Springtime Tallahassee

This weekend was the annual Springtime Tallahassee Parade. Both sets of our parents and my 2 sisters drove up from Tampa to join us for the festivities. The past few years we've gone to the outdoor market, but we've never been to the parade. We figured this would be the perfect year to start considering Kaitlyn loves noise and music!

Attendees at the event seemed pretty scarce, probably due to the weather forecast. The rain that hadn't stopped the previous 2 days, let up for just long enough for us to spend a couple hours enjoying ourselves downtown.

Kaitlyn was fairly weighted down with necklaces by the end of the parade.

Grammie & Katie Belle love Kettle Corn!

Everyone indulged in lots of fried food: funnel cake, fried green tomatoes and a bloomin' onion. Mmmmmmm.

There was an awesome cover band playing called, Black Sheep. If the weather had held up, we could have listened to them for most of the day.

We had a really good time and plan on doing it again next year!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Okay, so it's not April.... yet. However, we had our first, 48 hours straight, band-after-band, down pour this weekend. Yea! I've missed rain.

Death of a Dishcloth

In a previous post titled, "Little Chef" I mentioned Kaitlyn's new fondness for cooking; and how she especially enjoys "using" the stove. Well, earlier today during my art class, I kept having to wash my hands (we were using pastels) and I could never find the dishcloth. I kept walking around the house with wet hands searching for it. I knew I had seen her with it earlier. I figured she must have hidden it in her room. Then, while the oven was heating and Jacob came home, I noticed a strange smell. Then it hit me.... THE OVEN! (Also mentioned in the previous post, Kaitlyn's has tried baking blankets, books and stuffed animals) My lost dishcloth was nice and toasty, baking in the oven.
Make mental note: Must ALWAYS check the oven before use, or have serious consequences. My mother already taught me this lesson, but that is another story entirely.

Lovin' Bolt!

Well, for family home evening last night the Crosby clan got Bruster's Ice Cream and rented Bolt from a Redbox for free! Woo Hoo! (We love free.)

It was really cute! Jake and I loved the hamster, Rhino. Not to mention, all of the various pigeons with regional accents and dialects. We were trying to introduce Kaitlyn to her first Disney movie. We figured since the lead character was a dog she would sit and take notice..... wrong! She is still not ready for a feature length film. That is totally not a bad thing. I'm glad she would rather read a book than watch TV.

However, if any of you are planning on purchasing this movie. Now is the time to do it! It would be a great Easter Basket stuffer. WalMart has it on sale for $15.96. Then, there is a $5 off coupon available until the end of March. PLUS, a $4 rebate with the purchase of a Ronzoni Pasta product. In the end, I will have only spent $7 on a New Release. (Well, not including the cost of the box of pasta.)

Little Chef

Kaitlyn has developed a love of cooking. She used to only mess around in the kitchen when I was cooking. Now I find her causing mischief in the kitchen all of the time! The other morning I opened the stove to find the quilt I made her inside! She pulls the oven door open and puts in mixing bowls, books, anything she can get her hands on. She takes any of the silverware she can get her hands on and throws them in the sink. She bangs bowls and lids around, all while trying to reach whatever she possible can on the counter. Yesterday, she shattered the butter dish all over the floor. (She was lucky not to have walked through the shards of glass.) She loves to walk around wearing the oven mitt too.

"Uh Oooh"....

Kaitlyn's new favorite phrase.
Too bad she has too many legitimate chances in which to use it.
For example....

her personal introduction to body art. D-E-lightful.

The Great Debate...

Which Girl Scout Cookie do you love? Trefoil or Thin Mint?

It's Thin Mints in this house! They win 2-1!
We Crosby girls are chocoholics!

Happy 163rd Birthday!

This Spring marks the 163rd birthday of the Relief Society!

The Relief Society was founded in 1842 by Prophet Joseph Smith. It was established to help build faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement; uphold, nourish and protect families; and provide relief.

In celebration of this momentous occasion, the Tallahassee First Ward had a special Home, Family and "Purse"onal Enrichment activity. Everyone was asked to bring their purse with them to the activity. When we arrived, we received a number and were instructed to leave it with along with our purse on a particular table. We then voted on whose purse was the heaviest, the most colorful, the smallest, the most expensive, etc.

The stage was decorated with different purses representing the past and present Presidents of the Relief Society. A short biography about each President and their role in the Society's history was attached to each purse.

We also played a game where Tricia called out random items that you might find in your purse and you got candy if you had it.

Other than that, the night was a full of mingling and catching up with good friends, as well as stuffing our faces full of good food without children begging for our attention.

Thank you Enrichment Committee!

A Sunny Spring Saturday

Spring has arrived in Tallahassee! (Well, it's been here, but winter tried to make a comeback and killed off my first azalea blooms!)

Our Camellia bush is hopefully about to explode! Its branches are weighted down with hundreds of buds. The past 3 springs it has been stingy and only lets a few flowers bloom at a time. It's such a scrooge.

Our Azaleas are also on the verge of their own floral explosion.

Today was such a perfect Saturday. If you didn't find yourself outside you should be ashamed. It was 80 degrees with low humidity and a big beautiful sun shining brightly! It got us Crosbys off our derrieres and outside working in our yard. Jake hacked away all of the frost damaged plants while I tried to tidy up our neglected porch so Katie could utilize it.

For the last 3 years we have lived here, we have NEVER used our screened in porch! It's only 7.5ft by 13.5ft, but we can make something of it. So, I swept it out, wiped it down and arranged the furniture that has been gathering dust and dirt out there.

Kaitlyn also got a gift from Nana to put out on the screened porch. After her nap, she got dressed in her bathing suit from Grammie and was introduced to her new toy.... which just happens to be the new love of her life. Hello, water playground!

Obviously, the girl loved it!
Any excuse to play with water and toss it around is right up Kaitlyn's alley.

We've always been told, ever since Katie was born, that she has a very expressive face.

Katie also came home from nursery, a month or so ago, with a cup of dirt and some seeds that she planted in it. Shockingly, green stuff started appearing just a week after we began neglecting it on our window ledge. (I was amazed it survived sacrament and the ride home in the first place.) It has now outgrown its original plastic cup and found a new home in a few different terracotta pots.

After all of the fun in the yard, we went to Lowe's and Home Depot looking for a specific light bulb that has been evading us for the past couple of months and took advantage of Sonic's Happy Hour with some Diet Cherry-Limeade, Onion Rings and a grilled chicken wrap. All-in-all, it was a very productive, fun and beautiful Saturday. A day that makes you love being a Floridian!

Mommy & Daddy's Getaway

After Jake completed taking the Bar Exam this past Wednesday, we got to escape on the little getaway he planned to Orlando for the both of us. He got a really good deal on Priceline for the Hyatt Grand Cypress. It was a blissful weekend with no set schedule and no Katie Belle waking me up!

Our room had a fabulous view! Below are a few pictures I took from our balcony.

We were right on top of the Disney property and could see Downtown Disney and Epcot from our window. At night, we could take in the firework displays!

I love getting away with my Baby!