Monday, February 28, 2011

The Grills..errr, Girls!

Some of the favors from the party the other night were little grill and vampire suckers.



Remember Mac's vampire binkie? She mentioned it when she saw these.



This one is pretty out of it. She's caught Brad's cold, and she's been running a fever and been uncharacteristically quiet. You can even kind of tell by the picture.

Bye Bye Binkie!

Brad came home from work today and asked Mac if she wanted to send her binkie on a big trip. Mac, not really understanding what he was saying, said, "Yeah!" So, we took the balloons still floating from the party, tied them together, and tied them to the binkie.



She seemed very practical about the whole thing. Ran to put on her coat and shoes.



And then trotted outside with her bunch of balloons and binkie.



And then without fanfare or anything, just let go. And watched the balloons carry the binkie away.



Bye bye binkie!



I told Brad he was going to do bedtime tonight, while I left to run an errand. He said she asked about it once, and then went to bed. Wow. So much easier than I had imagined it would be. Well done, Mac.

Mimi

Some more Mimi. She certainly is a troublemaker. She particularly loves Brad's egg poaching pan, as it has little tiny pieces to put inside other pans. Perfect.



She's also really funny with long thin things. She likes to put them around her neck like a scarf and crawl around that way. Today she got hold of my laptop cord.



While Brad and I were in DC, she figured out how to use leverage to move the heavy chair away from the stairs and weasel her way through the resulting opening. I guess she ended up in Leiden's room a couple times. Sigh. My solution? To tie the chair to the banister in a double knot and put a little box on the leg side of the chair. She hasn't been found upstairs by herself since.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

More Walking!

More of the Meems taking some measured steps. I've got to get the video out for this, but have had some trouble with the battery.




I think my favorite part is the arms straight up in the air.
These were some nice ones of Grandma and one of the birthday girls.
It was especially nice to have Grandma and Grandpa here for the party! They go home tomorrow, so we'll miss them.
Brad has been sick since we came back from DC and it appears to have spread to Leiden. She's a little lethargic, and has been running a fever off and on. Hopefully she didn't transmit it to all the kids at the party.

Mac and Mimi Have a Party: The Rest of the Story

Mimi was enthralled with the balloons. She loved playing with the strings and yanking them around. She didn't even seem to mind when they popped!



After dinner and before cake the kids went downstairs where Brad supervised some games. They played some dancing games.



I managed to get all three of mine in a picture.



Mimi was excited about the candy prizes. It's amazing. She somehow knows that something good is in that wrapper!



Brad found these really weird bubbles at the dollar store--they didn't pop! They drifted down to the floor and landed on kids' hands, and just stayed there until they were smashed/popped--they were almost like really thin plastic wrap.



Mac's cupcake came with three candles to blow out, which she did in style. We put one in Mimi's, but she kept trying to grab it. Not good, so we took it out.



After the party, Mimi played with the balloons again. She really liked Mac's. Super smart girl figured out that if you pull on the string enough, the balloon comes down and you can play with it!



Happy Birthday, Mimi and Mac! May there be many more!

Mac and Mimi Have a Party: The Food

Today we had a party with some friends to celebrate the two birthday girls. Brad got excited about cupcakes again, so he took off with corn on the cob, mixed vegetables, and mashed potatoes and gravy.



Complete with black sugar for pepper and yellow starbursts for butter.



The peas were the hardest. I went to Target and literally skulked by the bulk candy bins, and whenever there wasn't anybody around and looking at me, I would pick out all the green sixlets I could find. The carrots are orange starbursts cut up.



The mashed potatoes were the easiest, just white frosting with a yellow starburst butter pat and caramel sauce for gravy. Very clever.



Again, Mimi started out so daintily with her cupcake.



The kids LOVED the peas and carrots cupcakes.



The other birthday girl



This was the end result with Mimi.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Baby Steps

Mimi is getting bolder, and starting to walk a bit more. It's always between people, but Leiden counts, even though she can't catch Mimi without falling down herself! I had the big camera in my hands, so it's a series of blurry pics instead of video, but here you go!





The thing I'm starting to notice is that every once in a while, she is a lot more controlled--no careening around with her top half moving faster than her legs. At least sometimes. :)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

100th Day of School

Today was Leiden's 100th Day of School! She colored her 100 days box, which she took today, full of 100 of the same item, complete with hints for other kids to guess what was in it.



What are your guesses?
Mommy and Grandma helped her decide what items would and would not fit in the box. Her writing is a funny mix of upper and lower case letters, which we're trying to work on. But, hey, she's writing.
I made special pancakes to help make it a big deal at home as it was going to be at school. Only Leiden got the 100 plate.


Leiden, you're 100 days smarter!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Washington DC: Day 3

Well, if I thought yesterday was cold, I had another think coming. Today was snow on the ground cold. Luckily I was a supreme tourist and had snagged a great blaring 'Washington DC' sweatshirt the other day in anticipation. Here we are on the mall, with the camera set on a sandbag with the timer.



We spent most of the day in the Space and Science Museum today, although we did also visit the American History Museum. One of our favorite parts was the giant 747 nose the Space and Science Museum has sticking out of one of its walls. They are so big.



Here am I by the landing gear, which gives a bit of perspective.



And then me by a separate engine to give some more.



While a very cool museum, it hasn't been updated as a whole in probably 20+ years, but we were certainly able to look past the dated material and decorating!


After we finished there, we walked around a bit and eventually went up by the capitol and into the Library of Congress. Right outside the Capitol, there are Botanical gardens where there was a greenhouse jungle. Perfect for a bit of warming up. This fern was right in the walkway, and it very much reminded us of the ferns in 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' that Fanny Eubanks keeps getting shoved into. Don't know what I'm talking about? Shame.



The Capitol...



This time the camera was set on a ledge, but I did not focus very well, so the building is in focus and we are not. At least we tried!



We've had a lovely time here, and have been glad to hear that the kids haven't been giving Brad's parents too hard a time. It has been nice to not have to worry about anyone but us for a couple days. It would have been nice to go somewhere hot, but this was a great trip that has re-inspired in me a lot of love for our country. God Bless America!