Better but demanding.

So, Danika is feeling WAY better. No fever all weekend...pretty much back to her usual self. Only...as you can imagine....with the recent round of sickness and the amount of Veggie Tales she got to watch while she had a fever, we have a renewed "Veggi-monster" in our house. It's a little out of control.

This is a view from "Danika's point of view" watching "Bob and Larry" on tv. :)
Here are some pictures of Danika kicked back and taking in her veggies. Really - could she look any more relaxed and in charge? This has been her preferred method of "sitting" while in the living room for the past three days. Since she does it all the time, I just had to take a picture.

On a happy side note, Danika is progressing well with potty-training! That is cause for GREAT excitement in our house!

Sick again..

Poor Danika. She is sick again. Woke up yesterday with fever, chills, and a drippy nose. The poor thing just looks pathetic. She was barely moving yesterday...just sitting and staring...and sleeping a lot. We got the fever down with Tylenol, but she obviously didn't feel good. And as usual...when she has a fever, we let her sit and watch Veggie Tales because she is so pathetic and lifeless. (Is it possible to MAKE yourself have a fever so you can watch movies cuddled up with Daddy all day? hmmm....I should probably look into that...)

But before I tell you the rest, let me confess....we already know some of you will disapprove of our next move. But...I have to tell you....for our little family it was the best thing we could have done.

Yesterday afternoon, we ran out of baby Tylenol and our thermometer wasn't working, so we had to go out to Walmart to take care of those two problems. She was getting really cranky and stir crazy anyway, so it just seemed like a good idea to take her for a car ride...so we bundled her and packed her into the van to ride along. After I ran in to get the stuff...well.....we went to a movie. :) I know...it sounds crazy...but that's all the poor little thing was doing at home anyway...sitting and watching movies. And we figured it's not like she would be interacting with other kids or touching anything to "spread" her germs. So, we took the whole little family to the cheap theatre to watch "Madagascar 2". It was her first "real" movie and she was SO good. From the minute we walked in and she saw the screen, she was just thrilled. And she took turns sitting in my arms and sitting in Doug's arms, which is also what she would have done at home. :) It was just so much fun...she was so excited and happy looking when we left...it was the best she had looked/felt all day. And other than asking for her sippy half-way through the movie, she sat perfectly still and quiet the whole time.

For those that have seen either Madagascar movie, you will appreciate what happened on the way home:

We got back in the van and I asked her, "Danika, did you like the movie?"
And clear as a bell from the back seat she answered (with appropriate rhythm), "I like to move it, move it."

Doug and I couldn't control our laughter!

Think I'm a bad mom if you want, but it was such a fun thing to do to brighten up such a sad little day. :) We had a blast. :)

First Donut Trip with Papa

Danika had a rare treat today....Doug kept her home from daycare so she could pal around with him and run errands. She was SO excited to be with Daddy. :) And one of the errands today involved helping his Dad (aka: Papa) with something. That led to Danika's first experience with a family tradition:



Papa's trips for donuts. :)



Papa has started a tradition that involves taking grandkids out for donuts. Today, Danika got to go with Papa for a donut for the first time. :) I wasn't there, but from what Doug said, after she refused her own donut and stole Papa's donut, she was very happy. :) Lovely child I have.



Anyway...it was quite exciting and she couldn't wait to tell me about it when she got home. Thank you, Papa! Danika loves you, and we do too!

Comment or else!

Okay, blog stalkers. I know you are out there.

I believe you have been reading, because whenever I don't post, I hear complaints from you. I hear rumblings that I'm pathetic and that it's been forever since you saw recent pictures of my red-headed girl. So...I try to accomodate...I try to catch up....I post every day for a week...I post pictures and stories....and what do I hear? NOTHING! Aren't you excited to see current entries on my blog? Aren't you proud of me for finally getting caught up? Aren't you waiting in breathless anticipation of the next entry in the lives of the Bierer family? Well speak up! If you don't start commenting SOMETHING on my blog, I will assume there are no readers and I will go back to my once-a-month posting cycle. :)

Okay.

You have been warned. :)

Danika Birthday

Danika turned 2 on December 29th! We celebrated her actual birthday with a wonderful trip to Chuck E Cheese with friends and family. But I of course forgot to take pictures at that.

What I do have pictures of is the cake we squeezed in between family Christmas parties for her earlier that weekend.

Happy Birthday little girl! We love you! I can't believe you are already TWO!

Other Christmas Celebrations....

We actually had several other Christmas celebrations.

We went home to Ohio the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with my Mom, Dad, and sister's family. It was a GREAT weekend. We got to see lots of extended family, catch up with each other, see my sister's new house in Toledo, and let the kids play together. It was just great.

Danika got a new "kitchen" for Christmas from my Mom and Dad. My Mom made Dad put it all together the day before we came home so Danika could open it and play immediately. My Dad is STILL complaining about that job! :) All he kept mumbling through the three hours of assembly was something about this being DOUG's job.... :)

Here we are at "Christmas" at my parent's house.

We also had a major celebration with Doug's Mom's side of the family (the Andrews) on the 28th of December. It was a major celebration because it was the first time in years we were all together. And to add to the fun, we had 4 two year olds, 2 babies, and a 5 yr old in the house! Talk about chaos! This is Grandma with all the great grand-kids. (Believe me...this was the best picture out of ten....it is really hard to get that many kids to sit still!)

And here is the whole clan:

It was a great Christmas....we love you all!

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning!
We got to celebrate Christmas in Erie this year. It was such a fun year because Danika was finally old enough to really get into the whole thing. It was just a wonderful, wonderful day with family we love and adore. What a great way to celebrate the birth of Christ!

This is Danika first thing in the morning eating her toast before we opened gifts. She was SOUND asleep and we had to drag her little can out of bed so we could make it to Doug's parents on time for Christmas breakfast.

This is Danika with one of her Christmas gifts from us...a new doll....with HAIR! She was less than impressed that all of her baby dolls were bald, so we got her a dolly with hair. She LOVES her.

Danika got a stroller from Aunt Kristen and family for her dolly...she LOVES it and still pushes it all over the place EVERY day. :)

Papa (Doug's dad Dana) made Danika her own toybox for Christmas. It is just BEAUTIFUL and Danika adores it. As a matter of fact, she was immediately so possessive of it, that we couldn't even get a picture of Papa sitting on it with her because it was HERS and when he tried to sit down, she pushed him off. "Mine, Papa." Such a loving, sharing child I have. But she does love the toybox...it was such a gorgeous gift.

Papa made Alayna a baby cradle, and that was a huge hit as well. Here are all three girls with both Mimi and Papa.

After Mimi & Papa's house, we made our way over to the big "Bierer Family Christmas" with all of Doug's extended family. It was a wonderful afternoon...and Danika got a lovely pair of shoes that she immediately wanted to wear. It's quite the fashion statement with the PJ's dont' you think? I could have dressed her up, but she was so happy and cozy in those PJ's, I just couldn't bring myself to make her wear a fancy dress. So...PJ's all day, it was.

It was such a wonderful Christmas...but we all slept well that night! What fun!