Loved it! Thought I'd share...

This is one of my (and my children's) favorite songs.  I saw this video on my friend's blog today and since I don't think we share many of the same visitors to our blogs, I thought I would share it on my blog as well.

Watch on Youtube

It really is a great rendition!  I hope we are all trying to remember those wonderful gifts we've been given, despite all the bustle of the season.

The Nutcracker

Princess M's ballet classes put on The Nutcracker each year for Christmas, in lieu of a winter recital.  Princess M has been looking forward to this all year.  She got to be a Mouse in the first act and a Villager in the second.

She also got to learn a lesson in keeping the Sabath day holy, since we found out 2 weeks before the performance that one of the performances was scheduled for a Sunday.  We had a nice talk about it, spoke with her teacher, (who tried to convince us otherwise) but in the end Princess M felt very strongly about not dancing on Sunday.  It was a hard choice for her, but she made the right decision.  We were very proud of her.

Here's a bunch of photos and videos that we took.

Good News Bad News

I finally did it and painted my kitchen.  It's something it desperately needed, and I've wanted to do since we moved in.  It's a beautiful pale yellow now and I plan on getting some blue curtains, towels, etc to accent with.  It looks so nice and fresh, and not old anymore.  I love it!

As I was painting my last wall (behind the fridge) I noticed a few holes/scratches in the wall that wouldn't hold the paint. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that whenever I pressed the drywall near the holes, a small stream of powder would gush out of the hole, like a pixie stick.  I got a sinking feeling in my stomach and showed Alex.  After some exploration and removing all the plaster off of the areas where the drywall paper was loose, my wall now looks like this.

At first glance it looked like water damage, which would be understandable since we have a drainage problem on that side of the house that we are trying to fix.  Except that the damage fans up, instead of down.    And when you look closely the plaster is riddled with tiny holes.  And then we remembered the ant problem that we had before we started having the pest control guys spray monthly.  And come to think of it, our wall looks just like one of those ant farms you can buy.  Sinking feeling deepens.

Then Alex pulled out the baseboards on both this and the continuation of the wall in the next room (where we had seen ants emerge from before.)  Sure enough both of the baseboards splintered like rotten wood. Now our stomachs are about as low can be and we're imagining an entire wall eaten away by termites or carpenter ants or some other wood destroying organism.  But it's nearly midnight on Saturday, and there's nothing we can really do anymore until we get a professional termite guy in here on Monday to assess the damage.  So we just push the refrigerator back into place and go to bed.

We did look up our insurance policy.  Guess what is NOT covered by homeowners' insurance.

Keep us in your prayers.  We could use some good news about now.

Banana Art

 Banana Girl has made that transition from just scribbles to drawing something; namely faces. 

In this second, drawing, you may notice something different.  Banana Girl has done something that her older sister, with all her art ability, has never done: she is exploring emotions.  

This is a family portrait.  The big head is Alex ;), to the right is me, and below me are Princess M & Banana Girl, with Little Mouse in orange up in the upper left corner.  When we questioned her about it, this is roughly how the conversation went:

Mommy:  "This is Daddy?  Is Daddy happy?"
Banana Girl: "No.  He's sad."
Mommy: "Is Mommy sad too?"
Banana Girl: "No.  She's mad."
At this point, I'm trying to suppress a laugh, and Alex took it a step further:
Daddy: "Why is Daddy sad?  Did he lose his game?"
Banana Girl: "No.  He's ignoring Momma."
Daddy: "Why is Momma sad?"
Banana Girl: "Because Daddy is ignoring her."

Priceless.  Should I be concerned?  I think I need to watch my temper better.  Apparently all the girls are happy though.  

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a lovely thanksgiving here.  Two wonderful dinners, lots of friends new and old, and just a great time.  Unfortunately, no pictures.  But I do have a Thankful book that Princess M created in school this week.

"I'm Princess M! I'm six!"

Well, I've had these pictures ready to be posted for the past week.  But I just never could seem to find the time to write.  Princess M had her 6th birthday last weekend.  Since she was born on Labor day, school was closed for her birthday and she was able to have some friends over for an Elevensies Princess Tea Party.  We had to add the Elevensies in because her birthday this year was 11/11/11 (and of course we started the party at 11:11 am as well.)  We had 11 dishes at her party, all with 11 items on the plate.  I couldn't think of any other way to incorporate 11 into the party.  

