Erin is a Daisy

Erin just started Girl Scouts last week and she loves it. Daisies is for K-1st grade. Brownies is for 2nd and 3rd grades, so Erin is a Daisy. She just got her uniform today and I haven't even had time to iron on the Daisy patch yet. It's just a vest that she puts over a white shirt.
They went on their first field trip tonight to the Fire Station. Erin learned all about the fire truck and the equipment the firemen carry on the truck.

They also learned about the equipment a fire fighter wears when he goes into a burning building. Here is a fireman wearing and insulated suit and oxygen mask.

After all that learning, they got to explore the inside of the fire truck. That was the highlight of the tour for most of the girls. Here are Erin and Shannon "driving" the fire truck.

Hide and Seek

One of the kids' favorite pastimes is playing hide and seek (really more like peek-a-boo on steroids). The layout of the downstairs has a lot of little doors and corners to hide behind and the kids could spend hours playing hide and seek with either Daddy or me. Here is Gary playing hide and seek with the kids in Fall 2008.

Garrett Croons the Classics

I was finally able to film Garrett in a natural setting, doing what I see him doing everyday. I've had problems in the past getting him to ignore the video camera and just keep on doing whatever. He would either run to the camera to see himself, or just not perform all together. He's in that "I'm not going to perform on command anymore" phase. I semi hid the video camera in a dresser drawer and propped it up just enough to see over the edge, then turned it on. I guess Garrett figured that since I wasn't holding the video camera, it wasn't recording anything. Here is Garrett singing the classic "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

And here he is crooning another classic, "Old McDonald Had a Farm." On a side note, when he first discovered the existence of McDonald's, the restaurant, he would say "McDonald's" but I couldn't understand him. So he would say "E-I-E-I-O" to get his idea across. I wonder if he thinks that the Old McDonald that had a farm also has a restaurant with a really fun play area.

My Life is a 3 Ring Circus

With two small kids, life can get pretty crazy. Sometimes I feel like I live in a three ring circus, and I have all the characters. First, we have the bearded lady.

Then we have the contortionist (just try to pull your feet up to this position. It's harder than it looks).

Next comes the man of a thousand faces.

The lady who can tame the ferocious beast.

The diabolic feline...

The boy who lives on dirt...

And the Great Karnac the Magnificent, able to answer any question posed by Ed McMahon.

Spotlight on Garrett

Poor Garrett hasn't been getting much blog time lately. It's not that he's not blogworthy, it's just that Erin does more exciting things because she is older. Plus, it's hard to get Garrett on film or video these days. When I try to get a spontaneous picture or video of him doing something cute, he stops what he's doing, runs to the camera and yells "See, see." He wants to see the picture/video even if I haven't taken it yet. He doesn't understand that first I have to take the picture for him to see it. He just knows that inside that camera are funny pictures of him and his sister. So getting out the camera ruins any spontaneous moment I might be trying to catch, especially since it beeps when I turn it on. At least Erin can pose for a picture, but Garrett hasn't quite gotten the hang of that yet, either. You'll see what I mean in this video clip:

Garrett is a great singer and can sing along with several songs. His favorites are "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Farmer in the Dell" and "Old McDonald." He also likes to sing the ABC's and is very inspired to sing when holding a microphone, but he won't do it for the camera.

He stays very busy at school. Here are some recent project he did. He was pretty reluctant to stand still for the picture, so I had to snap quick before he left the shot. I am very happy with his progress at school. Garrett can say two word sentences consistently and can imitate 3-4 word sentences, quite an improvement from 4 months ago when he started school.

Garrett always loves his bath. Here he is just being cute little Garrett.

The name game

Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag 10 people. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real... nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.
1. What is your name: MARY BETH
2. A four Letter Word: MAKE
3. A boy's Name: MIKE
4. A girl's Name: MELISSA
5. An occupation: MANAGER
6. A color: MAROON
7. Something you wear:MOCCASINS
8. A food: MACARONI
9. Something found in the bathroom: MAKE UP
10. A place: MARYLAND
11. A reason for being late: MISS THE BUS
12. Something you shout: MAKE THE CATCH!!!
13. A movie title: MADAGASCAR
14. Something you drink: MOONSHINE
15. A musical group:MAMA'S AND PAPA'S
16. An animal: MALLARD
17. A street name: MAIN
18. A type of car: MERCEDES BENZ
19. A song title: MOON SHADOW
20. A verb: MIX

What was the most difficult question for your name?
#16 AND 19.

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Playing dress up is one of Erin's favorite pastimes. She has lots of dance leotards, poofy skirts and dresses and some excellent twirling skirts. Her favorite twirling skirt is the one MaMaw (Gary's mom) made her. It's pink and sparkly; everything a girl could want.

But sometimes she's more in the mood for the princess look, complete with boa and tiara.

Or maybe the fairy princess look. You have to have wings to be a fairy princess.

Sometimes when she dresses up, it inspires her to dance. Here she is in her Strawberry Shortcake bathing suit and grass skirt doing her Hawaii (pronounced "Hawadi) dance.