Thanksgiving Weekend

Marianna has had one of the best weekends of her little life! So much playtime...next week is going to be such a letdown!
Last night, we went over to Scott and Katie's house...as usual, she had a blast playing with Grace and Mary...


Of course, there was dipping!

These penguins are a huge hit with the kids...we cannot understand why they are so captivating...

Love Graces pouty face..Wasn't for long though...

Whenever Marianna couldn't be found...we would find her in Graces room playing with the castle and the princesses (maybe Santa might find one for her room!)


They played with the castle for a LONG TIME!!

Too many cooks in the kitchen?

Taking turns turning the TV on and off...i heard all this giggling from the basement and came down to check up on them. One would go turn on the tv and sit on the couch and the other would turn off the tv and go back to the couch. I watched them do this several times! Super funny!!

The CUTEST part of the night...

We are thankful for our good friends!

Oooppps...

Marianna slept horribly last night..I think she was way overtired from having too much fun on Thanksgiving with her cousins. Well, this morning she was in a very silly mood! We have Uh-Oh as a staple in her everyday communication. I thought it would be funny this morning to teach her to say "Ooooppps"...However, I never dreamed it would be THIS funny!

Gobble, Gobble

My day started off with a little volunteering at the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit. What a great way to kick off Thanksgiving!


Marianna was busy before I left pointing out her favorite ornaments on the tree...



After her nap, we headed out to Thea Demi's. Marianna wished she could play football outside with the other kids...she was forced to watch inside. Brrrr..it was cold!


She was so excited when everyone came in to play. Diana brought out her dollhouse which Marianna loved to put all her princesses in!

Diana read her the princess book, too!

All the cousins treated her so well. She had sooo much fun today!

It was a challenge to even eat...she just wanted to play!

Pajama Time!!

Anyone to give Marianna "helicopter rides" scores big points!!

All the cousins...

Marianna loves Paul! Here she is going "bouncy-bouncy"...

And a little game of keep-away with cooper...notice the block!!

With so much to be thankful for today... believe me, we counted our blessings!! It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Let It Snow

Marianna loves to point out and say "snow". I was in Target over the weekend and found these jelly snowflake stickers to decorate windows and thought they were pretty cool. Needless to say, these snowflakes were an immediate hit and she loved arranging them on the window!

Admiring her work....

You may wonder what in the world Marianna is doing in this picture. Well, Yia Yia bought Marianna an American Doll book with a CD song call "Sparkle, Spirit, Style". We play it a lot..sometimes continuously...(unfortunately). Marianna (with the help of Mommy) has made up a little dance to part of the song when they say "hey, hey, hey, hey" ...this is Marianna doing the dance to the song. I just think it is funny and had to post it!

Edited to add that apparently, this is Marianna's new dance move for EVERY song she hears. On the Today Show this morning, Beyonce was on singing "Crazy in Love" and she pulled out this move for the greater part of the song :)

Tommy's Birthday Bowling Party

Today was Tommy Rushwin's First Birthday Party at Langdons in Farmington Hills!
Marianna had so much fun..it was a great party! She was (as per usual) going NONSTOP from the minute we entered the building.

Pebbles the Clown was a big hit and surprisingly...Marianna took very well to her!

The secret is...you need to know how to make an Elmo balloon to get Marianna on your side right off the bat!

Marianna wasn't so much into the bowling...she was more into watching the balls pop out...

The Riker family was doing a great job next to us...Marianna LOVES Avery and Alex!

Teresa, Mike and the birthday boy, Tommy! How cute is he??

Little Henry Donahoe and Marianna spent a lot of time playing together today...

These two had fun on the rides!

I was trying to get Marianna to show you the two tattoos she got: Elmo and Big Bird. You can kind of see them in the last shot...

She loved them!

Soon after...it was time to turn on the Christmas tree! Marianna is also doing a great job of saying "Santa Claus". We have been reading "The Night Before Christmas" every night before bad preparing her to meet Santa in a few weeks. We'll see how that goes! Stay tuned...