Faces of Vivi

You're Invited!

One of Marley's new favorite activities in serving dinner for every one in the evenings.  Yesterday, Mimi helped her make invitations to her dinner party, and Marley handed them out to everyone she could. 

She brings in all the food, plates, bowls, and silverware that we could ever eat.  She even fills the cups with water in the bathroom sink.  She tells us exactly what we can eat and in what order we should eat it.

She is a little on the bossy side, but she knows how to organize a fancy dinner party!

Forest Festival

Last night, Marley, Vivi, and I went with Grandma, Aunt Bonnie, and all the cousins to the Texas State Forest Festival.  They had all kinds of little activities that the kids loved to do, but it also taught them a lot about the forest and the animals that live there.  They got to pet a snake, examine animal tracks, learn what bears do in each season, visit a petting zoo, and make a house fire-safe.

Her Daddy's daughter.  She didn't even hesitate!

She raked leaves and water the plants to keep the house fire-safe.

There was one little goat out walking around.  I was so surprised that Marley walked right up and pet it's back.  She wasn't scared at all!

She only wanted to feed the baby goats.  If a bigger goat was trying to push the baby out of the way, she asked me to move the big one so that she could safely feed the babies.

Persayus, Marley's cousin, wasn't scared either!  She loved feeding them.

 

Marley had a great time trying to keep up with the tree boys.  She chased them all over the place.

Marley has never been to any sort of carnival or fair.  She hasn't even ridden any rides alone other than a slide or a simple train ride.  So, I had no idea how she would be on the carnival rides.  She is pretty shy usually and doesn't lie to do things without someone she knows.

But she never stops surprising me.  She had a blast.  I haven't seen her laugh this hard in a long time.

 

She couldn't have had more fun.  She was having a hard time holding herself up because she was laughing so hard!  It makes me so happy to see that smile.

The evening was totally exhausting.  We all rode the carousel together (Vivi was in the Ergo) and I was so thankful to finally get to sit down. 

The fair comes to Nac in a few weeks, so I'm sure I will be taking Marley!  How could I not, after seeing her reaction?!

Feeding the Ducks

 This morning, Marley, Vivi, and I went to the SFA duck pond.  I parked a good distance away so that we could walk there and back and get a little exercise.  Marley had a blast, the weather was perfect, Vivi happily slept, and we all got to get out of the house!

Flapping her wings like a duck.

She was getting a little hungry herself!

 

 

Marley had so much fun feeding the ducks, She used up so much energy, explored like a little girl is supposed to, and laughed and smiled for two hours straight.  It made me so happy to see her so happy.  The trip honestly could not have gone any better.  It replenished my faith in myself and really made me look forward to future outings.  We need to get out of the house more, and this gave me confidence to say, "Hey!  I can do this two kids thing!"

Asa sent me a present!

Asa bought me a "just because" present.  A wonderful, exciting, perfect present!  A Nikon D5000.  I am beyond happy.

So, I have been spending all evening trying to figure it out and try out all the features.  I took a bunch of videos with it, and here are two of my favorites!

Tea Party from Jillian Shaw on Vimeo.



I am a lucky girl.  I have an amazing husband.

Pictures of Our Girls

She loves her play mat... for about 2 minutes!

She is so strong!

This baby makes a TON of bubbles!

The sweetest girls.

She has her Daddy's ears!

She got scared by my funny faces.

I asked Marley what would be her favorite thing to do to today.  She chose chalk!

DADDY! I told her letters and she rote them all herself!

Photography by Marley!

Autumn Wreath Activity

Marley and I made an autumn wreath today! It was a very simple but fun activity that Marley loved to do. All we did was trace her hands on construction paper, I cut them out, and then she glued them a paper plate. We even did one of my hands and two little hands for Vivi.
It was a great little activity to spend some alone time with Marley and she really loves doing projects! She wants to send one to Daddy for him to decorate his room!

Crayon Cupcakes

Yesterday, Marley and I made crayon cupcakes! We took her broken crayons (and we broke a few more just for the project), took the paper off of them and put them in cupcake baking cups. Melt them in the 300 degree oven for 9 or 10 minutes and then take them out and let them cool!

Marley had a blast making them and loves coloring with them!