Where did my little Baby go?

I just don't know when Marcella grew up. It really seems like yesterday that we took her home from the hospital, a couple times.. Now she is TWO. Lately she has been saying a whole lot of funny things and I thought I should start posting them so I will always remember, and I thought you might get a kick out of some of them as well.

A few days ago, I decided I'd better take some pictures of her since she looked so cute in this outfit. After a few thousand pictures she turned sideways in her chair and said, "wook mama, I rivin a boat." What a little sweet heart. She has gotten into this thing where everything is "cute." She will say "Mama, dat relwy pretty?" or, "Dat is so cute." Then (my favorite) after I do her hair she says, "mama oo I wook pretty?". I think We are going to have our hands full when she is older.

I wish I would have gotten the next one on video, or at least a picture. We were getting out all the Christmas decorations and I have some big flowers that I put out. She took one of them and said "mama, I get married," then carried it around for the rest of the night. I asked her who she was going to marry and she said "no" (This is always her initial response when you ask her a quesion. She says no, and then answers you. It gets a little confusing when you ask her yes or no questions.) and I said, "Maybe Trenton?" and she said "YA!" It was quite funny.

For the past few days Marcella has been wanting treats...lots of them! She always wants one right before dinner. Wf course the reply to her begging is, "You have to wait until after dinner." Tonight was the best. Jon and I were cooking some pasta sauce and decided to go to the store while it was simmering. We were in the kitchen making up a list of things to get. We always ask Marcella what she wants to get, and while she was watching her mom and dad debate over if it was ok to get treats tonight, she raised her hand and said "NO MORE TREATS TIL AFFER DINNER!!" It was soo funny.

She has started to sing songs. It has been so much fun to hear her sing. I am always amazed when she just starts singing a primary song or any song that we have always sung to her, but she has never sung along...It's like she just one day decides to sing it to us. Some of her favorites to sing are "I Am a Child of God" and "Jingle Bells." The funny thing about when she sings I am a Child of God, she has to pretend like she is playing the piano. I am not sure where she got this from, but whenever she gets by a piano she will start singing that song. If we aren't near a piano and I ask her to sing it she will either start leading it while she sings or pretend to play the piano.

Ever since she was little I have kept a kids CD in the car. Apparently, that's not very smart because now every time we get in the car she says, "I want Marcella's songs!" over and over until we give in. (Yes, she does know how to push our buttons!) As of late I have been telling her she has to take turns and let Mommy and Daddy listen to their music (I listen to country and Jon listens to Public Radio). So I feel like I am back in High School driving around with my brother and sharing the radio..."It is my turn, I hate your music" etc etc. She has almost gotten the concept. She will say "mama, are dese Daddy's songs? Or mommy's songs?" Then after a minute or two she will say "I want Marcella songs!" If we happen to not give in she will start singing her songs to herself.

The best for last. This is a picture of Marcella saying "i wuv YOU!" How can you not love this sweet face! (Sorry mom I will post some pictures of the Christmas decorations another night, you will have to wait in suspense.)

Sneaky Snake

I don't know how, but Marcella has turned into a complete Sneaky Snake, at least where shopping is concerned. We did the grocery shopping tonight. It takes about an hour or so, because Kanien liked to buy food for two weeks...that way we can eat really well for one week, then make a bunch of little trips to the store the second week. Anyway...It's tough for Marcella to stay in the cart that long, so inevitably, before we get to the register, she's down on the ground darting in and out of shopper traffic and driving me nuts. That's usually when I start a series of pilgrimages to the water fountain in order to preserve some measure of sanity. When we make it to the cashier, Marcella's true genius comes out in full bloom. She, in her toddler wisdom, understands the law of averages....the more you attempt something, the more likely you will succeed at it. So while Kanien and I are unloading the cart, swiping our debit card, reviewing the tally, etc., Marcella is waging a battle all her own. It consists of placing as many treats onto the conveyor belt as possible, hoping we won't notice one or two of them. What ensues is this: Kanien takes over as grocery QC (you know, making sure we get the advertised price on avocados and stuff), and I start removing the candy, explaining to Marcella that she gets enough treats already, and any more would violate the Laws of Childhood Deprivation so painstakingly instilled upon me by my parents. (These are for real....my Mom is famous for saying things like, "OK, you've had too much fun this weekend. Get out there and weed those raspberries!" I'm not making this up!) Inevitably, after arriving home and unpacking the groceries, we find some contraband (always fully paid-for...she hasn't yet mastered the art of thievery) that managed to make it in the bags. Today it was...

a bag of Candy Corn.
A few weeks ago..some Life Savers. She's also done it with air-heads and other candy.

4 Things I am Thankful for

#1. This might just look like just an ordinary Brush, but Oh no, it is one of my favorite things that I own. I believe it is suppose to be used while giving yourself a pedicure, to scrub your nails or something. I have found a better use for it. It scrubs out all of the spots Marcella gets on her clothes. I have been using it for 2 years now and it work wonders. It is the perfect brisilness, I haven't found a better one. I am sure you can find them at Bath and Body Works. I think I have seen them for a couple bucks, so not bad for a wonder tool.

