Hot Diggety Dog!

We went to Dogg Nation this evening for supper, and Marianne tasted her first hot dog! After giving it to her plain, I was pleasantly surprised to find that she likes her dog with mustard and sauerkraut! So far, the only food that she doesn't like is ketchup!

Cheese!

Marianne loves cheese. Who doesn't?

Coming to America

Nathan and Manu came to visit on Wednesday as part of their whirlwind tour of the east coast. After spending time in Hickory, Blowing Rock, and the Blue Ridge Parkway, they came to Pinehurst before heading to Columbia, Charleston, Savannah, and finally New York City!

Marianne adores her Uncle Nathan, and was enchanted by Manu, bringing her books, playing with Mr. Potato Head, and hiding behind her legs. We hope they get to come again soon!


Uncle Nathan, don't leave!

Flirting and Flexing

Marianne enjoyed her second Easter. She started the day off with the Kolster family in church, and only had to leave the sanctuary three times! Right after church we headed to Newton to see the Yoder family. We were especially looking forward to seeing Uncle Nate and meeting Manu!

Marianne quickly warmed up to her uncles, and apparently has a baby-crush on Uncle Josh (or Uncle Junk, if you ask David). She kept giving him a big goofy smile and batting her eyelashes at him over lunch, and then tried to follow him into the kitchen for some alone time. Luckily, Jen wasn't worried about her competition. If I could bake a pie like Jen, I wouldn't be worried either!

Marianne impressed Uncle Nate with her flexing skills, which we didn't know existed! Nathan and Manu were so thoughtful and brought Marianne a plush donkey and cow hand-puppet. Marianne's only animal sound thus far is to "hee haw" like a donkey, so it was very appropriate! She loves her new toys almost as much as she loved seeing Nate and Manu, and she'll have fun playing with them on Wednesday when they come to Pinehurst.

Marianne was a trooper today with all the time spent strapped in a car seat (almost six hours!). She only napped about 30 minutes each way, so thank goodness for the DVD player! We watched "Baby Signs" five times and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" twice. If you don't have a toddler, then you probably didn't know that "They Might Be Giants" does the music for "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". It's a cute show, and the finale always gets Marianne groovin' -- "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog...." is usually stuck in my head for hours.

We were back in Pinehurst by 6:30pm and Marianne got to spend some time playing with GaGa and Grandpa, and wouldn't you know, the Easter Bunny came to visit! He brought Marianne some additions to her Potato Head collection and some good books, as well as some candy for mom and dad.

After a day full of excitement, Marianne is in bed and I think it's time for Mama to get to work on that Easter candy!

Baby Bear, would you like some porridge?

GaGa and Grandpa gave Marianne two cloth books today, "Mother Goose Rhymes" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". "The Three Bears" comes with four little hand puppets so we can act out the story while we read. After looking intently at the pictures, Marianne put the baby bear's mouth up to the picture of porridge. Too cute! GaGa and Grandpa gave Marianne a special Easter Egg decorated with Disney characters. Mom was looking through all of her Easter decorations and found an egg-dyeing kit from "Caldor", a discount store in Connecticut. The significance of this is that it means she's been saving it for 18-20 years. They used the kit to make eggs for Marianne, and they turned out really cute. As you can see, Marianne got a big kick out of her egg. It lasted in her hands for about three minutes until she decided to pound it on the table.

Easter Egg Hunt

Marianne went to her very first Easter Egg Hunt today! We had a great time at church dyeing eggs, playing games, making Easter Bunny ears, and of course hunting for eggs. I think Marianne enjoyed snack time most of all!

Hmmm, what's inside this egg?

Future Hula-Hoop Champion of the world!


This is one serious little girl! She's on a mission!

Score! She found an egg at the bottom of the slide!

Who cares about finding Easter eggs? I love slides!

Marianne loved the parachute; it was like playing a gigantic game of peek-a-boo! After peeking under the parachute several times, she finally got brave enough to run (rather, toddle) underneath.

Happy Easter!

"Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall..."

Marianne is obsessed with mirrors today! She always enjoys looking at herself in the bathroom mirror (and pounding on the mirror at the same time), but today she got the opportunity to admire her reflection at several mirrors in stores across town.

Our mission today was to find a pair of shoes to match her Easter dress. I know, this is cutting it close for me -- not only because Easter is in just a few days, but also because I love shoes and you would think I'd have had her Easter shoes since Christmas! Nope, not this time. I thought it would be pretty easy to find a pair of white dress shoes, but not today. We went to four shops before finally settling on a pastel pink pair of shoes (with built-in squeakers! Those will have to be removed before Sunday!) at my favorite store, Lil Branches.

Four stores! Marianne definitely has radar for mirrors, and enjoyed posing, dancing, and playing peek-a-boo with herself in every mirror in Southern Pines. And even back at home this afternoon, she has been finding all of her toys with mirrors (the little compact in her play purse, the mirror on her brush, mirrors on two of her blocks, and a picture of a mirror on a flashcard...I'm sure there are more mirrors but that's all I can remember).

I sure hope the Easter Bunny will bring her a full-length mirror!