If you give Mara a . . .

. . . new pretend play item and stick around for long, you'll probably end up going somewhere with us looking something like this!

Daddy the Magician

Mara was enamored by tricks like this for at least 20 minutes at the dinner table last night.

That was really fun

Maybe the beginning of a holiday tradition at the Hall house. I had a lot of fun constructing our gingerbread house from a kit this week during one of Mara's naps. Daddy and Mara had a great time decorating it at our Church Playgroup annual decorating event, though Tom required a little encouragement to let Mara participate (he had a lovely design in the works with "lights" outlining the roof line).

An Advent update

Father read in the gospel, "Amen, I say to you . . ." Mara proclaimed "A-min" and continued throughout the rest of Mass. You can't fault her for not listening that's for sure. She delights herself daily with getting baby Jesus out of the manager.


And the kiss:

Mara and the cereal bowl

When Mara first started eating solid food about a year ago Tom thought it was great that now there were always Cheerios in the house. I'm not sure he is still as thrilled about her love of them as she encroaches on his morning bowl more and more with each bite culminating in this:

Asking to have her picture taken

Yippee! We are finally coming out of the stage of impossible to take Mara's picture because she wants to see what you've taken before you even had the chance to take it. This morning after getting ready for church Mara saw the camera and asked to have her picture taken. Daddy jumped at the opportunity and got some cute ones in our front courtyard.

Halloween

Mom's idea of a Halloween costume:

Mara's idea:

What sound does an elephant make?

We have been discussing the answer to this question for at least a year and Mara has come through with an answer.

Peekaboo

These pictures were just too precious not to share.

Naptime antics

So Mara has been up to some sleepy time antics these days. While AK was visiting she took her diaper off one night and is now required to always wear shorts to bed. Not all that surprising as most kids eventually figure their diapers out and become escape artists. But I never knew that little girls' dresses should come with strangulation hazard warnings to not allow children to sleep in them. But this was our lady liberty after a nap earlier this week. One arm was completely out of the sleeve and the other had been twisted in the sleeve such that it seemed she must have had it off at one point too and put it back in.

Mara in our backyard "swimming pool"

More where these came from here.

Tom was blogged about

Tom was running late on his way home from work yesterday so we decided to meet at Togos to grab dinner and head to the music in the park for a picnic. On our walk home he excitedly tells me he was blogged about. A late night Target run with my sister the night before his trip last week to the Children with Diabetes Conference in Orlando was to pick up crayons for his focus group session. He asked the participants to design an e-card to receive from their doctor. Here is one of the participants experience.

AK's visit

I'm not the photographer in the family but I'm so proud of this picture from our trip to the beach with my sister that I just have to share. There are more from her trip here.


Because Mara loves watching videos of herself and her friends on their blogs here is a new one of her at the park. There are more here.


And a couple just because I love my new toy and caught a cute series and expression.

Mara's Dance Moves

Mara loves watching videos on her friends' blogs so today she has a couple of her own to show off.



And her signature move.

An awefully cute bundle of energy

She passed her 15 month well baby visit with flying colors. She is now just shy of 31" tall and 23 lbs. both around the 50th percentile (that average her daddy was looking for a few months back).

She is trying to talk. She can say Mama, Daddy, Dog and Duck(anything with wings and a beak), Owl, Ssss(as in snack or what a snake says), jibberish that we think is "Mommy help" and "Me Some" (i.e. I want some). She signs: more, please, fish, thank you. And she can point to most of her body parts.

Slowly but surely her teeth are coming in, though the lack of them doesn't stop her from eating much of anything. Fruit is still her favorite with meat a close second.

She loves to help with anything especially emptying the silverware from the dishwasher, putting clothes in the washer or dryer, closing drawers and doors, picking up the things she pulls out (books, tupperware lids, etc). She even helps with the remodeling project (picking up screws and scraps or eating the tape measure).

She loves the swings, slide and sand at the park and is always eager to jump in the stroller to go on an adventure. She loves the swimming pool or playing in water and sprinklers in the back yard. So far only one unripe tomato has been picked.

She loves to give kisses and is very sweet to watch with her baby dolls.

Her favorite game with daddy right now goes like this.
Daddy: "Mara, what's my name"
Mara: "Ma Ma"
Daddy: "Mara, what's my name"
Mara: "Ma Ma"
Daddy: "Mara, what's my name"
Mara: "Ma Ma"

That's my Midwest Girl!

From Corn on the Cob

Mara's Artwork

Mara created beautiful artwork today!

Family Traditions

Is that the Incredible Hulk you ask? If you know the Hall's you probably know they have A LOT of family traditions. Some are really cool like opening the Bible as the last present and reading the Christmas story and some are, well, cheesy, such as the great heart that hops on his point, if they don't hold sentimental value from your childhood, like they do for Tom. One of Tom's favorite Easter traditions is dying Easter eggs. We even did it last year when Mara was 12 days old.



This year she was able to dive in (literally) and have her own fun with this tradition. So here is a photo documentary of our Easter Sunday 2008. (Saturday was spent gardening in preparation for Mara's birthday party next weekend.)

Checking out the Easter Bunny goodies.


Already for Church.




She scored her first taste of chocolate while I made the traditional Lamb cake. This is one tradition we have adapted to our own by changing to chocolate and keeping the head on or 6 years running. Funny story about making the cake. As I was pouring the batter into the mold Mara stuck her hand into the batter. But our child who puts EVERYTHING in her mouth (remember the dirt photos) would not taste it off her fingers. So the taste came later when Daddy was licking off the spatula.


Hunting eggs with daddy.


And the grand finale before a second bath in the sink and a nap.

"Eggs you say?"



"And we put them in that pretty colored stuff?"


Daddy reconsiders the advisability of giving a not quite walking 11 3/4 month old a egg outside on hardscape.


"I like the white ones, I'm going to see what mom is up to."


"Hey, I have an audience!"


"Ok, I'll try the colored ones."



"When are they going to figure out I don't like these things. This looks more like my kind of fun!"


"Who me?"