Just hangin' out at home

By -
Dear Diary,
Isla and I spend alot of time at home and I admit the days can be l-o-n-g and boring at times.
Yes, she does keep me on my toes but it doesn't always mean exciting as in stimulating. She is content following me around, "talking" together and "helping" me - yes, she can dust and clean windows - but periodically throughout the day we stop to go for walks, read books and play mega blocks.
There are even times that she goes in her Pack 'n' Play - that would be a playpen to the "older" generation of readers. I can't believe it, I thought that by 17 months I would've had that thing packed up by now but she still loves to go in there to just hang out by herself and since it doesn't take up alot room, we leave it up.
She loves to read her books, talk on the Fisher Price phone to Oma & Opa (did you get all those phone calls mom and dad?) and it's very conveniently located for watching tv! It's also great for me to put her in and keep her safe while I have a shower in the morning.
The last week or so she has found herself in it a bit more often than normal because she has taken a liking to the trash can....
How annoying is this scene?

About 80,000 x throughout the day I have to get her out of it. For now we turn it around so that open button faces the wall but I'm wishing I had a trash can that goes under the kitchen sink. Yesterday she found a banana peel and for the next 45 minutes all we heard was "nana, nana".

She's annoyingly cute!
Colin and I have been putting on our Betty Crocker hats - not literally, we bake from scratch, we don't cheat! Last week it was muffins, pie and brownies and this week it's a blueberry pound cake but the problem is there is only 2.5 of us that eat it!
Not too bad for my first attempt and even Colin said it tasted "OK". That's about as big as a compliment as I'm going to get from him.
Oh and while I remember because 9.5 times out of 10 I forget to mention birthdays, to our lovely little neice -
Happy 15th Birthday Julianna!