Off to the Coast

Just to let everyone know The Adventures of Mama, Mema and Mo are taken their show on the road. We are off to the Oregon coast with our families to spend the rest of this holiday break.

Be back in one week.

Happy New Year's everyone.

Christmas, 2008

This Christmas was so much fun. Mo really was looking forward to it, and had a list for Santa. She wanted a crib, a kitchen and babies. That is all she wanted and her list never changed in the past few weeks.

On Christmas Eve, we braved their 18 inches of snow and took a bus to the mall to see Santa. She was so excited to see the big guy, that she practically pushed the kid in front of her off his lap. When she got up there, she repeated her list very diligently....a crib, babies and a kitchen.



When, we woke up Christmas morning, Mo walked into the living room, and just froze. I think she just couldn't believe that all these goodies were actually HERE. Once, she got over her initial shock, the playing began. Here you can see her crib (with babies inside) and her new kitchen.

She also loved all the little things in her sticking.....the slinky was a HIT!


The one item, she received that was not on her list was a dollhouse. She loves it and has played with it nonstop.

Now, the first things the babies had to do was go "potty" when she opened everything up.

A sign of too much T.V.....

Over the past 10 days with all this snow, we have been staying inside A LOT! We have done tons of arts and crafts, played new games, cooked, and frankly, we have watched more TV than we normally do.

We were writing letters to Tinkerbell (we have a fairy mailbox, if you put a letter in it, Tinkerbell writes back)....Mo tells me what to write, and I write it....so the conversation went like this.

Mo: Write piskidsbopork.....

Me: What???

Mo: pis kids bop ork

Me: What????

Mo: PIS KIDS BOP ORK

Me: PBS Kids - dot - org?

Mo: Yesss....

On all PBS shows, the encourage people to write in to their website....and Mo has definitely taken that information and filed it into her brain. Now, everything that has writing on it says PBS Kids - dot- org......or

PIS KIDS BOP ORK

Snow Pictures

So, you guys can see why we really haven't left the house in 4 days.....


This is Mo's tricycle.....you can only see the handlebars!

Artic Blast!

So, in earlier posts, I showed pictures where we had a dusting of snow on the ground. You can see all of us treating it as if it was a major blizzard....

Well, yesterday, an actual major blizzard arrived....we had about 8 inches of snow, then freezing rain, and another 2 inches of snow tonight.....it is CRAZY out there! We went out in it earlier today, but it was really hard to navigate...poor Mo was up to her waist in some parts...drifts of snow made it hard to get out our front door.....

I will post pictures tomorrow.......

Snow Cream

Did you guys know there is such a thing as "snow cream".......an ice cream concoction made from snow.

We gathered a big bowl of snow....mixed in sugar, vanilla and milk....and it was really good!

Scout made this yummy treat for dessert tonight....good job, baby!

More snow pics...

The snow is pretty pitiful in the background....but we take what we can get here in the Pacific Northwest.

Snowy Playdate

The problem with snow days for most people is schools close down, but not businesses. Tuesday, we got an emergency phone call, our friends needed a place for their daughter for a few hours. Of course, we said "heck yes!" to a playdate. This is S. She is Mo's oldest friend. Mo spent her the first 2 years of her life with S and her Daddy when I went back to work.

The girls got along very well.....sharing...playing....espeically babies. Apparently, all the babies are sick and need to go to the doctor.


We also tried to make snowmen out of marshmallows and toothpicks. The girls had their own ideas of what to build.....they decided a garden was a better idea.



I couldn't get over how well they played for the whole 2 and half hours. It was a nice break for me from entertaining a 2 year old.

Cutting

Mo has been really into cutting paper. She has been trying off and on for about 2 months....well, practice makes perfect. At first, she would just make random cuts on the side of the paper....and end up tearing the rest......

Over the past 2 snow days, we have done a ton of arts and crafts. She has figured out how to cut! She holds her hand correctly, she can even cut on a some-what straight line.

Someone once told me that after they turn 1, time speeds up....they do everything much faster and they pick up new new skills every day. It is so true. Just when I think she is just a toddler, Mo turns around and shows me that she is turning into a preschooler....

Slow down, little lady!

Right now, she is working on snapping.

Camera Work

So this summer, Scout and I splurged and bought a really nice camera. I signed up for a class, but ended up missing it. What that means is I can take pictures....but cannot really use the camera to its full potential.

So tonight, I wanted to take a picture of our Christmas Tree.....so here was the first try...The flash automatically came on....so you couldn't see how pretty it looks all lit up.



The second try.....I monkeyed around with the settings, so the flash wouldn't come on....


The third try, I just started randomly pressing buttons on the camera.....


And finally started pressing a bunch more buttons and turning knobs.....and got this.....pretty cosmic...


I really need to take a camera class..

Winter Wonderland

It snowed today....granted.....it was not even an inch....but actual snow fell from the sky. What I love about Portland is that CITY SHUTS DOWN. There is no infrastructure to deal with this kind of weather. Already, school has been cancelled for tomorrow...and with the forecast, I wonder if I will be going to work at all. It is blustery cold, and more snow is on the way.

An early Christmas present for Mama!!!! Poor Scout may have to work in this, but so far, they are also canceling all field work for tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from our winter adventures....we couldn't stay out there long...it was COLD!

This is what Simone had to say...

Me: "Simone, catch a snowflake on your tongue."

Simone: "Yummmm.....taste like peanut butter sandwich."

More XMAS cheer

Scout and Mo put up our outside lights. We don't do a whole bunch, but we have a Norfolk Pine in our front year, and we always string it with lights. The switch to turn them on is inside the house....so we make Mo look out the front window and say this little chant....

"Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree. Won't you turn on for me."

One of us flicks the switch and she thinks it's magic!!! So much joy!!!

That damn tree is getting so big. We are going to need more lights!

Zoo Lights

Tuesday, we went as part of a big group to see the Zoo Lights. It really was pretty. Everything was lit up, and the trees looked just magical. Mo just loved running around with her friend V.

She wasn't as interested in all the lights.....She was also totally bummed that the penguins were asleep. I mean how dare they sleep when our daughter wants to see them!!!!




The actual highlight of the trip for Mo was we parked in overflow parking and took a shuttle bus to the main gates. Well, our shuttle was a big yellow, school bus. Mo had a fit! She loved being a big kid riding the "cool bus." She barely sat still for this photo....she was so excited.

XMAS Tree

In our small house, we have 2 trees....one for the grown-ups and one for Mo. We got a small fake tree last year.....and decided that Mo could have it to decorate, knock over, dress up, whatever.

Today we got the tree out.....she was busy for about 2 hours putting ornaments on, taking them off, rearranging them....she had a blast.


The holidays are so much fun with her this year. I can't wait to do our big tree this week....

I love how she holds her mouth....just right!!!!

Oregon Sky

This picture doesn't even do it justice....

Baby Obession

Mo is obsessed with babies.....it is truly all she talks about.....all she plays with. We try to get her interested in other things, but somehow she always turns it back to babies. When we build with legos, we build high chairs for her babies......

She also has to have a baby EVERYWHERE she goes.....I mean what Mama leaves her baby behind right....

Here Mo is demonstrating to her baby how to brush her teeth.