french horns and alligators

I remembered some more cute things Mariah has said:

• She was watching the "so long, farewell," song on "Sound of Music." It came to Gretel's part, where she's sitting on the stairs singing. I guess Mariah thought she looked super cute or something; she very matter-of-factly said, "That's Mariah."
• "Just a second." She says this all the time.
• We were drawing outside with chalk. She was making requests. After several "kitty cats" of different colors, she requested I draw some alligators. I thought this was random and funny, but then she outdid herself by requesting I draw a french horn. I apparently didn't do a very good job, though. She said it looked like a pumpkin bowl.
• She's big into saying "also." She uses it whenever possible.
• She loves FHE and will randomly climb onto the piano bench and ask to have Family Home Evening.
  
• We were at the library. She found a book about two caterpillars named Hermie and Wormie (neither Mike nor I like it very much). She brought it over to me, showed me a picture of the caterpillars, and said, "I loooove them!" We read this book several times a day. I can't wait until it's due back at the library.

"I'm good talker"

Mariah is pulling out all sorts of big words and sentences lately. She remembers everything I ever say and pulls it out later on. She knows she's doing it too, cause she often follows up a new sentence with, "I'm good talker."

Today at lunch she said, "I rather take shower," when I asked her if she wanted lunch.

She says several new and surprising things every day, but I can never remember when I want to write about it later . . . .

She also loves watching the songs on "Sound of Music." The puppet show is her favorite. She can be heard yodeling throughout the house.

She's also big into counting all of a sudden. We got a counting book from the library, about 10 little bunnies. I think that started it. She counts everything, but for some reason usually returns to "two" after "seven." Then if I say "eight," she'll continue with "nine" and "ten." She's also usually right about the number of things she's counting. She's very careful to assign only one number per item. In fact, today we were reading "Oh, What a Busy Day," (one of her favorites), and we were counting animals on the animal page. She grabbed my finger and started pointing my finger at things and counting them.

(Mariah just woke up from her nap, and she's in her bed singing the yodel song, "one little goat do-dle-yo-dle-hee--hoo." Funny girl.)

fun in the leaves . . .

Disneyland

Back in October, Mike and Mariah went to Disneyland with Mike's family. I stayed home and played with my sisters and mom. The report was that Mariah was a fabulous traveler and a great sport most of the time. Her favorite part was playing in the water while she waited for Dad to go on rides. Her least favorite part was the haunted house. She still tells me almost daily, "Ghosts not real."

water girl . . .

this is my cute cute mariah in the shower . . . . she loves it!

tagged . . .

ok, marian, just for you . . .

I am: a mom, a wife, a sister, a daughter.
I know: The Church is true
I want: sleep
I have: a fabulous husband
I dislike: when i lose patience with mariah
I miss: my sisters
I feel: content
I hear: both girls not taking their naps
I smell: carob pudding i just ate
I crave: something sweet almost always
I cry: often
I search: for a steal of a deal on a phil & ted traveller bed
I wonder: where we'll be in a year
I regret: being impatient with mariah
I love: mike, mariah, elaine
I care: too much about what other people think
I worry: that I'm not teaching my kids all they need to know
I remember: how hard it was for me to be an "older" single, and how grateful i am for mike
I believe: in a loving Savior who died for me; He has given me what I need to return to Him.
I dance: with mariah
I argue: with myself
I write: sometimes on this blog, but I wish I kept a better journal
I win: rarely
I lose: all sorts of things; if i didn't have mike, i'd be sunk!
I wish: my children would go to sleep
I listen: to silence whenever possible
I can usually be found: at home
I am scared: of spiders. and bad men.
I need: to enjoy the moments of motherhood
I forget: people's names
I am happy: being a mom
I tag: the rest of my sisters who "didn't have time" for marian's tag

interviews

my husband comes home tonight!! yay!!! (i don't know how any of you survive your husbands' long trips/deployments!) so far, mike has interviewed in salt lake (for the program at creighton, in nebraska), indiana, milwaukee, virginia, and oklahoma. he has interviews scheduled in pittsburgh, louisville, new york, florida, and a new invite today -- las vegas. it's a fun time of life; who knows where we'll be in a year! (well, actually, we know Who knows; that's the great truth about life!)

story time

Last week at the park, I met a girl (well, lady, i guess. she's about my age. am i still a girl?) with a little girl just younger than Mariah. She mentioned that they go to story time at the library almost every week. I thought I should do that. So, today we did!! I bundled the girls up, and we walked. I had to speed walk on the way there, cause we were running late, but walking home at a very nice pace only took about 20 minutes. I think we'll start going regularly. Mariah loved it!! The storytellers weren't fabulous this time, but she still had a great time. I let her pick 5 books to bring home. They're totally random, but fun.














This one's my favorite:The images move as you turn the pages and move the book!

they call the wind "mariah"

When I was pregnant with Mariah, one of my co-workers always warned me that if I named her Mariah, I would have a whirlwind child because, well . . . "they call the wind 'Mariah.'" She was right. That girl is constantly going.

We went to Grandma Orva and Grandpa Paul's for dinner tonight. In a very short time span, I cleaned up a water spill, ignored a granola spill that I should have cleaned up, rescued 6 decorative stone/marble things from her mouth (mixed with apple crisp crust), and cleaned her up from eating/drinking some of the oil from the Grandma Byrdenne heirloom oil lamp. (She came to me saying, "Yucky, yucky!" and had oil all over her hands. She had eaten some and spilled a lot on Grandma Orva's carpet and coffee table. Thanks, Mom, for dealing with that so pleasantly).

But . . . I love her dearly. And these pictures were just too cute to not share. The first couple are of her talking to Daddy on the phone. (He's interviewing at VCU and Oklahoma tomorrow and Tuesday). Here hair's all wet because we walked home from church in a downpour. She was a great sport! The rest of the photos were taken by Uncle Davie tonight at dinner.

Random October Pics

happy halloween!

My truly feelings are that Halloween should be outlawed. But we managed to have a pretty fun day anyway.

I took the girls to visit Grandpa Paul at work. Mariah refused to get in her costume, but Laney had no choice in the matter. She was a great little indian; and Mariah was maybe a zoo keeper? carrying her giraffe?

We went from there to see Grandma Orva and Davie. I gave Davie the secret charge to get Mariah into her costume. Mariah was happy to oblige. (She just couldn't do it when I wanted her to; can't wait 'til she's a teenager!) I ran some errands while Laney slept, and Grandpa Paul pushed Mariah in the swing.

We joined the George Family for dinner. Mike's mom made her traditional broccoli-cheese Halloween soup. (She veganized some for me! Thanks, Mom! It was delicious!) During dinner, Mariah was so cute with Mike. (He was gone for the past few days, interviewing for dental school. Mariah is so happy to have him back.) At one point, she leaned over and linked her arm through his, and then would not let him go. I tried to catch it on film, but didn't get there in time. The picture I caught was just her hand-death-grip on his arm. (I haven't told her yet that he leaves again tomorrow.)

After dinner, Mike and I manned the house while everyone else went trick-or-treating. Mariah was ecstatic when she returned!! She thought it was about the best thing to just knock on someone's door and get candy!! (This is one of the parts about Halloween her mother thinks we could all do without.)

We had a great visit with Mom and Dad George while everyone else (minus our kids) went back out. What will we do when we don't have family nearby?!