More birthday!

Here is a video of Megan's birthday party on Sunday.

Happy birthday to Megan!

We celebrated Megan's third birthday on Sunday with Josh's mom and her husband, and Megan's "adopted" grandparents, Mike and Mary. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, January 26. Megan likes the game, Candyland, so I tried my hand at this cake.

 Opening gifts from mommy and daddy ...

 New puzzles from mommy and daddy.

 A movie and book from Grandpa and Grandma Kelly.

 A Wii game from Grandpa Mike and Grandma Mary.

 More PEZ for the dispensers she got for Christmas.

 Books from mommy and daddy.

Enjoying her PEZ!

 Hanging out with Grandpa Bill and Grandma Cathy, and sporting the new outfit they gave her.

 Time for cake!

Impressive snow

We woke up this morning to ten inches of snow. I don't think St. Louis has gotten a snowfall that large since I moved here. It's almost like living back up in Northwest Indiana. Sadly, it was too deep for Megan to go sledding in our back yard. The sled just sank into the snow. Megan could hardly walk, too. She asked to go back in pretty quickly.

Josh stuck a ruler on our patio table. Sorry, but for some odd reason the picture uploaded sideways to my blog and I can't figure out how to rotate it.

Also, here's Megan helping me vacuum the living room before our Parents as Teachers educator came over yesterday morning. Ms. Carol and Megan often sit on the floor to do their activities, so it gives me motivation to clean. Parents as Teachers is an early childhood program in the public schools here. It offers parents suggestions about how to help their children learn and includes home visits (lots of play disguised as learning) and developmental screenings. Megan had her 3-year-old screening (called a DIAL) yesterday and scored in the 95th percentile.

Play Dough cakes!

My brother and sister-in law got Megan a Play Dough cake making set that she loves playing with. Here she is enjoying it. Thanks, Uncle Mark and Aunt Kelli!

Driveway Duty

Megan and Josh cleared the snow from our driveway this morning. I especially like how Megan shovels snow onto places Josh has just cleared.

Grandma Mary, the artist

A few months ago I commissioned our friend Mary to paint some pictures to hang in Megan's room. We provided the canvasses from Hobby Lobby and gave her some pictures from a major retailer that we liked to provide inspiration. The completed pictures were sitting in our dining room when we returned from our trip to Indiana last week. (Mary and her husband, Mike, always take care of our cat and mail when we're out of town, which is why they were in our house.) A big thank you to Mary for making these. They're beautiful and really give Megan's room a finished look.

Christmas in ... Chicago

On the final full day of our visit with my parents, we made the trek to nearby Chicago to take in Navy Pier's Winter WonderFest. It was a fun day overall, but very, very crowded. It wasn't so bad in the morning, but after lunch it was an hour-and-a-half wait for just about all of the attractions, and they actually stopped letting people into the ballroom that contains all the fun. Megan and I stepped into the foyer briefly to use the only water fountain we could find in the place, and I had to convince a security guard to let me back in because my family was all still inside. Megan did get to do quite a few things, though, and it was a nice day spent with family.

Here are Megan and I shortly after we arrived. I'm smiling at the camera. Megan is gazing in awe and longing at the spectacle that is Winter WonderFest.

Megan, myself, my sister Becca, and cousin Sahara on the carousel.

Megan enjoyed crawling through these giant candy canes, until two kids decided to lie down and block the exit.

She looks seriously ticked off with those kids in this picture.

Becca and Sahara: a blur on the paraglider ride.

Sahara and Megan playing after lunch.

They had Christmas trees representing many different countries. Josh thought it was amusing that there was a tree for Pakistan.

At the end of the day, Megan was exhausted and sat on my mom's lap for a while watching a show that featured Mexican dancers.

 

Here are Megan and my dad enjoying cartoons the morning we left to drive back to St. Louis.

We drove along the edge of a nasty line of storms on our way home, and we later learned a tornado had done serious damage in some southwestern parts of our county. We considered ourselves fortunate. We saw this rainbow in Illinois. If you hunkered down in the seat, you could see the entire arch spreading from horizon to horizon. The pictures don't do it justice, but I've rarely seen a rainbow as vivid as this one was. It was literally glowing.

 Megan is the treasure at the end of the rainbow. (Not sure what the face was about.)

Christmas in Indiana, Part 2

While in Indiana, we visited my brother and sister-in law and met their one-month-old baby, Levi.

Megan got several cute outfits and a fun Play Dough cake-making play set from Uncle Mark and Aunt Kelli. She's played with it many times since we got home.

Mark and Kelli gave Josh and me seasons 6 and 7 of the Cosby Show, which is one of our favorites. I look really excited about this gift.

Being St. Louisans, it is our duty to supply the Cardinals fans in our family with team paraphernalia. Baby Levi got a hat and a board book. Mark got socks.

Josh and Levi.

Uncle Mark teaching Megan how to play the guitar.

Levi sporting his new Cardinals hat.

Christmas in Indiana

We spent much of the past week visiting my parents, siblings, and grandma in Indiana. We came home with lots of new toys, including these dollhouse-sized dolls my parents gave Megan.

Josh was excited when he opened this video game from my mom.

My sister gave Megan bubble bath, bath crayons, and bath finger paints.

Megan also got a fun tree house play set from my parents.

Megan helped my grandma open her gifts.

Missy the cat at grandma's house.

A four-generation picture with grandma, my mom, me, and Megan.

Dad and Josh resting their eyes at grandma's house.

 And Josh being goofy.

Megan was playing with my grandma's cat figurines, and I like how this shot includes a photo of my grandparents, taken in the late 1970s or early 1980s.