#2. Rubber Gloves! I don't think anyone can argue with how wonderful these are. I can't even imagine what people did before these. Let's just say they are lifesavers! You can even get two pair at Walmart for $2 what a steal! If you don't have any, you must not have Kids.
#3. Clorox Wipes. I think this is one that I am almost most grateful for today. It just really helps do the Job. I am so thankful to those wonderful people in advertising who helped me feel like I really needed to buy these or my life wouldn't be complete. Well I am here to tell you I really did need them today and I am glad I had fallen to an advertising trap and bought them, plus they did what they said... My life is now better because of this purchase.



#4. Why M&M's, Well because after you finish reading this you will know that any chocolate in your house helps keep your sanity and today these did just the trick. As a matter of fact I am eating them right now. Man they sure are amazing. They have that calming, enjoyable effect that always reduces my stress levels.

Why am I grateful for these today well I will tell you. First I would like to start by a bit of back logging. Marcella received the potty training lesson about a week and a half ago. She has had her good days and her bad days, but all in all she has done really well. Especially these past few days. She has only had one accident and that was because we went to a bazillion stores and forgot she might need to go potty. Other than that she hasn't had an accident in three days. AMAZING! At least that is what I have been telling myself. I love that she is potty trained. She loves getting a sticker every time she goes potty, so it works out very well.

So Today being the 4th day she has done an awesome job, she managed to go poopoo in the toilet. "Awesome!" I exclaimed being all excited for her and still giving a bunch of praise so she will continue the good behavior. Well after that she went back to playing and I went back to working on pictures. After about 20 minutes I started to smell an awful smell so I decided I better go and check on Quiet Marcella. Well this is what I found.

I should at least be grateful she was on the potty right? (notice there is no more toilet paper on the holder? ya, it had to be our last roll) Well I told myself, at least you now know why you felt like staying in bed today. To say the least I was VERY Grateful I had everything I needed to clean up. The M&M's helped me calm down and enjoy this moment that I new would come sometime in my life, I am just hoping that it doesn't come again.

Moving!

I am finally getting around to our move. Here is our truck at my mom's house on September 01, the day we left.

Welcome to our place. I really need to take newer pictures because it looks a lot different.
This is our living room

You can see how the kitchen connects.... kinda

So I have to admit that I was really proud of myself and Jon. We moved in on Saturday and we had everything unpacked by Monday. Granted I am still rearranging and trying to figure out how I like things, but I was so glad that we did it fast and got it over with. I had boxed up all of Marcella's stuffed animals in April, (besides a few) and when we unpacked this box (four months later), she was in heaven. She had to have a diaper for each one and she started to play "mommy". It was pretty funny. I didn't think she would enjoy it as much as she did, but she was having a ball.

Here is our bedroom. I haven't really decorated it yet or done anything, so it basically still looks like this (only I did hang some drapes up).

Here is the living room without all the boxes. Pretty small and cozy. I am really enjoying our small place. It has been a lot of fun so far. I will post some new pictures later. A funny thing is we hung up our big mirror on the wall behind the couch, but the wall bows, so the image on one side is warped like a Fun House mirror! So ya, it makes you look distorted in some places. It makes me laugh.

So I just took a couple pictures to add, here you go

Jon took this one standing at the front door, so it's the view as you enter.

Here is the kitchen. Sorry these ones are a little dark, Jon took them at night.

Christmas

Just thought I would let all the family know I set up a link to the Christmas lists, it is in my links column. Love ya bunches!

Happy Halloween!

It took us a long time to convince Marcella to carve her pumpkin. She was terrified of it. I finally just said we are going to do it, and after a few tears shed by Marcella she gave in and had some fun.

After we got it all done and I put the candle in it, she started singing "Happy Birthday" and the proceeded to get me to sing to the pumpkin as well. After blowing out the candle we got a good laugh. What a sweetheart.

Here is our cute little Fairy. This year has been a lot of fun, because we have been able to get dressed up 3 times.

Here she was turning me into a frog.

We decided to go up to visit grandmas and grandpas this year. At first we weren't going to give in and go up but in the end we decided it would be more fun. Which it was. Marcella had fun seeing Sister Cloward, Sister Smith, Sister Perkins and of course her Grandparents.

My mom and I went to our trunker treating activity at the church on Saturday while Jon was at work. It was pretty fun. Thanks for coming with us grandma!

So besides the fact that our costumes weren't that good, I was Wendy and Jon was S'me from Peter pan, I vowed next year to have better costumes. I think Halloween is so much fun if you have a fun costume to wear. This was at Grandma Wallin's annual halloween Party. We had a great time this year. Marcella wasn't so sure about the pinata, but has been enjoying the candy. We also played bingo and got lots of fun prizes. Thanks Nana! We had marvelous time!