The end of 2009.....

So, I have been a super slacker on here lately, and it upsets me because my babies are doing the cutest things and growing so quickly, I want to be able to remember it all!! I have been writing down odds and ends over the last month or so, hoping to get time to get it down, and I figure there is no better time than New Year's Eve to do this! So, here we go....

Melanie's big catch phrase lately has been "No I ant." Anytime you say anything about her, she looks at you and says', "No I ant" instead of "No I'm not" or "No I can't". It's really funny! She also started practicing (before Thanksgiving) how she was going to react on Christmas morning. "Mommy, when I come down the stairs, I am going to look at the tree and say 'Oh my goodness!'" and she would put her hands on her cheeks. This went on for over a month, just her practicing her reaction! Also, Melanie wanted a kitty helmet and bike from Santa.....so she practiced what she was going to say to him over and over, and then when we got there, she asked Santa for a Mickey choo choo for Magoo, but forgot to ask for her helmet and bike! Luckily, we also put a letter to Santa in the big mailbox at Macy's, and he must have gotten it because she got both on Christmas morning, even though he did try and trick her because he hid her bike in the family room under Daddy's Georgia blanket! Silly Santa!!

We also have a cat that lives next door to us that Melanie refers to as "The Nasty Cat." She cannot stand this thing (I have no idea where she gets that from!) :) She was afraid that the cat was going to pop our blow up Mickey on the front porch, so the one night she looked at Eric and said, "Daddy, you have to go out and buy and awesome gun and shoot that nasty cat." That was totally out of the blue, because Eric and I have never, ever said anything about shooting animals or guns or anything!!

Melanie also came up to me one day and said, "Mommy, you smell skinny." I don't know exactly what that means, but hey, anytime I get a compliment with the word skinny included, I am not going to complain!!

My mom made both the girls aprons for Halloween and Christmas...Melanie's were Snoopy, and Meredith's were Mickey Mouse. When Mom gave Meredith her Halloween one, she wore it every day for about 3 weeks! It was so cute, she would get so excited every time we put it on her.

Melanie has picked up some of my habits....which probably isn't a good thing! She was driving around in the Cozy Coupe on the sidewalk in front of my house, both hands on the wheel, with a cell phone pressed between her ear and her shoulder, just babbling away....that is all me! She drove up to me, hung up the phone, and said that Mickey had just invited her to a party....her response was, "Ugghhhhh, I guess I'll go," like it was some big inconvenience for her! Then I asked her what time the party was, and she shrugged and said "11ish". She's 3 going on 16! She also drives around in her Cozy Coupe and when I try to take her picture, she gets out of the car and says, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?" like I am her papparazzi!!!

Meredith is the queen of babbling. She is right on the verge of talking, and she always has a lot to say, but most of it is just jibberish. She does, however, have a translator in her big sister. She was ranting about something the one day, and Melanie runs up to us and says, "Magoo say, 'Sweet niblets, where did Mommy go?'"'

Bad words....they are all around us, and yes, I am sure she picked up a couple from me. But I don't know where she learned the word "dickhead" and in what context, because she told Eric that he "smelled like a dickhead." At least that happened in the privacy of our own home. The one day I was at Target with her, trying to get what we needed before one of them decided to pitch a fit, and as I plowed through the toy section, Melanie shouted loudly, "Mommy, stop the damn cart!" She knew exactly what she said as she said it, because then she was all apologies, and everyone around us was laughing hysterically at the cute little girl with pigtails who just cursed at her mommy!!

We have been playing a lot of games lately....one of Melanie's favorites is "Pooh Bear goes to England". It's more commonly known to others as "Candy Land."

One of Melanie's favorite times of day is when she says her prayers. Except she thinks that "prayers" and "pears" are the same thing....we were reading a book the one time and she saw a pear, and said that she loves to say those....it took both Eric and me a few minutes to figure out what she was talking about! So sweet...

Gary, our elf, came back this year, and Melanie had some competition this year when it came to finding him! Meredith LOVED Gary, and every morning she would come down and search for him, and would get all excited every time she saw him throughout the day. Next year she will be even cuter with him! Melanie was so funny about Gary, because every time she would talk about him or tell someone about him, she would have to whisper his name. Eric would ask her where Gary was that day, and she would go "Gary is on the fan" or "Gary was going to burn his booty because he was on the light!"

Melanie also discovered tennis this year. Her version of playing tennis is a little different....we go and find tennis balls in the bushes around the courts, and then she and I would go with Meredith on the tennis court and bounce them, and whoever got a ball first won tennis. Easy, and it keeps us occupied for a good hour everytime we play!

And finally....sleeping habits. Melanie is not a sleeper, so it takes us a while to get her down every night, but whenever Meredith falls asleep, she gets excited and tells us that "Meredith's crashed asleep." She also has to put her babies to bed in her room everytime Meredith takes a nap or goes to bed, and they get up when Meredith does. She is such a good little mommy! She also gets up with her daddy every morning and has "Daddy and Mellie time" and she likes it because he makes her breakfast and puts hairspray in her hair every morning, and she likes to walk him to the door and reminds him to "Be careful!" while Magoo just waves and says "Buh Bye!" over and over again!! If I had to leave them in the morning it would be heartbreaking!

I hope that we are as blessed in 2010 as we were in 2009....both of our babies are healthy and happy, we have a loving family and a beautiful home, and we really couldn't ask for anything more.