Oh it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I have officially kicked off the Christmas season by attending my first holiday party! And let me tell you it was some party!! I got to skip my nap, dress up in my new Christmas dress (including my new red party shoes!), eat a lot of chocolate kiss cookies with Stacy, get the Christmas tree "tour" with Anne, play connect four with Dawna, and hang out with Cheryl's daughters. By the end of the evening I was exhausted!

Probably the best part though getting to play Anne's piano (as I am still talking about it to Mom and Dad!). Seeing as this was my first encounter with one that wasn't made by Fischer Price I was a bit intimidated at first (where were the color coded keys??). But after a few warm up rounds of "Chopsticks" and "Mary had a little lamb" I was rockin. I quickly launched into fairly snazzy versions of "Jingle Bells", "White Christmas", and "Frosty the Snowman" among others. Then to top it all off I even sang along to a few of the pieces! It was an awesomely good time!

(Side note: I don't even think my audience noticed the little button that I pushed on the piano to make it play a previously recorded version of all of these little ditties. I know... very Ashlee Simpson/SNL esque...but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.)

So, what do you say guys...same time next year? (Thanks for the wonderful festivities Anne!!)

Dawna took a picture of me and the fam...pretty jolly crew, huh.

Hello Snow Bear, nice to meet you!

This past weekend it snowed in Ann Arbor...a lot! So I had Mom dress me up in my new snow gear, and had Dad dig out my purple sled (last year it was known as my "boat") so we could go outside for some winter revelry. We took a walk/ride around the neighborhood, threw some snowballs, flew down the slide at the park (really slippery from all the snow), and best of all my Dad made me a Snow Bear!! I was just so excited!!

Kitty says Meow!!!!! A Halloween pictorial.

Halloween Adventure #1: Halloween in Greenfield Village!

Yeah mom and I matched...so embarrasing...but she seemed to like it.

"And the Best Costume Award goes to...

Great Grandpa Tom!"

Going to the Village.

Probably the only kid in the Village happy to get an apple for a treat.

Halloween Adventure #2: Daycare Party!

Where's the kitty?

Oh, there she is.

Halloween Adventure #3: Trick-or-Treating (for the first time)!

Making way with Thomas the Train...oh I mean Sam.

Waiting patiently to ever so polietly say "Trick-or-Treat" at our first house.

Fifteen houses later: "This is AWESOME!!"

A picture is worth 1,000 words!

Cousin Company

Earlier this fall Grammie and Papa brought my cousins over for a visit. We had a great time!! (See picture evidence below.) I showed them my Yellow (playroom), my favorite park, and then we ate pizza and cupcakes. Mmmmmm...cupcakes!

"And finally the tour brings us to my Yellow...

named in 2008 after the outrageously bright paint on the walls..."

"Do you take your tea with sugar or lemon?"

"Hold on tight guys...

I may be little but I can really get this thing going!!"

"Quick...just take the picture before we plot our escape!"

"Cupcakes and pizza? Really?

Otherwise we are marching right back to that park mister!"

The Creation of a Cannonball

I should do what?

OK...1,2,3...

GO!

AHHHHHHHH!!

Whoa.

Happy Birthday To Me!!! (Vol.3)

To cap off my 2nd birthday extravaganza Momma and Daddy threw me a party at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum. Now I had always thought that these so called "museums" would be full of dusty things you were not allowed to touch like dinosaur bones, ancient vacuum cleaners (Gigi I am thinking of your collection), and moth-eaten clothes. Now those things can be cool too, but this museum was different. It had toys and big bubbles and a piano and a ton of other fun stuff that you could actually play with. Nothing old and dusty here!!

The spinning table was where all the action was at!

Grandpa and Great Uncle Ron have finally found their calling as Professional Spinners!!

Wow that castle is taller than me!

Look, momma, I can play with my eyes closed!

Now this is how bubbles were meant to be!

Yay Megan!!!

Decorating our tambourines...

...to parade through the Museum!

Again with the singing...you people are nuts! In any case I think I am going to like being 2!

Happy Birthday To Me!!! (Vol.2)

Here are some pictures from my next birthday party at Great Grandpa Tom and Great Grandma Betty's house. The timing was very appropriate as it was my actual 2nd birthday, and it was my 2nd party...I guess the cosmos were aligned just right.

Hey, Auntie, do I smell cake??

It's for me again?!? And more singing?!?

I wish...that they will let me eat this soon!

HAHA...I stole a taste before you could stop me!! And F.Y.I. this was the BEST CAKE EVER!

Yippee!! A new Thomas the Train backpack!! I love this guy and all his silly friends!!

