What a big girl!

That's what we told Morgan when we decided to give it a go with having lunch at the "big girl" table & chairs. She was very pleased with herself, and these pictures just make me laugh. She continues to try her best to contribute to almost every conversation going on in this house - it provides for endless entertainment!

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to share a picture of the girls & say Happy Easter! The girls enjoyed the excitement of the Easter Bunny's arrival Saturday morning, then played and ran around on Saturday afternoon/evening during a neighborhood Easter egg hunt & party. Today, we enjoyed brunch and another egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa Miller's house, and then went to Grandma & Grandpa Jump's house tonight for an "Easter Feast", as Macy called it, and participated in yet another egg hunt! Macy enjoyed every minute of it, and Morgan really got the hang of it by the end. But, by the time we all walked in the door tonight, the girls were absolutely exhausted and I am so thankful that the bedtime routine did not involve any meltdowns - just the desire to finally go to sleep. :)

Thank you, thank you Grandmas & Grandpas & Aunts & Uncles & Family for all of the yummy food and treats, and for the wonderful gifts & baskets for the girls! They were so excited about everything, and they are just so lucky to have all of their family so close to celebrate and enjoy holidays together!

Easter Excitement!

How can I adequately explain how excited Macy was for Easter this year? Easter, and the Easter Bunny, rank right up there with her birthday and Christmas. She has been counting down to Easter for as long as I can remember. On Thursday of this week, she woke up & came into our room to wake me up, and said “Mom!! Today is my Easter party at school!! The Easter Bunny is coming TONIGHT!” Sill barely coherent, I explained that we still had to wait a couple of more days for the Easter Bunny to visit. Macy’s lower lip starts quivering and she starts stuttering “b..b..b..but mom, NO, he’s coming tonight!” She had a near meltdown over his not coming that night, as she literally had her heart set on it and had obviously been thinking about it since the moment she woke up that morning.

Later that day, Aunt Lori & Grandma Jump picked up Macy to take her to a matinee at the new local theater, and Grandma told us later that, mid-way through the movie, Macy leaned over to her to whisper that “Grandma – my Easter shoes are white with flowers on them!” Out of the blue – in the middle of the movie! Obviously, everything revolving around this “big day” has been on her mind the past several weeks.

So…due to Gregg’s work schedule, the Easter Bunny came to our house one day early this year. Last night, Macy was absolutely beside herself about the Easter Bunny’s arrival in just a matter of HOURS. Seriously….she had her fists clenched and was shaking them excitedly and squealing, racing around to get ready for bed as quickly as possible. Now, those of you who know this child and her bedtime routine – know that everything revolves around reading 2 books for bedtime – everything, every night, always. Last night, as I was getting Morgan down, I told Macy to pick out her 2 books and that I’d meet her in her room in a few minutes. Macy actually said, “Mom? Can I just read one book tonight instead?” And after further questioning, she explained ‘The Easter Bunny is coming and I need to get to bed” Gregg said “wow…..this is serious.”

Needless to say, she came racing in to our room at 7am this morning. For those who know, Macy has a little Tinkerbell digital clock next to her bed, and she comes to get us up once it is 7am – that’s our rule. If she wakes up early, she reads for a bit, but usually she’s up at 7:15am and it doesn’t matter. So later today when I was getting her bed ready for “rest time”, I found her little Tinkerbell clock buried under her covers. I knew instantly what she had done, but asked her about it anyways. “Mom…I woke up really early and kept looking at my clock, so I just put it in my bed to look at it, but I couldn’t go back to sleep…so that’s why I’m so tired today.” And man, oh man, was she ever tired today – she was exhausted. Poor thing, she was SO excited about the Easter Bunny coming that she must have been staring at that clock for at least an hour, or likely more, waiting for it to be time to get up. She also told me first thing that “Mom – I didn’t get up to go potty last night, because I didn’t want the Easter Bunny to think that I was awake!” Yikes. We definitely gave her the go-ahead to go potty no matter what from this point forward.

When she ran down the stairs this morning, her reaction was absolutely priceless. She actually waited for us to get Morgan up & to get her diaper changed before she ran down too – I couldn’t believe it.

Morgan, on the other hand, was not so thrilled at first. She is teething and was cranky, and was mad that someone set her on the floor with a basket in front of her. All she wanted was her high chair, a cup of milk, her cereal, and her banana. She screamed at us, letting us know that she could care less about eggs, a basket, or a new book – just give me my food and keep my routine going please! But, after she watched Macy for a bit and realized that the eggs actually contained food & goodies – she was all about grabbing and opening those eggs. We have two more Easter egg hunts for her tomorrow….so she should be an old pro by the end of the weekend! Here are a few of my favorite pics from this morning:

Look! The Easter Bunny ate the carrots, drank his water, and opened the present I left for him!

