Heating up the kitchen!

Liza was given a kitchen for her birthday and she really enjoys playing with it.  Even though it was a gift from Nana and Poppa, Chris spent hours assembling it the night before her birthday party.  There was so much going on the day of her party that we didn't have time to give it to her so all day long it was covered in blankets in our kitchen.  Sunday we were able to set it up so we could Skype with Nana and Poppa while she opened it.  Here are a few pictures of Liza playing with it for the first time. 

She sometimes uses a little hip action to close the oven door.

Now after adding all her "accessories" here's what it looks like.

One morning this week as we were leaving for Rita's she asked me if she could go "check"on her kitchen; she had to make sure it was alright.  Her Poppa hopes she'll learn a little domesticity with this toy - seems to me he thinks I could some more too!

Liza is 2 years old!

It's so hard to believe that Liza turned two years old today.  We had a Dora party yesterday and we are thankful to our friends and family who joined us.  We had a house full of people and without my sister, otherwise known as Auntie Em, and my dear friend, Sarah, I don't think anyone would have ever been able to eat. Thank goodness our party guests were patient!

Here's the birthday girl snacking on apple slices during a break in the constant action.

Watching Liza and the other children playing during the party was a lot of fun.  I ordered many Dora goodies for favor bags and racked my brain trying to be more creative than the last person that put together a Dora party - don't know why because there is only so much one can do using Dora as your theme!  Sometime ago I was giving one of my friend's grief about the lengths she was going to for party favors.  My big mouth said I'm never going to do party favors; isn't coming to the party and having a meal and fun good enough?  Well...I ate my words yesterday!  Different favor bags for boys and girls.  I'm thinking about starting a fad and discontinuing the practice of favor bags.  Any takers?

Liza loves presents and she was intent in getting every single piece of wrapping paper off of them!  One of her presents was wrapped with military precision so she couldn't find a place to start ripping the paper.  She handed it to me and told me it was broken - so cute!  In this picture Liza is identifying her new cars naming the Backyardigan characters and holding on tightly to her brand new Grinnell College nalgene bottle. 

Auntie Em took on the task of finding the perfect Dora cake!  She visited many bakeries in Madison only to learn that Dora cakes infringe on copyrights.  She finally found one place that agreed to help out but she wasn't 100% confident in them so she made back-up plans.  Auntie Em ended up making Liza a Dora cake herself -- way to go Auntie Em!

The other cake was wonderful too and we really appreciate the efforts of Auntie Em.  In this picture Liza is taking it all in and enjoying watching everyone. 

Auntie Em I loved my cake.  Today, when Mommy cut a piece of Dora's shirt for my piece of cake I told her that I preferred to have Dora's nose! 

To all of you who could come thank you - and to all who are close in our hearts but far in distance we missed you a great deal and thank you for all you did to make Liza's birthday special.

Christmas...the final post!

Well what do you know...a crown to match the glitter shoes and sparkling earrings...here Mary Katherine models it for all of us to enjoy.  While we don't have pictures both girls have matching fairy outfits that will round out the jewels and shoes.  Wonder what Aunt Su Su will think of next?

Thomas, Dora and the Wonder Pets were the highlights of Christmas 2009.  When Liza opened the box below and her Wonder Pets extravaganza from Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Stan the prolonged and precious screams of excitement were probably heard by Nana and Gaggy's neighbors.  We didn't have the video camera going and we are so sorry to have missed those moments.  Thank you Nana and Gaggy for the Knapford Station set - it has so many bells and whistles and I love playing with all of them!

During our time in Florida we headed up to see Great Grandma Margaret Bair.  The girls had fun looking for Bounce, the cat, who was hiding from them and we all enjoyed a great meal that Margaret prepared. I always look forward to the beautiful items Margaret makes for us.  I use the scarfs she's made us regularly, the dishtowels are the most absorbant around - they are the kind I label as my "good" dishclothes - no using for any project outside of drying dishes!  This year Liza and Mary Katherine received precious hats.  Try as we might we couldn't get them to sit still and look at the camera at the same time.

After leaving Margaret's we headed to Bill and Martha's.  One of the things I love about Florida is the beautiful Spanish Moss.  There is a tree near Margaret's drivway that I love to look up in and see the moss dripping off every limb.  I forgot to take a picture of it so I found another one at Bill and Martha's.

   

As you can tell we had a great time during the holiday season.  Every place we went we wish we could have stayed longer and spent more time with family and friends.  We feel fortunate to have so many who love and care for us.  Many of our family members are watching us from heaven so the time Liza gets to spend with her great grandparents and grandparents is truly a treasured gift.  Thanks to all! 

This concludes the holiday report for 2009.  Even though the calendar is marking down the days in 2010 the Bair Family blog hasn't caught up yet.  We will...look for more excitement on this blog soon.  Liza turns 2 on Sunday.

We made it to Florida...

Our family in Florida is gracious and kind and waits for Liza to get there and we have a second Christmas.  Liza could hardly believe the excitement was happening again - presents to rip open, more toys and getting to play with her cousin Mary Katherine equaled perfection in her book.  Liza is just astonished that there are more presents for her!

Uncle Pete and Aunt Ann gave Liza the cutest outfits.  She'll certainly be on any well dressed baby list thanks to everyone's generosity.  She was so excited about this dress I think she wanted to try it on right that very second.   

