Happy 90th Birthday Grandma Lillian!

We just wanted to send out a big Happy Birthday to Jason's Grandma Lillian Ryther. She is turning 90 and we wish that we could have been there for it. We also wanted to wish all the Moms out there a Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!

First Race!

Danica ran in her very first race last Saturday. Here in Salem there is the Awesome 3000. It has been going on for 28 years and is a race for kids through grade 5, I believe. This year they had over 3200 kids participate in the race. Danica's age was the second to last to run and thankfully the weather was good for it! Fortunately we didn't have to be there any earlier than half and hour before the race started.

She was so excited to run in it. For the kids ages 3, 4 and 5 groups a parent has to run with them. So Jason got to run it with her. The length of her race was 300 meters.

Danica and Daddy before the race. It was very crowded but very well organized as well.
Waiting out on the field for the race to begin. Fortunately her friend Sophia was running in the 3 yr old race and they were able to wait next to each other. I was up in the stands so I was very happy to have my zoom lens with me!
Coming across the finish line! She did very well and ran the whole way. I was happy that they were more towards the front of the finishers because once you got farther into it it became difficult to see the kids.
I had a great seat for seeing them cross the line!
Waving to me while getting off the track.

After the race she got a medal and a Clifford book. She also got her orange tee shirt with the awesome 3000 alligator on it. She loves it.

When you ask her about the race she says "I had to keep up with Daddy!" If you ask "did he run fast?" She replies "Just a little bit...not too fast"

They are supposed to be putting the race online and when they do I'll check and see if you can see them. If so I'll post where it can be seen.

Snow!

We had one of our rare snowfalls a little after Christmas. Danica absolutely loves snow. Probably because it only sticks around for a little while and isn't too cold. We had a good amount (and by that I mean an inch) on the ground and so she went outside to play. Her little neighbor friend Ryann was already out playing and the two of them had a blast in the snow.

They chased after each other and tried to throw snowballs. They had a great time chasing after Ryann's two kittens that didn't know what to make of the snow.
They quickly realized that right at their height was a bunch of snow on the bumpers of the cars.
Having to pose as usual.
Very proud of her snow.

The snow falling changed to rain later and by morning the snow was pretty much gone.

Better late than never!

So it has taken me awhile to get these pictures up...at least it is not quite Christmas in July! Just February. Our computer took a nosedive and we have to get a new one. So we converted to a Mac and I am still figuring out how to use it. I love it though! Never back to a PC for me!

Danica had a blast this Christmas. She loved having the tree and was very much into Santa this year. We never really mentioned Santa to her so she most likely picked it up from other kids and Dora (thanks to a Christmas episode). We have decided in our house that Santa brings the presents in the stockings and people give presents under the tree. This is so she doesn't think that Santa is the only one who brings presents and gives full credit for gifts to the givers!

She loved everything that she got this year. Her expressions were priceless and of course I didn't think to record her opening her stocking and that was the best part! We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve because I worked on Christmas Day. We did the whole cookies for Santa and everything. We let her open the stocking right away in the morning but waited for the other presents until the afternoon.

Showing off all the presents under the tree!

Christmas pic with Mommy.

Christmas pic with Daddy.

Handing out the presents. She loved watching other people open their presents. She gets so excited to see what they got.

Trying to angle her way under the tree to get the present she was aiming for.

Very carefully unwrapping her present. Followed by an enthusiastic "Thanks Mom!" no matter who the present was from

One of her (and Daddy's) favorite presents was the Lite Brite. I randomly ran across one in Target and had to get it. Partly because I knew that she would like it and partly because I had always wanted one as a kid and never got one.

Random pictures

Here are some random pictures from the last couple of months.

Having fell asleep with her favorite doll. Apparently the movie hadn't been entertaining enough.

Watching the Civil War football game with Rachelle and Kevin.

Very carefully writing in the tiny book that came with her doll.

All excited when I switched her bed to the twin size daybed instead of her toddler bed. Complete with new sheets and comforter. She only needed the bed rail for a couple of night. So far she hasn't fallen out yet---amazing since she moves all over at night.

This fake rose is from a tea party set and she came into the room the other day with it inbetween her teeth. When asked what she was doing she replied "I'm dancing!" Apparently she had watched a little too much of Dancing with the Stars.

Decorating the tree

Danica helped me decorate the Christmas tree this year. She loves Christmas trees and lights. She would pick an ornament to put on the tree and as she put it on she would declare "oooh, Grandma would love this one!" She also wanted to be in her dressup dress while decorating.
Apparently doing a "gangsta" pose.

Carefully placing the pinecones one the tree. The tree came with some pinecone ornaments that I just would never put on. However....this year after I had put the tree up I was moving the box to the garage and Danica saw on the side of the box that the picture had pinecones on it. She then loudly declared "Mommy! You forgot the pinecones!" Fortunately they were in the ornament box and so this year we had pinecones on the tree.

Showing off one of the pinecones.

I have an angel for the top of the tree but Danica (for some reason) didn't want an angel on top. She wanted a star. So we took a little trip to Target to look for the star. I personally wasn't a big fan of any of the stars that they had but I wasn't the only one being picky. While looking at the endcap with the stars on it I asked her which one she liked (all the while hoping she wasn't going to like one of the really tacky looking ones) and she said "I don't like any of them"

Me: "You don't like any of them?"

Danica: "Nope, I don't"

One of the other ladies shopping started to laugh and I told her that I had a perfectly good angel at home but she wanted a star this year. She thought it was hilarious. It was until I had gone to two stores and still hadn't found a suitable star. So the top of the tree was bare this year.

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday this year. We invited some friends over for dinner and had a wonderful time.


Danica helped me peel potatoes. She loves to help in the kitchen so whenever I can figure out something for her to do that isn't dangerous I let her.


Her job was to help wash the potatoes and after I cut them up to put them in the pot.


I just have to say yummy looking and tasting turkey!


Pretty table with lots of yummy food. Everyone sitting around trying to make room for pie.

Danica requested the drumstick for dinner. I showed her how big it was and she still wanted it.

She did a pretty good job on it too!

It would have been nice to have been able to be with family but this was a pretty good substitute.