The latest on Miss Mary Clare…

She can climb up the playset ladder all by herself!

“Where is your diaper, Mary Clare?” I asked just before snapping this photo!

My sweet blueberry baby!

Mary Clare is so funny these days and so very busy. She is talking so much more. (Still not the chatterbox that McCanless was at this age, but she says exactly what she needs to say. Nothing more, nothing less.) When she does speak, she sounds like a little girl, not a baby. Each word is so precisely and correctly spoken, especially, “Yea.”

She is still an early bird, and by this I mean, she wakes up at 7 am READY TO GO. She hits the ground running. (She is a lot like me in this aspect!) She’ll often go straight to the playroom and grab her baby doll and stroller and take circles around the house until everyone is stirring.

She continues to love dressing up with her big sister, and has recently learned to remove her diaper.

She has been sleeping through the night for a couple of months now!! She loves to go “night-night” in her crib with her babies and her bottle and paci. She will point to her crib saying, “Night-Night.” She loves music and will point to the radio in the car until she hears music. (Again, pointing is her favored form of communication, and of course, we all jump when she points.)

She continues to love reading and will grab an armful of books, pull or push on our legs until we sit, then she will plop down in our laps and say, “Read.”

She can be very serious at times and so determined. She looses her temper very easily and hits. (I’m attributing this to her age right now.)

“NO” is one of her favorite words, rather, “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!”

She is such a loving, trusting and friendly child. Just today, she grabbed the arm of an older lady in the grocery store line. Mary Clare obviously wanted to be held by the stranger. The lady was flattered and held her for a while. Mary Clare was content and happy with her.

She is my snuggle bunny and kisses and hugs so often out of the blue.  She is certainly a mommy’s girl, but has completely won the heart of her Daddy, and has him wrapped around her little finger.

My McCanless…

Many post have begun this way, usually depicting one of McCanless’ outrageous outbursts, dancing, conversations, etc. (Which makes for great blog material.) With her unpredictable, outgoing personality, I have come to expect the unexpected with her. However, with all of that also comes my sweet, thoughtful and happy McCanless, my wonderful big baby girl…

McCanless has really impressed me this year in dance. She is really focused and dedicated to her classes.

This is my bedside table where I have many of my favorite things, such as photos of my babies moments after they were born, favorite books, etc. I often find paintings or “gifts” left here waiting to surprise me. (From McCanless)

Today, McCanless “borrowed” a few flowers from the funeral home to leave for me in her water bottle. A few weeks ago, she left this painting. When I asked her about it, she mentioned that it was a painting of what her birthday cake should have looked like a few weeks ago: bright pink, with green dots and white initials. She also told me that her cake this year was pretty, but the painting will remind me next year of exactly how she wants it.

Mary Clare couldn’t have asked for a better big sister. McCanless is so protective of her and loves her dearly.

Free Spirit

5-year-old big girl

February 14th is CHD Awareness Day (Congenital Heart Defects)

Some interesting facts to think about…

• Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 birth defect. (Source: March of Dimes)

• Nearly twice as many children die from Congenital Heart Defects in the United States each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD. (Source: Children’s Heart Foundation)

• The American Heart Association directs only $0.30 of every dollar donated toward research. The remainder goes toward administration, education and fundraising efforts. Of the $0.30 that goes toward research only $0.01 goes toward pediatric cardiology for CHD. (Source: Children’s Heart Foundation)

• Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding only a fraction of a penny is directed toward Congenital Heart Defect research. (Source: Children’s Heart Foundation)

More interesting CHD reading can be found at www.learnaboutchd.blogspot.com

Our weekend…

Mel left Thursday for the Atlanta Clothing Market this weekend, so the girls and I have had a long “Daddy-Free” weekend, which is usually how our weekends go anyway, unfortunately. We had lots on our agenda and although I never leave home without my camera, I took no photos! Mary Clare is into running everywhere now, and McCanless is still McCanless, oblivious to her surroundings, so needless to say with all that was going on, I had my hands full but without a camera!