Some new clothes...

I knew there was room for me :o)

Happy Birthday To Me!!! (Vol.1)

Now I know that you are all still waiting for pictures of my big girl bed (what is the hold up mom?) but I thought in the mean time I would share with you the events of the past week...more aptly titled "Birthday Week 2008"! That is right ladies and gentlemen I turned the big 0-2! Now for those of you who are wondering about the significance of this milestone let me tell you about all the cool stuff 2 year olds get to do:

• Sleep in a big girl bed (but you already know about this one)
• Drink from a cup without a lid
• Put paint on t-shirts and wear them proudly like they are the finest in fashion couture (Grandma Buck helped me design 2 shirts, and I get to do another at daycare next week)
• Learn how to do a summer salt (look out 2024 Olympics...your gold medalist has arrived)
• Wear big girl diapers (pull ons)
• And best of all get to use the big potty when I am so inclined (this is a work in progress...)

In order to properly celebrate I had 3 different parties! The first one was at daycare on the last day of Kindermusik for the summer (a music class that I just LOVE). Momma, Daddy, Auntie, and Uncle John all came too! We all got to play with shakers and pounding blocks (not the technical term, but descriptive nonetheless), sing lots of songs, parade around the room, and I even got to be the leader for one song since it was my birthday. Woohoo! Then we had pizza and juice, followed by handing out the cookies Momma and I made the night before and bottles of bubbles for all the kids. It was a ton of fun!! (All photos courtesy of Auntie and Uncle J...thanks!)

Me concentrating on a new song

Momma and me... still concentrating

Daddy and me with pounding blocks

Me pretending to be a jack-in-the-box ready to pop up

Pop up...Yay!

Daddy got me!

Time for lunch....mmmm!

The Good Life Of A Big Girl!

In the past few weeks I have been out "living it up" as they say.

I had my first trip to the zoo over Memorial Day weekend and it was GREAT! I got to ride a train for the first time where we went over a bridge and through a tunnel (I LOVED IT!), took a five minute tram all the way to somewhere called "Africa" where I got to feed a giraffe a cookie, and I think I wore out the gears on the carousel where I rode a flamingo, a baby giraffe, and a zebra (as seen below riding this time with Grandpa). I also got to watch a pig eat jello. All in all a good time was had by all (including the pig...he was silly).

Then later that week, Mommy and Daddy decided to finally acknowledge the fact that I am a big girl now. After attempting (never actually succeeding) to master the art of climbing out of my crib, they decided it was time for me to try a big girl bed! And let me tell you I was pumped! I have never seen something so cool...a bed with only 3 walls!!

The first night I decided it would be ok to wake Mom and Dad up at 3:30am just to remind them that I had in fact been sleeping in my big girl bed all this time. Then they convinced me to go back and try it again for another 2 hours. The next night I rolled off on to my pillow landing pad and spent most of the night sleeping in the middle of my floor...however since then I have figured out two things. 1. If I cuddle a rolled up blanket on the walled edge of my bed I won't fall out (at least not as much). And 2. If I fall out, I can actually crawl back in. Amazing!

Now I know you are all waiting on the edge of your seat for pictures of this 3-walled bed...but those will have to come in the next installment. Right now I have to go make lunch for Minnie and Lucy...

Go take a hike...

...or at least a walk to the park. It is nice outside! FINALLY!

To mark this improvement in the atmospheric cycle (can you tell mom has been working on my vocab?) I decided it was time for Lucy to get out and get some fresh air. And what better place to do that than at the park? (Really, if you have any suggestions let me know. I am always up for an adventure!) Once we made it to the swings (Daddy pushed Lucy and Momma pushed me) I saw all sorts of fun things: airplanes in the sky, doggies, other kids. But by far the most exciting thing was when Daddy showed me that not all birds that swim are ducks. Daddy says that the ones with the long necks are called geese (goose if there is only one of them). So now just to make sure Daddy, Momma, Lucy, and anyone else in the general vicinity remembers this new and exciting piece of information I like to remind them that "Goose ah long neck" about 50 times a day. Speaking of...I think I hear some honking outside my window...gotta run...

Dolly Bed? Not today...

While I was at Grandma and Grandpa's house the other day I found something new (well new to me anyways). Momma said it used to be a bed for Becky (her BFF dolly) and now it could be one for Lucy (my BFF dolly). But I decided it looked more Evie-sized instead...

Then when Kermit and I were done with our nap I decided it was time to bake cookies. I had Grandma test them and she said that MY cookies were better than hers!!! I guess success really is sweet!!