"Meet Me At Luigi's"

On Saturday night, we took Merrilee to Catonsville United Methodist Church for dinner.

The youth group was performing a dinner-theater style play called "Meet Me At Luigi's." Merrilee seemed to love it -- the food and the play. She likes all kinds of activity.

There was one point early in the play though, where two of the actors (rather two actresses) came and sat at our table. Merrilee didn't know what to make of that. Her eyes teared up a bit, but she quickly got over it.

The food was terrific too. Great lasagna! And Merrilee had her first taste of lemonade. She loved that too.

Earlier in the day, daddy took Merrilee to visit her grandmother. She was a little angel during the visit. She sampled her first marshmallow too. She didn't know what to make of that. She didn't like the consistency. So, she held it and licked it instead.

On Sunday, Merrilee got a call from her 2nd cousin, Jordan. They chatted for a few minutes. We're glad he thinks of her, and we hope they will always get along as well as they do now.

New Plate And Cup

So we've been on this quest for a few weeks to find a child's adirondack chair for Merrilee. We couldn't find any in stock near home, so one of daddy's co-workers volunteered to pick one up in Delaware. (We love that since there's no sales tax in Delaware.)

Ms. Anne also picked up some new eating utensils to go along with the chair, including a plate, bowl, and sippy cup.

The moment Merrilee saw them on Monday night, she just had to use them.


So, thanks Ms. Anne.

By the way, Merrilee was up at 5:30 today. Good thing we all wake up happy...

A Big Girl Pillow

We finally had a chance to catch up with our friends Angel and Randy and their family, for dinner on Friday.

You'll remember from our earlier postings that they have a four-year old girl, Samantha, that they adopted from China.

We met for dinner at our local joint, and it was so cool to see how Merrilee and Sam clicked again. It was a fun night out. We always enjoy the time we spend with them, and everytime we see Sam she looks so much older. She's such a pretty little girl! Randy and Angel were so supportive while we were waiting for Merrilee.

The biggest news in the Miller household is that Merrilee now loves sleeping with daddy's pillow in her crib. It cracks us up when we walk in and see her resting her head on the pillow...

The weekend went by far too fast. This coming weekend we're taking Merrilee to see her first play -- it's being performed by the youth group at Catonsville United Methodist Church. We'll see how that goes.

We just completed our six-month post placement report for our adoption agency. We have one more report -- after twelve months -- and that will wrap it up for paperwork for both our agency, and for the Chinese government.

Good Days And Bad Days (And Going Half-Mad Days...)

Jimmy Buffet would be very proud of Merrilee. This weekend, she made mommy and daddy fully appreciate the lyrics to the one Buffett song that goes, "I've had good days and bad days and going half-mad days..."

Saturday morning, we took her to "Miss Shirley's" in Baltimore for a special breakfast. She ate eggs, pancakes, hash browns, and a whole banana for breakfast. She was an angel on Saturday. This was Merrilee in her favorite towel when she got out of her bath Saturday morning...

Sunday was a different story. It was a terrible two's day. She did not want to wear her big girl training pants...didn't want to eat her meals...didn't want to say anything but "no...no...no..."

Such are the joys of parenthood.

By the way, in these pictures, she has a little scratch on her eyelid. She and a classmate were high-fiving each other, when her friend's hand came down and scratched her. The school always calls to tell us. This is what kids do. It doesn't bother Merrilee a bit. We love how the forms from the school always say she was treated with "ice and lots of TLC..."

And thanks to my friend, Edie Brown, who's doing some of the PR work for the visit of the circus to Baltimore. She gave me one of these little light wand thingies for Merrilee, and Merrilee just loves it. She knew right away how to make the lights come on and spin around.

And for the record, on / off switches on toys that make noise only work for so long. Merrilee knows how to turn on every toy, and how to make the volume louder on every one. Aren't we lucky.

Books And More Books - "Because You're You..."

Merrilee loves her books. She loves to crawl up on mommy or daddy's lap and read her books, or have mommy and daddy read to her.

One of her favorite books (one that mommy bought for her) is "I Love You Because You're You." Every page starts of with "I love you...."

Yesterday when daddy got home from work, Merrilee had that book on the sofa. She was reading each page, saying "I love you..." and pointing to each page, and then turning the page.

Mommy and daddy both love reading, and we hope Merrilee always has that love of books.

Our Visit To The Tot Lot

Where did all the snow go???

Six days ago, we had about ten inches of snow on part of our lawn. Today, it was 68 degrees at 9:30 in the morning!

Merrilee and daddy decided to run some errands. So, it was off to the dry cleaner, the Asian market, and of course, Home Depot.

On the way home, we decided to stop by Westchester Elementary School (the school property borders our property) and enjoy the tot lot. Merrilee clearly loved the warm weather and playing on the toys...

We had so much fun that later in the afternoon, mommy and daddy put Merrilee in the stroller and took her for a walk that ended at the tot lot...

And here are a few more pictures from our visit to the tot lot with mommy...

It was a wonderful day! We look forward to many more just like it!

In Like A Lion -- Merrilee's First "Real" Snowstorm

It's been a relatively mild winter here in the mid-Atlantic. In fact, we've only had about four inches of snow this whole winter. This is, until yesterday and today.

On Sunday, it started snowing in the late afternoon/early evening. Whenever it snows, daddy has to get up early and get to work before 5:00 a.m. When daddy got up at 3:30 this morning (Monday,) the snow had tapered off and almost stopped. By 4:30, it was starting to snow more heavily. And, by 7:00 a.m., it was really coming down.

Because of the snow, mommy didn't have to work and that was a very good thing because the snow also forced Merrilee's school to close.

Depending on where you live in the Baltimore area, you may have gotten a few inches of snow, or it could have been a foot. Here in Catonsville, depending on where you stand in our yard, it was 8 inches or 10 inches.

Merrilee kept looking out the window at the snow and she couldn't wait to get out in it. Mommy bundled her up in a snow suit, gloves, hat, and a special scarf made by cousin Nathan. Together, they ventured out into the cold and blustery mid-20 degree weather to shovel some snow.

Merrilee found the snow was up over her knees, but listen to the giggles and you'll know she just loved it. She even liked helping mommy shovel part of the driveway. Daddy hopes she ALWAYS loves to shovel snow.

When daddy got home, he finished shoveling the sidewalk, porch and driveway.

Merrilee loved her first snowstorm, but we admit, we can't wait for Spring to arrive in full force.

This was mommy's first effort with the FlipCam and editing software. Here friends, is Merrilee's first "real" snowstorm!

And this may be daddy's favorite clip from that movie. Like he said earlier, may Merrilee ALWAYS think shoveling snow is fun!