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: