Me Turn Do It!!!!

That's the mantra around our house, "Me turn do it. Me turn do it. ME TURN DO IT!!!" John would like to record Maren saying (or screaming) it and use it for the ring tone for his phone. Ha!


This morning, I had her half dressed when she told me that "No like it shirt," about the shirt I picked out for her.

J - "Okay, Mama is going to get dressed and when I am dressed, we will find another shirt for you to wear."

M - "Okay, Mama."


I am half-dressed and she announces to me "Big girl potty right now!" We run to the bathroom, strip off the pants and diaper, and I sit her on the big toilet. Nothing happens.


M - "Me on little potty and Mama on Big Girl Potty." Okay, I sit her on the training potty and I sit on the big potty. I pee to encourage her (I know, too much information). She sits and sits and - she does it! Yeah! (We are inching toward potty training. Another story for another day.) Runs away from me down the hall before I can wipe her, then climbs onto our bed and starts jumping. I hold a diaper in my hand...

J - "It's time for a new diaper."

M- "Me do it new diaper."

J - "Mama needs to do it."

M - "ME DO IT NEW DIAPER." She takes it from me, lays it carefully on the bed, and proceeds to sit down in it the right way, with the front at her stomach and the tapes in the back. I tell her we need to do the tapes together and she relents to that.

Next came "ME TURN DO IT PANTS" followed by "ME TURN DO IT SHIRT." Frankly, her independence is exhausting me! On the other hand...I don't want to be dressing her when she's six.

Every day is an adventure.

New Glasses

For John. He looks handsome, of course. And a little bit like OSU Coach Jim Tressel :).

Georgia Aquarium

Here is cousin Allison at the Georgia Aquarium and somehow she got inside the penguin exhibit !

Maren asked Daddy "why is Allison in there?" many times this morning when we looked at this picture.

Winter Wonderland

Saturday was maybe the first weekend day of the entire season that we didn't have anything to do and none of us was sick and it was a "WARM 30 degrees". Yeah! We played outside making a snowlady, throwing snowballs (especially at Mommy) and crawling through our neighbor's snow tunnel, an impressive construction the length of their front yard. Maren's favorite thing was shoveling like Daddy.

One More Present

From Tim and Stacey - an Elmo lunch box filled with cookies. What a Spoiled Punkin' she is!

Our Valentine

Maren looked adorable in a hand-me-down heart jumper from cousin Allison...I should have taken a picture in the morning before a hard day of playing at school, but she still looks cute.

Here she is with a sampling of presents from Nana and Ampa (lace-up shoes) and Bunny and Grampa (headband, sweater, St. Patrick's Day necklace so that we are ready for the next holiday).

Peeking

Another cute photo from Stacey. I love this one!

Raspberry

Stacey Cramer taught Maren how to eat raspberries in a special way when they were here a few weeks ago. Here are a few pics (taken by Stacey which she kindly shared).

Why? Why? Why?

Maren has started with the "Why?" questions. Here is a sampling of our scintillating conversation in the car this morning.

Maren "Grampa shoveling." (She saw a man shoveling from the car window.)
Jana "Yes, Grampa shovels."
M - "Bunny shovel."
J - "No, Bunny doesn't shovel."
M - "Why?"
J - "Bunny isn't strong enough to lift the snow."
M - "Why?"
J - "Grampa has strong arms. He shovels."
M - "Why?"
J - "Grampa is bigger."
M - "Why?"
J - "Grampa is better at shoveling."
M - "Why?"
J - "Grampa is strong."
M - "Why?"

And on and on...She took a two minute break from talking and then said...

M - "Why?"
J - "Why, what, Punkin?"
M - "Why?"
J - "Why, what?"
M - "Why?"
J - "Why, what?"
M - "Why, Laurie?" (referring to the Laurie Berkner CD playing in the car)
J - "Why, Laurie? Because we like her songs."
M - "Why?"

I'm grateful that she is inquisitive, although I think this is the beginning of years, maybe decades of questions that we can't answer.

We Give Up

I haven't posted in awhile because my hands have been FROZEN SOLID. The high on Sunday was -4 or 1 or something insane like that. Last night we got another 4-6 inches of snow. I asked John if we should bundle up and shovel and he said "Why bother? It's going to snow until midnight." It really is glacial here. My car thermometer measured 4 this morning. The news guy on the radio said "It's ten degrees in Grand Rapids." At 4 or 10, what does it matter? It's too cold to even enjoy the snow or make a snowman or...breathe outside. I'm pretty sure that my eyelashes froze carrying Maren into daycare this morning.

Whew!

We had 8.1 inches of snow in yesterday's storm. Average snowfall for the entire season is 72.9 in Grand Rapids, this year we have had 73.4 inches. It took John nearly an hour to drive home last night, on a dry day it's a 15 minute drive. I think that I shoveled more yesterday than the last three winters combined. We both went out and shoveled the driveway after Maren went to bed for an hour and a half. Should have bought a snow blower!

I can't stop the hotness

Today, there is a blizzard in Grand Rapids. Since Maren and I are both, once again, congested and runny noses, I opted to work from home today. That has been a good decision, although challenging to keep her busy while juggling a few actual work crises. Since noon, it has been snowing 1-2 inches an hour and will keep that pace until midnight tonight.

Here I am, after shoveling 3-4 inches deep worth of snow off the entire driveway. No doubt John will have to do it again after he gets home. Praying that he makes it home safe!!!

Allison's Early Birthday

I am video-post challenged, but trying again with a video, courtesy of John's phone, of Allison and her Hannah Montana birthday cake. Press play - I really think it works this time!

John in Hilton Head

John enjoyed visiting his parents, Jodi and Allison and getting in a round of golf. AND wearing shorts! Here are he and Allison on South Beach.

The Traveling Greggs

In spite of a snowstorm from Thursday night to Friday, we drove to Farmington Hills on Friday night to begin our weekend adventure. Maren and I stayed in FH with Bunny and Grandpa through Monday, and John flew to Hilton Head on Saturday morning for a power packed weekend. He flew back to Detroit on Monday.
Here is Maren frosting cookies with Bunny (and me, totally hot as always) and outside with Grandpa Jensen.