Mandy Rose See, Mandy Rose Do!!!

Mandy Rose is becoming very interested in imaginative play lately! She is constantly acting out the events she is witnessing in her day-to-day life. For example, shopping is a favorite game at our house now! She loads a basket with her "items" and comes to me to check her out. Then, I have to hand her a slip of paper that is her receipt. She says "thank you" and I say "thanks for shopping"! Another example of her acting out what she is seeing happened this evening. A few weeks ago, when we went to Karen's graduation, Mandy Rose was fascinated by the fact that her other cousin, Jessica, was pregnant. She asked fourteen hundred times on the way home from Almena, "Now, where is that baby?" Thankfully, she has yet to ask how it got in there!! That's a conversation for another day! LOL! Jessica had her little boy a few days later and Mandy Rose has enjoyed seeing pictures of the baby that used to be the BUMP in Jessica's tummy! Tonight, she shoved her jammies under her shirt and pretended to have a baby in her tummy too!

She looks about 6 months along, don't you think? Too adorable!! But, Momma is NOT ready for grandparenthood yet!

We also recently attended the birthday party of Mandy Rose's friend, Emma M! At lunch the other day, she turned her cheeseburger into an impromptu birthday cake complete with a french fry ("lit" with ketchup no less) as a candle! It cracked us up!

Happy Birthday!! Such an imaginative little girl! She definitely keeps her Momma & Daddy entertained!

Celebrating Cousin Karen's Graduation!!

This past weekend found us on the road to northwestern Kansas to attend Mandy Rose's cousin's graduation. We always enjoy visiting this branch of the family and this weekend was no exception.

Saturday began with preparations for the party! Food was being cooked, tents erected, and Mandy Rose took on the chore of gathering pine cones from the yard (her idea!) It kept her very busy!

She almost filled this tote with pinecones! Of course, later in the day, she and some other kids scattered them all around the yard again! Should make for some fun mowing for Uncle Rich! Our next chore was to sweep the patio. Mandy Rose "helped" alot! I would sweep the pile one direction and she swept it the other! Eventually, we got the job done.

We are ready to party!!

Mandy Rose loves her cousin Karen! They have such fun together! Aren't they both such beautiful girls?

Karen had to have a picture with Delilah too! She thought she was such a cute puppy!

Waiting for graduation to start!

Kisses for Momma! We managed to keep Mandy Rose entertained until the graduation started. Then "Pomp & Circumstance" began to be played and the graduates filed in. Mandy Rose was standing on a chair next to me. When I turned around to check on her, I saw her swaying with eyes drifting shut! Graduation was right in the middle of nap time! Soooo.......

......this is how she spent the entire ceremony! And, yes, she does sleep with her eyes open!

Awake again and ready for the fun to begin! She was fascinated with the chocolate fountain! She tried strawberries, grapes, pretzels, marshmallows, and pineapple covered with the yummy stuff!

Uncle Rich and Aunt Judy have a ferret that the kids brought out into the yard. Mandy Rose and Delilah are mesmerized by the ferret! I really think Delilah was even more so!!

Mandy Rose got to spend quite a bit of time with another beauty from China, Elle T! They are just 9 months apart in age, but quite different in size! They played soccer, fed the dogs, played hide and go seek, and snuck marshmallows for several hours!!

This is Elle's brother, Alex, who is also Karen's boyfriend. He is soooo good with the kids! He played soccer with them for quite awhile!

There were lots of kids to play with!

Mandy Rose was tickling Karen telling her, "It has to be done!" This is the phrase that Uncle Rich uses when he tickles the kids and Mandy Rose picked up on it! It took 3 tries to get this picture! Karen accused me of taking my time so Mandy Rose could tickle her even more!!! All too soon, the weekend came to an end! We had so much fun! Karen has grown into such a lovely, bright, funny, sweet woman!

Weekend in KC!

This past weekend was our monthly trip to Kansas City to visit Auntie M and Jamen! We picked Lyndi up, got our Starbuck's fix, and headed out early. We met Mandy, Matthew, & Jamen at Red Robin for lunch and then went on to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. It is a fabulous park! There are animals to feed and pet, old farm equipment to play on, playground equipment, and oodles of room to run! The kids had a blast!

Mandy Rose is wearing her new Shockers cap. Daddy got one and she had to have one as well! It is just a smidge too big so we turned it around backward so she could see! Jamen was convinced his hat was going to blow off! He walked around with his hands clapped to his head!

They got to pet a holstein calf. They also got to pretend to "milk" a cow!

Couldn't pass up a train!

Feeding the goats! Jamen and Mandy Rose were picking up feed that others had dropped, so they actually got to feed the goat for quite awhile!

Mandy Rose as a delicate flower!

I just love Jamen's eyes! Isn't he a cutie?

Enjoying cookies at the end of the day!

Hangin' out!

It was another wonderful weekend with family!

A girl & her dog!

