Yay!

I'm sitting here at the computer, totally defeated. My child just won. After a long morning at the gym and a trip to Target and Old Navy I thought Rani would be good and tired - nope. I just tried to put her down for a nap, a process of which that took 35 minutes! Forget that it's already almost 3:00 and the whole time I'm telling myself this is not worth the fight, she's is so not going to go to bed tonight if I let her sleep. Still, I'm determined, (As determined as possible for Stacee.) and I will win this little battle. They say pick your battles, so why I chose this one is a mystery to me. We both knew who was going to win from the start. Finally after 35 minutes of crying and whining,(Rani, not me!) I relent and go in and get her. Stinker. As soon as I get her out of the crib she looks at me with her most pleased Rani face and says "Yay, I did it"! We all know who runs the house. It's going to be interesting when she's a teenager!!! Last Sunday at church Rani was really struggling. We hadn't even gotten through the first speaker and she was all over the place. The minute the speaker finishes and everyone says amen Rani goes "Yay, we're done"! She continued to do this after the Choir sang, and again after every speaker. I'm glad those around us thought it was funny, I was totally embarrassed!!! Oh, my funny, stubborn, smart, way more determined than me child. I just love her. :)

Partay!

Saturday the group went out to dinner to celebrate Joe finishing up and getting his PhD. We went to Don Pablo's - one of the very few decent Mexican restaurants out here - and had a lot of fun. They hand out pieces of dough for the kids to play with and Rani kept asking me to make her an elephant?! My elephant wasn't Worth taking a picture of, but Anne's on the other hand...kicked my elephants trash. Surprisingly, Rani did pretty good at dinner. We've really been trying to work with her to sit still and stay at the table. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but for Rani it's like asking her to be in a straight jacket! The kid LOVES ice cream, so we bribed her. She also loved seeing Joe in the "big,funny hat", apparently they don't have a song they sing for getting your PhD (weird) so they brought out the sombrero and sang Happy Birthday instead. We're so happy for Joe he is going to be sorely missed!


Then we headed on over to the Isom's for a "Pie (as in 3.14) Day Party. They crack me up! We had pie and played Guitar Hero. The kids ran around in their jammies and had tons of fun too. The little boys were so serious about playing the game it was so cute. All we needed was the microphone and we would have been complete. I'm not quite the rock star on the guitar I'd like to be, but someone get me a mic and I'll show you some mad skills!

Potty Training Attempt?!

I'm thinking it's time to teach her what this "pitty pink circle" is for?! I want so badly to keep putting potty training off, but after she thought her "pitty pink circle" was a necklace, I've decided to commit to thinking about potty training. We'll see how it goes.



This is what she does when I ask her to smile...everything but.

Eew Nassy Mud!

My child is a struggler! We had some much needed nice weather last week and we decided to go to the park with some friends. I think we got a little over zealous - there are reasons you don't go to the park in February. There was mud everywhere, which wouldn't have been too much of a problem if I wasn't a struggler too! I was not paying attention and Rani took off straight into the mud. I wish I had my camera for the actual moment of the fall and the moments right after! It was hilarious. She just sat there frozen, not sure what happened or what to do. Being the super mom that I am I dropped my bag, hiked my pants and ran to get her.(I use the term "super" loosely, considering it was me that let her run right into the mud in the first place.) She was TRAUMATIZED! Needless to say she was not happy and neither was I, because we had been there a total of 5 minutes and I need the park time as much as she does! Luckily there happened to be another mom there we knew and she came running to me holding a pair of her little boys sweatpants. I was sooooo grateful, it totally saved the day. unfortunately she continued to struggle. She fell a number of times even after the "nassy mud" insident". Rani is now completely terrified of mud or anything that resembles mud. Any time we walk outside she makes a WIDE girth around whatever she thinks is mud and says "watch out the mud, mommy. Eew Nassy". I love it, she's so funny. The other morning we were watching Daddy walk to the bus out the window and she says "Bye Daddy. Have good day. Watch out the mud Daddy". Lesson of the day - don't go to the park in the middle of winter, and if you must, pay attention to where your kids are running to!!!

"Stingy Rays" and Birthdays!

For Danny and Rani's birthdays we decided to take advantage of the discount "Friday's after 5:00" discount at the Baltimore aquarium. (It may or may not have mostly been for Danny!) Despite a few tense moments in some killer traffic in down town Baltimore- anyone who knows Danny or Rani knows what I'm talking about - we had a lot of fun! Rani was just loving running around, up and down the ramps and trying to climb on everything. She loved the "stingy rays", now when we play charades at Seema's she loves to lay on the ground with her arms and legs spread out and tells everyone she is a stingy ray!






Then we had a few friends over for some cupcakes. Rani loved it. I think we've celebrated her birthday about 7 times. She is still singing "happy birthday to you me". Her favorite thing in the world right now is to have people sing to her and blowing out candles! I can't believe she is two already. That girl is the greatest challenge I think I have ever come across...and my greatest joy. She is so stinkin smart. (I heard her count to 27 the other day!) She has more personality than I know what to do with!!! Here is a little tribute to my Spunky, smart, sassy, sweet, adorable little girl!

RANI"S FAV"S:
*Singing
*Counting
*Books
*Broccoli
*ANIMALS!!!
*Running
*Chocolate
*Riding in friends cars
*Frosty
*Eatin straight peanut butter
*Singing happy birthday to herself
*Cooking
*Watching Daddy get on the bus
*Doing anything by herself
*Hide and Seek
*Mini marshmallows

Rani's Not So Fav's:
*Riding in the car
*Sitting still
*Riding in the car
*People who don't play hide and seek
*Riding in the car
*And last but not least, RIDING IN THE CAR!

Rani's catch phrases (Everything starts with "Uh")
*"Two seconds guys"
*"Uh help you?"
*Uh play with me?"
*"Uh by myself"
*"Sing it Mommy"
*"Uh hold you?"
*"Uh ride in EEbels's car?!"
*"How a doing?"
*"Hi guys"
*"Hey, hey, shake uh booty"

Happy birhtday, I you my Ranster Montser!!!

LONG TIME NO BLOG!!!

I know, I know. Where have I been?! Let's see...I've been in Utah for Christmas, then it was Danny's b-day, then Rani's b-day, time just flies! It's taken us a little while to transition back from Utah. I think we had too good of a time - Danny and Rani especially. Rani (Truth be told - Danny too!) thoroughly enjoyed her animal time. It was like her own personal heaven there. Dogs, cats, horses, cows, she can never get enough. We had a little pre b-day party for her so family could come. It was nice, last year was a little sad for me having no family on her first birthday. :( It was a fun trip here are a few highlights of the other highlights!

WOW, Christmas is over already...I'll be changing my music now!

Sorry. It's been crazy and busy as usual, but I will do you all a favor and kill the Christmas music! No time for a real post yet. I'll get to it, but I should probably finish unpacking first!!! (I HATE very few things as much as I hate packing and unpacking!)