All I want for Christmas...is a box?

You have heard it before...it's still true. Why is it little kids prefer big card board boxes to any other toy in the house? We recently brought home some groceries from Sam's Club in a cardboard box that Danika adopted as her new favorite toy. She stuffs it full of animals and lays in it, sits in it to watch TV, and begs Doug to pull her around the house in it.
Doug of course is more than willing to meet this request...and he never just keeps it a "smooth ride"...he likes to go "off-roading" with her. During this particular evening, Danika and the box rode along the back of the couch, plummeted to a pillowed landing on the floor, climbed Mt. Blue Chair, careened down the side and skidded to a stop on a small hill of blankets. Through the kitchen, over the cat, crushing some small toys and possibly mommy's foot once or twice, it was quite the wild ride! This is what she looked like when Doug paused to let me take a picture.

I promise, she did NOT barf. :) This pause was immediately followed by cries for "more Daddy! More!"

The weather outside is frightful...

Well...freezing cold is the norm in Erie, PA this time of year. That means we have plenty of cold weather gear to keep us from freezing our backsides off. The other night Danika raided the box in the closet where I keep gloves, hats and scarves. This was how she walked around the house for the evening. :)

Makes her look brilliant, don't you think? :)

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!