Here's Princess M blowing out her 6 candle on her 11 cupcakes.

We broke the girls up into a green team and a pink team and had a princess dress up game.  The two attendants had to make the most beautiful dress that they could on their princess using green and pink streamers.  

The only working camera I had was my cell phone, so the pictures are not very good (or very plentiful either.)

The girls had a lot of fun together, ate a bunch of goodies, and just had fun being princesses for a few hours.

Like I did for Banana Girl, I'd like to take a moment to record some observations on princess M on this, her 6th birthday.  At this point in her life, these are her favorites:

Favorite Color: Green.  Although closely followed by purple and then pink.
Favorite Toy: At the moment, her purple unicorn pillow pet that she got for her birthday, but I imagine that won't last long.  The two new barbies (Rapunzel and Super Star Barbie) have a better shot at staying in the favorite toy lineup for a while.  She also favors a few Littlest Pet Shops from time to time.
Favorite Foods: Here's what she would have chosen for her birthday menu, if I hadn't been so busy preparing a friends party: Hot Chocolate & Blueberry scones (which she did get at her tea party), quesadillas with lunch meat inside, ramen noodle soup and rainbow chip cake with green frosting (which she also got at her party).
Favorite Movies: Cars 2.  (Not very girly in this genre at the moment.  But that's the newest Disney movie out; which is generally her favorite.)  She also loves watching "Eloise" Movies, which inspired the title of this post.
Favorite Music: "I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me", "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland, and anything Abba.  She also really enjoys listening to classical music.  She calls it "ballet music" since that is what they dance to in class.
Favorite TV show: Sponge Bob Square Pants.
Favorite Activities: Swimming, going on hikes, riding her bike, ballet, painting toesies, playing at a playground, playing at friend's homes or with the other kids at school, being in charge, playing battleship, and playing computer games (barbie.com, pbskids.org, and mickey mouse clubhouse)
Favorite Clothes: Anything with a skirt!  Hearts and butterflies are a bonus.  It's like pulling teeth to get her to wear pants though.
What I Want to Be When I Grow Up: A Veterinarian.

Princess M is our firstborn, and as such is our trailblazer child as parents.  Every new phase she goes through is a new phase for us as well.  It has always been so exciting to watch how quickly she is growing up and learning new things.  And learning new things has always been something that she does very very well.  She is so bright (and a little tall for her age) so everyone always thinks that she is older than she is.  She is at the top of her class in Kindergarten, and just loves to share with us the new things that she is learning there.  She can read several basic words and is getting good at sounding out new words.  Before too long she'll be reading all on her own.  She just recently learned how to play battleship with her dad, and has picked up very quick on the strategies of the game (and how to taunt and trick her dad.)  It's really fun to watch.
 
Like me, she loves to plan things and organize things to her liking.  Also like me, she is very focused and persistent in her ventures.  Some may call us stubborn; and maybe we are; but it can be a very good thing when pursuing worthy goals.  (I just need to remember to be patient with her persistence; since I know where she gets it.)  I hope I can help her to channel all that good stick-to-it-iveness in good directions.  

Unlike me, however, she is very artistic as well as smart.  The first time she stopped scribbling and asked me how to draw a smiley face, I showed her how to draw a standard face.  The perfectionist in her then wanted me to show her how to draw everything, but I pretty much stopped showing her at that point and asked her to draw whatever she saw, however she wanted to draw it.  She resisted at first, but very soon she just took off with it.  It has been so fun watching how she perceives the world through her drawings.  And they get better and better all the time.  It's usually very clear too, exactly what she is trying to draw.  Her world right now is full of rainbows, unicorns, and very happy people.  It's wonderful!

Princess M has always had a love for music and especially dancing.  Even before we put her in ballet, she was trying to learn on her own by watching Barbie movies with ballerinas.  So often she'll be going about her chores or games on pointed toes, striking a pose on her way.  She has developed an appreciation for classical music as well, which she calls "Ballet Music," and which I am very grateful for.  Her ballet school puts on the Nutcracker every year for Christmas, and she is very excited to be one of the mice in the show this year.  If anyone will be in town the first weekend in December, it promises to be a great show.

