Day after Thanksgiving

This morning Grandma and Pa-pa gave me a new puzzle!  It has Tigger and Winnie the Pooh on it, as well as some other characters.  I really like puzzles, and I'm getting pretty good at them.  I did this one (almost) all by myself!

See?  Notice Grandma gave me another haircut this morning too!

After lunch, Grandma, Mommy, and I headed out to the playground at the local elementary school.  I haven't been here since last Thanksgiving, so it was neat to see how much more I could do!  (And you can see in the pictures how much I've grown.)  Daddy stayed at home since he's not feeling too well, so Mommy made sure to take lots of pictures for him.

See, Mommy was actually here on this trip, she's just been taking most of the pictures all weekend!

What a great time!

After all this play, we headed back to Grandma and Pa-pa's house, and a little later Mommy, Daddy and I headed back home.  It was a great weekend (and it's only Friday)!  I've had so much fun, I fell asleep within 10 minutes of getting in the car for the drive home, and slept for over an hour!

Thanksgiving Day

Santa Claus came to town this morning!  This year I'm learning all about Santa. 

I got to help a lot more in the kitchen today.  I got to show Pa-pa how I'm an experienced mashed potato helper.  I help Daddy all the time.  I'm sure Pa-pa was impressed!

This next part was one of my favorites.  Whenever Mommy gets a whole chicken from the grocery store, Daddy carves it up and I stand on my stool next to him and get to have some nibbles.  It's almost the only way I'll eat it, I don't want it at the table!  Well, Pa-pa was carving the turkey, and Daddy asked if I wanted any.  I said "no", so he called it a "big chicken", and I went to town!

Grandma and Pa-pa have been telling me that when it gets dark, I'll be able to turn on the switch to their Christmas lights.  During the day I kept wanting to do it, but they said I had to wait.  Eventually I pointed out that it was now dark outside, so we all went out and I turned them on.  Woooo!  It was neat!

Thanksgiving Weekend in Owasso

Today after my nap at school, guess who showed up - Mommy and Daddy both!  I was surprised and happy to see them, and they told me we were going to Grandma and Pa-pa Roslewski's house for a few days.  So we left right from there and I was a great girl for the whole 2 hour car ride, happily entertaining myself, singing my favorite songs ("Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and my ABC's), reading books, and just having a fine time.  Mommy and Daddy were very happy about that!

I was so glad to see them again, and I got to be a very helpful girl.  I got to help Grandma prepare the stuffing for tomorrow's dinner.



Grandma bought this great chair, that's also a step-stool.  I got a lot of use out of it!

That evening, Grandma and Papa had me do "closey-eyesey" time.  This is where I close my eyes and hold out my hands and get a surprise!  I like this game.  So I shut my eyes tight!



And look what I got, a new pair of Ariel pajamas.  I got to wear them tonight!



I was up really late tonight, because I was having so much fun.  But it was okay because I can sleep in tomorrow morning!

Green means go!

Mommy and I were in the car today at a stoplight.  When the light turned green, I immediately said "Green means GO!  Go Mommy!"

I'm already a back seat driver!

Another fun day!

Today was another quite busy day of play with Mommy and Daddy.

Grandpa Roslewski will remember this one well. Daddy was sitting on the couch, I came up and climbed on his back and asked him to be a horsey! We did a few laps around the couch before Daddy decided we should play another game. ANY other game! But I sure had fun!



We even built a little house for me out of the couch cushions.



Daddy and I went to the park for a long time, where I met an older girl named Anna. She was 6 but very friendly and wanted to play with me! We went on all the slides and the swings and had a great time. I hope I see her again!

Later, I was so worn out that I surprised Mommy by crawling right up on her shoulder on the couch and falling asleep. She was even able to take me into the bedroom and lay me down without waking me up. I don't often fall asleep on Mommy, so Mommy thought this was really nice!

I was a great weekend!

The end of a busy day!

Daddy, Mommy and I had such a fun time today. I was so worn out from dancing and going to the library and just having fun that I even fell asleep watching some kid's movie about airplanes! Daddy likes it when I cuddle up to him and fall asleep. I don't do it that much anymore, so it's really nice when I do!



But it was a little too early for bedtime, so they woke me up after about a 30 minute nap. Was I groggy! I just wanted to cuddle right back up and fall asleep again. But once I woke up, look out! Now I was well rested and ready to play!

We played some hide-and-seek. How'd Daddy find me so quickly?



I can touch the ceiling with my toes! "Daddy, I want to do it again!"



And like my "Eight Silly Monkeys" book, I may not be allowed to jump on the bed, but nobody said anything about jumping on the couch! I was having a great time, and of course Daddy was letting me get away with it as long as he stood right there. What fun!

Fortunately, after a lot of play like this, I was worn out again and went right to sleep. What a day!

"I want to do math!"

Daddy's so proud of me! Tonight a little while before bed we were dancing to my music, when I stopped and told him "I want to do math". He was pretty surprised and happy!

You see, on Sunday he started to teach me some math using my hair scrunchies (which I call "ponytails"). He'd give me one "ponytail", ask how many I had, then give me another and ask again.

Well, tonight we did the same thing, but with chunks of Play-doh instead. I sat down next to him and we put little blobs on each other's leg, adding and subtracting and counting up how many we had left the whole time. It was fun and he really grilled me, too! Once, when I had 4 pieces on my leg already, he added one more and asked how many I had now, so I simply answered "a lot!" But I did really well, and am starting to catch on now. Mommy always says I'm Daddy's little engineer!

Happy Birthday Grandma Roslewski!

