and heard a painful scream come from Danae. She had picked up the ant covered cracker and now her little hand was covered in ants! I quickly dumped her hand in the horse trough then took her inside for some first aid while Daddy took vengence on the ants. Her little hand was red and welted from bites.

A girl after her daddy's heart...

...and his nose. She's just returning the favor of wiping it for him.

A little blurry, but too cute so I had to share!

Yesterday I was cleaning out and organizing the junk drawer and found the fart machine I had bought years ago...so I showed Danae how to push the button. She finds it humorous as any Cureton would and it has been a favorite toy. (isn't that fun!)

Some Pictures

Things have been busy, but mostly I have been living in a 'fog' while working night shifts, I don't really feel like I am completely 'with it'. Only 4 more weeks of nights then I get to work 16 weeks of days...I don't even care that it is in the heat of the summer, I am really looking forward to it!

Two of the highest paid and long term employees in the PD were laid off last week due to the budget. It certainly sent morale down a few more notches.

Michael is dealing with drama at his job, but grateful to have one.

Danae loves to read...the pictures...and be read to. She is now starting to go to the bookshelf and grab a book or five to be read at bedtime.

She LOVES her cowgirl boots.

Thanks to Papa, she has developed a fettish for balloons. She will carry it everywhere and it takes a while for her to get tired of it. Papa and Grammie visited for a few days during the middle of March. (I really need to get better at taking pictures)

I made Danae an Easter Basket. It was a creative brainstorm that turned out pretty good. I spent about 30 plus hours on it and had numb fingers for a week or so...but hey...it should last a long time! (I hope)

Danae has discovered how easy our shoes are to put on. She usually grabs my boots, tennis shoes or Michael's flip flops. She decided to coordinate on this day and put my slippers on.

I bought her this horse hooded towel from Etsy for Easter. It is a really nice towel and so darn cute! Now she has two really nice hooded towels...gives me a little more time to do laundry :)

Danae and I walk to mailbox most days to get the mail. It is so funny watching her stop along the way and pick up as may rocks as she can hold. Fortunately we aren't lacking in rocks.

I know there is more that has gone on since I last posted, but I can't think of it right now and wanted to get something put on my blog. Hope everyone is doing well!

A Sticky Situation...

Danae discovered stickers! She had to have mommy peal them off for her and she would wait for me to stick 'em to her, then she would move them around or stick them on something else. But the green happy face stayed put right on the tip of her nose...guess that's where she liked it.

Her Little Quirks

Danae is showing more and more of her character and personality every day. She's 15 months old now. I just wanted to share a couple of things she has done lately that made me smile.

She gets a little sheepish grin and will back up a little then run 'full blast' and head butt you in the leg. Don't know where she figured this out...I only taught her noggins...but she's my little billy goat (yep, she's trying to eat paper too)

I have kept Danae in the bathroom with me when I shower since she was itty bitty, unless Michael was home. As she grew out of her bouncy seat, she would play with toys on a blanket, when she began crawling, she wanted to open the shower door and throw toys in and I would toss them out for a little game. As she progressed she just thought it was funny to open and shut the sliding shower door. Well, the other day, I was showering and playing the toy tossing game. When I looked to check on her she had decided she wanted to shower too and was standing in the shower with me...jammies, diaper and all, looking up into the falling water with the biggest smile. Well...when you can't beat 'em, join 'em, she loved it. I haven't been able to get away with taking a shower alone since.

She loves her stick horses and rocking horse. Granted, she doesn't ride the stick horses, she just drags them around. She get up on that rocking horse and rocks as hard as she can, sometimes with her feet up by the horses neck. She's my little cowgirl!

I also can't do my hair or makeup without her wanting to sit on the counter and comb her own hair and put barrettes on her head 'asking' me to put them in her hair. Once I put them in her hair, she turns around to look at herself in the mirror.

She'll put anything she can on her wrist for a bracelet...if its small and round...must be where it goes! The other day she grabbed a raw onion ring from Daddy's plate and slipped it on her wrist. Empty toilet paper rolls are not excluded either.

The other day, T-Bone put his head down by her to see what she was doing and she just looked him square in the face and put a hand on each side of his nose and laughed. She isn't afraid of any animal so far.

Takin' in some Basketball

Danae loves to play with her cousins and I think they enjoy making her laugh and playing with her too! Danae and I hitched a ride with Jason and Heather (Michael had to work) to go to Phoenix to watch Lizard play basketball. Danae did quite well and for a little while sat right next to Micah and Weston, who helped me keep her off the court.

She loves her Uncle Jason too. When the game was over, she was amazed by him dribbling the basketball and had to go play.

She is my daughter... :)

Micah, Weston and Rylee helped Danae pick "flowers" once they realized how interested she was in them. They were really weeds...but its all in the eye of the beholder right...and really, if it has colorful petals shouldn't it be a flower?

(I 'borrowed' this photo from Heather...I need a better camera)
Lizard is new to the sport of basketball and I am so proud of her for going for it and playing! She made two baskets, both were great and one was absolutely beautiful! She did a fast break and went for it, she made the basket on a lay-up and in it went! Her excitement is something I will never forget. It made me so happy to see her so excited, it brought a little tear to my eye and yes Jodi...I saw your tears too! Keep it up Lizard...we love you!

Our new pony.....ah...dog

Meet Cledus...our new dog. A friend of ours moved and couldn't keep him, so we took him in. I've always wanted a Great Dane. There will be a little adjustment phase, but I think he'll fit in well.

What's new?

Things have been busy and its been a month since I have posted anything. We went to Kansas via Amtrak to see Michael's family and celebrate an early Christmas. Not sure we are going to do Amtrak again any time soon, we will probably drive half way one day and the rest of the way the next. It is just getting to frustrating to ride the train with a toddler, although we had so many people tell us how well behaved she was.

I had to work on Christmas day, so we did a little family Christmas dinner and gifts with Nanny Judy on Christmas eve after Michael and I got home from work. Lizard came to visit for few days and we took a trip to see my family for a late Christmas dinner of sorts. We didn't do anything for New Years...Michael and I both had to work.

Last weekend we went to Flagstaff for Micah and Weston's baptism. I took my camera and managed not to take one picture! It was a beautiful baptism and I am so proud of them!

Danae is such a character. She loves to have washclothes on her head...daddy started that one. She is such a bright spot in my life, I wish so badly we could afford for me to be a stay-at-home mommy....which is odd since I always said that wouldn't be for me.

Danae adores Lizard and is her little shadow when she visits.

Danae got a taste of the Vanilla Cream Soda and kept taking the bottles, she LOVES cream soda...and no, we didn't give her very much.

Her new thing is she has learned to give 'noggins' and man can she butt heads when she wants to. Her newest thing, in the past few days, is she now knows how to blow kisses and it just melts my heart!

I start night shifts tonight, for the next four months, I have been dreading it for months and am trying to find the positive to it. I am so far from being a night owl, its rediculous.