Friday night was movie night at THA. All of the kids wear pj’s and spread out across the gym floor on sleeping bags and eat popcorn and movie goodies. McCanless went home with her friend, Eliza, after school on Friday and met me at the “movie” that night. (It is so fun that she is at the age now to have friends and big girl playdates!) This is Mary Clare’s second movie night and although she had no interest in Peter Pan, she did catch the eye of Eliza’s little brother, baby Edward. Baby Edward and Mary Clare chased each other in the dark all night, while McCanless sat entranced throughout the entire movie, until she literally became sick from all of the popcorn and M&M’s!

Saturday morning we jumped up, despite a 9:30 bedtime for all, and headed to the Kids Jamboree in Florence. Two words sum up the event: OVER STIMULATION. After walking around the jumping castle room, attempting to ice skate with McCanless clinging to my legs and holding Mary Clare, and trying to wheel an over sized stroller through a crowd of 1,000 kids, clowns, and snow cone machines, McCanless decided she would rather watch the dancing performances on stage. We didn’t ice skate, we didn’t ride a single ride, or a pony, no face painting, no games, we didn’t participate in any event, we didn’t even jump in the princess jumping castle…we sat in bleachers and watched a dance troupe until Mary Clare began to scream EAT, EAT, EAT. After fighting the crowd to the nearest elevator and getting stuck in it with the girls and the over sized stroller and almost hyperventilating , I decided to call it a day! We headed to Chick-Fil-A and Brewster’s!

I did manage to catch a few photos in the car while waiting in line at Chick-Fil-A!

Yum, a Brewster’s ice cream with sprinkles! (We all love sprinkles around here!)

Sunday night fun…

After bath time, the girls love to pile into our bed and play.  They both roll around, laugh and have a great time, especially when Daddy plays the monster!

Mary Clare thinks she is hiding under there…

SEVERE WEATHER

I guess I should have checked the news before heading to school this morning! McCanless and I pulled into a completely deserted THA parking lot at 7:50 AM. We quickly made a U-turn and headed home for a SNOW DAY! Daddy headed to work and the girls and I headed out to eat breakfast. I figured it was the “safest” time to venture out…before it was too icy! (You know we Southerners can’t drive in ice and snow!)

We had a fun day of being “junky” as McCanless would say. We had a late breakfast, made cupcakes for lunch, took a long nap, headed out in the snow a few times, and watched the Inaugural events on television all day. It was a wonderfully lazy January snow day!

The view from inside, which was just enough for us!

McCanless loved checking on her playset during the day and seeing the snow pile up. She would run to her room and yell, “I think it is up to 3 inches now!” (She heard the weather man tell us that we could have 3 inches.)

Mary Clare found a baby in the toaster when we were making cupcakes!

The inauguration was interrupted several times by a severe weather alert! Only in the South would an inch of snow be deemed severe!

Rainy, cold and MESSY days…

McCanless working with her new watercolors.

Of course, little sister wanted in on the fun!

…until she stuck the paint brush in her ear!

This was what she did when I said, “No more painting…the paint is all gone, Mary Clare!”  She had to see for herself, and of course saw that the paint was, in fact, not “all gone!”

Back to her latest favorite, acrylics!

A Cupcake Party!

I LOVE parties! I love creating invitations, decorating, planning the “menu,” putting together favors, the cakes…Okay, so I don’t actually bake the cakes. CJ’s cakes are way too yummy to compete with, but I do “design” them! I’m fortunate enough that my girls’ birthdays are 6 months apart, so I have plenty of time in between to plan the next! (Although, McCanless’ January 5th birthday always sneaks up on me!)

