Happy Balentime's Day

As Grace says, "Happy Balentime's Day!"












Grace showing me the princess magic wand that she made. I bought them a neat little magic wand kit made from foam for Valentine's Day. They got to design and create their very own wands! It kept them busy for a while.











Ella running around like a crazy woman, as usual.

Grace and Ella showing me their Valentine's Day cards that Nena sent them. They were so happy when the got letters in the mail.

Maynard Sleeping Gene, Harris Ingenuity

As a member of the Maynard family, I have always prided myself on being able to fall asleep anytime, anywhere. My dad, James (or Jim or Peanut as some may call him), has passed that wonderful gift on to my brother and myself. Recently, I have learned that I have passed on that wonderful Maynard gene on to my firstborn, Grace. As little as she likes to sleep, she has proven to me that when she is tired, she can and will sleep anywhere she pleases.

Now, if it means being creative to ensure her total comfort, she will throw in a dash of "Harris Ingenuity". Take for instance this particular afternoon when she wanted to take a nap but did not have a blanket. I was busy cleaning the kitchen and kept telling her I'd get her a blanket "in a minute". Well, Grace was cold and ready for a nap "wight now!". After she left me alone for a couple minutes I assumed she had fallen asleep, but I never dreamed she'd solve her problem of being cold without a blanket in the way she did!


Yes, this is a couch cushion. She took it off of the couch, unzipped it, and curled up in to keep warm as she fell asleep.


Grace actually slept in the couch cushion for about an hour and a half!

January is over already?

Gees, I really slacked on my blog in January! I guess there was just so much going on that I didn't have time to post many things. The month just seemed to fly by and before I knew it, it was gone!

Grace is back in swimming lessons at the YMCA and doing pretty well. She is the smallest kid in the class, of course, but she does great. Grace is easily distracted by, well, everything. She would rather swim around the pool by herself than have to stand by the wall and wait her turn. I am hoping that having to go to an organized class with a teacher and other kids will help her learn how to pay attention and follow directions, especially since she will be in preschool this fall.

Ella and Grace go to the YMCA for Wee Tumblers class on Tuesday mornings with me. It is really nothing but a gymnasium full of obstacles and games for them to play with, along with other kids, for a half hour. It is nice, though, because it gets me out of the house with them and they get to meet other kids their ages. I think it has helped Ella become much more social. When we went to the first class last Fall, Ella wouldn't let go of my leg. Now, she can't wait for me to put her down so she can run around!

Here are just a few pictures of the girls from this month...mostly just running around the house.


Grace had a barely-visible scratch on her face and insisted on wearing a SpongeBob SquarePants bandage on her face all day. She was very proud of it and kept asking me to take her picture with it on.


We played "Wizard of Oz" dress-up last week and Ella wasn't quite sure if she was a 'good witch' or a 'bad witch'. She wanted to wear the wicked witch's dress with Dorothy's dress over it. Whatever makes her happy, I guess...


I was spinning Ella around on the kitchen floor by her pantleg, (cheap entertainment and non-stop giggles, by the way), and we took a break to have a little photo shoot.


When I tell you she has so much energy she could climb the walls, I'm not kidding! Grace decided to show off her ninja moves on the refrigerator and cupboards. And I wonder why we always have 4000 handprints and smudges on the stainless steel appliances...