The Museum of Biological Diversity Open House

Last month we had a fun day wandering through the Museum of Biological Diversity. It is normally a research and teaching facility, but once a year in February, they open their doors to the public to come see all the collections and different projects they are working on. It was really crowded, but really fun. It was geared towards kids older than Stella, but she still had an absolute blast.

There was an awesome bug petting zoo.

Stick Insects:

Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches:

Yup! That’s me holding that cockroach! Stella petted it a few times, too.

I held a salamander, too!

How cool are these photo Op booths? I thought they were so funny and crazy and I just couldn’t resist getting some pictures of Stella as a Mite:

And how about this creepy one:

Here are just a couple of the many cool things we saw:

Giant Clam:

Meteorite:

Walrus Hide:

Elephant Skull:

Two workers had these little animal puppets outside the mammal room and Stella LOVED them! We walked past them multiple times and every time she would squeal and reach out for them. She kept trying to hug them and kiss them. It was so cute.

Such a great day! We will be back next year!

Stella’s Birthday

A month ago we celebrated Stella’s first birthday! I can’t believe she is one already. The last year has just flown by. Stella is such a sweet, spunky little soul. I am so happy she is a part of our family.

At thirteen months Stella can take 5 steps without help, stand up on her own, dance, wave, sing. She can do the actions for Popcorn Popping, 5 little monkeys, Patty Cake, and a couple other little songs. Her favorite toys right now are her baby, her monkey, her musical giraffe, her bath toys, and books. She likes to pretend that she is reading her books outloud and it’s the cutest little gibberish. She can say book (booh), ball (ba), duck (duh), puppy, baby, Jesus (zeezus), Ta-Da, Hi, wow, uh-oh, mom, daddy, nana (food), nose (noh), turtle (tuh-tuh), yeah, and baba. Not all of them are complete words, but she uses them correctly and consistently. She signs drink, more, food, and all done. She makes the sound of a monkey, bee, dog, and owl. She has 8 teeth with a molar working its way through.

Stella opening presents:

Stella Eating her Smash Cake:

Sorry the movie’s are so long. I just couldn’t cut anything else out. I love how she starts eating the bananas, then ends up in Benjamin’s lap with a fork, and ends on the floor again. She was kind of moody that night and went from saying “hi” to me so sweetly to screaming “nana!”

Stella first thing in the morning:

Stella’s funny little squishy smile that she does when she is in a really silly mood:

She really can get quite silly, as the next video will show. I love this video because she is just learning how to stand up on her own and you can see how proud she is when she does it. I also love the random dancing and how she is just all over the place.

We love you so, Stella Snow.