Mary's Tea Party in a Toy store

A local hardware store has a very cool toy store housed in its upper level. This toy store has been there since I was a kid, oi vei!! its still cool, though I must admit, they did not sell webkinz there then.

Mary spied a colorful table and chairs and set up her own tea party with Bear and the on the spot acquired Pink Monkey.

Landmark Day

Today, after supposedly being put to bed, Mary stood in her doorway, and said Poop. This was around 9 p.m., after she kept getting out of her bed and wandering down the hall to visit us.

So we checked the diaper, and it was clean. So we asked her to sit on the potty. She did, and just after 'reading' the 2nd book, Mary put her poo poo in the potty (as elmo says).

I have photos from before , of her on the potty, but not going to post those here of course.!

anyway, Scott, thought you would want to hear this. And , also note to you, Scott, no further poopy diapers have been flung across the room!

Here are some photos just for fun.

Select photos from Mary and Claudia's playdate

Future student of Miss FooFoo's Dance Studio

My BFF from college (or as they say in Britain, from university) sent us several dance costumes for Mary. I have a feeling that Mary is going to love dance class as much as Chris and Meg did !!

New Year's Eve 2007 and beyond

Assorted Holiday 'Party Party' photos

We attempted an informal family portrait, and got a few good shots, see below.
Also, Mary had spaghetti for dinner, and then a Dove mini ice cream piece, dove choco covering ice cream.




Mary says "Party Party" when she knows she will be attending a festive social gathering!

Mary's 2nd Christmas Season

To say that shopping and prepping for this, our 2nd Christmas with Mary, was exhausting is an

'ab-fab' understatement!

Between trying to shop with her along, and coordinating which gifts to bring to 3 different houses, just overwhelming. I needed that egg nog Christmas Eve. I drank about half of it, due to constantly jumping up to attempt to corral Mary.

So here are a few photos, including one of our Christmas card. I just sent out the last batch today, better late than never!

Thanksgiving 2006 and 2007 (a look at then and now)!

Mary , November 2006, at Thanksgiving time

Wow, quel change, from petite jeune fille to whirlwind toddler girl, singing, hopping, dancing, alternately somersaulting and standing on her head (during diaper changes mainly)...

Mary even drew a rough face shape, stating 'Shrek' and then said eyes and put in two marks in the appropriate location for eyes, and did exact same for nose and mouth. I happen to know that this is one of the readiness tests that is commonly done for kindergarten readiness, so she is 3 years ahead for this skill anyway!

Mary's 2nd visit with Santa, a far cry from last year, no pun intended !

Mary at play

There is a theme to this if you check out Mary's expression

Wow, we may be in for it when 'tween' time arrives!

Court Date 11.27.2007

We went to the county court house to be a part of Ava's re-adoption ceremony. Ava got up on the 'stand' and started 'talking' into the microphone. A few of her key words were: sustained, voir dire and I rest my case, now give me some cheerios! Photo linnk below!

http://www.slide.com/r/qgfRRroZ2D8JD8qxSfsdgEYM81SXJ4kj?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

Happy 2nd Birthday, Claudia !!!

left to right, Lindsey, Claudia, and Mary

Mary attended Claudia's 2nd Birthday party, and all the girls looked great and had fun playing together! It was cool to see our girls starting to interact. I see tea parties and teddy bear picnics in their future!