Holiday Spirit

So I was feeling like there was really no reason to decorate for Christmas this year. Between plans to spend Christmas in Kansas and not hosting any holiday functions it seemed like kind of a waste of time to decorate for just Mark, Amelia and I. It isn't that I'm Scrooge I was just feeling lazy. My change of heart can be attributed to two events; (1) waking up the other Saturday to the most beautiful snow and (2) Mark was adamant that we would have Christmas decorations and so he told me that if I didn't feel up to it he would take care of it. There is nothing like Mark threatening to decorate to get me motivated!Amelia seemed to enjoy picking out a Christmas tree and the first snow storm of the season. Then dad had to go and throw snowballs at her which she wasn't too sure about. He claims it was perfect snowball snow so how could he resist......After bringing home the perfect tree it was time for Mark to get to work shoveling. It didn't take long for Amelia to realize what Mark was doing. She pointed to the garage and said "shovel" and insisted on going outside to help. Without Amelia and her pink beach toy I just don't know how Mark would have ever gotten it done.

Clearly, she was an enormous help.Does anyone know how to get a toddler to wear gloves/mittens? She refuses and her poor little hands were frozen by the time we got inside.

And then there was her daycare's holiday show. Amelia's classroom "performed" to Alvin and the Chipmunk's "Christmas Don't be Late." Hilarious is all I can say to twelve two-year olds dressed in their Chipmunk style initial shirts "dancing" to a song on stage. Our shy little girl kind of hung in the back but danced the entire song with a huge smile on her face.

A Second Birthday, Sunshine Therapy, Family and a Turkey

We have just gotten home from an amazing time in Phoenix celebrating Thanksgiving and Amelia's second birthday.

A Second Birthday,

Amelia started off her special day by making cupcakes with Papa and JuJu.Had JuJu gotten involved in the kitchen earlier I have a feeling that Amelia wouldn't have eaten her weight in raw batter. After feasting on raw eggs she went for a spin around the yard with dad and Poppy. After her exciting day of raw food and being tossed around I got my special time with her when she came to find me just in time to get sick all over the carpet...

Sunshine Therapy (even if it was the coldest T-Day in Phoenix in 80 years),This is proof of the spin Amelia took around the yard after filling up on raw eggs.It is SO easy to waste away a good part of the day while enjoying my dad's yard and the Phoenix sun. As JuJu and Poppy drove in from Palm Desert the sunshine is old news to them.

Oh, Amelia was such a happy,

happy,happy girl feeling the sun on her face. Poor think had no idea she was going to have to go back to Chicago to face the Chicago winter.

Family,

We enjoyed family outing to the Phoenix zoo. Amelia was pretty upset that she couldn't see the gorillas as the exhibit was closed. We told her they weren't home as they were on vacation just like she was. After that she seemed okay.Amelia loves to answer the question, "what does mama do when she goes to work?" To which she replies, "Mama architect, Mama work in high building, Papa architect." Amelia got to show off her design and building skills while building a gingerbread house with Papa.

Are we going to have three generations of architects? It would beat three generations of attorneys, right?

Two of her favorites; bubbles and Auntie M.

She so wasn't into the goats at the petting zoo but Auntie M on the other hand could have stayed all day.

Proof that I'm not depriving the baby of yummy and ample food. This would be Amelia wearing make-up thanks to Auntie M. Sorry to my make-up savvy friends for Amelia's rather sloppy introduction to make-up. She will probably need your help one day.

Amelia has now learned the word trouble as Papa likes to ask her, "should we go get in trouble?"

She was not happy when Papa went to take a shower one morning thus stood outside banging on the door. We realized when we couldn't see her anymore and could hear her giggles that she must have gotten into the bathroom. She couldn't have been happier splashing around in Papa's shower. And no, Papa was not in the shower and was fully clothed when we all went in to smile at Amelia.

How about when Amelia woke up and heaven forbid there weren't any bananas? Well she demanded, "Papa store bananas." It only took about 5 seconds before Papa was up, shoes on, keys in hand ready to take her highness to the store. She arrived back with an enormous smile on her face and an equally enormous M&M cookie. Breakfast of champions. Amelia has to share the birthday month of November with Auntie M. Seriously remind my dad not to buy Merrill a camera again for her birthday. She CONSTANTLY felt the need to take pictures of EVERYTHING; Mark and I sitting on the couch, tigers at the zoo, her slippers, dad's living room, etc. Finally her camera got turned on her!

and a Turkey

Well I think the turkey was good but then again I'm not much a turkey fan to begin with. We grilled the turkey and the meat was great but the skin got a little chared and the drippings were ruined. Don't bring the subject up to Merrill for a few more years as she is still very upset about the lack of gravy......

Pre-Birthday Party

Why of course GranAnn needed to celebrate Amelia's 2nd birthday with her and since we spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix, GranAnn made a trip to Chicago in mid-November for a pre-birthday party. Amelia is very thankful for the time with GranAnn, trip to the Aquarium and her new clothes and toys.

Also thanks to Gretchen and Clara who came over for a pre-birthday cupcake. When they were leaving Clara looked at Amelia, touched her belly and asked, "why does she have such big belly?" Hm, maybe we should have had pre-birthday salads instead of cupcakes....

GranAnn doesn't come to Chicago without a bag of goodies for Amelia so of course this trip was no exception. Mini-GranAnn enjoyed going to the Aquarium in her new outfit of skinny jeans and leopard print cardigans. From dada she got a basketball goal and bowling set. Were these gifts for Amelia or dad? The basketball goal is a little tall but Amelia loves watching dada, "shoot hoops." Since she is my little girl it will probably be a while before she is tall enough to join dad in a game.

Lets be honest she still loves the packaging as much if not more than the actual presents. The basketball box was a great source of entertainment for a few weeks.

The Target box her new boots came in made for a great spin around the kitchen.