Princess M loves to play with other girls, especially those just a little older than her, and especially if they let her be the leader at all.  Even so, she also really loves to play with her younger sister and teach her what she is learning in school and ballet.  I just love that they play together so well, and seem to genuinely care and watch out for each other.  Princess M also just adores her baby sister.  She would smother her in hugs and kisses if I let her, and has always been a great help to me with taking care of her.  She's very loving and likes to cuddle with us whenever we'll let her.  She loves animals and can't wait until Christmas time when we've told her we'll be able to pick out a new kitten.  However, I'm not sure I'll allow the name "Hearts" for our kitten, that she has already decided on.  We'll see.  Maybe I'll have Santa surprise her with a kitten this year.  That could be fun.

Princess M is so very precious to our family.  I see so much of myself in her, both good and bad.  She's beginning to comprehend this big world that she's living in; there doesn't seem to be anything that I can't talk to her about anymore (almost.)  I'm so proud of all she is and is becoming, and hope I can be the loving, understanding, and patient mother that she needs me to be.  

Happy Birthday Princess M!!! I love you very very much!!!

Halloween Weekend

We had a great Halloween Weekend last week.  The church held a Family Fun Fall Fair Festival Fete Fling Thing (or something like that) on Saturday.  The girls jumped on jumpy castles, ate cotton candy, popcorn, and snow cones, went fishing, got "Fairy Eyes" painted on their faces, and just had a really fun time. 

 

Aren't they Gorgeous?

The next day we got all dressed up in our Orange and Purple dresses for Church.  Banana Girl even had a Halloween shirt with cats and pumpkins to wear under her jumper.

Our outfits were complete with orange flowers for pigtails (Banana Girl) and spider hair clips (for Princess M & I).   

 I make girls hair bows for fun, from flowers to bows, to bugs (lady bugs, bees, and butterflies) I've been wanting to try a spider for a long time. This year I finally did it. They turned out pretty cool I thought. Mine had brown legs and Princess M's had orange. They were a hit at church.

Monday brought Halloween.  Princess M got to wear her costume to school all day and the other 2 girls joined her after dinner in costume for Trick or Treating at the mall and the park for community sponsored festivals/"safe" trick or treating. 

 Little Mouse wasn't too happy with her costume at this point.  She made an awfully cute jack-o-lantern though.

Princess M went as Rapunzel.  We had an old blond wig laying around the house and for the cost of a cheap hair extension ($6) we brushed out the hair, braided the extension into the wig and filled it with homemade flower pins to look like Rapunzel at the floating lights celebration.  It's too bad I didn't get a picture when we finished making it.  It was quite stunning. 

 Here's what it looked like after a day at school and trick or treating though.

Banana Girl went as her favorite princess, Cinderella (the one in the pink dress as she put it.)

We had a great time!  The girls came home pooped and with a basket full of candy each.  (Which Mom and Dad promptly confiscated and now use to bribe them to do chores.  What mean parents we are!  Thanks for the idea, Nate & Cindy!)

October Randomness

Just a few random photos.

Here's my fall table center, complete with fresh roses from my front bush.  Aren't they gorgeous?!

Banana Girl wanted to cuddle with someone as she fell asleep.  Princess M was happy to oblige.  It just warms my heart when they care for and love each other.  

On the pet front, we finally sold the last puppy.  Horray!  

Bad news is that Princess M's goldfish that she got from the family fun fair, only 2 day ago, died today.  We've been warning her since she first got it that goldfish die easily, but she was still pretty broken up.  I walked in the room and she tells me, "Mom, I've been praying to Heavenly Father that my fish will come alive again."  And then she burst into tears.  What do you say to that?  Sometimes the answer is just "No."  I may have to go buy a goldfish sometime with her this week.  

We did, however, brighten up the day with a little toesie painting.   

Our happy fall toesies look like gilded Reeces Pieces.  They're great!

Rachael's the Best!

Here they are: the long awaited family pictures from July!  Enjoy!!!

She's a Crawler!

.

 See Little Mouse.

  See Little Mouse Come.

Come, Little Mouse, Come!

 See Little Mouse Go.

Good Job Little Mouse!!!

(Pictures Courtesy of Princess M)

Speaking of Small Pox...

Alex and I have been watching a TV miniseries called "John Adams," that aired some long time ago.  Great show, very interesting to see the dramatization of the events that brought about the autonomy of our country.  They show the political debates that the colonies went through at that time.  It's a miracle that they were ever able to get a unanimous vote, (or 12 of the 13 colonies to all vote for independence; NY abstained in case you don't remember.)

