Riding "bikes" in the Barn

MJ and EJ got new "vehicles" for Christmas. We got MJ a trike. A low riding, Schwinn with crome and a nifty wooden plate in the back that looks pretty sharp. I knew the pedals wouldn't be used for awhile, although she can almost reach them, but I wanted her to start practicing with the handlebars for awhile and we will work on the pedals gradually and hit it hard this spring/summer. We don't really have a driveway or sidewalks right next to our house, so Josh took both "vehicles" to the barn at camp. The rain has challenged me to find out of the house activities that are free/inexpensive and close. Riding our "bikes" at the barn is a perfect option as it is free and only a three minute car ride and as a bonus, we sometimes get to see Daddy at work. After three practices, MJ is amazingly fast and adept at steering...way ahead of the schedule that I thought we were on. I think we might try the pedals sooner than I anticipated. I will bring the video camera next time.

EJ got this push along car. He LOVES it! Mommy loves it, too, as it give my arms a break. MJ likes to push him, too. She is getting to be such a good and caring big sister.

After riding our "bikes," MJ helped Daddy sort lead ropes in the barn. My little girl is getting so independent!She always wants to help.

A Cheesy smile...

When she was a baby, MJ was easy to get to smile for pictures. Starting at about 11 months, when she started to walk, she was imposible to keep still for a picture. About 4 months ago she started to say "smile" whether or not she was looking at the camera, which made for some interesting pictures. Now comes the "cheesy" smile stage. She doesn't say cheese, just "smiles." Ugh... I am glad that she will now hold still, but the pictures are still interesting. Sweet girl, she's trying.

Cookie Decorating!

Now that my Mooch is grown up enough to get involved, I have been eagerly anticipating starting fun holiday activities/traditions with her. The first that I thought that I would attempt was cookie decorating. I made a big batch of sugar cookie dough one night and put it in the refrigerator for the next day. I thought we could do it during EJ's naptime. I made frosting in 5 different colors and bought all sorts of sprinkles and got out all of my christmas cookie cutters. This was going to be a big event and I was trying to be prepared before we got started. I stripped down the table and set out all the materials. We were ready.

She really just wanted to eat the frosting, but she got one cookie decorated. She even did good with the sprinkles.

She did not understand that we were just going to decorate cookies and not eat them all. Now that one was done, she wanted to eat it, well actually, just lick it.

 Okay, you can eat it, MJ!

 After liking the blue frosting off, she repainted it with red frosting! and then licked the red frosting off.

 The actual cookie decorating lasted about 6 minutes. I think only about three cookies got decorated (two by me). Good thing our friend, Caitlin came over to help mommy decorate the rest or I would have had so much wasted cookie dough. Hopefully MJ will be more into the decorating and less into the frosting licking next year. Maybe dying Easter eggs this year will be more successful. Not as tasty.

My big 2 year old!

My sweet girl turned two last week! She is growing up so fast. She amazes me with all that she knows. I'm sure every parent thinks their kid is so smart, but WOW, this girl is a quick learner. She loves to cuddle, read, SING and twirl. She loves snacks, her baby doll, Pacarina, baths and her dog, Rhema. She is such a good big sister and gives Buddy lots of kisses and hugs. She likes to go with me to greet him when he wakes up and I know she is going to love it when he can crawl, walk and eventually run around with her. I LOVE this little two year old!!!
                         All dressed up in her party dress!                        

  Opening her first package.

                                                    "Happy Birthday, dear MJ!"

                  

Indulging in ice cream cone cupcakes with her cousin.

My little ballerina

MJ's new love is Angelina Ballerina. She asks to watch her all the time. She likes to wear her tutu, often only the tutu as her other new love is going naked as much as possible. Here is her twirling like a ballerina while watching Angelina Ballerina.

Snow Play

We loved the snow last week. Snow is so much better when you are home to just enjoy it instead of have to worry about driving in it, although I am sure it wouldn't be nearly as bad in the jeep as my old mustang.We had some fun outside while it was still snowing, before the wind and the branches ruined the beauty and the power outage. No pics of EJ. We waited till he went to bed before suiting up to play outside. He can sit out this year.
                                             Here she is asking,"Where my boots go, Mommy?"

Here we are trying to catch snow in our mouth, like Baby Bop when she sings, "...standing out side with my mouth open wide, ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah."

Her favorite part was eating the caked snow off her mittens.

 When we were cold enough, I enticed her to come inside for one of her other favorite activities... a nice warm bath... no pictures included.