made it!...

I deserve a gold medal for my fabulous ability to travel for 13 hours straight in the car! (only stopping 3 quick times!) Seriously- no screaming, no major fussiness. I think what made the difference for me was that Mommy let me suck on my pacifier as MUCH AS I WANTED all day!! Woohoo! (I usually only get it in my crib to go to bed, you see...) I also had my eye on the prize- for days I've been saying, "long, long trip. Trev & Ty. ride and ride." I knew what was coming.


AND- we didn't even break out the video player until hour 11 & 1/2!


And when we landed at Auntie Jill's house, we HAD to get some Chicago-style pizzas!

Update on mission trip: We all made it safely to Chicago (obviously) & the students enjoyed an evening of rest with Amy's sister's family. This morning they visited a PCA church, visited Northwestern Univ., ate at an authentic Irish restaurant, and then headed over to the south side tonight, where currently they're settling in to their new surroundings for the week & getting their schedules for the week. We'll keep you updated! Daddy, your girls LOVE you!!

quite possibly the greatest gift...

Happy New Year, everybody!


Thank you, Nanny & Papa, Great Grandma & Grandpa Barnett, & Grandpa Hogue! We pooled my Christmas money together and got a portable DVD player for long trips in the car.

And speaking of long trips, I've got a 14 HOUR TRIP in the car ahead of me TOMORROW to go to Chicago with Mommy & Daddy & the RUF students. (Daddy & the students are going on a mission trip to the south side of Chicago, and Mommy & I are going to see my Auntie Jill, Uncle Adam, & cousins Trev & Ty!)

So say some prayers for all of us tomorrow. (and some extra little grace for me!) This could quite possibly be the most well-spent money ever... (that Mommy swore she'd never spend) :)

But sometimes you gotta do what'cha gotta do...

saving for a rainy day...

Made it back home safely today!


Papa, I absolutely LOVE the piggybank and coins you gave to me! It is SO fun to put the coins in & then dump them out again! (over and over...)


Woohoo! I'm rich!


Watch out, because next time you come I might be so rich that I can take YOU out for ice cream!

riding lessons...

'twas the night before christmas...

Christmas Eve last year. (10 months)

This Christmas Eve. (22 months)

And while last year at Nanny & Papa's church, I wanted to cut up with the other kids during the reading of the Christmas story...

...this year I thought it'd be more polite to just text them. (ha!)

no thanks, i'd rather...

Take the little lights out of Nanny's tree & put them back in the missing holes...

or play the piano...

or eat the "apples" (as I call them) off of the Christmas tree...

(No, seriously. I'm not kidding.)

or play slinky toys with Madelyn...

But pretty much, I just don't want to do ANYTHING you think you'd like for me to do today.

Got it?

the good stuff...

Unwrapping gifts was certainly more fun to me this year than it was last year! I loved to tear the paper off & say, "Inside" (meaning "what's inside?") I know that you all are just DYING to know what I got, but let's just start off by saying it was WAY too much! (but hey- did I mind??? NO WAY!) :) Here are just some of the highlights...

In addition to things like a playdough table & set, a Little People airplane & amusement park set, books, a dress, pajamas, etc., I got this cool aqua doodle pad! You put water in the pen & then like magic, it'll draw on the pad! After the water dries, it erases the doodles. When you're done, roll the pad up & put it away until next time! Pretty neat, huh?

I'm a little mama now, too! Mommy thinks it's so sweet to watch me give my new baby doll a bottle & push her around in my new stroller!

It's an exciting day when a girl gets new wheels! Nanny & Papa got me a new, pretty pink & purple tricycle with a pink helmet & kneepads! woohoo! (now I've just got to figure out how to get myself going on the thing... but trust me, it won't be long...)

The stuff was great. And the time with our family was even better.

Hope you are having a Merry Christmas, too!

jingle bells...

i'm dreaming of a...

The roads are finally clearing up around here (this was a couple of days ago, but you can still imagine all the snow on the ground & piled up along the streets). It'll definitely be a "White Christmas" here!


So last night Mommy & Daddy got out of the house & had a little Christmas shindig with the pastor (center) & assistant pastor (on right) of Redeemer Pres. (Redeemer is the church that is planting our church!) & their wives. Good times!


Oh, and thank you, Great Grandma Nancy (birthmommy Megan's grandma) for sending me a great book & a puzzle! I have asked Mommy to read the book about 20 times since getting it yesterday! When we get to the end of it, there's a girl sleeping in a bed & I like to point to her brightly colored cheeks. So now the conversation usually goes like this:

Me: Paci!
Mommy: No, sweetheart. That's her cheek. Big girls don't need paci's to go to sleep.
Me: Boys paci's.
Mommy: No, big boys don't need paci's either. Only babies need paci's.
Me: Babies paci's.
Mommy: Are you going to be a big girl soon? (our plan is to get rid of the pacifier in mid-January after all of our traveling is over...fun times ahead, I'm sure!)
Pause.
Me: (depending on my mood at the moment, sometimes I actually say "Yes.") ha!


Thanks, Great Grandma. The bubble wrap was pretty cool, too.

misty the snowgirl...

Misty the snowgirl
was a jolly happy soul


with a carrot mouth & a carrot nose
and two eyes made out of twigs


Misty the snowgirl
Was a fairy tale they say
She was made of snow, but the children know
How she came to life one day.


There must have been some magic in that cowgirl hat they found
For when they placed it on her head, she began to dance around


O, Misty the snowgirl
Was alive as she could be,
And the children say she could laugh and play
Just the same as you and me.

i ate yellow snow...

We are still snowed in today & loving it! Almost all the churches in town were canceled including ours, but now that the sun has come out this afternoon, I can tell people must be getting a little stir-crazy by the amount of cars trying to get out on the roads in our neighborhood.

This morning we...


did some more sledding around the yard...


attempted a "no-man" (I like to keep my "s" 's silent, you see.)


tried for a "no"-angel, but it was probably more fun in theory...


Nevertheless, here's my first snow angel!

And, yep. I did what you're never supposed to do.

I ate yellow snow. :)