Modeling

The snow is melting some today but not enough to suit us! Liza wore some new clothes this weekend and she was so excited about them.  Since we don't have a lot to say these days we'll give you a bit of a fashion show post.

Liza was heavily pondering if she was appropriately attired to go to the Drake Library.  Apart from her too big boots falling off as she walked it I think it passed the library test!

When I was a little girl I wore the coat that Liza has on in this picture. I've seen pictures of me wearing it and didn't know that my Mother had saved it until she brought it to us. Liza knows it was my coat and she says "Mommy's little girl coat."

I couldn't resist asking her to wear the bonnet too!  Liza was a great sport for the pictures and I'm so glad I have some of her wearing "our" coat. 

She is just so cute -- when she wants to be!

Liza is riding her pony that Nana and Poppa gave her for Christmas and the pretty dress that Marty gave her just because she loves her.  Shortly after this picture she dragged the horse into the kitchen and said Daddy Nana and Poppa gave me this horse. 

Thanks Marty for the dress!  I loved twirling in it and lots of people at church told me how pretty I looked!

Snow snow go away...

We have been going crazy with the cold and the snow that keeps coming and coming and coming.  Surely, it is going to stop soon.  Liza loves going outside to make snow angels but there is only so much of that you can do when the temperature is in the teens.  One of our recent highlights was finding lots of great winter gloves for 1/2 price -- we lost more this season than expected!  We are so thankful that everyone was generous to Liza for Christmas and her birthday because we've been parceling them out little by little.  Last weekend it was finally warm, around 35 or so and we had errands to run.  Liza was so excited to be going "shopping"  and we didn't mind the slushy snow!  My highlight was getting fresh Tilapia at COSTCO so we can add more fish to our diet on a regular basis -- the things that make me happy these days! 

Our perfect little girl does get into trouble on occasion and this is one example!  While I was in the shower one morning Liza found a Sharpie and tried it out on a bed spread.  As you can imagine we are still arguing about who left the sharpie in her reach!

Sweet little Liza is trying to grow her hair but her Mother can't wait!  I tried to put it in pony tail and this is what that looked like.   

As I am getting ready in the morning Liza sits on bathroom counter with me and gives me directions -- dry your hair Mommy, you need deodorant Mommy, time for lipstick and on and on!  I usually have my phone with us and she "ordered" me to take her picture -- how could I resist?

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.