We invited her girlfriends and had a fabulous cupcake decorating party at Saffron here in Hartsville! McCanless even helped with the planning this year. She had very specific requests for her 5th birthday party. (I think I’m rubbing off on her.) She wanted everything to be pink, lots of sprinkles and no boys! She did not want us to sing Happy Birthday and she knew exactly where everyone should sit. Saffron catered and made wonderful chocolate cupcakes with vanilla marshmallow icing, tons of sprinkles, and ice cream! We also had a big pink CJ’s cake! We made a mess, but had a great time!

Mary Clare was not a happy cupcake just before the party!

I found these great little cookie turners and icing spreaders for favors. McCanless and I put them together this morning before the party.

Mimi printed “McCanless is Five” AND “LMP” napkins this year! Thanks, Mimi!

McCanless helped paint the kitchen aprons.

I painted the names and she painted the pink dots.

Sprinkles galore!

Mary Clare and Reese

Happy 5th Birthday Party, My Little Cupcake!

Sorry I asked…

Me: “McCanless, did you have a good day at school today?” (car ride home)

McCanless immediately burst into tears. (A sobbing bawl)

Mac: (Between sobs and sniffs)…”Stella can’t some to my PAR-TY! OH, NO..Stella gave me a gift and Ms. Chure said I would need a suitcase to take it home and no one had a suitcase, but maybe Cameron and he said it was at home and I left in on the table…AND Ms. Eddy (Teacher’s Assistant) made me walk TWO laps because I said, ‘whatever’ to Anne Dubose and I DID NOT say, ‘whatever’ to Anne Dubose. I only said, in her face, ‘I don’t like that’ because she was showing me something ugly. I said it nicely, though. Ms. Eddy is too properly. She made Grace eat with manners at school today and Grace never eats with manners. Ms. Eddy is so mannerfully and proper. She wants everything to be neat.” (sobs and wails) “My lips hurt where I dropped a book on them.” (BIG CRY) I look in the back to check on her after such a huge ,horrific cry and to figure out what she was talking about . I see that she does indeed resemble Julia Roberts, especially after such a hard cry. She has chapped lips.

Me: “Your lips are chapped sweetie. Mine are too. In the winter with such dry, cold air…”(I was cut off by a louder wail)

Mac: “OH, I hate winter. I hate, hate, hate winter. When Ms. Eddy made me walk my laps at recess, my face was red. Stella told me my face was red. Stella can’t come to my PAR-TY! Oh, I forgot about my gift that Stella gave me at school. It was a class gift. Anne Dubose was mean to me today. She told on me. I wasn’t that mean to her. (??) I NEED my silky. I want to go to Nonnie’s to eat.”

She begins to open her left over snack bag. She missed snack because she and her daddy decided to sleep in today. Mel brought her to school late…

Mac: (Screaming) “Why didn’t you tell me you packed ice-cream money in my SNACK bag? I didn’t think I had ice-cream money at lunch because I didn’t see it in my bag! Everyone got ice-cream except me. Daddy made me late and I didn’t see my money in my snack bag. I didn’t get ice-cream and I had to do lots of work because Ms. Chure said I missed my morning work. Daddy made me late. Why didn’t you take me to school? Why didn’t you tell me my ice-cream money was in my snack bag? OH…my lips hurt. I hate books. Do lips get chapper in winter?”

A new princess on the block…

It’s no surprise that little sister is keeping in step with McCanless. (Or trying to!) Mary Clare has always wanted to do exactly what McCanless does, and lately her most favorite thing to do is dress up! From the moment she wakes (in the wee hours of the morning) until after bath playtime, Mary Clare’s only desire is to be a Princess! EVERY SINGLE DAY! (Just like Big Sister!)

Mary Clare never stops with one dress! She’ll pull out several items and want to pile them on! She loves this black sequin skirt!

My Princess Expert

Princess-In-Training

Okay, so I got into it a little and added the bow!  I couldn’t help myself!  This is a Fancy Nancy dress!

The black skirt yet again, and hats, hats, and more hats!

Being a Princess is such a hard job!