my life is over . . . .

Mike and I were just cleaning up after dinner, having already put the girls to bed. I was in the office, across the hall from Mariah's room. My heart skipped a beat when I heard Mariah's door open. It skipped another when Mariah came walking out. She has conquered the crib! We're finished!

the mind of a 2-year-old

Here are a few recent conversations Mariah and I have had:

Mariah: I'm having a party!
me: What kind of party?
Mariah: Yellow!
me: A yellow party?
Mariah: Hmm. It will be fun!

Mariah: (walking Dolly in the stroller) I'm taking Dolly on walk to park!
me: Ok.
Mariah: I be right back.
me: Ok.
Mariah: (suddenly stopping like she forgot something) Gasp! I need to get my contacts!
(Turned and ran to the bathroom)

The last one needs 2 pieces of background info: (1) The other day, she had a bowl of popcorn in her room. She accidentally spilled some, so I asked her to clean it up. She started to but then got mad about it; she grabbed a handful of popcorn and slammed it into the bowl, tipping the bowl over and spilling more. I told her not to do that and said again to just clean up the popcorn. She immediately did another popcorn slam, adding a yell this time. I quickly scooped her up and plopped her in her bed, saying something like, "You did that on purpose." And (2) She's not allowed to play with Elaine's teddy bear (I want just one thing to still be newish when Elaine starts to care). So . . . .

Later that same day, I came into her room to find her with one leg over the side of Elaine's bed, trying to climb in. She immediately said to me, "I'm getting Laney's bear on purpose!"

A&D, Rats' Nests, and Miss-matched Shoes

This is what happens when Mom leaves the A&D within arm's reach of the crib . . . "Make a big MESS!" Yes, Dear. You did. It took 4 washings to get the stuff out of her hair.

This is the rats' nest we deal with each morning. Maybe the greasy A&D was a good idea . . . .

These are the shoes Mariah has chosen to wear for the past 5 days. The bright pink one is too small, so she has a slight limp, but she puts it on anyway. When she went down for her nap just now, I finally got them put away in the too-small box. Hopefully she won't be too devastated.

And these are just some cute pictures of the people I love . . . .

"Praise to the man . . . ."

203 years ago today, Joseph Smith was born. I'd like to pay tribute to this man, without whom my life would not be the same . . . in any way!

I know that as a 14-year-old boy, Joseph was visited by God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. He was instructed not to join any of the churches of the time.

Over the next several years, with divine guidance, Joseph Smith restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness and organized what is now The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

If Joseph had not had the courage and faith to do what he did, I would have none of the blessings I enjoy today.

I am so grateful for my testimony of Jesus Christ, the Atonement, and eternal families.

Sickies

Laney has croup, but she's still such a happy baby . . . .

AWOL at Church

A couple weeks ago, we went to my grandparents' ward to hear them report on their mission in Brazil. After sacrament meeting, I saw that my brother, David, was helping Mariah down from the bench. The next thing I new, Mike was asking me where Mariah was. We looked for 5 minutes or more, and I was getting a bit concerned. Grandma Orva started asking people if they had seen a very small pink girl. A man finally said, "Yes. We have a small pink girl in here." Mariah had gone to the classroom that, in our building, is her nursery class. She had left the chapel and walked down the crowded hall all by herself. She went in to what she thought was her class, climbed on a chair, and was waiting, apparently, for her teachers and the other kids to show up. What a goof!

Happy Birthday, Mariah!!

My little Mariah turned 2 yesterday. We're all sick with colds and croup, but we still managed to celebrate and have a pretty good day.

We let Mariah open her doll with accessories right after breakfast. She was ecstatic! She played Mommy much of the day, which was nice since we couldn't go to church in our sickened state.

We went over to Grandpa Jim and Grandma Shaunna's for dinner and a little birthday party. I made gluten-free/vegan carrot cupcakes with "cream cheese" frosting. They turned out delicious! (if I may say so myself).

Mariah is such a blessing to us. We love you, Mariah!

Some of Mariah's favorites:

corn puffs & raisins
Little Einstein
Sound of Music
The Nativity (movie done by the Church)
Elaine's exersaucer
oatmeal & blueberries
chips & salsa
her blue dress with yellow flowers
Fancy Nancy
helping with Mom's make-up
taking a bath/shower
going to the park
Ernie (she has never seen Sesame Street; Grandma Shaunna gave her an old Sesame Street house with the little characters)
helping Mom
reading books
going to the library ("We go to library next week.")
"Just a second."
"It's kinda chilly."
"Dad be home at dinnertime."
"Oh my gosh!"
"I tripped & slipped & did a double flip!" (from Fancy Nancy)
"Tastes like ice-cream!"
"I be right back."
"I take a good nap!"
"I had a good night!"
"It's not working!"
going to nursery
popcorn in a pumpkin bowl
Faux Paw
dancing
leading music
drawing with sidewalk chalk
spelling her name
finding m's & w's
yellow

more mariah

Mariah loves to draw. The other day, I found her drawing in her chair. I guess she was writing her name. She said, as she drew, "M-A-R-I-H! (She almost always leaves out the second A.) Mariah!" (As she said this, she pointed, moving her finger across the paper, like she was reading.) She then showed me the paper, and asked, "How's that?" It was lovely.



