What to eat, what to eat...

Grant and I were just sitting at the kitchen table when we heard Maggie walk over to our pantry. She opened the curtains (yes, our pantry has curtains) and said, "Hmmm...what shall I have? Whaaaat shall I have?!" She decided on some applesauce, sat down, and said, "Now I'm going to eat this like a bear (meaning without a spoon)."

A few minutes ago she was playing with her dolls and stuffed animals and putting them down for a nap. After several minutes went by she came out of her room and we asked her how it went. She said, "Not good. They keep getting out of their bed. I'm getting really frustrated." Wonder where she's ever heard that! She asked us to go back in with her and help her get them to bed. I said, "Which one is the ringleader?" and she said, "Baby Krista. She's the only one with legs."

Banana bread face

One day several months ago Maggie and Grant were enjoying a piece of banana bread when Maggie asked Grant, "Daddy, do you want to see my banana bread face?" How could he say no? She then proceeded to make the face you see in the photo below. This photo is another from my mom's birthday and my favorite part is Grant making the same face off to the side.
We've been watching a lot of the Olympics and have let Maggie watch some with us. The other day we were watching one of the swimming races and I told her we were hoping USA would win. This led to an interesting conversation (ever tried to explain what countries are to a 2-year-old?) but I think Maggie got the gist of it. She said, "Are we the same country as Texas and California?"

We've also had a lot of fun watching the gymnastics part. She's taken gymnastics classes (Mommy & Me gymnastics, but still) since she was about 1 and so she knows about somersaults, cartwheels, balance beams, bars, etc., and loved to see the women (girls?) flying through the air. I just never imagined I'd have so much fun watching the Olympics with Maggie at such a young age! It's great!

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Maggie's first concert

We were with my mom for her birthday on Sunday and Grant and Maggie disappeared into the living room. After a little while Maggie and Grant reappeared and Maggie said, "Could you please come in here for a minute, everyone?" So we all dutifully shuffled in and Maggie proceeded to perform her very first concert for us. She then plunked some random notes (random notes but with the right meter) while she sang, perfectly in tune, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." We loved it!
Maggie with her sweet Uncle Jim on the piano bench.

Big Bird gets a lesson on breastfeeding

I just saw this really sweet video of Big Bird learning about breastfeeding. It's very tasteful and even P.C., in my opinion, so watch it here if you're into that kind of thing :) (Mike - just skip this one and you'll still sleep well tonight.)

How to help your grieving friend

All right, I know this will seem random because...it is kind of random. I just read this post on someone else's blog (someone I don't even know) and I thought it was so insightful that I wanted to post a link to it here.

After losing our first daughter, Elle, I feel much better equipped to deal with grieving people than I did before, only because I know what was helpful or not helpful to me and Grant. I've had so many people ask me for advice on how to help their grieving friends and I thought this was extremely on point and such good advice. It was written by a mother of a stillborn daughter but I think it basically applies to someone grieving the loss of ANY loved one. I'm also going to link to it over in my sidebar, for future reference.

(FYI- there is a short, first section and then about 10 more short sections following it and I think they are all excellent, but you have to click on each one to read it.)

Wedding flowers

Yesterday, after the wedding I was working on, I had some flowers left over. I put some in the living room, some on our table, some in the kitchen, and a few on the bathroom countertop. Maggie walked into the bathroom, gasped with surprise, and said, "I didn't know there were supposed to be flowers in the bathroom! They're beautiful!"

Earlier that day she and Grant came to visit me at the church where I was arranging the flowers. Maggie said, "Are the brides just going to walk in here and say 'Look at all these beautiful flowers? Who made all of these?'"

It's nice to have a daughter who appreciates my work:)

Here's the deal

Yesterday and today Grant kept Maggie while I did flowers for a wedding (I'll post photos as soon as I'm able). Maggie wanted to watch a movie but Grant was wanting to play with her so she got very frustrated. She said in a shockingly calm voice, "Hey, Daddy, do you know what's the deal? I need to watch a movie and you're not being nice to me today." He wasn't swayed...good for him:)

Here's another photo from our TX trip. We went to visit our good friends, the Bakers, who live in Temple, about an hour from Ft. Worth. Maggie LOVED getting to play with their three kids and their youngest, Esther, gave Maggie a run for her money in the feisty department. I loved it!