Aunt Su-Su and Uncle Paul thought Liza and Mary Katherine might need some sparkle shoes.  Liza is staring at them in awe and I knew she couldn't wait to try them on.  Out of the package they came!

And look....earrings to match!

Stay tuned...

Continued...fun!

The fun just kept going for everyone!  Liza was having fun playing with her trains on her new train table.  You might notice her one finger in the air...she was likely saying "Just one minute" a new favorite expression of hers.  Lately it has morphed into "just one more minute" when she is trying to get a little extra playing time in before bath and bed.  Auntie Em's Signal Station really upped the train wow factor and when you couple that with the Station Roundhouse that she got from Nana and Gaggy in Florida she is set to start running multiple train lines! 

You can't have Christmas at the Jones house without the requiste dog bows.  Hally and Molly each had one so we tried to invent one for Logan at the last minute.  Looks like we might be trying too hard to make it go over his head.  Thanks for being a good sport Logan. 

Playing with hand puppets was quite a hoot.  Liza loves the monkey one and had to give it a big kiss. 

Not sure who was having more fun with the puppets - could it be Nana and Auntie Em?

After a long fun-filled family day Liza was ready for a little R&R so she climbed up on the couch and cuddled with some of her new baby dolls.  Dora and Baby Alive are being told a bedtime story by Liza.  Such a sweetie!

We had a great time with our family in Knoxville and were excited to hit the road the next morning to see our family in Florida.  Liza had to get one more concert in so she and Nana worked on some of their Christmas songs.  The piano and organ had to go "night night" multiple times during the day because if they weren't sleeping Liza didn't understand why she couldn't play them. 

Continued...

After the initial thrill of Santa presents everyone, except Nana, headed off to get gussied up for brunch.  Nana was cooking away - thanks for doing that!  I didn't get a good shot of Liza's second "costume" change but you get the drift with this picture.

I think Poppa and Liza were calling us to brunch by playing the organ together.

After brunch with the Roberts Family (great to see you) some of us had a third "costume" change for opening presents and the reading of the Christmas story.  Liza is holding baby Jesus, her favorite Nativity scene object, and listening to her Poppa read from the book of Luke. 

It was such a treat to watch Liza enjoy opening gifts.  She loved taking the paper off as much as seeing what was inside.  She was helping everyone open their presents and could hardly wait to be handed a new open to tear apart.  Everyone got in on the action including Logan. 

Thomas the Train DVD was a big hit!  I think the case could have been empty and she'd have been delighted. 

Liza didn't know what a Wii was when her Poppa opened it; we told her that's okay he doesn't either - he's been calling it a "Y."

to be continued....

Santa Claus, Stockings and presents

Since we had Christmas in Tennessee and Florida - it is going to take several posts to tell you all about it!

Liza amazed us with her talent for identifying stockings!  My Mother laid the stockings over the fireplace screen and a few days before Christmas we showed each one of them to Liza and asked her to take it to the right person.  The next day she went in there and we asked her to hand out the stockings - amazingly (if I do say so myself) - she did it correctly with all of them.  She even laid the shared one for the dogs across Hally's back.  She certainly can't read the names so we think she associated the pictures with the person.  See what you think is possible... 

Growing up, Emmie and I would wait outside the living room door and when it was opened we'd rush in to see our stockings and other gifts from Santa.  We would open stockings first, have brunch with the Roberts family and then on to opening presents under the tree.  Chris and I are already in the living room when Liza's Poppa and Auntie Em open the door for her.  At first she's confused and is wondering why we are all waiting for her to react.

   

Now her reaction is starting to change when she sees her Thomas Train and other goodies!

Santa hit a home run with the Dora Talking Backpack!

The rocking horse and garden tent were lots of fun too.  Now, the tent is a favorite hiding spot for games of hide-n-seek!

To be continued...

Long Time No Post

We have been so busy traveling 3,600 miles by car to see family and friends from Iowa to Florida!  There were so many people we wished to see but there never seems to be enough time to fit it all in.  I promise to get back to regular posting but not until things in our household are back in order.  The front hall looks like Santa's sleigh quit working in that very spot and all the presents were dumped at our house, the Christmas tree is still up, the outside decorations are in a foot or two of snow and laundry is waiting to be done.  Once we get all that handled and I quickly put together Liza's 2 year birthday party we'll get back to regular posting.  Since I can't post without including at least a picture or two you'll have to be satisfied with the collection I have on my camera as I haven't down loaded the other ones yet.

Liza and her 2nd cousins, Kate and Erin are enjoying playing with one another at Uncle Mike and Cindy's house.  Liza is wearing a dress her Aunt Ann gave her last year for Christmas.  We were so glad it still fit - a bit short but we made it work!

Liza and her Poppa playing the organ.  Liza loved sitting there with Poppa and trying her best to reach the keys and not fall off the bench.  She was also modeling her Christmas hat made by my friend Becky.  Becky has an etsy shop up and running so go and visit it and get your very own hat at  RWR Knits.

 
Our journey took us to Stuart, FL and Liza and her cousin Mary Katherine had lots of fun together.  I think they both learned a lot about sharing when we were all together. 

Stay tuned for more Christmas pictures....