Days 29 - 33

29/365 - February 2, 2012

Leah & I went out for cupcakes at our new favorite cupcake shop in town. She was such a good sport about tagging along to all my errands throughout the week, so this was a fun treat. Leah chose the one with the blue icing (a special Winter Wonderland cupcake in honor of the Groundhog seeing his shadow) and I chose English Toffee. Yum!

30/365 - February 3, 2012

We made Valentine spritz cookies! A little early, but I know Leah will enjoy these for the next week or so.

31/365 - February 4, 2012

Dan has been working tirelessly on scraping and sanding the popcorn ceiling upstairs, in what will be Leah's playroom, and after also playing outside for awhile on Saturday, he was sore and just needed to lie down! Naturally, Leah had to make sure he was OK. ;)

32/365 - February 5, 2012

A little glimpse of our college town. It was such a beautiful day on Sunday (high of 72, I believe) that we decided to stroll around and enjoy the weather. Below is City Hall:

33/365 - February 6, 2012

My little helper! Leah is stirring our corn bread batter, which we ate with a yummy vegetarian chili last night.

Days 26 - 28

26/365 - January 30, 2012

I was playing around with the zoom on my camera, hoping to catch a bird or two in our feeder. Success!

27/365 - January 31, 2012

The sunset, using the "Vivid Colors" setting on my camera! Really makes the sky look intense!

28/365 - February 1, 2012

My beautiful little girl. :) 

Here I was, trying not to bother her with pictures and just focus on the dogs but she kept sitting right in my line of sight and giggling, so I think she was OK with the paparazzi today. ;)

Days 22 - 25

22/365 - January 26, 2012

Mmmm, bread. :) This was my first loaf of homemade honey wheat bread in the bread machine. It was delicious! And so ridiculously easy to make. (Can I marry a kitchen appliance?) I served some with dinner and because it was so good, we polished off over half the loaf. Whoops! I made another loaf the next day, which has lasted much longer. :)

23/365 - January 27, 2012

Tried snapping a photo of Leah dancing to the radio, but as soon as I got this fuzzy one, she got mad at me for taking pictures again, so this is all I have for this day. LOL

24/365 - January 28, 2012

I use this shelf in the family room to feature different Cherished Teddies throughout the year, since I have such a large collection. I set out my Valentine's Day bears, along with a few other sweet ones. :)

25/365 - January 29, 2012

Leah asked to go to the Botanical Gardens on Sunday, where we walked a couple trails. I was rather happy with the focus on these two photos.

And, Dan managed to snap this one of Leah before she could protest. ;)

Days 20 - 21

20/365 - January 24, 2012

After several days of rain, the last two days were finally beautiful, sunny, and mild! We enjoyed a lot of time outside. Caught this one of Leah relaxing in her lawn chair. :) Dodge also enjoyed a good back rub by rolling in the grass. He does this often!

21/365 - January 25, 2012

Ever since he was a pup, Hud has loved to play with, chase, and catch soccer balls. The obstacle we run into is that he's very protective of his ball and often won't stand back so we can even kick it for him. He would make an awesome goalie.

And, after three hours of fresh air and outside play, somebody was awfully tired yesterday afternoon. ;)

Days 14 - 19

14/365 - January 18. 2012

My first loaf of bread in the new bread machine: cinnamon swirl! It cracks me up that the swirl looks like the shape of a "G". Thanks Grammy and Grandpa for the Gift? ;)

15/365 - January 19, 2012

We often have deer in our yard. Our neighborhood is more on the rural side, with lots of wooded areas and creeks. It's not unusual to see sights like this, and since my dogs were passed out asleep and completely unaware of the "intruders", I took advantage and snapped some pics.

16/365 - January 20, 2012

My sweet little ballerina, wearing her new ballet outfit from Grammy and dancing around the kitchen to the Tangled soundtrack. :)

And, because they were SO yummy, the scones I made to go with our "breakfast for dinner":

These were especially amazing with some raspberry preserves!

17/365 - January 21, 2012

I actually snapped a whole bunch of photos on Saturday between Leah's dance class and her, surprisingly, wanting us to take her picture that afternoon. I am posting this one because it's rare to actually get a good photo of Leah & Hud together. Hud was standoffish with Leah for a long time; he was never mean, never growled or anything, but he wasn't so patient with a new baby in the house stealing our attention. Yet in the past year, maybe more, he's really warmed up to her and is somewhat comfortable with poses like this. :)

18/365 - January 22, 2012

We went to Home Depot and Lowes on Sunday to begin preparing for Leah's new playroom upstairs! This is just a quick glimpse of the curtains & curtain rod that we picked out. We're going to try to make it very colorful up there!

19/365 - January 23, 2012

This amused me. All the figures are lined up according to height. My daughter totally got my OCD tendencies. ;)

Days 8 - 13

8/365 - January 12, 2012

My father-in-law gave me this mug for Christmas. He knows I adore the Broadway show, Wicked, and of course, my coffee. And the inside of the cup is green!

9/365 - January 13, 2012

My mom & stepdad came to visit for the holiday weekend, so we finally got to do Christmas with them! This is Leah, hugging her new plush Daisy Duck to go with the rest of her Mickey & Friends crew:

Holding up a set of Beauty & the Beast characters! I'm surprised I caught her face in the picture at all because she moves so quickly, especially when she's excited!

10/365 - January 14, 2012

One of the gifts Leah received the day before was a dress-up Belle costume. She didn't want us taking pictures of her but I managed to snap this one before she could realize what I was doing!

11/365 - January 15, 2012

Dan & Leah walking at one of our favorite spots, the Botanical Gardens. I love shots from behind.

12/365 - January 16, 2012

Leah & I on the mall choo-choo! We promised her a ride if she was well-behaved at the flooring store we wanted to go to beforehand. No, we are not above bribery and yes, it works. ;)

13/365 - January 17, 2012

My shiny new bread machine that my mom & stepdad gave me for Christmas! I am super excited to try this out (maybe today?). If anyone knows any good recipes, feel free to send them my way!

7/365 - January 11, 2012

My sweet, sleepy Dodge. I have entirely too many photos of him fast asleep... clearly, that doesn't stop me from taking more. ;) He's just so darn cute and cuddly.

Couldn't resist a little puppy love too. :)