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...

Christmas 2008

I just can't believe Christmas came and went so fast! This really was a great holiday season for our family. Grace and Ella really enjoyed opening their gifts this year. We also got to spend time with just about every branch of the family, too. Grandpa Clyde and Grandma Connie visited with Aunt Alyssa, Na-Na, PopPop, Aunt Sis, Uncle Scott and the boys visited, Uncle Justin from California stayed with us, Nena and PapPap stayed overnight on Christmas Eve, and Uncle Jay came over on Christmas day. Plus, Steve, Chaela, and Lilly celebrated New Years Eve with us! Our house was a busy place for a couple of weeks.

Everybody got all the gifts they wanted this year, too. Grace got her swimming puppy, Ella got her talking Elmo, Daddy got new shoes, and Mommy got a new pocket camcorder! Everyone made out pretty well. Of course, Grace and Ella got so much stuff it is hard to remember all of it, but we want to thank everyone for getting them such great gifts this year, and for just being able to celebrate the season with us!

Ella and Grace putting Santa's cookies out on Christmas Eve.


My living room after opening most of the presents. Nena was helping Ella open gifts while Harley (Nena and PapPap's dog) was wondering what the heck was going on. PapPap just lounged on the couch and watched all the fun.

Grace's 3rd Birthday

Grace is 3 years old as of December 14th! We had her party yesterday at Pump It Up in Hartville. I love Pump It Up, we had her party there last year, too. It is a giant building full of inflatable jumpy toys (or jumpy houses, as Grace calls them). The kids can just be unleashed and they can just run around for a few hours. A lot of kids came this year and they all had a great time together.

Grace was really excited to get so many great gifts, but her favorite was her Swimming Baby. She has been asking for Swimming Baby for months and she was so happy when she got her; the look on her face just melted my heart. She yelled, "A Swimming Baby!" as soon as she tore off the paper. She also got some Barbies, a few really cool board games, savings bonds, Color Wonders stuff, a teddy bear, a drum set, Moon Sand, and lots more.

Grace was so excited! She wore a brand-new outfit for her party, too. We also noticed that Grace was pulling on her ear in a lot of her pictures. She said her ear didn't hurt, so maybe it is a new nervous habit or something...

Ella's hair had so much static cling from all of the vinyl bouncy toys.


Grace and Me climbing through an obstacle course.


All of the kids at the end of the giant slide. Notice Ella over in the right corner, unable to sit still for a minute to get in the picture :)


Chaela and Steve dressed Lilly in the same exact outfit that Grace had on! No, we didn't plan it, either.


I love this picture of Grace. She looks grumpy for some reason, but it is so cute!


Jesse and Ella, making the same face for the camera.

Uh-oh.

So, I've been looking for my Knifty Knitter. It is a set of looms that you use to knit hats, scarves, etc. I finally found it in the basement the other day and I was so happy that I made Ella a little winter hat. Grace kept playing with the Knifty Knitter and I kept telling her to not put the little circles over her head or they would get stuck. Well, Grace didn't put the little one over her head...she put it over Ella's head. Needless to say, it got stuck.

So, here is little Ella with her new permanent Knifty Knitter necklace on. She does look good in red, but this is a little extreme... At this point, Jesse was getting a little worried because the loom was not going back over Ella's head. Jesse then informed me that Grace forcefully pushed it over Ella's head and that it was just not budging. I suggested rubbing butter on her forehead...

Ella wasn't scared at all, though. Here she is trying to take it off.



Sadly, this is what is left of my red loom. Jesse had to use a cutter from his tools to cut through it. Every time he took a squeeze at it Ella's eyes opened as big as saucers. Luckily, it wasn't too hard to cut through and Ella was safely freed from the Knifty Knitter's clutches!

Trick or Treat!

Wow! Halloween came and went so fast this year. It seems like all the yearly milestones go so fast anymore since the girls have arrived. Our trick or treat was last Sunday from 3 to 5, and, of course, we hit the streets right at 3! Unlike last year, Grace had no problem putting on her costume and getting ready for the big day. Ella was easily coaxed into her costume, too. They looked so cute!

Ella was a butterfly and Grace was a ladybug. The costumes kept them nice and warm, although the weather was pretty nice. We got home around 4 and shortly after, it started to rain. So, we timed the event perfectly!

Grace insisted on carrying both her and Ella's treat bags since Ella couldn't carry her own. She didn't want Jesse or me to carry it because she wanted to be the one to help Ella get her candy. Grace told the people at almost every house that she had to make sure she got a piece of candy for herself and for her sister. After a while, we could tell she was having a hard time carrying both bags because they were getting heavy! We finally convinced her to ride in the wagon with Ella and take a break.

Jesse and I took turns pulling the wagon up all of the driveways in our neighborhood. There are no sidewalks since we live in a development and most of the driveways are pretty steep. We got a pretty good workout hauling the old Radio Flyer up the hills!

It turned out to be a great day with the family. Plus, we have a giant bag of candy to show for it!