Thursday School

My friend Melanie introduced us to Thursday School. It is a 10 week program for 2 1/2 hours on Thursday mornings. Mary just started and is in the 2 year old class with Mrs. Kimberly. Each week they learn a number, color and bible story. Mary LOVES it. The first day Mary ran in said "Bye Mama" and didn't look back. I stood behind the closed door watching through a tiny window for 20 minutes teary eyed. I had the most difficult time leaving her. On the way home I heard "It Won't Be Like This for Long" by Darius Rucker and my teary eyes turned into gushing sobs. I LOVE these girls and can't believe how quickly they are growing!

Shopping

We really enjoy visiting the children's museum. They have the cutest grocery store and everything inside is perfect Mary size. I really wanted to see her play in there but she would have nothing to do with it until we took a friend who went first. Then Mary dove right in, funny girl. You are only supposed to have three items in your cart at a time. There was a museum employee watching nearby. I followed behind Mary trying to replace items. I followed behind Mary putting them back and the employee followed behind me arranging them perfectly as they were. It was a bit stressful. Must have been funny to see two adults trailing a two year old.

Chit Chat

Rachel is such a happy baby! She loves to talk and we have great conversations! Listening to her coo and squeak makes me smile and laugh. We will post a video soon.

Before the zoo, she is shiny from sunscreen :)

Bumbo

Rachel loved being able to sit up and enjoy a different view. Shortly after this picture Mary nursed her cookie monster plush doll, burped him and placed him in the bumbo chair too. I take care of Rachel and she takes care of "cookie".

Two Year Molars

I never really believed in the "Terrible Twos" but something not so magical has taken place since Mary's second birthday. Murray calls it "asserting her independence" and I call it "one crazy attitude"! I hope once her molars have come in she might return to her sweet happy self. It has been tough! This picture is Mary enjoying a popsicle after nap time. Trying to soothe those gums.

Hot Spring Day 2 Bath House Row

We visited the Fordyce bathhouse. It was operated from 1915 to 1962 but now it's the parks visitor center. We really enjoyed walking through it.

This stained glass was beautiful that time of day.

Hot Springs Day 2 Alligators

We mentioned to Mary that we were going to see alligators while on our trip. It rapidly moved to the top of the list of things to do because it was all Mary could talk of and we didn't want to sing the monkey alligator song anymore!

Murray holding a baby alligator. There is no way I could do this!

As you can see Mary shares my sentiments.

Rachel and I next to the hybernating alligators.

Murray and Mary feeding some goats. They started to eat Murray's pants!

Princess Pratt

Mary wore this a good part of the day and made several phone calls to "Mama" and "Papa" (Grandma and Grandpa).

Day 1 Hot Springs

We headed down to Hot Springs Arkansas for a quick family trip and it was a blast! We got to our hotel and after being in the car for 3 1/2 hours thought it sounded nice to go for a swim. The hotel was brand new which was nice. We went for pizza and ice cream. It was yummy and a treat to not prepare or clean up anything. After all a vacation is a break from what you normally do. We went back to the hotel and the four of us watched American Idol on a big tv while on a king sized bed. I really want to take the bed and tv home with us.

Baskets

Jacob and Mary made little beds out of these laundry baskets. Sparks fly when these two get together!

Video of Mary at 2.1 years old

Here's a video of Mary answering questions, singing the ABCs, doing somersaults and dancing. She has really learned a lot lately and we just love to watch Mary perform for us.

Dryer Drama

A few weeks ago we had some difficulty with our dryer. Difficulty is putting it lightly. Our old dryer created enough heat to turn our laundry room into a sauna. I actually enjoyed it during the winter months. My mother in law and I even put dough in there to rise faster once. It took about 4 cycles to dry one load of laundry. When I got up in the night to feed Rachel I would start the dryer to get in that extra cycle or two. I never stopped to think that it was pretty weird, I just dealt with it. I also removed lint with a long kitchen utensil. Then a glorious day came and we got a new dryer. Murray picked it up and installed it, what a great husband! Then the new dryer didn't work. It was quite sad for us. Murray ran a few experiments to discover the problem. One was blowing out lint with an air compressor. The other dropping one of Mary's toy balls through the pipe the lint blows out of (whatever it is called, I'm sure it isn't a pipe). The ball fell through and we hooked the dryer back up and voila, the dryer works and it is wonderful!

Children's Museum

The weather was pretty cold for awhile there and we were going stir crazy. Combine those two things and you get CMOM (Children's Museum of Memphis)! Woo Hoo. This place brings out the two year old in me. Mary and I get together and have a great time! This was one of the adventures we went on with Grandpa and Uncle Kyle.

Miss Mary fishin'

Boogie down in the disco room (my personal favorite)

Murr even got into it

This bike is bolted down to the ground I assure you

The little Orpheum Theater is great fun

Hollywood

The other morning I was cleaning up after breakfast when I heard "Here you go Rachel". Nervous at what I would find I ran out and saw this...

Peabody Ducks

We spent some time downtown on Beale Street and at the Peabody Hotel. We watched the ducks march, a tradition since 1933. They came down on the elevator from the roof where they live, walked across a red carpet up some stairs and down into the fountain where they stay until 5:00. Surprisingly, it's a popular thing to do when visiting Memphis.

We got a picture with the Duck Master (yes that's his title).

Mary loved when the ducks splashed.

Rachel's Blessing

March 1st Rachel had her baby blessing. Grandpa and Uncle Kyle came all the way from California to be there for her! Church was cancelled that morning because of snow which was a first for us. Fortunately, Bishop Taylor came over so we could have the blessing in our home. Murray gave her a beautiful blessing. Rachel is the sweetest little baby, she brings us such delight! We couldn't love her more!

Snowman

We are so happy because not only did Murray have an entire week off of school "Wahoo" but both his dad and brother were able to come and visit! Murray's brother Kyle just got home from serving a mission in Boston. He brought some of that snow with him to Mississippi, just for us :) We had a good time playing in it! Mary has been talking about snowmen since november, this was her dream come true!

The snowman with a "Memphis" baseball hat

A carrot nose of course

Snowball driving range