She also loves the porcelain dolls that are on her dresser. They were mine when I was little; she's not allowed to play with them, but I let her hold the little one if she sits down. This is her being very careful.

(Notice, she's wearing her favorite outfit again.)

Another random Mariah-ism: She likes to emphasize the ends of words?

"It made a big loud noise-uhhhh!"
"I'm all done-uhhhh!"
"That would be kind of fun-uhhhh!"
"It's kinda cold-uhhh!"
"Make a big huge ('hooj') mess-uhhh!!"

you make me smile . . . .

thoroughly modern mariah . . . .

I've mentioned before that Mariah often chooses her own clothes. Well, this is her latest favorite outfit (she's worn it two days in a row). The top is actually a dress, but Mariah picked it out to wear with her jeans yesterday. I think it actually looks like one of those very modern dress-like shirts (there's probably even a name for them). Leave it to my one-year-old to show me up in the fashion department.

honey dog

Yes. At our house this is called a honey dog. Several months ago, Mariah said it was a dog, and I told her it's actually a bear, and it's called a "honey bear." She promptly said, "Honey dog!" And that's what she has called it ever since. Well, today, I pulled it out, and she told me it was a "honey snowman" . . . hmmm.

*Mariah just saw this post and said, "Honey snowman!" so I guess that one's sticking for a while.

Elephants!!

We've been listening to Christmas music for the past few days--5 CD's on random play. Well, this morning, I was in the kitchen, and Canadian Brass "Frosty the Snowman" came on. Mariah came running into the kitchen, very excited. "Elephants!! Elephants in the music!!" She apparently thought the trumpets were elephants.

more humor . . . .

Okay. My girls are asleep, and instead of being productive, I'm dinking on the computer. I was going through old files and came across this one. I had to share:

The Commute . . . a bit of comic relief.

My mom emailed this to us a while back.


*I showed this to Mariah; her only comment was, "No way."

sitting

This is Laney's latest position of choice:

crazy laney

Laney's latest is jumping. I just started putting her in the exersaucer about a week ago. I was amazed at how quickly she figured out how to move around. She now jumps whenever her feet touch something solid (the ground, a lap, etc.).

my little shepherd

I mentioned in the previous post how Mariah gathers the sheep from all the different nativities and carries them around with her . . . . I think it's so cute. She even has to bring them in the car when we go somewhere, and almost always has her three favorites tucked in her one hand while she uses her other hand to do whatever she's doing.

I tried to get some candid video shots of her . . . impossible. As soon as she sees the camera, she needs to "see babies on the camera." So, this is a conglomeration of clips, trying to capture my little shepherd. Before I brought the camera out, she was playing with the nativity, making baby Jesus slide down the yellow "slide" that is really an arch with a star on it that goes over the Holy Family. (Notice at the very beginning, when she sees the camera, she scoops up her three sheep before coming over to me.)

"deck the halls . . . ."

It's our third Christmas together, and we finally got a Christmas tree! I'm so glad we did. Mariah liked walking through all the trees at the lot, and Elaine was a good sport in the pack. She even slept through our whole shopping trip to buy lights and a tree stand.

When we got home, we put Laney to bed and let Mariah stay up to help decorate. I had visions of my sweet little girl gently placing ornaments on the tree, sitting on the couch, calmly listening to Christmas music as we turned on the lights . . . ha! She was a crazy girl and only lasted for about 10 minutes. (Or maybe I should say she was going strong, but Mike and I only lasted 10 minutes). We put her to bed, and Mike and I finished decorating in peace.

I love the finished product! It made me wonder why I dread the decorating each year (maybe the thought of having to put it all away again . . . .) When we were done and admiring everything with just the Christmas tree lights on, I had a memory of lying on the living room floor as a kid, looking up at the Christmas tree shadows on the ceiling, listening to Christmas music. I love this time of year!

I gave Mariah a little talk about how we just look at the nativities; we do not touch. I did tell her she's allowed to touch the sheep (I figured they're not terribly breakable), and the colorful nativity. Each day, she gathers the sheep from all the nativities and carries them around wherever she goes. Yesterday she came into the kitchen and got a towel. I wondered what she was doing with it; this is what I found (notice the sheep from various nativities):

Happy Thanksgiving!

We joined the Linford/Johnson crew for Thanksgiving dinner and then headed to Rigby, Idaho, to join the Georges. We stayed there through Sunday and had a great time! Mariah was kept happily occupied by Grandma, Cami, or Prince (the dog) for hours at a time, and I truly had a stress-free 3 days. I love family!