Ahhh...

warm weather and fresh air.

I was thrilled to start celebrating spring a bit early on warm days over the last few weeks.  With Libby's constant requests to go outside, I happily geared myself up for lots of outside time.  Yesterday was perfect warm weather where short sleeves and shorts (for me) and short sleeves and pants (for her) were just the right attire.  Of course, I did make Libby wear a hat for much of the day while she was in the sun (her hair is getting longer and thicker all the time, but plenty of rays can still get through (plus it was nice to protect her face, shoulders and neck without having to slather on the sunscreen - though I did coat her forearms with it.)  And off we went... into the back yard!

We played for maybe five whole minutes and Libby wanted to return to the great indoors.

Watching an airplane!

After some playing and coaxing we made it out a bit longer before her first nap and we did spend most of the day outside in our yard and at the neighborhood playground with my friend, Katy!

Michael even got home a bit early from work and found us at the playground with Commissioner.  We got some extra play time in with him before nap time again and even got to eat a grilled dinner outside!

I found a great recipe for grilled pork chops that was so simple and just delicious!  We'll be making those again soon.  We also grilled some veggies and determined that while all of them were good, the zucchini was our favorite!  ...and half-way through our meal, I realized I needed to get photos for the blog.

That's Havarti cheese and bread in the background- but a huge chunk of butter (not that I'd turn that down!) 

Libby compliments the chef.  (Actually she pretty much only ate the bread.)

I recently bought Libby some sidewalk chalk to help entertain us outside and so that she can work on the concept of coloring without coloring my floors, walls, etc. or making a mess the way paint would.  (This is a lesson in one thing at a time for Mommy.  I can't stand a mess and Libby likes to discover and explore, but doesn't like when her hands get dirty, either, so it's a little at a time...)

Isn't Libby a talented artist?!  (Okay, this was by Marmena.)

One of Libby's new discoveries is to put the chalk through the hole in her little table and make it fall all the way through.  It's great when it goes straight through with no stops, but occasionally it will get stuck and Libby has to work to figure out how to get it to fall all the way through.  Cute little problem-solver.

Working on her chalk game!

Other things she's into right now are rolling on the floor, especially when her blankie or another soft object is around to love on and/or rub her face into.  She loves to lay there and then look up at you as if to say, "Am I not the cutest thing you've ever laid eyes on?"  She would also live on whole milk alone if we'd let her.  She's also big on controlling what she eats and has become much more picky at the moment.  However, she's healthy and hasn't seemed overly hungry, either.  She just has a smaller appetite than we'd been used to until recently.  She also tends to choose one item to focus on, especially at dinner.  One night this week it was leeks from our pot roast, the next night she wouldn't eat anything solid, the next was only the beef from the pot roast leftovers and Thursday night was just multigrain bread.  You never can tell what her selection will be!

One more photo below for your enjoyment.  Next blog post: our special visit from the Fuller's on Sunday!