I just cannot get enough of Merrill dancing.  Sorry if it's too much!

Bowling

Millie's inaugural bowl

We took the girls for their first bowling adventure this afternoon, and an adventure it was!  We did not know that Saturday afternoon at the local bowling alley was "cosmic" bowling and very popular with the 10 and under set!  Talk about over-stimulation!  But the girls did great and had a blast -- and so did we.  Millie declared bowling the best part of the day before falling asleep.  Thanks to Lauren and Jason for joining us in the fun :). 

 Merrill chased her first ball down the alley -- and then slipped and fell on her tush :).  

 Slow and steady :)

 not every shot was a "strike"...

I typically do not like to share shots of me from behind, but just wanted to add "bowling" to the list of things I can do while holding a baby :)

 Celebration!

and Millie was done!

*S*N*O*W*

Millie waiting for her snowman dress to work its magic!  (I have a feeling it's going to work :))

18-months

It's hard to believe that Merrill is 18-months old already!  Our little baby is definitely gone and has been replaced by a very charming and intelligent young girl.  She has no trouble keeping up with Millie these days and holds her own in the "mine!" battles (which she both starts herself and endures when Millie starts).  She will drop everything and start dancing the second she hears a beat and now enjoys singing too.  She has begun requesting her "tutu" when she gets dressed in the morning (looks like we are going to need to get at least one more!)  She loves babies, snowmen, and dogs (from a distance).  She loves everyone and everyone loves her right back :).  She's talking in 2-3 word "sentences" and will echo back just about anything we say to her.  She is always in motion, just like her big sister.  She insists on walking everywhere now instead of being carried. We all smile a little more because of her :).  She did a great job at her appointment today, though she did not appreciate the shots.  Her crying ended quickly though at the mention of getting a sticker and going home to show of her pink band-aid.  For those keeping track, she measured at 31 1/2 inches (45th percentile) and weighed in at 20 lbs 8 1/2 oz (5th percentile).

She also likes to "help" everyone.  Here she is helping me put together a craft shelf.  She certainly looks like she knows what she is doing!

getting just the right angle...

She ain't no loser....

I had to repost this picture of Millie... and her doppelganger.  When I first saw this picture it immediately reminded me of something else I had seen before.  I figured out that Millie looked exactly like the musician Beck, circa 1993.  I think the picture of Beck is a still picture from the video for Beck's first single "Loser".  Pretty funny and pretty weird coincidence, although not as weird as the video for Loser.  Apparently Millie has the fashion sense of a rock star, which given many of her wardrobe choices, is not too surprising.  She likes to mix and match and I have to say, most of the time, she totally pulls it off.  Rock on Millie Moo!

Blog Tip

Leslie inspired me to find a way to put "reactions" at the bottom of posts and Katherine's blog let me know it was indeed possible.  Here are the instructions if you want to add it to your own blog :).  You can put "stars" too!

http://buzz.blogger.com/2008/11/reactions-easily-engage-your-readers.html

Full comments are still wanted and appreciated, but it's nice to have a quick and dirty option too :)

A Few We Missed

These are a few pictures that got lost in the shuffle the past month that are just too good to not share (and save for future embarrassment...)

Millie passed out on the floor -- this NEVER happens in our world

Merrill keeping it classy.  I mean, wow, really wow

 again, there are no words.  Let it be known, these are fashion choices the girls made on their own -- I had no part in these! 

me and my girls New Year's Eve. 

December 31, 2010

I'm a bit late on this post, but I know that come December 31, 2011 Scott and I are going to be sitting around the kitchen table wondering what we did last year (like we have done just about every year in recent memory) and it's nice to have the blog to go back to for a reference.  It's not that this year was anything special.  In fact, in most ways it was just like our past few New Year's Eves which means it was much like any other day/night of the year.  In some ways though, it was the strangest New Year's we've had yet. We started our day like any other day, went to the salon to get haircuts, played at home, took advantage of the warm weather and took down the outside Christmas lights, figured we might as well take down all the Christmas decorations since it didn't look the weather was going to allow for much activity outside of the house, cooked a typical meal, got the girls to bed at the usual time and spent a couple of hours reading on the couch before going to bed ourselves -- well before midnight. All typical day fare.  It's not that we don't like New Year's or think that the passing of one year and coming of another doesn't warrant celebration, we just never seem to plan for it and it kind of sneaks up on us after all of the Christmas celebrating. 