Hmmm...did Macy find another egg over there?

Yum, Yum, Yum!! I like this egg hunting thing!

Look at all these eggs I found!

If I stand on my tippy toes, I might be able to reach more treats!

A Few to Remember...

This week, Macy has said so many things that have made me laugh, or just smile, so I thought I'd share a few of them!

Plans for the Future....

This was a discussion between Macy and I in the car yesterday.

Macy: "Mom, can I be a teacher when I grow up?"

Me: "Sure honey, you can be a teacher. That's a great idea."

(long pause. Macy's thinking.....)

Macy: "Mom.... can I still be a cook too?"

Me: "Sure honey, you can still be a cook, you can do both if you'd like."

(pause, more thinking)

Macy: "Mom, but I still want to be a ballet dancer and be on stage....... and I want to be a doctor too. I want to do too many things!"

Me: (laughing) "Yes, honey, you are going to be one very busy girl!"

(several minutes later)

Macy: "Mom!! I know what I'll be. I'll be a teacher ON STAGE! Isn't that a great idea?"

Me: (laughing again) "Yes, Macy, that sounds like a perfect plan!" :)


Gratitude

Getting a Happy Meal is a "special treat" in our house, and last week, Macy was very excited that the toy included a princess Ariel "magic wand". She was so excited to get this and talked about it for the rest of the day.

So, fast forward to Thursday, and this tired Mom decides that we're going to get a "special treat" again - anything that involves a drive-through and chicken nuggets at this point. We then took our lunch back to my office, where a co-worker and good friend of ours was there, Stacy, who is the mom of Macy's very good friend Audrey. Morgan, Macy & I are eating in one of the offices, and Macy opens up her Happy Meal box and discovers that she got another Ariel wand. She was still excited about it - but then we talked about how she already has one of these, and maybe we could share this one with someone else. At first I thought she would say Morgan, but then we talked about her friend Audrey.

Macy then got very excited thinking about the prospect of sharing this prized princess item with Audrey, and she then hopped down off her chair and walked over to Stacy's office and handed her the magic wand. "This is for Audrey." she says, and Stacy graciously tells her "Oh my, Audrey will LOVE this! Thank you!" And Macy proceed to explain that she already has one and wants to give Audrey this one.

So, Macy returns to my office and climbs back up on her chair, very pleased with herself...."Mom, Stacy says that Audrey will LOVE it!" I then told Macy that I was really proud of her for thinking of someone else and sharing the magic wand. Macy smiles, keeps eating her chicken nuggets, and then a pauses a moment later and says "Mommy? Thank you for teaching me how to share."

Yes, that one made me smile for quite awhile. :)


Foreign Language

Over the past couple of weeks, Morgan does this thing were she will ramble on and on, pretending that she's talking....it is SO funny. She will join right in on any conversation, and make all of these sounds in her attempt to make "sentences", and she will even sit down and "read" a book from cover to cover with the same sort of rambling. (I'm trying so hard to catch this on video right now - but she's always done by the time i get the camera!)

So, today at Grandma Miller's house, Macy, Morgan, Grandma & Mommy were all enjoying a lunch-time "tea party", sitting in chairs with our little tables in front of us with our food and drinks. We're all talking, and then Morgan breaks out with this "ishbish i washba madada for dis?". Macy turns to look at her and says "Wow Morgan! You really know how to speak Spanish, don't you honey?" :)

A few favorites...

Thought I'd share a few more of my favorite pictures taken over the past month...

(by the way, if you click on a picture, you'll open up a larger image - as someone had asked me this last week.)

During a trip to the Seattle Children's Museum:


Stopping at the Seattle Center fountain:


Fun with sidewalk chalk:


Our attempt at 2 ponytails:

A great read...

Do you know that feeling when you're reading a really, really good book...where you are looking for any moment of free time to open the book again, or find yourself reading as fast as you can so that you can get to the next part? And then when you finish the book....you can't stop thinking about it? That has been me today. Miracle of miracles....I actually had time to finish a book this morning.

Marley and Me.

Thank you, Anita, for recommending and sharing this book with me. It took me 6 months to get to it, but boy, am I sure glad I did. I will admit, when I first looked at the book, I though "cute...a story about a dog. I'm really not into dogs right now...in fact, most days, I barely tolerate the ones we have." But it was so much more than a book about a dog....I mean it was, of course, about Marley the dog. But, the writing was so good, and John Grogan's insight so profound. More than once, I found myself laughing out loud and literally had to suppress my laugh when I was on the eliptical at the gym, for fear that people would think I was nuts. But there are so many laugh out loud moments to this book, and without sharing too much....I will tell you that I cried non-stop for the better part of a half hour at the end. I was so surprised of the impact that this book had on me, and I highly recommend it. I went to the author's website & blog and learned that they are actually making the book into a movie, with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston in the leading roles, and that he has a children's book out too, based on Marley the dog. I think I'll be looking for that one shortly!