Anyway, they showed the the small pox that was running rampant throughout the continental army and Abigail Adams' concern that they might contract the deadly disease.  What a horrible, terrifying disease that was.  I guess I always imagined the small pox as something similar to the chicken pox, only deadlier.  Oh, no!  There was nothing "small" about these pox.  No mild little red spots like the chicken pox, but terrible scarring huge pockets of puss everywhere, just like a really ugly winter squash.  I can't even imagine having to nurse my own child in such a condition without completely breaking down.  Thank Heaven above that that horrible disease has been eradicated!

So yeah, it was a very small part of the show, but the image of how they "inoculated" Abigail and her children against the disease still amazes me.  The doctor seriously just made a cut in her arm and then shoved into her a wad of puss that he had extracted from one of the huge pox on the man in the cart outside dead of the disease.  Well, of course they're all going to get sick from that!  And although I read that it was still a legitimate way to avoid contracting the disease; I don't understand how that can be any better than just hanging out with the diseased people and contracting it that way.  It was no weakened strain of the disease, but the full blown, active killer that he shoved into their bodies.  It just seamed so barbaric.

I'm very very very grateful for modern medicine!  And yet I wonder what we do today that people will think of as barbaric a couple hundred years from now.

It's Fall!

Officially anyway.  The days are still hot here, and there's no leaves changing or anything.  However, the nights have cooled off quite a bit, and all the monsoon rains have stopped.  

Anyway, I picked up some fall decor this week: some mini pumpkins of different colors, a couple winter squash that look like they have the small pox, and several ears of Indian corn.  You know, those multicolored ears that are all dried up and last forever, because they are hard as a rock.

They're so pretty, and they make it feel like fall, even though the weather does not.  I'm excited to get the rest of the fall decor out now.

However, I read online another thing you can do with Indian corn besides decorate, and I just had to give it a try:

Popcorn on the cob!!!  You just spray them with cooking oil, place in a paper sack and put in the microwave until it stops popping.  It worked perfectly.  My girls loved it!  I think we just found a new fall tradition.

Happy Fall, Everyone!

Does that really happen outside of Leave it to Beaver?

So it's dinnertime and I made the mistake of asking for a volunteer instead of just choosing someone to say the prayer:

Me:  "Dinner's ready!  Everyone up to the table please!  Who would like to say the blessing?"
Both girls in unison:   "ME!!!"

Now this is the point where the house would usually erupt into shouts of accusation about who said it last time and lobbying for their case.  However, just as I was stealing myself up to break up a fight and impose the iron decision of Mother to settle the issue, I heard this from my younger princess:

Banana Girl: "(Princess M), you can say the prayer if you want to."
Princess M: "Thank  you, (Banana Girl)!"
Banana Girl: "Welcome."
Princess M: "You can say the night prayer, if you would like."
Banana Girl: "Thanks!"
Princess M: "You're welcome."

Who are you?  and what have you done with my kids?  ...And can I keep you forever?  It made my night.

Happy Double Birthday!!!

Yesterday was Alex and Banana Girl's Birthday!

We had a busy day from the start.  Alex took the two older girls to the local swimming pool in the morning, while I finished canning our last batch of salsa.  (A week ago Saturday we received 125 lbs of tomatoes, that we have been canning into diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and salsa all week long.  I'm so glad that is done!)  When the last batch came out of the canner, we loaded up the kids and all went to the fair in town. 

Here's me and my girls!

Here's the Birthday Girl and Boy! (and the baby too.)

Banana Girl and Princess M rode the train together.

These three rode the Mary-go-round.

Banana Girl rode her first ride all by herself.  I was afraid she would be to nervous by herself, but as you can see, she had a blast and waved to us every time she came around.

Princess M and I rode the Farris Wheel.  And Alex and Banana Girl rode the giant slide together, but were too fast for a picture.  (My camera was taking too long adjusting for the dark and flashing lights.)

We ended the day with presents and cake.  (I know the candle is a 7.  It's the only candle I could find in the house.  She really turned 3.  The cake still tasted good.)

