Baby

Sometimes watching the baby dolls have fun in the cradle just isn't enough.

Size doesn't matter!

Tunnels

Maren's tube has been put away since just before Christmas, but she spied it in the front closet after we finished vacuuming so I took it back out. She had a ton of fun racing, rolling, and falling down in it!

My favorite part was the static it caused! Man, her hair is getting LONG!

Golden-ish birthday?

Look who's 21 months old!

21 months on the 21st...kinda golden. She won't have her golden birthday for another 19 years, so I thought I should take advantage.

Stayin' Home with Mom...

I have to be thankful for such a fabulous Monday home with my baby girl, forced only by lack of daycare. No sickies here! This day (and the stinky cold weather and snow) has made me very anxious for summer break! We went to Michaels and bought a craft this morning then came home to make Cranberry-Orange Snack Mix from my friend Melissa's sister. Baking it made the house smell SOOO good!

Helping to dump in cereal (we deviated from the recipe by using multigrain cheerios, not corn chex, adding gold fish since we were at a loss for but a few pretzels, and leaving out the almonds for safety's sake!).

I can't guarantee some of the mix doesn't have nibbles out of it... and check out that scare hair! Not sure what's going on today...I promise I do bathe her, people.

Getting ready to mix it up! This lead to taking spoonfuls back out of the bowl and into the measuring cup. (Another shot of the outrageous hair!)

After naptime, Maren got to sample the goods. Don't let that look fool you. She really does like it!

Uncle Eric Visits and Cuteness...

Uncle Eric graciously accepted his invitation to watch Maren last Saturday so we could go out to eat for my birthday.

By Sunday morning, Maren was giving Uncle orders to sit at her table and play playdo with her - just like the rest of us.

Last night being super cute with her kitchen's cup.

Daddy got himself a bowl of ice cream last night. I suppose he anticipated having to share, but he did not anticipate that Maren would go get her own spoon and dig in.

Mmmmm.

Happy New Year!

We celebrated the New Year with the Vogels and Smalls at the Vogel's new place this year. The girls were definately a riot to watch since they are all walking and talking and playing (if not together!).

Kate (21 mos), Lillian (14 mos), Maren (20 mos)

The next day we visited Lee's parents. Maren opened "the worm" and enjoyed climbing on him, even though only her very tippy toes made it to the floor when she was in the seat!

Watching for rabbits out the front window.

Happy New Year to all our friends and family!

Children's Museum

This week with our time off, we followed Kate's lead and went to the Iowa Children's Museum. That place is HUGE! It could deinately occupy a kid on a rainy (or any other) day. For us it just meant exploring for a while before lunch!

Maren LOVED the slides there...

Driving the tractor in the farm area.

Playing with Daddy in the puppet theater.