Brian, Stella and I went to the Austin Nature and Science Center last weekend and really enjoyed ourselves. I can't believe I have lived in Austin 10 years and never went. It was Museum Day in Austin so that had all sorts of nice volunteers showing off cool science projects that were a bit over our, I mean Stella's, head. ;) But Stella had a blast at the "Dino Pit" where you got to dig for fossils.
Future Archaeologist?
Standing on a fossil, figuring out her next dig spot.
Really, it was like a giant sand box. The Nature Center also has rescued animals and Stella really loved the Coyote.
After 20 months, we finally paid for a babysitter! Crazy. I guess because we shell out such a large chunk 'o change for daycare every month we really try to avoid spending more on child care. We have been pretty fortunate and have either traded services with friends or utilized our kind relatives (AKA Jeff and Shannon) when we have had actual reasons to go out sans Stella. We are so lucky and have Letty, Stella's former teacher, as a babysitter. Stella was so excited to see her and had a great time. Letty is a pro and we trust her like family. Now we need to come up with another reason to hire a babysitter!

More Labor Day Weekend

Story time before bed is my favorite time of the day. Stella has just recently taken to sleeping with her "animals" and now she likes for them to also read the story with her. Her favorite animals of the day are Froggy (yellow animal), Puppy (thanks Grandma and Pop Pop and Minnie Mouse (thanks Aunt Holly, Uncle Rob and Josh and Jenna). She also loves her Pooh Bear (thanks Grandma and Grandpa) but he tends to go for rides in the stroller and is usually not a sleepover friend.

Stella has mastered the spoon, but she is still quite the messy eater. Tonight she only wanted to eat yogurt, potatoes and oranges. Sounded good enough to me.
Allyson was nice enough to loan Stella a swim diaper and she got good use out of it as she spent the entire time we were visiting either in the baby pool or running around with the hose. Sorry, Drought.
Kyle and her really enjoyed the hose.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend is off to a great start. Unfortunately, I have to labor on actual "Labor Day" but Stella gets to stay home with Brian which she is very excited about. Our dinner plans to go to Central Market and eat and play on the outdoor playscape were canceled due to ...are you ready for this...rain!! It POURED Friday evening so we took Stella instead to one of our favorite Thai restaurants we don't get to go to that often because it is located in North Austin. She LOVED it and had a great time eating her spring rolls and then sharing our stir fry and HOT green curry. She kept asking for "more, more" even though she was coughing from the heat of the curry. She'll eat lettuce if it is wrapped in a tasty tofu spring roll.
Chowing down, Thai style.
So delighted with her food choices.
Then on Saturday I was able to see my old graduate school roommate, Diane and her lovely family at our other roommate Allison's house in Buda. It was so great to see both Diane and Allison and meet everyone's children. Allison has 3 and Diane has one, Kyle, whom Stella was trying to steal the hose from above. Got to love Texas.
We all looked the same! Even after 9 years, we all look great! And it felt just like old times.