Because I Don't Journal

I don't write many of the things down that Marin says or does, on paper. I wish I did more often so that we could look back and remember all the things she says. She's a funny kid, I'm sure all parents say that. But I just love the things that come out of her mouth sometimes. And other times I am shocked and realize how much she is really paying attention to.

Here are a few favorites we have heard theses days"

While I was laying on the couch the other day she walked up to me and said, "Bless you my child"

She's really into blessings these days after sneezing, if no one is around her she just says, "Bless ME!" She sneezes a lot in her room while playing... I guess this is a sign of me needing to do some dusting.

We are getting ready to visit some family and she was asking who all will be there and I said, "you tell me who's going to be there." She said, "Johnny, Nathaniel, and Uncle Helen... I said Uncle Helen, but Uncle Helen is a sheeeee! Hahahaha"

"Sometimes I don't like to obey."

We have also been surrounded by many of her "friends" these days. Because of Christmas break I guess they have time to stop by and visit more often. Most all of her imaginary friends start with "M"... hmmm I wonder why? :) But the other day one girl named Della came over (she told me all of this later in the day) and played in the sand box for a while and then left. Marin stood on the patio and yelled for Della for about 10 minutes, "Della, Della, where are you?" she came inside and said, "Mommy, Della won't come back." She has talked about Della a few times, but she has not been back to visit Marin. I have been told that my mother had many imaginary friends, and I clearly remember my brother's imaginary friends, Baffo and Diedo who lived on his thumbs. They turned out somewhat normal, so I guess its normal. Either way, McGleet and McGloot are still her two favorites and visit most days, from the sky.

When Marin was still in diapers we could not give her orange juice because it gave her a rash. This morning when I was drinking orange juice at breakfast Marin said, "Mommy does your bottom hurt?" and I said, "why would my bottom hurt?" and she answered, "because you are drinking orange juice." I guess she remembers those diaper days.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year! I'm sure it will be a crazy one for us are we figure out what its like to welcome another baby into our house in May. Two kids seems like a lot to keep track of, I can't even remember to keep a hold of my purse. I leave it everywhere, its a good thing I keep my kids tied onto my body for so long.

The Joy of Cookies

Ahhh the joy of making Christmas cookies...

First Ballet

For Christmas Todd and I took Marin to.... drum roll please... the Cinderella Ballet! Marin loved it, and did a wonderful job paying attention (considering it was 2.5 hours of being still and quiet). It was a wonderful family experience.

Marin with Cinderella (her second favorite dancer)

Marin with "Autumn" (her very favorite, it was the red tutu that had her smitten)

First Dental Visit part 2

First attempt at a smile to show clean teeth

And there you have it folks, a clean mouth! We love our dentist, and she and her staff were wonderful and so gentle and kind for our first visit. Marin didn't even know that some people get scared of the dentist. She thought is was a day in the park.

First Visit to the Dentest!

Marin had her first appoinment at the dentist's. We went to a Kids Only dental facility, and let me just say, they were AMAZING!!!

The dentist cleaned and x-rayed her tiny and chipped teeth. If you have never seen your kids baby teeth x-rays its weird because the big teeth are hiding behind their little ones. So the x-ray shows their layers of teeth... just like shark.

Open wide

Christmas Party

I went my church's women's Christmas party. I came home and first walked by this shelf with all the babies lined up. Just as though they were keeping watch outside Marin's bedroom door waiting for me. They were probably on guard because...

Everyone else in the house was sleeping. Stickers and all!

Farm-sitting part 1

We farm-sat for some friends from church back in October ( I know we are just now posting these pictures... we have a lot of updating to do yes we know). Marin and I actually got really sick the first few days we were there so we didn't get to enjoy the outdoors until the end of the week. But one day I caught this little pixie visiting our place.

Jump for joy

Seriously why doesn't her mother get some cloths on her. Maybe she doesn't have a mother?

Farm-sitting part 2

Going out to visit the goats

Gathering eggs.

Don't let this one fool you

Ohhhh she looks so innocent...

But earlier she snuck out the back door...

Distroyed the living room...

And I don't think the tub will ever recover from this!