Anyways...random post...but I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book all day! And yes, I will admit, our dogs have received some extra attention today as a result. :)

Signs of Spring!

Meaning, the fact that we're able to continue to play outside, and that we've started playing on the big toy again! Morgan has been enjoying it so much that, if we let her out into the front yard, or if we're all out in the driveway, she consistently turns around, trots down the front sidewalk, and when she gets to the corner of the yard, she pauses, looks back and says "i ishbishush mama", and then turns around and keeps walking. Translation... "I'm going to the big toy now whether you're coming with me or not, and I'm not stopping, and don't try to stop me or get in my way, because I will promptly scream at you for disrupting my venture to the backyard. Bye now." And off she goes. Sigh.

And when she gets there, she doesn't wait for one of us to put her in the swing or help her up the stairs to go down the slide - she just does it. The child has no fear. Everything in our house is apparently meant for climbing. This child will try to throw her leg up on anything in an attempt to get on top of it to climb higher. Anything. Art table? Well, the table surface is obviously meant for her to sit or stand on, right? Little table & chairs downstairs? Mere tools to use in her quest to reach things at a higher level, and she knows just how to reach the counters like the rest of us. There are several nights when we've had to turn all of the chairs upside down, to deter the climbing, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time until she figures to how to flip them back upright. It really is amazing to watch the differences between the two girls - gone are the days of cautious little Macy! :)

Here are some fun pics from the past several days, enjoy!

Fun on the big toy:





Fun on a Saturday morning!


Coloring together:


C'mon dogs! Follow me!

Great Check-up

Morgan had a great 15-month check-up this morning! Luckily, her cough has cleared up and her lungs sound great, and her ears are clear - both things I was worrying about after this lingering virus that has moved through our house over the past several weeks. Here are her stats:

Height: 30.5 (55%)
Weight: 23 lbs 7 oz (55%)
Head: 48 cm (95%)

At least her head measurement is back on the charts now! And man, did she take her shots like a champ - she barely flinched, and didn't even cry! We couldn't believe it - Macy was very pleased that Morgan wasn't "too upset" and that her prayer was answered. :)

Sisters

It has been so, so sweet watching Macy & Morgan play together lately. This morning, Macy was showing Morgan her flash cards and trying to teach her the ABC's, following her around the room trying to get Morgan to repeat after her. Later, I left the playroom for a minute, and when I came back in, Macy & Morgan were sitting side by side on the bench at the art table, with Macy handing her crayons and they were each coloring a side of the open coloring book. They were just sitting there so quietly coloring together, it was the sweetest thing. If Macy actually takes a nap, Morgan's most favorite thing to do is go in and "wake up Macy!" - she knocks on her door and then goes over to Macy's bed and starts rubbing her arm trying to wake her up.

Tonight, we were discussing how Morgan has her 15-month well-check appointment tomorrow morning with Dr. Herron. So, when Macy was saying her prayers tonight, she said "Dear Lord, please help Morgan tomorrow so she's not too upset when she gets her shots." It was so very sweet and thoughtful of her.

So you can bet that big sister Macy will be standing by her little sister's side tomorrow morning, helping calm her so she doesn't get "too upset" after her shots. I just adore watching them together.

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun.....

Thank GOODNESS you're finally making an appearance. I can't explain what the sun, and simply the ability to go outside without freezing or getting drenched, does for a 15-mos old, teething, getting over my cold, didn't take a long enough nap, little girl.

It was just so beautiful outside yesterday, that I had to grab the camera and get a few shots. Morgan is moving faster and faster, and even attempts to "run" at times, in her own wobbly little way. She also discovered the joy of throwing the ball for the dogs yesteray, and making them bark & jump at her doing - she was laughing hysterically. Here are a few pics from yesterday:

Just can't keep up!

Yes, I believe that sums up why I created this blog tonight - I just feel like I can never keep up! There are friends I want to call or email, playdates I want to schedule, pictures that I want to share with the Grandmas & Grandpas, just things in general and pictures to share with friends and family. And of course, there are all those funny little sayings that Macy shares or silly things Morgan does that I say to myself "Oh! I have to remember to tell Gregg that one!"....and of course, I forget. It's just all going my so fast.

So...I thought that by creating a blog for our family, I could perhaps share many of these details in a "one stop shop".....and maybe I could keep myself up to date too! :) If it weren't for the "date taken" details on all those digital pictures we take....I feel like I would never be able to keep up or remember all of these fun things that happen day in and day out around these parts.

So....I'll start there. :) It's late. I'll consider just creating this an accomplishment, and I'll start work on adding pictures and more things tomorrow!