Monkey Business & Daddy Downloads {373}

Dear Miss Dinah,

Oh you and your monkey have your fair share of good times, that is for sure. Today he was your giant pillow.

Sweet monkey hugs.

Sweet monkey kisses.

Here are some photos from Daddy's phone taken over the last couple of days...

This is when you went to the doughnut shop early Sunday morning:

(Those doughnuts are toys for the children to play with)

The magnetic jitterbug stacking toy at church:

 

In Miley's cage at Mr. Tom's a few days ago:

 

Mamma and Dinah reading at night:

Ginni and Dinah:

I love you,

Mamma <3

Runaway {372}

Dear Miss Dinah,

More dark, morning photos. Daddy is in the closet tinkering with the water heater, and you've scooched in there right by his side.

Daddy's little helper:

Guess what was waiting outside of our window this morning? A few inches of gorgeous, delightful snow!

 

 

You and Ginni got to enjoy it together before she had to leave for her long drive back home:

After packing Ginni up, and scraping snow off the cars, we ventured out. How different those wintery trees look with just a little bit of a snow cap.

 

After yoga class we went to pick up some plumbing equipment. We saw these rugs (this is a small rug sample on top of a full size rug). Aren't they interesting? We were thinking it would make a unique project - maybe a table runner or something - in the future.

 

We did lots of grocery shopping today for our creative style meals, adapting to having no stove! Oh and by the way, you were all over the place in the store! You started out in the car cart, then you wanted to be up front, then you wanted to push the car cart! It would probably be ok for you to get out of the cart if you didn't try and RUN AWAY! :)It might have been the longest trip we have had in a LONG time. Tonight we made a delicious Mexican casserole using the induction (one burner) heater, and the toaster oven, which is too small to cook a whole dish. This actually worked out fine, because we divided it into two and froze one small casserole to cook another day.

Tonight as we were getting dinner ready, I saw monkey go up onto the bed. I suggested that maybe he needed a diapee change, and it looks like he did.

I love you,

Mamma <3

Around the House {371}

Dear Miss Dinah,

Our living quarters has continued to close in on us, what with the kitchen/bedroom/living room being one, and the bathroom also serving as your sleeping quarters! And, with no internet to boot, it's truly amazing these days how still, somehow, there's no lack for things of substance and interest to occupy our day. It's actually wonderful in a strange and unexpected sort of way. The photo is terrible, but the moment was sweet. Early this morning, you were up playing with a sheet of stickers that Daddy got us. Eye ball stickers! You were putting the eye ball stickers on your leg.

Later, much later, you find your seat of choice:

 

What are you doing in there? Filing? Organizing?

 

No actually, you found a bottle of chocolate syrup and were quietly studying the cap.

And out in the work zone, Daddy was working on assembling cabinets to put up.

 

Oh, and Ginni arrived this evening! She's just staying the night on her way back from a long trip that has taken her through Arlington, TX and Nashville. She's happy to finally make it home tomorrow, and we are happy to get to have her here, if only for a night. It's been a long, long time -- almost 2 months -- since we've seen her. 

I love you,

Mamma <3

Hanging Around {370}

Dear Miss Dinah,

It got up to seventy degrees today (January!) and children flooded the park.

 

Today you added the trick of hanging from a bar to your back of tricks. It was so fun to watch you dangle there with your feet an inch and a half above the ground :)  but dangle you did. Have I mentioned that you are very nearly running? Well, you are. You are at least going about as fast as could be legally considered a walk... ok, you are basically running. 

 

Daddy found us on our stroll back to the park. He said it was too nice to go back inside yet. He got out and walked with us to Ms. Kay's house. We visited with Ms. Kay, an old friend, for a while before coming home. She has many, many grandchildren, and so she has many wonderful child friendly things with which to play.

We came home and made dinner. 

We no longer have a stove top, oven, or a kitchen sink. So, to cook our vegetables we filled a bread pan with a little water, then added veggies and cooked it in the toaster oven. 

Here you are helping add the collard greens...

We also have very limited internet use right now (about an hour each night and it's spotty), so instead of watching videos we've been listening to a lot of Pandora (radio) on the phone. You've started to initiate dancing. Some favorite moves are spinning in circles, bouncing, and tonight you've started moving your arms around as you go. So, so sweet. 

I love you,

Mamma <3

The First Adolescence {369}

Dear Miss Dinah,

This morning Daddy taught the lesson to you children. He said you did a fantastic job 'mimicking' the other children by sitting in your chair exactly the way they were during the lesson.

After lunch and nap you and I went to do some shopping, but first we had to wait for Daddy to bring back the keys so you got to hang out in one of your favorite spots for a little while: the front seat of the car.

At the store this afternoon, we got samples of a baby applesauce that you thought was quite tasty. The woman handing out the treats was very friendly and very wise -- she was a grandma :) She said to make sure to "stay on top of those little ones," meaning you! She said, "This is the 'first adolescence.' You can take care of a lot of problems now before they become issues later." I thought that was a unique way of thinking about things.

After shopping, we came home to make some dinner.

After dinner you decided to take some pieces of paper towel off the roll, and do all the things that you know to do with them. First you wiped the floor, then you 'blew' your nose, and then you went and threw it away in the trash! Nice work, little one.

 

 Sometimes you spend a little too long loitering around the trash can to investigate it's treasures. At that point we kindly ask you to step away :)

I love you,

Mamma <3

Berries {368}

Dear Miss Dinah,

Yesterday morning we went to breakfast with Ms. Loree.

Ms. Loree and Mamma have been friends since...maybe since I was about your age! Anyway, she was in town for an conference with her husband's work, and we got to spend the morning with her.

We went to a fun breakfast restaurant in town. I ordered some yummy pancakes and you had the classic breakfast -- and devoured your eggs!

 

Next we went to the Discovery Center because Ms. Loree wanted to check it out. She learned about it by reading these letters! It turned out to be a good day to go because they were celebrating State Day at the center and there was a lot going on! 

I think the Farm Bureau might be a big sponsor of the center, because there was this beautiful picture of the lightboard when we showed up:

 

Two of my favorite words that you say are: oil and berries. 

Oil sounds like oylo oylo, and you stick your tongue out as you say it :)

And berries sounds like this:

I love you,

Mamma <3

Cement Floors & Hobbit Hole {367}

Dear Miss Dinah,

2 days ago w e had to use our escape window to leave the house! There are stairs just to your left going up into the yard. It was a bit fun -- felt like our own little hobbit hole.

 

And this is why:

 

 

We poured cement and leveled the floor in the outside room!

 

We also made ourselves scarce during the day, which including visiting the pet store. You get a huge kick out of watching the fish. You also like seeing the little hamsters and rats. There's a stepping stool right by their cages so that you can climb up and look at them at eye level. We talked about their eating, drinking, and sleeping habits. Oh, they also had child-sized shopping carts that you can push around!

I love you,

Mamma <3