Mandy Rose absolutely loves her puppy, Delilah! I enjoy watching them play together. And, I cherish the memories she will have of growing up with Delilah. She is really a great little dog! She stills has accidents once in awhile, but she is well-mannered and not yappy (thank goodness!) Mandy Rose definitely considers Delilah her puppy and so do I....but I think Delilah considers herself my dog! She is usually glued to my side! LOL! Daddy still refers to her as "Mutt" and has daily arguments with Mandy Rose about her name. Daddy, "Mutt." Mandy Rose "Delilah!" Daddy, "Mutt." Mandy Rose, "Delilah!" Daddy, "Delilah!" Mandy Rose, "Mutt!" Ha! Aren't they too precious!

A Weekend of Easter & Egg Hunts!!

This was a fabulous weekend for little miss Mandy Rose! We had 3 egg hunts and got together with lots of her friends for playtime! To top it off, the weather was perfect! Temps in the 70's & 80's and bright sunshine! The weekend started with a community Easter egg hunt in Augusta with the Dresher's. Cassidy kept Mandy Rose entertained by tickling her while waiting for the hunt to begin! She LOVES the Dresher kids!

The anticipation of hunting for eggs was intense!

And, they are off! I didn't know if Mandy Rose would understand the concept of rushing to pick up eggs, but I needn't have worried! She was "hoovering" them up with the best of 'em! She had a nice pile of eggs at the end. Momma had to explain why she was getting rid of the gum, but she still got alot of candy. I haven't let Mandy Rose have gum yet because I am dreading issues of gum stuck in her hair, the carpet, on the furniture.... I just tell her it is sticky, nasty stuff and so far she is buying my story!

Success!! Saturday evening, we had dinner with the Montieth's & Ewing's. Four little girls from China, aged 3 to 6 played for hours while their parents got some adult conversation! Met all of our needs! LOL! The girls played very well together and we didn't need to intervene in any fights or disagreements. It is wonderful to watch these girls knowing they all started their lives in orphanages half a world away and now they are friends!

Easter morning dawned beautiful! Daddy had hidden our eggs in the front yard so it was time for Mandy Rose to find them!

Such a pretty girl and sooooo happy!

She needed a little guidance, but you could tell when she spotted an egg! She would take off running saying, "There's one!"

The obligatory pose along the wall in front of our house! It's kinda like the hutch inside...serves as a backdrop for posed pics!

Daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are all in bloom in my yard! I LOVE Spring! Those cheerful flowers announcing the new season!

Later in the day, we went to our friends, the Keech's, for a barbeque and egg hunt. They put over 5 dozen eggs in their yard just for Mandy Rose! And, that was toned down from what they would usually do because I protested about it being too much!!! They had a blast spoiling our little girl! Brenda Keech has become a good friend from school. We have classes together and she is also working to get into the medical technology program. She and her husband, Ron, are the nicest people! We had a wonderful time and enjoyed yummy grilled steaks and chicken!

This is her "toned down" haul!! All in all it was a terrific weekend! I am so thankful for my daughter, getting to watch her experience the fun things of childhood, the friends we have, and great weather!

Dyeing Easter Eggs!

Yesterday was the day to get our Easter eggs dyed. Mandy Rose has been very excited about Easter this year! She is looking forward to all the egg hunts...and the candy, of course! When I got home from class, we got our supplies around and dyed a dozen eggs to hide Sunday morning here at our house.

I put her apron on her and she was quite careful, but we still managed to get dye on her shirt. Thankfully, it is an old one, so not a great loss! She was concentrating very hard on spooning dye over the eggs. I love how she holds a spoon at the very end!

We worked together to put funny face stickers on each egg when it was dried.

She is very proud of her finished product! She will have fun finding them in the yard on Sunday morning! And, she will enjoy the egg salad or deviled eggs afterwards as well!

While Mandy Rose is just 4 years old, Easter is mostly about eggs, candy, and Easter baskets. We have started talking about the true meaning of Easter and, as she gets older, we will make sure she understands. But, for now, we talk about Jesus and get pumped for candy!!!

"Jamen is my friend, Momma!"

This past weekend, my sister, Mandy, stayed with us with her two kids, Lyndi & Jamen. Lyndi is 13 and spends most of her time with the lap top on her knees, posting on facebook, sending texts in between posts! Ah, the age of technology!

Jamen is 3 1/2 and as Mandy Rose says, "Jamen is my friend!" They play wonderfully together! Jamen is always calling out, "Mandy Rose, come on!" and off they run to some new adventure! It is so sweet to watch them play together and I am tickled that they enjoy each other's company.

Friends! Concentrating on finding matches for the Memory game!

They built tower after tower with the blocks. Of course, it had to be right in the doorway to the kitchen!! Our house is small and Jamen and Mandy Rose had it littered like a minefield in no time!

One thing that is very interesting is that both Mandy Rose's and Jamen's preschool teachers commented on how they don't play cooperatively with the other kids. Sure looks like they know how to play cooperatively to me! Maybe they just don't find their classmates as interesting! LOL!