My Bedroom Thus Far...

It is a bit funny to call this "my" room.

It is for me, but everything in it was a gift from someone.

Thanks everybody for making my room so nice!

These little girls with parasols were made by Aunt Allene

when my mommy was a little girl.

They are really special.

Here is my "BIG Girl Bed!"

It is part of an antique set that my mommy slept on it as a little girl.

Thanks to Grammie and Gramps for letting me borrow it!

The netting, lamp, and flower nightlights are from Ikea.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa O'Donnell for the housewarming gift!

I LOVE these night lights, because I can turn them on and off by myself!

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This picture turned out fuzzy, but it says "Ada Marie" on the afgan.

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Here is another view of the bed dresser.

Mommy has some curtains to hang up in the windows and

is planning on painting at least some of the walls.

Maybe she will get that done this weekend.

She is still finishing up in the play room!

Pictures of both will be posted when she is finished!

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The vintage Pooh Bear prints are from Aunt Ginny!

And my Mommy loves owls ... and butterflies.

So, she painted some on the wall.

Daddy came home from work while she was working on it,

and offered to help with the owl's eyes (which were kinda hard).

I think their joint effort turned out pretty well, don't you?

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There is still one large wall that I didn't show you!

Daddy is painting a forest scene on it.

I will post a picture when it is ready!

Wit & Wisdom: A Toddler's Rites of Passage

First the good news...

I am saying a lot of new words these days. I'm pretty good at body parts and toys and people that I know. I also say "please" for things I want now, but it sounds a bit like "bees" most of the time. It seems that every day I surprise my parents by saying something new. Saturday, I was obsessed with saying "Turtle" over and over again while playing with my little turtle. It is a bit of a tongue twister, but I can say it quite well now. On Sunday, I said "Bible" which came out clear as a bell and Grammie almost fell over she was so surprised! On Monday it was "Bear" followed by "Tree" on Tuesday and "Car" on Wednesday. Today it was "Mine!" which filled Mommy with fear. The terrible two's are just around the corner now! ;)

Speaking of the terrigle two's ... here is the bad news.

I had my first big temper tantrum in the store yesterday. If you hear my mother tell the story, you may get the wrong idea about what happened, so let me set the record straight once and for all...

It started out innocently enough. I wanted a lunch box with Cinderella on it (and who wouldn't?). Then, as fate would have it, I saw one at just my level on the shelf. So, I picked it up and politely asked my mother, "Could I please have this lovely lunch box with Cinderella on it? I will save my allowence and get a part-time job to pay you back." Then, my mother said, "No you may not have this lovely lunchbox with Cinderella on it because I am a BIG MEANIE and I don't like lovely Cinderella lunchboxes!" This left me very upset indeed. I'm sure you understand, dear readers, that this was most unpleasent for me. Then to my horror, my mother removed the beautiful- dreamy-fabulous-most-illustrious-lunchbox from my hand and placed it back on the shelf. I proceeded to voice my displeasure in what I thought was a most sophisticated and appropriate manner ... by kicking and screaming and throwing myself on the floor. As to what happened next, perhaps it is best that we draw a curtain of charity upon the scene as it is sufficed to say that what followed was most unpleasent for everyone involved. I needn't add that I did NOT get my oh-so-highly-esteemed-lunchbox. But, what I did get was an epiphany! In life, we do not always get what we want ... no matter how much we want it or how many times we say "Bees!"

And that is final.

Big Girl Party!

Now that I use the big girl potty and get to wear big girl panties,

Mommy and I had a big girls party!

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Since it was a girl party, we made shortbread cookies

with pink icing and pink lemonaid.

As you can see, I was very excited about it!

I helped shape the cookies and stir the lemonaid!

The shortbread cookies were pretty good actually,

even though they come from Mommy's "Healthy Kids" cookbook.

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Then we made necklaces which was fun.

I am very good at decorating toilet paper tubes,

so if you ever need any just let me know.

Here Mommy models my handiwork,

I was too hyper to sit for the picture.

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Mommy tried to get a picture of me in my new big girl panties!

I'm not much for posing

in front of the camera these days as you can see!

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Perhaps now that I am a big girl,

Mommy will be able to convince me to put clothes on my babies,

But, she hasn't succeeded yet!

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Thanks for joining our party! Bye Everybody!

Tour de House -- Audience Participation Required

Although the Tour de France ended a week and a half ago,

the Tour de House is still peddling up hill trying to get everything organized and set up.

Here we go ...

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When things get quiet around our house (which, mind you, is not that often)

Mommy knows where to find me ... in the Play Room!

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There are a lot of great things about this room.

There are fun things to do in here:

toys to play with,

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books to read,

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and babies to read books to!

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In these boxes are my blocks, legos, play dishes, etc.

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And this is my reading corner where I keep my books. Aisha is an avid reader too!

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And this is my toy chest/bench/place to cuddle up with a book!

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And this is where my artsy side gets a chance to express itself.

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But, this room has some problem areas too...

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like this very odd little built in cupboard thing

that presents a bit of a decorating challenge.

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Right now it houses some of the toys that are breakable

or have small parts and therefore require adult supervision.

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This room is also home to Mommy's scrapbooking area.

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And it is where we keep the stroller and my ever-ready backpack for outings.

Is back pack two words?

Hmmm ... oh well!

Considering my age, I think my spelling is pretty good!

I get that from my Daddy for sure! ;)

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Oh yes, and it is where the ever important task of keeping up with laundry takes place.

(By the way, I can't tell you how happy my Mommy is that I only wear diapers at night now!

It means less getting behind on laundry because there aren't nearly as many diapers to wash!)

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Anyway, Mommy doesn't know what to do with these other parts of the room.

We want it to all kind of go together, you know?

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And then there is the problamatic window.

It definitely needs something,

but seeing as it is the only window in the room

(besides the skylight),

we don't want anything that will block too much sunlight.

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Okay, so this is the part where I ask all of you to send me your suggestions for this room.

Should we paint it? What color? All four walls? The walls are divided half way up. Should we paint half? If so, which half? What should we do for the windows? Any ideas for rearranging, or grouping things? How can we make it more coheasive when it serves so many functions (toys, scrapbooking, laundry, storage, etc.)

Any ideas you have for this room are very welcome!

We may not be able to utilize them all, but we will try!

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I can't wait to read what you all write!

Thanks!

Flashback!

I am 20 months old today!

Look how much I've changed in one year!

This is me last year in August in Istanbul!

Can you believe it?

In the last year I've learned to walk, talk, use the potty, and grow hair!

Hi Guys!

Mommy surprised me and snapped this picture while I was playing in my tent!

Potty Update

Hello Everyone!

I have now gone two days without any potty mishaps! Hurray! I still use a diaper for nap and bed times. Other than that, I don't use them anymore! Today we are going to church and taking the potty chair with us. We'll see how it goes! This is my first time to go anywhere besides a quick trip to the store or for a short walk. Hopefully I can manage to use the potty at church too! :)

Love, Ada Marie