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Big News

Our little girl is quite the girly girl. She is so into playing dress up, playing mommy to her babies, cooking for us in her kitchen (or our kitchen), getting her fingernails and toenails painted and wearing "pretties" in her hair or things on her head. I am really glad that she is such a good mommy to her babies. I hope that is an indication of the type of big-sister she'll be...especially since we are going to have another baby. I am still early in my pregnancy, just 10 weeks. We are having lots of doctor's visits and going to the Perinatal Assessment Center at U of M. Carys loves to show off the ultrasound that I had at 7 weeks. She likes to even show the baby picture to her babies. Overall I'm doing pretty well. I have days of feeling really yucky but then days of feeling great.
Our little Einstein had to have testing at the U of M developmental clinic as part of her being a preemie. She was tested for 2 hours putting puzzles together, building blocks, coloring, identifying pictures, climbing stairs, pretend play, etc. She scored really well. In one of the major areas, I think it included cognitive ability and problem solving, she scored in the 99.9% for children her age. That means only .1% of children do better. The doctor administering the test even tested Carys on things that 4 year-olds should do and Carys could do some of them. She really impressed us. In all the other areas she was in the 88 to 98%. Over the weekend Carys was coloring on her dry erase board and we had asked her to draw a face. She did. You can see it in the photo. I'm sure it was a fluke, but nonetheless, she did.

Color Me

Our child has been a coloring machine today. Tim has spent most of the time coloring with her as I color with her all week long. When it became my turn again I had to figure something else to do that involved coloring. So, I taped paper together and traced Carys. We then taped it to the wall and she's been happily coloring on the outline by herself. After she colored on her face she just kept saying "uh oh". This child of ours loves crafts...I really need to utilize the activitiy books that I have purchased over time so we all don't become burned out by the time she turns three.

Sesame Street Live

Sunday our family went to the Fox Theatre in Detroit and watched Sesame Street Live. This was a very fun musical for Carys to see and it was very fun for us to watch how excited she was. The show with intermission was 90 minutes long. It was about the new music teacher on Sesame Street, Jenny, waiting for the truck to arrive with all of her instruments. In the meantime, all of the animals and monsters that lived on Sesame Street found items to use to make music, the trash can, their feet, their voice, etc. It was a great time.When the music started Carys started yelling "Elmo". She didn't really become interested in Elmo until our trip to the Anthony's. Since then, we watch Sesame Street on PBS, bought a video and play with the Elmo dolls at the store. We were going to buy a souvenir at the show and I presented Carys with a choice of the big Elmo doll or the little Elmo doll. She saw that ball and it was all over. So we have added one one more ball to our huge collection.

Glamour Girl

"I love my new jewels. I look and feel so G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S!!"

Back to December

Sorry it has been so long since there has been an update. December was crazy and full of a lot of fun things to do. The best was Carys got her cast off of her arm!! YEAH!! Her arm is 100% back to normal use. She never missed a beat with her cast. Carys continued to color, paint, bake and build. Right before her cast was removed we had a huge snow storm. We all bundled up to go out and play. No mittens would fit over Carys' cast, so we improvised. Her mitten consisted of two of my thick footies. She loved to climb up the snow mound that her daddy shoveled and tried to make snowballs. After playing in the snow we came back inside to have some hot coca...hot oval-tine and milk for Carys. We spent a lot of December baking. We made our first gingerbread house. Carys enjoyed eating the candies that were meant to decorate the house. We also baked and decorated tons of cookies. She was so cute to watch putting on sprinkles and the colored sugar.

Carys also enjoyed her second Christmas and her second birthday. Both of those events deserve their own post with photos. So...please keep reading.

I'M TWO - my birthday in review

My Puppy Pinata

My Puppy Cake

My Puppy Shirt

Carys' 2nd birthday party was as fun to plan as her first. We had a puppy theme because our little princes LOVES, LOVES, LOVES dogs. We had puppy invitations to get people ready for the puppy themed party. Tim and I made the puppy pinata...only because two other people...you know who you are...said it was easy. It really was easy and was so fun. Tim and I also made the cake. Some food items for the party were hot dogs, corn dogs, hush puppies and puppy chow. Carys received lots of puppy related items as gifts, books, craft items, kitchen items, homemade blanket, and a jeep. She also received things for her baby dolls, which she also LOVES, LOVES, LOVES.

Our Christmas in Review

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!! Carys' big gift was her kitchen. She has always loved to play with her cousin's kitchen and most recently her friend Taylor's. We had her kitchen set up and ready to play Christmas morning. Carys came out and noticed the presents under the tree. She picked up a few and moved them out in the middle of the floor...then it happened...she noticed her kitchen. At that point any hope of opening gifts was over. She played with her kitchen until we had to leave for Grandpa and Grandma Davis'. She opened more gifts there and then we were off to Grandma Barb's and Grandpa Greg's for more gifts. Later in the afternoon, after her nap, she finally opened a few gifts here at home. It wasn't until the day after Christmas that she opened the remainder of her gifts and her stocking from Santa.

Incognito

"I wonder if the paparazzi (I mean my Mom) will recognize me?"

Opps...it's BROKEN

I'm not proud of this, but I must share the event with others. Carys fell off the sofa and broke, yes broke her little arm. Today we took her to have the splint removed and the cast applied. Carys just watched as the doctor applied the cast. She has a pink little cast on her right arm. Neither the split, nor the cast, seem to bother her. She goes about her daily routine as normal...except for bath time which is now sink time. We will go back in three weeks to see if it can be removed!!