Our 3 Year Old

Morning thus far:

8:20am Marin fell and bit hole in tongue

8:40am Marin tripped but OK this time

8:47am Marin dumped honey into snack box

8:50am Marin stole cookie off counter

8:52am Marin stole cookie number 2 and jammed it into her mouth before it could be confiscated

And what was mother doing this whole time? Trying to clean the freaking bathroom!!!

We have entered a new phase of parenting with this child. The day only gets more and more entertaining, to use a positive word.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Marin O'Connor!

Marin and Alima go to Sesame Street Live for Marin's Birthday! (folks that IS her smile)

We love you baby!

Some Summer Pictures

Painting in the driveway with Callie Beth
Finding a little toad and loving it so much. Marin just loves finding little frogs and toads that have fallen into the swimming pool and pulling them out to dry land... and trying to keep them!
Marin is taking her first dance class, this is her interpretive worship dance. (More dance pictures soon)
Frog puppet from Grandma Judy. It was a kit to put together and Marin and Todd did this one day while Holli was at work. It turned out really great.
Sunday trip to eat lunch in a nearby town. We love the countryside of Florida, all the Spanish moss, and old cracker style homes, old historic farms... So beautiful. Marin looks like she doesn't want to be a part of our family for some reason, we hear 3 year olds are like 13 year olds, when it comes to girls... this might prove to be true some days.
Love Frogs. This little Cuban pair took over the pool picnic table umbrella all Summer. We loved checking on them each day to see if they were still there together. Even though they are an invasive species we still enjoyed watching our little pair snuggle up and set up house in the shade near the pool.
Is all this stuff really necessary for swimming?
Marin and Todd get their toes painted.
Evening reading.
Marin gerbil-sat Molly for a few weeks. This was a big highlight for her... almost had us convinced we were going to be getting one for Christmas. We have made no decisions on this yet, but she really loved having a pet.

And this here people is the man who was just offered a job as an academic advisor!

More soon, like what is going on in our lives, changes we are expecting, Holli's work situation--as it developes, and other such things. Either way I wanted to post a few pictures because we have not put a lot on this Summer as we packed the USB cord that transfers our pictures onto the computer... so thanks to Steph we borrow her's when we get around to filling the camera.

Coming soon: pictures of our little "balleria" at dance class, our night at Sesame Street Live, and our new housing situation. If anyone has a washer/dryer or table let us know as we will need to acquire one soon!

Coming Soon

Two bits of info that we must share. On Monday Todd was offered a job at the University of Florida. We will get a final offer in a few days once things get rolling. But this is a huge answer to prayer and the end of a long wait. We know that in this economy we are very very blessed to have gotten a job in our current town. I will post more information on this as we find out more in the next few days.

Second we won tickets to Sesame Street Live a few weeks ago and took Marin and her friend Alima to the show on Tuesday. More about this event and pictures this weekend! Sorry for my lack of posting these days.

Offspring

Tonight as we were eating dinner, Marin was getting a bit rowdy at the table. After a few minutes of watching me try to calm her down Todd had this to say; " There are ways to control your offspring you know... I've read about them in magazines."

Seriously Todd's comments are just about as funny as Marin's these days. (From the picture you can tell who controls who... this is what happens to unemployed dads who spend a lot of time with their little girls!)

On another note, Todd and I just celebrated our FIVE year anniversary! Thanks to some good friends who let Marin spend the night, we had our first ever night away from her (she's almost three years old). And thanks to some other good friends we got to get away to their little guest house in the beautiful woods of Ocala, FL. It was a wonderful retreat and a great way to celebrate our five years together, without having to spend any money... which is our main goal as we continue to look for a job.

Happy Five Years Honey... with hair bows in your hair!

Twilight Books

I (Holli--obviously do any of you think Todd would read vampire love stories) have started reading the Twilight series. I'm not going to give a book review but I am going to say that it is a fun Summer read. Its been very entertaining... you know in a way that high school vampire romances can be, haha.

Either way cherries were on sale the other day at the grocery store and Marin loved them. But because I have vampire love novels on my mind I got a little nervous when I saw this...