Marylin, the Dog Whisperer

Marylin loves her pup Pinot almost as much as Pinot loves her Marylin. Marylin has recently taken up to training Pinot which you can watch a clip of here.

Marylin sings her ABC's

Here's Marylin singing the ABC song as well as can be expected from a little 2 year old. And yes, that is a little rat's nest on the back of her head, or as Trini calls it, her "good morning hair" :)

View the video here

Thank you, Grandpa!

Marylin's Grandpa (who lives in Japan) sent Marylin a gift certificate to Amazon for her birthday this year and Marylin picked out a Dora doll (of course). I wrapped up the gift and had it sitting there for her to find when she woke up from her nap and judging by the look on her face, I would say she loves her new doll! Thanks, Grandpa! xox

Hello, Tinker Bell

The neighborhood got together on Saturday for a fun little Halloween party for all the children. There was lots of food and fun games but Marylin wanted nothing to do with it. She sat with me the whole time and watched the festivities from a distance. When it was finally time to go home and she actually let me snap a couple of pictures of her in her Tink costume. Grumpy or not, she was the cutest Tink there. :)

Sugar and Spice

This child is sooooo sweet sometimes and now that she can talk she comes out with some really cute stuff but this morning she surprised me.

I'm currently piecing a quilt top for someone very special and Marylin saw it and said "pretty kilt, mom!" to which I replied, "you like it baby girl?" and she said "yes! It's beautiful!"

OMG - sugar through and through!

Little Talker

Marylin is a total chatter-box these days and comes out with some really cute things. Her latest is calling me "babe" and "baby" - for example:

"Marylin, do you need to go potty?"

"noooo, baby"

or

"Baby, I want some juice, please"
"Daddy, I have water, Babe"
"I'm sorry, baby"


How cute is that?

She also has perfect manners these days and says "please" "thank you" "you're welcome" and "excuse me" when appropriate.

Let's hope this isn't just a phase!

Tease

Marylin has been going through this "I don't want to look at the camera" phase for quite a while now. I caught her in action here as she was teasing me and the camera. She finally delivered a classic Marylin smile though and all I can say is - adorable!

Pure Cute!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Marylin and I hitched a ride with our dear friend Melanie and her girls Kiki and Karly to the Underwood Family Farm for day of fun. Marylin got to take a tractor ride, pick a pumpkin to bring home, feed the animals, and run around with her friends. And yes, she wore those goofy glasses just about the whole time we were there.

Sixth Stop: Ann Arbor, MI

After visiting Niagara Falls we hopped back into the car and made our way over to Ann Arbor, MI. Like the other cities we visited, we loved Ann Arbor! The university is certainly the heart of the city and we loved wandering around and taking in all the energy that surrounds the town.

While in Ann Arbor we got to meet up with Lara and Lauren and Heather and Brooke - some friends that we've "known" for 3 years now. It was great being able to hook up and spend the day with them having lunch and visiting a petting zoo. We miss them and hope they come to visit CA one day so we can play some more :)

Pictures ...

Here we are driving into Pennsylvania




And then into Ohio ...



LOTS of corn fields off the highway in Ohio ... wild.




OK so here is our "Welcome to Michigan" sign. We had clearly been in our car for a very long time at this point as is proof by all the dead bugs on our windshield. Eww :)



Here we are at the petting zoo with Heather and Lara and Lauren and baby Brooke!



Sweet baby Brooke - so beautiful!




Lauren and Marylin had fun with some of the animals at the petting zoo. They got to feed a goat and feed the ducks. It was a blast!











Here are some shots of the University of Michigan School of Law. Talk about one beautiful campus!!









The Law School's smallest student :)



After a few days in Ann Arbor we boarded our flight to return to Los Angeles




Gotta love Dora!!




Flying into Los Angeles ..




Talk about urban sprawl!!




Welcome home!! Now THIS is the Los Angeles we know!!




This completes the pictures of our vacation ....

Unbelievable!

At 2 years old Marylin has 13 freaking coats! That's right people, 13 coats (ok a couple of them are jackets, but what's the difference, they go over an outfit to keep you warm in the winter). The funny thing is, I've only bought one of them! You would think were were living in Michigan here, not California!

Marylin's Nemo Birthday Party

Marylin asked for a Nemo birthday party this year so we had to deliver. Thanks to everyone who drove all the way up here to spend the day with us. We sure loved seeing each and every one of you! Here are some pictures of the Birthday Girl's special day.

We decorated the yard with fish balloons (can't see most of them here - boo hoo) for our fishy themed party.



The tables were nice and simple this year ... a few shells on blue and green fabric to give it a little under the sea feel :)



We pulled the pinata out from last year's birthday party to see how much Marylin has grown and changed in a year - amazing!



Meet Bruce our shark pinata!




Marylin playing



Mommy, Marylin and Tony




Our dear friends Jon and Melanie




Our dear friends Christy and Dave and their new little baby girl, Gracie (SO CUTE!)




More dear friends - Dave and Dalia!




Marylin with Auntie Auty




Tony and Aunty Christina




Tony and Trinity




Avery - she hopped into the fishing game within a minute of arriving and spent the rest of the party in her bloomers! What a goof ball! :)




The kids enjoyed running around in the bubbles generated by the little bubble machine. It was awesome! Here's Karly in action!




After playing fish, running around in the bubbles and munching on chips, we decided it was time to smash up Bruce for some yum-yum candy, and let me tell you, Bruce delivered!






After Marylin, Theresa and Trinity smashed Bruce, he broke! So mom and dad had to put Bruce back together again so that Tony could beat the ... candy ... out of him!



Bruce strung up by his throat - poor guy.




The kids - digging in!




Marylin got a bunch of fun toys, books and clothes this year (and a cool rocking chair from Grandma Gerry) - thanks everyone!




While Marylin was opening her gifts, Theresa was sampling her chocolate - I think it was a hit!




Marylin's birthday cake - Nemo of course. How cute is this cake!? Yummy too!















That evening, Marylin got into her cozy new Nemo jammies (thanks Auntie Auty) and played with some of her toys and rocked on her new chair. Fun stuff.



While Marylin was busy playing, the adults were busy drinkin! No, that's not sake Daddy, Auntie Christina and Autie Letty are drinking - it's Patron Silver Tequila ... and they weren't even hung over.




Thanks for not letting us down, Nemo! Happy Birthday baby Marylin .... can't wait to celebrate next year!!