Sweeping the Floor

After finishing breakfast I had asked Carys to get her broom to help me sweep the floor. She decided she'd ride around on it. When I asked if she would like her picture taken she said "yah". When I asked her to smile, this is how she smiled...such a little stinker.

1st Haircut &Hairstyle

Finally...today Carys received her very first haircut. She sat perfectly still through the sissor work and through the blowdrying. I must say her hair does look fuller. I thought her curls would be gone, but there not. Yeah!!!! Carys even gave Faith, our hair stylist, a tip. Carys hung onto the money through everything. I think Carys looks more and more grown up each day! WOW....being a parent is the greatest honor EVER!!Thanks for going with us mom and taking photos!!

Disney World

Our family just returned from a vacation to Orlando. We visited Disney World parks on five of our days and relaxed the remainder of the time at our resort. We spent three days at Magic Kingdom, one day at MGM, and one day at Animal Kingdom. The parades and shows were amazing and kept Carys interested!! Carys loved the "it's a small world" ride at Magic Kingdom so we rode it twice. She just pointed at everything and said "Look! Look! Look!". I must say I was very nervous about taking Carys on her first plane ride. I worried for nothing. She was perfect!! Tim, Carys and I can't wait to visit Disney World again in a few years!

While visiting the three different parks, we met different Disney characters. In the first picture we met Mickey at Animal Kingdom. As you can see, Carys was excited to see him again. We visited Toontown at Magic Kingdom and toured Minnie's house and Tim and Carys posed with Minnie. While at MGM we met two of the Little Einstein's. Carys played peek-a-boo with them. We also met several other characters from Donald Duck to Cinderella to Jo Jo, from Jo Jo's Circus cartoon. Carys kept kissing Donald Duck on the nose.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

We began our Halloween Evening with carving our family pumpkin.Carys had so much fun and loved scooping out the inside of the pumpkin with her hand. In between scooping out the goop, she would make sure the top would still fit in the hole.

"Mmmmmmm...candy...I hope mom and dad let me have some tonight".

Carys was such a great trick-or-treater!! She loved seeing all the kids in their costumes. We only went to a few houses for candy and then returned back to our home to pass out treats. Carys loved taking the candy to the kids. There were these 2 little girls around Carys' age and while we were talking with there parents, she kept putting candy in their bags. It was too cute to stop. She loved giving them candy and they loved taking it.

We missed you too this year Taylor. Maybe next year. I really liked your FiFi costume. We will talk to you when we get home from Disney World!! See you at the end of November.

Some of My Favoirte Things

Exploring things...

Hanging with the girls...

Baking with mom...

Drawing on my chalk board while making faces at my mom!

9/23/2006

Carys on September 23, 2006. One year ago to-the-day!!

Click, Click, Click

Pretty Purple Shoes

Please ignore my weird laughing...better yet...turn your volume off!!!!

Let's Go to Indy

Tim has been traveling a lot lately for work. We decided to travel along with him to Indianapolis the Thursday before Labor Day and make it a long weekend. After Tim was done working we went to the Children's Museum on one day and then to the Zoo on another day.

Carys was in seventh heaven at the Children's Museum. She walked for 2 hours straight and played and played and explored and touched everything! There was so much to do and to see. There was the beautiful glass exhibit that I was absolutely in love with. It was so beautiful and amazing to see. When it was time to pick her up to leave she was so mad at us. This was our first time at a Children's Museum and we all had a wonderful time. We we revisit this place for sure!!

Our zoo trip was different from any of our past ones in other states. She used to look at all the animals and squeal with excitement. Now her focus was "baby", "baby", "baaaaabeeeee". She is so IN LOVE with baby dolls, babies in books and real life babies. The zoo in Indianapolis just open a dolphin viewing dome. This was really neat as we got to see the dolphins swim over us and beside us. We were planning on watching the dolphin show, but Carys decided she didn't want to sit still. She and daddy went outside and I stayed to watch the 15 minute up-beat show. It was a lot of fun. I wish she could have stayed because she would have loved the music they played. The zoo also had beautiful gardens and a butterfly house. This zoo also had a lot of activities with the animals to observe or participate: elephant bathing, feeding the giraffes, feeding the penguins, etc.

Fun with Playdough

Yesterday Carys and I had company. Jarren and Reese, my nephew and niece, were here for the day. I was trying to plan some fun things for us to do inside since it has been so rainy lately. So...we made play dough. This was the first time I had made homemade play dough. It turned out great!! The kids chose their individual color and we even added orange sent to make it even a little more personal. Carys tasted a little but must have found it much too salty so just a little was enough.

Cooked Play dough

(flour and salt)
3 cups flour

1.5 cups salt

6 tsp cream of tarter

3 tbsp oil

3 cups water
Pour all ingredients into a large pot.

Stir constantly over medium heat until a ball forms by pulling away from the sides.

Knead the play dough until the texture matches play dough (1-2 minutes). Store in plastic container. Should last for at least 3 months.

Jarren didn't want to add food coloring to his play dough. He used a toothpick to draw on it. Reese put her play dough over a spoon to make a sculptor.

Paparazzi On the Loose

Today I came across one of my very old cameras and some 35mm film. I put in new batteries and the film, gave it to Carys and off she went. This camera will be great for her as it's just a point and click. I'll be anxious to see what she photos she takes!! I noticed that 3 photos have been taken so far. She's been carry this around on and off this morning and afternoon.

I'm coming to get you mommy!!