We built a fort under the kitchen table. For once, there was no hesitation. She crawled in and started reading right away. 
Signing "outside" while waiting on Daddy to get home from church. She's still stuffy, so we stayed home this morning.
Reading with Daddy.
Ready to paint. I said earlier that That Grace had not painted with a brush before, but I forgot about this episode. So this was actually her 2nd experience, but the first time she painted on the easel. 
She liked painting, but hated getting her hands dirty. She kept wiping them on her pants. She does the same thing when she is eating if we don't give her a napkin.
You'll be happy to know that we survived the Blizzard of '09. We were snowed in for a while but thankfully we had the foresight to load up on the milk and bread late Sunday afternoon. Otherwise, I'm not sure we would have had such a happy ending. 
That Grace, still sickly but enjoying her first snow. When she woke up, I took her to the front door to show her the snow. I went out and brought some in for her to touch. Nope -- wouldn't go near it. She just kept shaking her head, "no." After breakfast we got dressed (that took a long time) and she went outside. She finally put out one finger and touched a few flakes that had accumulated on her sand table.
Back inside, warm and dry, we pulled out an old activity. She loves to do this but, of course, it requires constant supervision, so I don't leave it our for her.
Practicing pouring.
Cleaning up after practicing pouring.
She really wanted to go outside today. She put on her hat and stood at the door, signing "outside." Unfortunately, she's had a fever for the past couple of days. We had a big weekend planned, including visiting Aunt Donna and Uncle Craig and our cousins from out of state as well as going to a local children's museum. Instead, we had a quiet, cranky day at home.
Since she did so well on the calendar matching activity, I set up the step 1, level 1 Child-sized Masterpieces activity. She did it with ease and we did a few variations before she got tired of it and started throwing the cards.
I was inspired to pull out the easel after reading about the benefits of it over at The Write Start. I bought some paint and brushes to use later this week but for today, we just used markers. She'll write with the markers, but what she really loves is taking the tops off and putting them back on. 
Settling in for the cold snap.
We braved the cold for a few necessities and took pity on some birds in the parking lot. We happened to have a few crackers in the car and That Grace threw them to the birds. I was worried they would scare her. They were pretty aggressive and got very close to us. When she was feeding them, she started making this sort of screeching noise. At first, I thought she was afraid, but she didn't look afraid and she kept signing more. I finally figured out she was imitating them. She used to do a lot of animal imitations but she doesn't do it very often anymore.
We had to entertain ourselves inside today, because it was bone-chillingly cold outside. We are simply not equipped to deal with that kind of cold. After the fire died down, That Grace went over to the hearth and dragged another log out, clearly indicating we needed to restart the fire. 
These boots are really too big but she loves them. She brought them to me and wanted me to put them on her. She has a little trouble walking in them but she manages to tromp around. 
My mom came to visit not too long ago and brought some extra calendars. I picked one out and sent the rest back home with her. After she left, I realized that I already had a calendar and didn't need another one (part of my ongoing war with clutter). I decided to keep it anyway because it had gorgeous pictures of wildlife. I cut it apart and make the matching picture activity from itty bitty love. Basically, I cut apart the calendar and then cut out the little thumbnail pictures on the back and covered it all with contact paper. The object of the activity is to match the little picture to the big picture. I thought That Grace might be a little young to do all 12 so I only put out 4 to start with. She did those with ease and begged for more, so I put out all 12 and handed her the little cards. She did great and apparently enjoyed it, because she kept signing "more" when I tried to put it away. We'll probably do some more of these. I didn't get the Velcro dots put on but I think that will add another point of interest.
Tea Party!
Reading to her babies in Daddy's chair. She has all of her back issues of Babybug up there. Check out that hair. No, I'm not trimming it. I put it up during the day. It's fine.
Putting on a finger puppet show, mostly consisting of throwing the finger puppets though the stage, at the audience. Ha, break a leg!
This was after I put some of our food on her plate and cut it up. She's definitely at the imitating stage. 
Last night, I finally got around to embroidering a place setting place mat for That Grace. She had a lot of fun carefully putting her little dishes in the outlines.
This is the reason baby blogs have a limited lifespan. 
We had some friends over for dinner last night. Don't worry, I limited That Grace's helping to non food items. I'm glad she is becoming more hospitable. She didn't lie on the floor and cry when she saw them like she has done with other people. After dinner, she even played with them some (if taking them a book and insisting they read it to her is playing).
We let That Grace put up all the figures in the Advent calendar this year. This is what it looked like when she finished with it. This was a huge highlight of the Christmas season for her. Bedtime has not been the same since we had to put it away.
This was a special type of cedar tree. It's supposed to "keep its needles beautifully throughout the whole season." 
Well, I don't really have anything to add to that.
Lillian Grace enjoyed a little snack on the way home from the store.
Oh, look, her bruise matches her shirt. We've been going outside to play a lot since the weather has been so nice. That Grace fell and hit her face on a pole. It got much worse the next day but it's starting to clear up.
Here's the kitchen my babydaddy and I stayed up late finishing on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, I don't have any before pictures but it was just a wooden refrigerator and sink I found at a local thrift store. They're pretty common in churches and daycares. It was missing the faucet and the sink. Rob took off the top of the sink and replaced it with another one. He cut out a spot for the sink (a bowl from Target's dollar bin) and turned half of it into a stove. 
He made the faucet out of some kind of gray tubing -- electrical conduit, I think he said, that we painted with copper paint. I painted the counter with Flexstone and painted the rest of it cream and pink. She has really been having fun with it. Every morning she runs into the living room, flings open the cabinets and the food starts flying. Watch out, Rachael Ray!