Grandma and Grandpa and Shadow made it down just a little after noon and we had a great time. We were waiting for them to arrive and I got to race Grandpa to our house. Guess what, I won! Grandpa says that Daddy used to race him down the street when he'd come home from work when Daddy was little. Look at me go!



While Daddy was making burgers for lunch, I got to show Grandpa and Grandma how I like to bounce on my big ball, and then fall off. I was having a lot of fun, so Grandpa decided to try it. Oops! I went over to help him up.



After lunch I got to escort Grandma back to the table with her eyes closed. When she opened them up, there was one of the birthday brownies Mommy and I had just made with a candle in it. Can you tell that I'm ready to eat dessert?



I even got to help Grandma blow out the candle.



When Grandma opened my card, she really liked all the big love hearts I drew (with a little help from Daddy). I kept telling him I wanted to draw a big one. No, a really big one. No, a really really big one!

After Grandma opened her presents, I got to have a lot of fun with her and Grandpa. We put on my music and we all danced together, they read books to me, we played with some toys, and had a great time. It was too soon that they headed on back home!

Many times that night I made sure to tell Mommy and Daddy that "I want to see Grandma and Grandpa and Shadow again!" They kept reassuring me that we'd see them very, very soon for Thanksgiving. I can't wait!

Getting ready for Grandma and Grandpa's visit

Grandma and Grandpa Roslewski are coming over in just a little bit (they're actually driving right now!) and we're going to celebrate Grandma's birthday, which was this past Tuesday. We decided to surprise her with "birthday brownies", and I helped!

The brownie mix was bound to spill a little bit after I poured it in.



I helped Mommy stir . . .



. . . and scoop the brownies into the little cups in the pan. It got a little messy!



I was so proud of my work!



Once we put the brownies in the oven, I quickly pointed out that "Mommy, you made a mess. We need to clean it up!" Then I grabbed a washcloth out of the drawer (Mommy wet it), and I wiped up the mess. I even wiped up a little mess on the floor all by myself. I did such a good job, Mommy didn't need to help me at all!



I hope Grandma and Grandpa get here soon, I want some brownies!

Helping Daddy take apart my crib

Today Daddy came up to me and needed to ask me a serious question. He told me that I was a big girl now, and didn't sleep in my crib anymore. He said that one of Mommy's coworkers was going to have a little baby and that baby would need somewhere to sleep. Would I like to let that baby have my crib? I looked at him very seriously, nodded and said "yes". It was obvious to Daddy that I didn't really want to get let go of my crib, but I knew that someone else could really use it, so I thought that was a good idea. Daddy gave me a big hug and said he was very proud of me, that I'm really growing up and learning to share my things with others who really need them.

Then the fun started! We had to take the crib apart, and as always, Daddy needed his helper.

The first thing I got to do was carry the tools from the garage. Daddy gave me a few since he didn't know exactly what size to use, and followed me into the room. When he got there, look at what I was doing with the tools! Very organized, aren't I?



Daddy showed me how the hex-head wrench fit into the bolts, and held the wrench steady so I could turn it. He had to get a few of them started for me, but after that, I did all the turning by myself!





I was very interested in helping him remove the bolts too, and I put them all in a baggie for safe keeping.



I hope the new baby likes my crib as much as I did!

Singing along with Mommy and Daddy

Every night for as long as I can remember, Mommy and Daddy have sung "You are my sunshine" to me as they put me to bed. Tonight, I surprised them by singing along! I don't know all the words yet, but after several hundred times of hearing them sing it, I was able to get a few of the words out. They thought it was really pretty neat!

Fun at the park!

It's been really nice weather the last few days, especially for November, so we've been taking advantage of it and going to the park a lot! Friday I even saw my friend Jenna there. We had a good time playing with each other, especially as we walked on this little brick wall there. At every gap in the bricks we'd let out a big scream! Then step over the gap, and let out another one! It was fun and Mommy, Daddy, and Jenna's Mommy thought it was really funny too.

On Saturday we went back again!

And today (Sunday) we went back yet again! This time just with Daddy though. I'm getting really strong, I can even hang from the overhead bars with one hand (Daddy's always right there, of course). I amazed him!

Daddy took a lot of video of me today, including me squealing at the gaps in the bricks (and a little tree that sticks out between them), and making a "complete" round of the playground equipment. I also went down the "turny slide" backwards and said I was being like "Mater" from the movie "Cars", who is good at driving backward! (I surprise Mommy and Daddy every day with the things I remember.) He edited a lot of it out, but here you go (it's still a bit long at 3 minutes). I'm getting to be such a big girl!

I also surprised them by spelling out P-A-R-K. They can't keep it secret by spelling it around me anymore, I know what it means!

I want to show you something!

The last few days I have adopted a new way of getting Daddy to pick me up. Instead of just saying "Daddy, I need up!" like normal, I've been saying "Daddy, I need up, I need to show you something". Of course, he then picks me up because it might be something important he needs to see! Fooled you, Daddy!

The only problem is, now I have to figure out something that I need to show him, so I quickly look around the room for something to point to and have him head over. Then I pick it up and show it to him. See? Now I've got him carrying me. Aren't I tricky?

Unfortunately, I think he might be catching on...

Making goodies for "Auntie" Charlie

Today Mommy spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen baking! She was making a "care package" for her friend Charlie, who is depoyed to Afghanistan. She also made a lot extra so we got some too (and Daddy got to take some in to work). Of course, once I heard that she was making fudge and other yummy goodies, I wanted to help. Mommy says I was a big help, too!

I even got to do a little taste-testing along the way.

Notice what I'm wearing. I liked my Halloween costume so much, I insisted that Daddy help me wear it today too. I wore it almost all day!