This year though, there were a couple of odd things of note.  First of all, the weather here in St. Louis was anything but expected.  The temperatures were in the 60's and severe storms passed through the area leaving us to spend part of the day sheltered in the basement while the tornado sirens went off.  Fortunately the storms passed just south of us (literally just miles from us) and we did not suffer any damage and did not lose power.  It was quiet sobering to be watching the news as all this was going on and seeing the amount of destruction that occurred from a tornado that touched down nearby.  We were pretty thankful for our quiet New Year's Eve day. 

Later that evening as the girls and I were reading books on the couch, we did have a little excitement though.  Scott opened the front door to check the mail and as he did a bird that had been nesting in our winter wreath flew into the house.  I'm not going to lie, I did NOT play it cool.  I let out more than one squeal and was QUITE unhelpful yelling "out bird, go out!" while Scott chased the bird around the main floor with a broom praying that it didn't go upstairs.  The girls however thought it was great and kept yelling "bird!  bird!"  Millie commented several times that she thought the bird wanted to live with us.  We tried to explain to her why that wasn't a good idea :).  Not really the type of excitement we were looking for.  The bird eventually found it's way out the front door and we were able to get back to our sleepy night.  The slightly unnerving part was that neither Scott nor I actually saw the bird fly out.  Scott saw it go down the hallway, but I was attending to Merrill in that moment and didn't see it.  But it wasn't any where else to be found (and still hasn't turned up) so we're pretty confident it found it's way home :). 

And that is how we ended 2010 -- peaceful and happy and loved with a few unexpected moments thrown in for good measure -- much the way we lived the year in its totality.  Here's to another peaceful year.

Babe

I never had the honor of hosting my Grandma Babe at one of my homes as an adult, but in the past two houses we've lived in our guest room has been decorated with items that came from her -- things from her "blue" collection and a framed picture of her and me on my college graduation day.  There aren't a lot of items, and they aren't big, but they make me think of her and they have forever transformed our guest rooms into "Grandma Babe's Room" in my mind (even though there isn't a drop of pink in the room...).  I finally framed the picture of Grandma Babe's house that Christian gave me last Mother's Day (also Grandma's birthday) and hung it proudly over the bed in the guest room completing the transformation.  Who better to be our patron saint of entertaining guests than Grandma Babe.  I know that her spirit will bring joy and happiness to all who stay in that room, just like she did in her daily life.  I miss her dearly and wish I had spent more time with her as an adult, wish that she had been able to meet my girls (they would have LOVED her and she them), wish that I could have had the chance to welcome her into my home at least once, and am so grateful to have had her in my life. 

Headbands, Bows and Clips -- Oh My!!

I have many de-cluttering/organization projects that I am itching to tackle around the house.  Unfortunately, not many of them were started let alone finished over our holiday "break."  To be fair, I only had two extra days off (Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve) and not a full two weeks.  The things I did accomplish?  De-cluttering the side of the fridge (yeah, I started with the easy stuff!) and organizing all of the girls' hair accessories.  The latter was done today and involved a bit of crafting so it was actually fun :).  Millie and I made a headband holder (out of an empty oatmeal container) and a bow holder (out of canvas and ribbon).  Both tasks were so simple and fast and inexpensive that I just might be making more of them for the fun of it!  If you are a girl or the parent of a girl watch out -- you might get one as a gift! :). 

Headband Holder

total cost: about $1.00 for the paper

oatmeal container -- cleaned out, label peeled off and replaced with pretty scrap-booking paper (1 1/2 pieces)

the lid took a couple of coats of paint to cover since it was black

the finished product (the lid was still drying)

I did also buy these little containers to help keep the inside storage organized ...

Bow Holder

Total cost: hard to say... I did buy a lot of ribbon for this, but we used very little on this project, so the actual cost probably didn't amount to much.  We already had the canvas and paint

putting my pro-painters to work.  Millie of course chose pink

the ribbon after I stapled it on

hanging in the girls' bathroom adorned with all of our bows and clips! 

Of course, now I really want to paint the girls' bathroom and get new bath accessories.  The ducks kind of clash with all that pink!  That will be a project for another day...