Princess M helped me decorate the cake.  It's half princesses for Banana Girl, and half boy toys for Alex.  (Names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

I'd like to take a moment to record some observations on Banana Girl on this, her 3rd birthday.  At this point in her life, these are her favorites:

Favorite Color:Still Yellow by far, but she's starting to say Pink and Green as well.

Favorite Toy: My Little Ponies

Favorite Foods: (Here's what she chose for her birthday menu:) Eggs & Toast, Doughnuts, Daddy Mac (macaroni with cheese and diced tomatoes added), Chicken Nuggets, Broccoli, Apples, and Ice Cream.

Favorite Movie: Barbie & the 3 Musketeers.

Favorite Music: Abba/Mama Mia; Especially "Money, Money, Money", "Dancing Queen," and "Mama Mia".

Other Favorite Songs: "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", and "Winnie the Pooh".

Favorite TV show: Ni Hau Kai-lan.

Favorite activities: Swimming, going for walks, riding on the back of Daddy's bike, playing with her older sister, and going on errands with Mama or Daddy.

Favorite Clothes: Swimming Suit.  When I won't let her wear that, then it has to be a pretty dress.

What I Want to Be When I Grow Up: A Ballerina.

Banana Girl is my sweet peacemaker.  She is very often thinking of other people without being prompted.  I love to hear her prayers, because she always includes either her sister or her daddy and often both, that they might have a good day at school, work, ballet, or whatever they are doing that day.  She almost always greets us at the door when we come home from somewhere and asks us, "How was school/work/ballet/etc.?"  She's the first to give thanks for whoever cooked the meal, and almost never forgets her please and thank yous.  She's quick to hand out kisses and hugs, and always lets us know when Little Mouse is crying.  She's very patient with her older sister, who is more inclined to lead and direct their play.  She will usually let her sister take the lead and do whatever she's told to do in their play.  She loves being with her sister and misses her when she's at school.  They take care of each other too.  I love to see them holding hands (of their own choosing) when in a big crowd or crossing the street. 

She is also my singer.  Banana Girl loves to sing at the top of her lungs and dance along too when the song moves her.  She can't sing "Dancing Queen" any other way than on high volume and top speed as she skips around the living room.  She's very good at singing too.  She's always been very accurate in her tone.  Even before I could understand the words she was singing, I was always able to pick out the song, because she's exactly on her notes.  I need to figure out how to get home recorded mp3s on this site because I have some great recordings of her singing Abba.  I absolutely love it!  It makes me smile just to hear her voice. 

As long as you don't catch her when she wakes up from a nap (she's a real bear for a while; like her daddy,) she's usually very happy and is really into silly words (esp. gugie and boogie) and giggling.  She loves to climb, as high as she can get.  I'm always having to order her off the high stools and stacks of boxes, or backs of chairs.  She's not very fond of the puppy (it's too jumpy and nippy for her tastes) at our house right now, but she loves petting the neighbor's cat.  I can't wait to see how she takes to a kitten.  She loves being a big girl, and is excited to be 3 years old. 

Happy Birthday Banana Girl!!! I love you very very much!!!

Alex, I haven't forgotten you, but this post is already way too long.  Stay tuned for our anniversary post coming soon.  I love you very much!!!  and Happy Birthday!!!

Princess M's Art Gallery

Princess M has always liked to draw.  I remember when she first started purposefully coloring (not just scribbling) and I showed her how I draw a smiley face.  She took to it right away and started asking me how to draw other things.  It may have seemed mean, but I wouldn't show her anything else.  I didn't want her to feel there was only one right way to draw.  So I told her that she could draw things however she wanted to; and I was surprised when she actually accepted that answer and decided to go draw things on her own.  I've loved watching her try new things and expressing the way she sees the world through her drawings.  It began mostly with stick figures, flowers, and eventually rainbows as you can see in this picture from June:

Now that she's in Kindergarden she brings how a LOT of papers.  A lot are worksheets or coloring pages that she has colored.  But my favorites are still her freestyle drawings that show how she's learinging to express different ideas in pictures.  Here's my favorites:

These are her ruetines: See if you can figure them out.  (Morning: make her bed, eat breakfast, get dressed and got to school.  Afternoon: ride a bike, eat dinner, jumping, and ballet.  Night: go to bed.  and her favorite: to watch movies.)

These are 2 monkeys jumping on the bed

Things she likes: butterfly balloons, sun, sky and birthday cake.

