(Cup)cake on her face

Hey, wait....I wasn't ready. Let me clean my face first!

Birthday Bash

This afternoon, we celebrated Mayna's 3rd birthday with her. Her parents had a cute cupcake theme with a cupcake pinata, pin-the-candle on the cupcake game, and every guest got to decorate their own cupcake with as much icing and sprinkles as they wanted. What a hit with the 2-3 year old crowd! And, it was a lot of fun for the adults to watch how each child approached the task in his/her own way.

Grace was excited to get dressed in her new outfit and go to Mayna's party.She confidently held the present, but I heard her keep telling herself, "Don't open it."But she wasn't as thrilled with me taking pictures. When I asked her to smile I got this,and this.So finally, I just said, "let's get our coats and go!" And when Grace heard that, I got this:

Caring for Yellow Bear

Grace has been very interested in caring for her dolls and stuffed animals. She will choose one and pay attention to it for a couple of days. This weekend, Yellow Bear (a present that Uncle Chris won for her at a carnival over Christmas break), has been the lucky recipient of Grace's little mommy love.

She decided he needed to have his diaper changed, so she moved the step stool from the bathroom into her bedroom so she would be able to reach the changing pad. When I went in there Grace had out the diaper, a wipe, diaper cream, and Vicks medicine for her chest when she is congested. I had to laugh at how cute and determined she was.

Yummy yogurt

Grace will really only eat one thing at McDonalds - their breakfast sausage! It's good, but personally, I think their fruit and yogurt parfait is the best thing on the menu. We always get one of these yogurts for Grace too, to balance all the bad stuff in the sausage! Some days she eats it and some days she doesn't. Today, she seemed to enjoy it!Oh, and did you notice the cut next to her right eye (first photo)? She got that at school yesterday....no extra charge.

I'll tumble for you

Tonight was Grace's final class for this session of gymnastics. At first we weren't going to the class since she hasn't been feeling great this week. But she wanted to go and then I remembered that it was the night parents can take photos! It was fun, but hard to watch her and try to get cute photos at the same time. Enjoy the slideshow!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I almost forgot

Two years ago today Grace legally became my daughter in Guatemala. At this time two years ago, I was counting the days until I could go get her and bring her home. Well, here she is today giving me a fake, cheesy smile when I told her I needed a photo because today is a special day. Ahhh...what a kid! And I am lucky to get to spend every single day with her.

Eric Carle favorites

Eric Carle has always been my favorite children's author and illustrator. I love most of his books, especially his artwork that is usually a vibrant collage of color. If you are not familiar with his work you can check it out here.As part of the Children's Theater Series, we went with Kellie and Dawson to see three Eric Carle favorites - the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Little Cloud, and The Mixed-Up Chameleon - on Saturday.

Showing us her Very Hungry Caterpillar puppet

This show, performed by The Mermaid Theater Company of Nova Scotia, included colorful black-lit puppetry. The entire time you know that there have to be people up on the stage dressed in black moving the puppets and sets around, but it was done so well that instead I found myself saying, "How do they do that?" Grace and Dawson seemed a little tired today, but they both enjoyed the show. Kellie and I were happy for the snuggle time we got when they chose to sit on our laps instead of in their seats. And once they got outside, they showed how much they love to run, play, and laugh together!

And the "snow" theme continues

This is the third post in a row where "snow" is the central theme. But, it is January in Ohio, so that is about all we see at this time of the year! You have to deal with it if you live here. So you might as well bundle up and go outside to have some fun!

Grace looks so big here.
She was thrilled to discover pockets in her snow pants.

Kyle went down first to clear a path for the princess.

Then it was time to slide down the hill!Watch out, Mommy! Here I come!The sled is fun but so is running!
The princess also got carried back to the house in the sled!
No wonder she is smiling.

The Princess and the Frog

Since it we had a day off from school due to the snow (it has snowed every day of 2010 so far!) and cold temperatures, we decided to take Grace to see her first movie in the movie theater.We chose Disney's The Princess and the Frog because I had heard from a friend that her son, who is about Grace's age, loved it. Grace was so excited all morning when I told her we were going to see a "show" and that it was about a frog and a princess. She was wonderful in the theater - almost like she was amazed that she was allowed to go to this place. Maybe that is why she sat so still and quiet, not taking her eyes off the screen. I don't even think she took a bite of popcorn for at least half the movie! But eventually, she sat on our laps and even danced a little to the cool, New Orleans jazz done the Disney way! It was a cute movie and the scary parts weren't too scary as they have been in some Disney movies. I would recommend it!

"I a ballerina!"

What do you do on a snow day? Around here, we hang out in our PJs and pretend to be ballerinas!

A preschooler's perspective

Both Mayna and Dawson received the Fisher Price Kid Tough digital camera for Christmas. Mayna brought hers to our house and we think Dawson took these cool shots of Grace:...and one of her own shadow.Then last night, Grace got hold of Dawson's camera. With just a little guidance from Mayna's dad, she was able to do a photo shoot of her own.

Aren't these photos funny?

One of Ella, Kellie's dog.........and the TV..........Mommy........and her foot!

We didn't touch up any of the kids' photos. This is exactly how they turned out. Certainly the resolution is low and the light really makes a difference. But what is interesting to me is the girls' perspective and the things they chose to capture with the camera. So cool! These are three little girls who see their moms always snapping photos, so it isn't a surprise that they would take to this camera so easily!

Do the zoo!

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that we go to the zoo regularly. Personally, I have never been a big fan of zoos. It seems sad that the animals are in captivity. But the more I go, the more I learn that many of the animals in zoos have been rescued, were born in zoos through programs to protect and grow populations of endangered species, and that the zookeepers are really about preservation and education.

After going to Gumbo Limbo last Monday, Grace kept asking to see "more turtles". I had heard some great things about the Palm Beach Zoo, so we took the 1/2 hour ride north to check it out on Tuesday. It happened to be a cool day so it was a perfect morning for the zoo since it wasn't great for the beach or pool.

The zoo consists of 23 acres of lush tropical habitats that are home to more than 1,700 animals from Florida, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. Although we were there for over 2 hours, we didn't see all of it! As we entered we walked through a section of the zoo dedicated to the animals of Central and South America. There were many replicas of Mayan structures including pyramids, huts, and statues that made you feel like you were walking back in time.

We were able to get really close to two jaguars who were sunning themselves right on the other side of the glass. Grace got right down close to them for a LONG time. She didn't want to leave and kept saying, "I touch jaguar" and "Baby jaguar" (from Diego, of course!). One of the jaguars was named Maya and turned one year old in October 2009. She lives at the Palm Beach Zoo with her mother. Her father, Muchacho, also lives there but is kept separately from the females as they would be in nature. (Males and females only come together to mate.)We also saw a bird show called "Wings over Water" where the audience was introduced to many different kinds of birds. They flew back and forth between the audience and a little island where two zookeepers had treats.

Ba did his own little bird show when he coaxed a peacock up onto a picnic table for this photo!

We also saw a white alligator. It wasn't clear if he was albino since his eyes were blue instead of pink. But we figured it was probably good that he was here in his own little house since he probably would have a hard time blending in if he had to live in the wild and survive on his own.

At the end, Nana took Grace into the gift shop. She carefully examined many different things in the store and finally chose a snake and asked Nana, "It coming?" You know the answer! We went home with a rubber snake tucked into Grace's purse with her trains and toy lizards from Christmas!

I liked this quote that was on one of the walls at the zoo....

Remember: take only pictures,
leave only your footprints behind,
and kill nothing but time.