Mabry Comes to Stay!!

WARNING----LONG POST BELOW

This past Thursday my niece, Mabry, came to stay with us for the long weekend. I have been looking forward to this weekend for months, and could not wait for her arrival. She is 3 years old (as of Sunday) and is at such a fun age. Okay... well, I mean, every age is fun, but these days she's my little giggling, chatter box, "why?", "how come?"-asking pal! Whew, it's a lotta work; but the fun we have definitely outweighs it all!!

She arrived on Thursday just in time for her nap. After napping like a champ, the rest of Thursday afternoon and evening went really well. She "helped" me with dinner and we enjoyed The Polar Express as we waited for the hubs to get home from work.

Friday morning we..errr, I mean...she...was up much earlier than anticipated. After some breakfast, crafts and more Polar Express watching we waved farewell to Jordan as he headed off to work. I proceeded to get our breakfast mess cleaned up while Mabry "organized" my Christmas cards.

Suddenly Mabry starts crying, saying that "Sophie at my crayons!!". Wait, what?!?! Sophie...ate...crayons?!?! Okay, stop, wait, process info...crayons and dogs can't be a good mix. I immediately called the emergency Vet. They asked her weight(9lbs) and age(2 yrs) and conclueded that "ahhh, she should be fine. She may puke and poop rainbows, but she'll be okay." Whewwww!

We then move towards showering and getting ready for our day out and about, that's to include the park, a picnic lunch, trip I go to crank up the engine to no avail. Yep, a DEAD BATTERY. Are. You. Kidding.Me.

Thankfully, Jordan came by during lunch and fixed the battery. It had somehow come detached..umm, okay. Yes, Jordan really is Bob Villa.

After some cookie baking and decorating to salvage the lost morning to crayons and dead car batteries, Mabry went down for a 2+ hour nap...ahhh...greatness!
I finally got the chance to myself, go potty right after I put her down for her nap (moms out there, how do you do that?). Just as she began to stir from her nap, mind you, this is 2+ hours later, I wander into my bedroom to listen to her on the monitor, only to discover my master bathroom had FLOODED, and had been doing so since I pottied 2 hours earlier. Again, I ask. Are.You.Kidding.Me. I quickly scurry to clean up the mayja (Posh Spice, anyone?) mess, so that I can retrieve my waking niece.

Later that afternoon we head to the toy store to let her pick out a treat. I told her she could pick out anything she wanted and directed her towards lots of pink and purple things (i.e. Barby, Polly Pocket) and guess what she made a bee-line for...a football! Yep! When I asked her if she was sure that's what she wanted she replied "Yeah, so I can be Tony Romo and you can catch a touchdown!" She really is hilarious!!!

Later that day Sophie decided that she not only wanted Mabry's crayons, but now her football, too! Anyone sensing some doggy territory issues here?!?!

the evidence

the aftermath

It was definitely one of those Murphy's Law types of days. All I could do was laugh, and yes, also seriously question my readiness for starting a family ;). None of the days' goofy events were even caused by Mabry, but still, I'm just not sure I am up for this????

Onto some sunnier times...cold, but sunny :). We got up bright (really still dark outside) and early Saturday morning to take Mabry to the Neiman Marcus Adolphus Children's Parade in downtown Dallas. Reggie and Brooke got to the parade nearly 3 hours early to snag a good spot and set up our chairs. We had PRIME SEATING, thanks to them!!!

It was super cold when the parade started, but as the entertainment began, we all warmed up and enjoyed the watching all of the fun passers-by. Mabry was awe struck by the floats, dancers, balloons, etc... It was a great time!

Our spot was right next to the lady that holds the sign showing the parade participants on the floats, dancing, in the bands, etc. that you are "NOW ENTERING TV ZONE". It was so funny to watch all the parade participants' faces freeze with nervousness as they noticed and read the sign. I mean, come'on, this was thier moment to shine, folks!!!!

Brooke got Mabry this puppy, she named him Rudolph :)

And last but not least, Santa Claus made his big entrance! Mabry was sure to yell out her one wish..."A candy cane that is sticky!"

After the parade we headed for burgers at Twisted Root with Brooke and Reg and then home for a serious nap session. Mabry, Jordan, Sophie, Abby (my parents dog) and I were ALL tuckered out and slept the afternoon away. Ahhh, pure bliss!

(A little background into the weekend...Ash, Scott, along with my mom and dad were all 4 in Chicago for a dental conference. That's why we got to keep her.)

Anywho, Sunday was Miss Mabry's 3rd Birthday!!!! I was so excited to have her stay with us for part of the day and celebrate with her. We started the morning off with cinnamon rolls with candles as Jordan and I serenaded her. She was pretty confused since she'd had her big, friend party the week before. She kept saying, "Is this my 2nd birthday?" Too cute.

Next we headed to church and lunch. At lunch we decided to continue milking this birthday thing as much as we could and had the waitstaff come sing to her and bring her a brownie sundae. She was stunned, but LOVED it. Her reaction to complete strangers singing to her was pretty darn funny.

It was such a fun weekend having Mabry stay with us. She's her own little person these days full of personality, lots of questions, and non-stop humor. I can't wait for her to come again!