Could I be a mom of four?

Today, I have had Mary Ellen, plus three others. Mary Ellen was the youngest, and the other three are related. Things have gone well.

Or maybe the better question is, could I run a day care? That is what it sort of seemed like at times!

Dr. Mom

Will she be a doctor? Will she be a mom? Will she be Dr. Mom?

Mary Ellen got a doctor's kit for Christmas, because we had a very terrible last experience at the doctor. The doctor suggested it, so we will see if it helps when we go next time. She loves being the doctor to us!

She also loves taking care of her babies. She feeds them, rocks them, reads to them books, puts them to bed, and makes sure that they get their pictures taken.

Once again, like mother like daugher

For those that know me very well, know that I love peanut butter. I can eat it from the jar, and have been known to eat a lot of it. I love banana and peanut butter and have that for breakfast some morning. Yesterday morning, Mary Ellen had eaten her breakfast and was already playing, so I sat on the couch to eat my breakfast of banana and peanut butter. Well, as you will see below, Mary Ellen took the jar from me and took part in it herself. After every bite, she would look at me and say, "Good!"

Sorry that the pictures are small. Paul took them on his phone and sent them to me, which he has done before, but for some reason, they stayed small this time.

Babies, Car Wash and and "Elephant Ride"

Mary Ellen loves playing with her baby dolls! She takes them and puts them in the stroller, puts them in her high chair, and even puts them to bed. She also gives them kisses and tickles their feet. The other day, she kept holding them up for me to take pictures of them. She would hold up the baby and say, Picture," and then move the baby and say, "Mary Ellen." She was pretty quick in the transition, so these aren't great pics, but it gives a taste of her caring nature coming out as she loves her baby dolls!



The new experience that we had yesterday was going through a car wash. We had to get my car washed after all the snow and salt that has been on the ground. There was a long line, so there was a little time that Mary Ellen had to watch what was going on. When it got to our turn, she just started saying no, and as you can see, she covered her face, or at least one eye, so she could still see what was going on.


And the other night, Paul decided to get in on the idea of a new thing a day. He usually gets home long after we have done projects, and he has been out of town. I was fixing dinner, and I turned around to see this:


It was Mary Ellen's personal "Elephant Ride!"

Truly her mother's daughter!

I have noticed that Mary Ellen has really taken a liking to icing, which is something that I enjoy myself. It really hit me when I saw her going to town on this iced sugar cookie. She made sure that she got every bit of the icing and then enjoyed the cookie!



What a big girl! Mary Ellen had her first dinner in her new booster seat with her new placemat, plate, and silverware. She really seemed to enjoy it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's day celebration started yesterday with the Valentine's banquet at church.


After church today, Mary Ellen was excited to see a few presents. She gets so excited about opening the paper and pulling tissue paper out of a sack that she doesn't really care what is inside. She was excited to find stickers and crayons. It was also a good chance to get her some things that she needed as she is getting bigger. She loves to play with her forks and spoons and set out plates and bowls for her babies and all of us, so she got some new dinnerware that she can eat off and play with.




She also got a booster seat, so we can start transitioning from the high chair to sitting at the table. She has used one at Caki and Bo's house, so she likes it there, so it will be good to have one at our house
.

Valentine crafts and such

We have been working on Valentine's crafts for a few weeks. It has taken that long to get all of our projects done. So, here is a sampling of her work.

We made handprint pictures, which Mary Ellen did not like, because she does not like to have her hands dirty. Anyone who gets one is very lucky, because it was hard to get these made!

She signs her valentine's cards over and over again. She lines them up and "writes" her name!

She has made sticker Valentine's cards and colored them.

And, she decorated cookies today. I don't know how much she really decorated over eating them. She was definitely on a sugar high after wards!






And, yesterday, we got out to run off some energy after our days of being inside. Mary Ellen met Caroline at the mall, where they climbed on the few toys there and enjoyed just seeing each other.

The fun continues

We did leave the house today, but we still had to come up with fun things to play with. Mary Ellen actually went to the cabinet where I have been keeping supplies for special projects or a new something to play with and started looking through it and asking for something to do. I didn't really have anything in mind today, so I pulled out toilet paper rolls and stickers. She really did have fun with it. She kept coming back to it, and I found it in her stroller like this:

She put it on her hand and "looked" through it. Whenever she is acting like she is looking through something, she puts it on her forehead. It is cute to watch.




She also is really liking the balloons. She likes to see me blow them up, but when I was starting to get light headed, I showed her how to put the stickers on the balloons.



And yesterday, we did continue the fun after her nap by playing in a box.

Snow Day - Take 2

We are stuck inside again, because of so much snow. Mary Ellen is doing great, but I have to admit, I am getting a little stir crazy. Hopefully, in the next few days, it will melt enough that we can get out, but right now, it is staying pretty cold. We will just have to see. To help with our time, we are coming up with different things to play with. Today, I went to the cabinet to find something new to play with, and the winner was balloons. We have batted them around throughout the morning. Mary Ellen has tried to blow them up like I was doing.





Mary Ellen got out a few puzzles to play with:


She decided to do a little work:


Made a drum set, but this time out of plastic containers, so it wasn't quite as loud:


There is still more time in the day, so who knows what we may get into after nap time!

Unexpected Snow Day for a 21 month old!

We woke up this morning to a very unexpected snow day. When I went to bed, they were saying cold and rainy, so I was so shocked to find a snow covered backyard. Needless to say, we have been lazy and stayed at home.


Mary Ellen enjoyed watching the snow come down from inside the sunroom.



Since, Mary Ellen liked the snow so much a week or so ago, I thought that I would bundle her up and take her outside, since this was snow that was really good for snow balls. Well, as you can see, it was difficult for her walk in, because her feet just sank down into the snow. I guess I should measure her boots and determine how deep the snow is, because you could not see them. But, we did make a few snow balls and then came back in for the day.






Look at my big girl - She is 21 months old!

Fayetteville trip for Granny's birthday

Caki, Mary Ellen, and I went to Fayetteville to help Granny celebrate her birthday and visit with Aunt Connie, Susie, and her. We had a lot of fun. We laughed a lot, which Mary Ellen joined in on. We ate a lot, slept late, and stayed up even later. Mary Ellen was no where near being on her normal schedule, and she did great and had a lot fun!



Mary Ellen and Granny watching Clifford and playing together!


Mary Ellen and Susie playing peekaboo!


Mary Ellen reading to Susie.


Mary Ellen thought that her ice cream and whipped cream should be finger food!


On Friday night, we had banana splits. We had some fun with the Redi Whip!


Mary Ellen and Granny posing for a picture!


Granny blowing out her birthday candle. I didn't get a picture, but Mary Ellen helped from her chair, and then had her own candle to blow out. She loves birthday candles and birthday cake!


Mary Ellen helping Granny open her presents.


Mary Ellen watching as the presents are opened.


Mary Ellen and Susie checking out pictures.


Mary Ellen holding the birthday card that she made for Granny!