She thinks she's pretty cute

And I have to agree!

Likes and Dislikes

Likes: Hugs from cousins...Drawing...Applesauce...Belou the catDislikes... SNOW. She would not venture off that stoop. But she did love the dinosaur snowbootsShe did not like pineapple( in pineapple's defense, it was offered in leiu of yummy, not yet cut birthday cake)
None of the kids were particularly fond of posing for a picture. Cousin Hugs: OK. Cousins Kisses ? Not a fan. And here's one of my Likes... look at that face!

Rainy Day

Oh boy, is it ever! I don't even bother listening to the weather anymore. I get too excited when they predict snow and then it turns out to be absolutely nothing. I feel very Laura Ingalls-ish when the days weather unfolds in front of me. Half Pint and Manley never knew what was in store for them.

But yesterday , we did indeed get snow. 2 inches. Madeline kept running to the back door saying " HI, snow" When I woke up this morning , though, there was nothing on the ground. Nada. Zip. Nothing but rain. Wind driven, cats and dogs rain. If it were snowing, I could at least take Maddie out to play. Rainy days stink. There is only so much play doh/coloring/laundry( she likes laundry, I swear!)/putting a diaper on and off a Diego doll one gal can do, you know? At least we have things to do the rest of the week. And my USweekly should arrive tomorrow in the mail.

Oh no, not more RAIN!! I can't look ...Elmo, how bad is it?

A Love/Hate Relationship

Madeline met Curious George on Sunday at a local bookstore. As she waited in line, she was happy enough, she saw George and kept saying "George monkey, george monkey" . But once it was her turn, she was not happy. Excuse the picture, it was taken quickly, and obviously not by me since I'm in it.

But back at home, she was OK with George again, sharing her valentine lollipop.

Nine and Two

OK, I think I can post this here without sounding like Braggy Braggerson. Besides, most of you who read this are family, so you may be just as impressed as I was. Or maybe not, maybe its something every two year old does and no big deal at all. Madeline picked up that tape dispenser today and flipped it around, looked at me and said " Nine!" I should call MENSA, right? Its just so funny to me her interest in numbers. No, I don't think she's John Nash or anything, but she *may* be a Mathlete in Training.... its just so interesting to me because it is so not something I've ever stressed to her at all. At 18/19 months, she was pointing out numbers to me on liscence plates, houses, signs on stores. She watched Sesame Street and likes the Count, but at that point I never sat down with her and counted because, well, honestly, I just didn't think it was something she'd grasp at 18 months. And it would be pretty funny if she ended up liking Math b/c both Greg and I HATE it.

Just one more " Man, Maddie is smart" tidbit- she knows in the CD who is talking when. Its a Little Einsteins CD that we've listened to quite a bit, but still, she knows when 'Juicy'( Quincy) is talking or singing , or Annie and June. To me, especially between Annie and june, its such a subtle difference, but from the back seat I hear ' annie!" or " jooone" . Pretty amazing, these kiddos.

Ok, so now on to TWO! Madeline turned two today-technically at 1:15am. I'll spare you all the " I can't believe my baby is two, time goes so fast, just yesterday she was an infant" mumbo jumbo, but know I am thinking ALL of those things. My Big Girl...

Greg and I took her to the Childrens Museum today and she was in heaven. We couldn't get her out of the bubble room. She kept looking up and saying "ooooooooooooooooooo"

The picture is not the greatest. Sometimes I have to stop trying to capture the moment and actually live it, you know? And I'm a mean parent. We didn't really get her a gift, per se. We gave her Dora's Talking Backpack, which she seemed to really enjoy. Above, she's peaking out from behing Dora's camera. And I didn't really do a cake. I got her a Cookie Monster cupcake, but Greg ended up having to work, and I couldn't find the candles, so we'll do it tomorrow when Greg is home and I've purchased candles. She'll never know... unless you tell her. Or she reads this. Oh well.

I love you , Miss Maddiecat ! Happy Birthday and many many many more !

The Party

The first time we looked at this house, I envisioned having Madeline's birthday parties here. Well, thats not entirely true. The first time we looked at this house was after a long day of attending about 7 open houses, and I thought" cute house', but really, they all blended into one another at that point. So the second time we looked at this house, I envisoned her birthday parties, Christmases, Easter egg hunts in the backyard... making memories in this house. We've already hosted the holidays here, but yesterday was Madeline's 2nd birthday party, and I woke up feeling like it was Christmas morning. I put an almost embarassing amount of effort into this party. You know how some effortlessly throw together a meal , or a party, whip up some cute crafty-type stuff, and everyone walks away and says " Oh sure, typical Christina (for example :) )". Yeah, thats not me. So this party was a Big Deal. I doubt Madeline will remember it, but I will.

Madeline likes monkeys so I decided to do a monkey theme way back in the summer- I called it a Monkey Brunch. (I just edited that previous line b/c it originally read " we decided" . Greg is a great father, but he's hardly thinking of birthday themes, you know? It just read kind of funny to me. ) I made an incredibly easy French Toast Casserole that I thought came out pretty good. The cake was a trip to make. Martha Stewart gave a recipe for a homemade banana cake; I just bought a Dunkin Hines cake mix. I did make the icing from scratch, though. To get the ears on this monkey took a lot of patience. The icing was thick and the cake kept falling apart as I iced it. And then to keep the yellow and brown frosting from blending together . The ears wouldn't stay on, so I tried using toothpicks to anchor them- but the cake was so moist the toothpicks kept getting lost ( sorry if anyone ate a toothpick yesterday). In the end though, it came out great and so delicious. Madeline loved it, and keeps asking for monkey cake this morning.

Some more pictures. The table

The Birthday girl, she kept hiding under the table and shouting" Cousins!!"

Some of the cousins waiting patiently for Monkey cake. Ok, maybe not so much Emma :)Going in for a taste of frosting...
"Happy Birthday to ME?? Thanks, you guys!""Back up, Emma"Opening presents. She got great stuff, not the toy overload I was expecting. Cute clothes from Aunt Debbie and Uncle Steve , Dora Playdough from Uncle Eric and Aunt Christina, a bathing suit from Mimi and Papa D, and a tricycle from Aunt Kim and Aunt Donna. It was a great party, I hope everyone had fun !