Playhouse

Uncle Roland and Aunt Lisa gave Lulu a really neat playhouse for Christmas this year and she has had a blast playing with it the past couple of days.

She helped Daddy put it together:





Both Walter and I have crawled inside it with her and Lulu has gathered up her toys and stored them inside it, too. There are several windows that she enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with, too.



I have some cute video of her crawling out the window, too, but the videos will have to wait until we're home and I can upload them on my computer.

SNOW!

We brought along the baby bunting we bought for Lulu last year at REI on our trip to Colorado. She's outgrown it mostly, but it still proved useful for us as you can see:



eating snow in the backyard


that snow doesn't taste so good!


Opa pulled out their old cross-country ski sled


Daddy pulled her around the backyard until he got winded


And someone had a good time!

Pickles

Lulu decided to try eating a pickle when we were at the Rubicon last week. Luckily, I had my camera ready and snapped a few pictures:

thinking the pickle and mustard might be a good combo?


closer, closer.....


maybe this wasn't such a good idea??

Commit Random Acts...

My favorite bumper sticker is the one that says, "Commit Random Acts of Kindness," mainly because I like to make it "Commit Random Acts of Violent Kindness" in my head. In the spirit of that bumper sticker revision, I offer Lulu's latest act of randomly violent kindness (to her father's glasses):




Easily repaired, luckily, but still one of the hazards of living with a 16 month old...

Sisters....

I got some um, pictures of our two "children" this morning, but I don't think I can describe them as "sweet" photos!

Dido showing off her christmas outfit to Lulu


Lulu admiring said outfit


Lulu unsure what to do next?

Bath time.

These faces were too cute not to share!









And then someone didn't get her way....




Brushing our teeth



Read for bed, Mom!

Up to NO good!

Someone is getting into EVERYTHING lately and I think these pictures give you a sense of what we're dealing with....







I love the happy, go lucky spirit she has and her enthusiasm is contagious...but sometimes the unrelenting curiousity about *everything* gets overwhelming!

Black eye cont...

My black eye is maturing nicely into various shades of yellow. Walter snapped a picture of me last night while I was taking pictures of Lulu in her bath (those are coming in another post!).

She's bad, bad Lulu Brown...

...baddest girl in the whole d*mn town!





We were horsing around last night and she banged the back of her head into my face. I was wearing my glasses, so I have a nice bruise on my cheek and another less visible one on my eyebrow from where my glasses hit my face. Not fun.

Thankfully, it's less visible now, so I don't have to explain how I got beaten up by an almost 16 month old.

You can't push ME around anymore!

Sorry. Bad play on words from an old movie whose title I can't remember, but this was pretty funny yesterday. She must've circled the kitchen at least 10 times before she stopped.



Notice the one rainboot/wellie that she's wearing? Yeah, well, that's the only one I could get on her feet. After Walter came home from work, we decided that perhaps they were a bit small and I'll be returning/exchanging them for a larger pair (that's hopefully easier to put on her ginormous feet!).

Reading

Lulu reading a book about colors yesterday morning:

Holiday Party

Lulu and I hosted MomsGroup yesterday afternoon for a holiday-themed bash. I had the previous day off (furlough) and took advantage of the time to do some christmas cookie baking. It was a nice opportunity to bake without worrying about eating the end product all by myself.

So, I made chocolate decadence cookies from the Dec '09 issue of Sunset magazine and also the peanut butter thumbprint variation it recommended (SO tasty!), along with shortbread, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, gluten free brownies (a friend has celiac disease), and ginger-scented pecans. I also had red and green tomatillo salsa that I made with the last harvest of tomatillos from our garden this fall that I served with chips. That, added to the 5-layer dip that Tina brought and the brie/salami/crackers that Tracy brought, was plenty!



Someone is developing quite the sweet tooth!



I had eggnog (along with bourbon in case anyone wanted "proper" eggnog), mulled hot cider and apple/cinnamon and peppermint teas for everyone to drink. The eggnog is still in the fridge at this point, waiting for guests to arrive.



The mulled apple cider is warming on the stove. I figured if it made Williams-Sonoma smell good, then it would work for my kitchen, too!



I saw these napkins when I was buying the bourbon and couldn't resist, especially for a holiday-themed MomsGroup! (click on the photo to enlarge)

The adults were gathered around the table, enjoying the food and when someone wandered outside, the kids followed like the Pied Piper of Hamlin! So, these next photos are all outside in our backyard.



Hana and her mother, Lynette, enjoying the leaves and rocks.



And of course, the large pile of our old kitchen cabinets was irresistible!



Tracy & Anderson, Tina & Shaya, and Kyle (Shaya's daddy) enjoying the patio.

"Talking"

Amazing what she can say without really using words, isn't it?



And a little more:

Funny Faces

Just a few recent photos to share.

Here is someone trying to get my attention while I'm reading a magazine:



And here's someone ready to go to an early morning doctor's appt to get her flu shot:


And eating some cream cheese with her spoon: