Shannon is completely obsessed with slides. Every walk we take she points out every single one that we walk by. So we decided to get one for our yard. She loves it!

Shannon stirred up the corn bread all by herself! She also helps unload the dishwasher. Unfortuanately she doesn't really care if the dishes are clean or not when she unloads them.

OK, no kidding, there was a fox in our neighbor's back yard. It is very hard to see, but Tom was able to get a few pictures. Now we aren't sure if we should worry about Porthos being out in the yard by himself. After all, this is a dog who gets beat up by baby robins and bunnies. Of course, the hat probably doesn't help.

Papa made Shannon a piggy bank. Now she can save up for more Muppet videos.

Easter! Isn't she pretty? Her friend Dawn gave her a purse to carry with her Easter dress. She liked putting her farm animals in it.

Shannon's first Easter egg hunt. She got some movies and stuffed animals. There were chocolate chips in her eggs!

Shannon and her cousins Clayton, Emma, and Levi. Shannon was climbing all over poor Clayton, who was a very good sport about it. They all got balloon animals from a wandering magician.

Shannon as a nudist and as Mommy's helper in the kitchen. Who needs clothes?

Alex has a new toy. It hasn't improved his temper but at least he can sit on it while I work in the kitchen.

I think Shannon wants an Easter sheep hunt instead of an Easter egg hunt this year.

Playing in the snow (in the path worn down by Porthos - there is still a lot of snow out there!).

There are a lot of puddles now that the snow is starting to melt so we either had to not take Shannon for any walks for a long time or get her some rain boots. These are just like the boots in one of her favorite stories!

Shannon really likes playing with her farm. She also really likes chewing on the sheep's hair. It is usually quite soggy and gross.

Last week at baby class I borrowed a sit and spin for her to play with. You can't tell from the picture, but in the one where she is wearing a grey and pink sweatsuit she is actually crying her head off. She was furious because I wouldn't let her play with the camera.

We are getting to be on very good terms with the pest control guy. Last fall there was a chipmunk under the stairs, which necessitated calls to pest control (chipmunk apparently had already left as we never did catch one) and the cement guy (to mudjack the front porch). Today we heard a lot of thumping and lo and behold, a squirrel was in the fireplace. Thank goodness for the nice, thick glass screen we have in front of it!

Daddy and Shannon having some storytime. Shannon likes Daddy's version of the stories - they are much funnier than when Mommy reads them.

Shannon is getting pretty good at using a spoon. Here she is eating applesauce. She isn't wearing a shirt because the second course was spaghetti and I figured there was no sense ruining any clothes. Her aim isn't that good yet!

Shannon decided she really wanted to wear Mom's shoes. She even managed to walk around in the a little.

Shannon's first finger painting. She didn't really like having her hands in the finger paint, which is kind of funny considering that she has no problem body painting with yogurt.

Mommy and Daddy got Shannon a bike helmet and a bike of her own. She figured out how to ride it right away!

Christmas time!

Daddy made Shannon a cave to play in. What fun!

Tom's guard unit had a holiday party last weekend. The kids had a chance to sit on Santa's lap. Except for Shannon, who burst into tears when she was still about 10 feet away from him. Strange reaction from a kid who practically tries to go home with random strangers at the grocery store.

They had a big table covered in stuffed animals for the kids after they sat with Santa. We call Shannon's new teddy bear John (as in Jaundice). It has to be the ugliest teddy bear I have ever seen but she insisted on that awful yellow color.

Time for driving lessons already?

Shannon got a balloon from a restaurant the other day. She loved it!

One night while I was at work, Tom decided to give Shannon a haircut. Here is the result. I still haven't quite recovered from it yet.

Shannon got to go outside and play in the snow. Since it is almost as deep as she is tall, she didn't get very adventurous.

More pictures of Shannon walking. Isn't her hair a mess? She has really bad bed hair in the morning these days, and you can imagine how much she likes having it combed. This outfit was made by Nana.

About a week ago we got Shannon her first pair of shoes. She celebrated by immediately standing by herself in the shoe store, which she had never done before. She then proceeded to walk all over the mall just hanging onto my sleeve. Within a week, she was walking. Yesterday on her birthday she mastered standing up by herself without holding on to anything. Currently she can walk 20-30 feet without falling over and she even tried running today. I'm kind of sad - I will miss the way she just puts her head down and crawls as fast as she can to something interesting. Still, it will be fun going for real walks and playing on more than just the swings at the playground.

So here she is. For some reason she walks better if she is holding something in her hands. Yesterday she carried a saucepan all the way into her room.

A few more birthday pictures. Shannon loved the lasagna and ate 2 huge bowls. Nana made her an apple cake with a dog on it, 2 of her favorite things, but by the time the cake came out she was pretty over-excited and just threw the icing around. The rest of us thought it was pretty tasty.