Scary things: Spiders and snakes.

Things she doesn't like: rattlesnakes, bees, and tornadoes.

A self portrait. (I saw this and said, "Wow! someone has big teeth"  M replied, "Mmm, that's me."  Oops.  I tried to backpeddle; not sure how successfully.)

The right side of this is a picture of herself helping someone who fell down. 

I might be a little biased, but I just love them!





Roses & Teeth

Here's a few pictures I meant to post last week, but didn't get around to it. 

One of the things I love about the home we're living in now is the many rose bushes throughout the front and back yards.  Although when we moved in they were wild, overgrown, and about spent for the season for lack of care.  So as part of the massive yard cleanup, we really pruned back all the rose bushes and gathered up the last few roses to put in vases in the house.  Here's Princess M with her favorite:

Isn't it gorgeous!!!

I'm sure those bushes were very angry at us for cutting off so much of their hard earned growth, but the first bush that we pruned back 3 weeks ago is now full of new growth and has over a dozen little buds.  It's going to be amazing with they bloom; and the rest should probably follow suit not too long after.  I'm planning another hard pruning come January when they are dormant and more suited to pruning. 

The other exciting picture is this strange one of Little Mouse.  It's hard to see, but last Sunday, a lady at church spotted a little white tooth in there.  On bottom, to the right. 



My Little Mouse is growing up. 

Labor Day

We opened up our home for labor day to host the first, of hopefully many, family game afternoon.  We invited 2 families that were old friends and 1 family we had just met the day before.  We shared a BBQ, potluck snacks, good conversation, and a game of Settlers of Catan.  It was crazy crowded in our little house, but nobody seemed to mind.  The adults played games, while the kids played together and with the dogs in the backyard. 

And yes you heard me right.  There are dogs at my house right now.  Those who know me, know that I'm not a dog person.  However, my mother-in-law, Lynda has two shih-tzu dogs, who had puppies in Maryland.  She stopped by here on her way to Mexico and asked if we could take over the selling of 2 of them.  The puppies were so cute that we agreed.  If they would stay that cute and little forever, I might allow them to stay, but since no puppy stays little forever...Anyone want to buy an adorable puppy?  Please! 

Princess M is loving having them here for now though. 

6 Months

Little Mouse will be 6 months old in 2 days. That means she's old enough to start solids in our book. However, I had a really really long work/real estate day on Friday so Alex started her just a few days early. Here's some photos of her first experience with baby food. Apples, I think.

Princess M begs me to let her feed Little Mouse several times a day now.  We'll see how long that lasts.  She could be quite helpful in that way now.

6 months is probably a good time to record some thoughts on Little Mouse.  She's been my most contented baby for the most part.  As long as she's in a dry diaper and fed she's happy to sit in her play station and suck on the baubles.  She LOVES attention though, and will give big smiles to anyone who will look at her and talk to her a little.  She loves her older sisters and they adore her (sometimes a little too roughly, but loving all the same.)  She's very patient most of the time with their dressing her and playing with her. 

She's rolling over like a champ these days and we had to set up the crib in our room because she's rolling too much to sleep on the bed anymore.  She's also pushing herself up on her tummy, and is getting so close to learning how to crawl and sit up.  She has the desire to be moving around, she just hasn't figured out the mechanics quite yet.  (And I have not tried to hurry it at all.  We're going to have to install all those child locks on the cupboards soon.)

She has always been very friendly with other people, but recently she has figured out that babysitters mean that Mom will be leaving; and she has decided to punish them for it.  The last 3 times we've tried a babysitter, she has screamed the ENTIRE time!  The last 2 times, the babysitters couldn't take it anymore and had to call us to come home early.  And yet she doesn't scream when others hold her at any other time.  Smart girl!

She's my first baby that doesn't laugh when she's tickled.  She still clenches up and holds her breath in shock; but it looks more like torture to her than fun.  She does however laugh at things she thinks are funny or startling.  How I love to hear her beautiful laugh too.

And last night she slept the entire night non-stop in her crib for the first time!!!  I got the best nights sleep than I've had in a long time.  

How I love my little Mouse!  I love to hold her and squeeze her and kiss her fat little cheeks.  I love kissing the top of her head and breathing in that wonderful baby smell from her.  I love the way she smiles so big every time I look at her.  I just love being her mother!