Random Megan cuteness

About a week or so after Christmas, Megan decided that her monkey towel is not just for bath time, but it can be a robe too. She walked all around the house while I was eating my breakfast but then started playing with her kitchen. I thought I was adorable to see a monkey in the kitchen!

Megan taking a picture of me while I was shoveling snow. I would come check on her through the window and as soon as I walked up she started taking my picture. She still needs to work on her aim.

Megan couldn't wait to get outside to play in the snow. I told her we would go out after we were dressed but she kind of misinterpreted what I said.

Megan enjoying her first cup of hot chocolate! I kept telling her that now she is big enough that when we play outside in the snow once you come in, you get to drink hot chocolate to warm up. She thought it was "yummy" and kept asking for more.

We just finished painting our kitchen/family room and Megan has fallen in love with the window seat. She hangs out there all the time. As you can see she makes it nice and comfy. I has since bought some foam to make a cushion for the bench, and the second the foam was in place Megan climbed up and said "I like this" I have a feeling that once the cushion is done and the pillows are in place, she will spend many hours reading books on this window seat.

Coming soon: "Pink the Rink" photos!

Chicago Children's Museum Part 2

Onto building snow forts and playing with "snowballs" I feel sorry for the people that had to build all of the cardboard snowflakes, but they were fun to stack and knock down! As you can see there were hundreds of them to play with!

Megan hiding behind her fort trying to throw snowballs at me! The snowballs were balls of yarn, fun to throw, but hard to aim. Megan thought they were fun.

Megan was very excited to "ice skate" in her socks. We talked about it when we were at home, so she more then ready to try and skate. They were very organized and had about 10 kids come on the "ice" at a time. They had to sit and listen to the rules so everyone had fun and no one got hurt.

Once they got used to "skating" all of the kids sat down and each of them had their turn to do whatever they wanted on the ice. As you can see Megan was just a little too young to understand this. But she still had a smile, so I guess that is all that matters :)

Megan was one of the smaller kids on the ice and she wanted me to come skate with her. But Mark was closer to the door, so she got to skate with her Daddy.

Just a little more skating, or running into other kids.

Just acting like a flower!

Digging for some dinosaur bones at the archaeological dig. They even had little vest and gloves for the kids to wear...so cute!

She found something! Actually she found a lot of things, but when she uncovered something, she would pick it up, look at it and say "It's just a bone." and throw it down. It was fun, but it was lunch time so we didn't dig for long.

After lunch we went back to the last few areas to find some more fun. It didn't take too long for Megan to realize that she could play in a huge room devoted to water! She put on a rain coat and was off to play with boats.

After playing in the river and adjusting the flow of the current, Mark and Megan pulled on some ropes to get the water wheel turning. Mark being Mark, found that if you just hold one rope for a long time the wheel will spin like crazy and send water flying everywhere! Notice I'm taking the picture from far away.

At the end of the water area, they had lots of different flowing water, buckets that could be moved and dumped by more ropes and lots of other fun things that could move water. You could even build your own fountain by connecting tubes in different directions. What a fun place, especially for a kids that love water!

Last stop was at a construction zone. Megan really liked filling the dump truck with bricks and then using the bricks to build a wall. I think by the time we left 95% of this wall was filled.

After making sure we stop at all of the areas that Megan could play in, it was time for us to go. Nap time was calling and the museum was starting to fill up with older kids. We highly recommend The Chicago Children's Museum as a must if you are in Chicago with any little ones. Great fun, can't wait to go back on our next trip!

Chicago Children's Museum Part 1

The first full day that we were in Chicago we decided to spend the day playing and learning with Megan at the Chicago Children's Museum Since the weather forecast called for cold and windy (really windy) Megan got all bundled up for the 4 block walk to Navy Pier. For the record she could move her hands but she could not put her arms down.

The first exhibit we visited was "Forts", to be honest, this was the exhibit that got my attention while researching the museum online. The purposely used everyday items that kids could find at home, but made it super easy to build forts. Every furniture item had knobs attached and every blanket had loops sewn in so that they would hook over the knobs. So much fun!

Grandma Berthold helping Megan create the perfect fort.
You could even build a fort up high in a loft (for the urban kids)

This fort our group built after we disassembled a pile of stuff. Mark was excited because behind the orange door, he built a fort within a fort! Good times for all ages.

Onto fire safety. Megan was too young to absorb the fire safety tips, but she liked playing with most of the props. She liked driving the fire truck, although Grandma had to pick her up so she could see.
Wanting no part of dressing like a fireman, Megan went straight for the steps to get to the fireman's pole. She didn't know what to do at first, but caught on very quick! She was the only child playing on it she she got her fill, but soon as more kids heard our laughter, a line started to form. But we already had pictures and video, so off to the next exhibit.

She loved this.

Next stop was a building area. I think Megan was trying to show Daddy what kind of play area she wants in the back yard. This area was very fun and organized. All of the pieces and parts were in a tool box or on shelves, so you could easily grab the correct piece you needed for your building.

How about a little fishing!?! Megan had to match a picture to the type of fish she was trying to catch. But she really just wanted to play in the water. I liked that any area that involved water, the museum provided raincoats to keep the kids dry. Even it it was just washing a baby, they had raincoats.

Megan picking some plants in her garden. She couldn't get enough of the real life play areas. She loved them! It was so much fun watching her play in the kitchens, houses, gardens etc. It's got me excited to start thinking of how we can organize our new yard for her to have lots of areas to explore, learn and play in.

More fun museum pictures will come soon. Too much fun for just one post.

Christmas

Megan was just a little excited to leave Santa cookies and oats for his reindeer. We talked about leaving carrots but thought that the reindeer might want something different, more filling.

We also needed a glass of milk!

Saying good-night and good-bye to Nicce, our Elf on the Shelf He comes to our house after Thanksgiving and leaves on Christmas Eve, so Megan had one last chance to let Santa know what she wanted and to tell him she was a good girl.

Opening Baron's gifts.

Being cute or trying to help Daddy open his gifts.

Dragging Mommy's gift and then trying to help me open it. (I got a really nice toaster oven that I have wanted for 4 years! Thanks Santa)

Finally it was time for Megan to open to open her BIG gift from Santa. She loves it, and cooks on it all day long.

Then it was onto Grandma and Grandpa Berthold's house. Megan really liked one of her stocking stuffers!

The theme of Christmas 2009, was "help you open that!?!" So here is Megan helping Grandpa open some of his gifts.

Then onto helping Grandma with her gifts.

Then after a good nap and dinner, Megan got to open her ONE gift from Grandma and Grandpa (although they cheated and put a gift inside of this gift!)

Her very own shopping cart!!! She loves shopping carts in any store we go in so this was perfect for her.

She wanted to have a really big smile but ended up with a crazy looked, but you can tell that she had a great day with great gifts. The kitchen as helped prepare endless meals and the shopping cart has logged many miles around our house already. Good thing we now have a toy room!