Nice kitty

In a fit of random energy, Tovina spent time chasing some poor kitties that ran from her in shear terror. Eventually, using their stealth, speed, and 4 strong legs versus T's 2 our pets were able to escape.
Thwarted, Tovina turned instead to her stuffed kitty and gave it some love and attention. (She may have been trying to show Roxanne and Cyrano that such love was her only intention. The cats did not seem taken in and I must say that I agree with them.)
This was followed by T spending significant time pretending to be a cat - which mostly consists of asking for food. No idea where she got the idea that constantly asking for food is what cats do best.

Bows

Tovina has developed a fondness for hair bows. We tend to indulge her.

She was getting annoyed though because we told her we thought 1 bow was enough but she really wanted 2 (see the white hair band in her hands?)

We gave in and I must confess - she was right, 2 bows was definitely a good look for her.

Trapped at McDonalds

I've been mentioning the local cousins a lot so here is a picture stolen.. oops, i mean borrowed from Dan and Cindy's blog.
Here is some of the bunch crammed together and mugging for Sheila's cell phone.

You should have seen Emma and Brendan pulling and pushing (respectively) Tovina up the indoor playground/jungle-gym 1 1/2 foot tall steps. When they got bored of doing that Tovina found a 5 year old stranger who was excited to shove Tovina up the stair-like obstacles.

Productive weekend

This weekend, in addition to spending some quality family time with each other and cousins, we
- modified and hung a book shelf in T's room (she helped level the shelf, drill the holes with her toy power-drill, and supervise in general)
- cleaned out the ashes of the fireplace (T did not help with this one)
- caught some household rodents (this was all Michael - my brave husband)
- sealed some leaky (as in air) windows and doors
- mended clothing (T was allowed to hand me buttons and play with the thimbles)
and in general feel pretty smug about actually accomplishing something.

But we won't let it go to our heads as we are unlikely to repeat this anytime soon.

Quality time

T and Zaida shared a lot of activities over the holidays.

To be fair, the reason that Zaida was so tired was that T ran him ragged.

Family time

We had the chance to spend a lot of time with local family this weekend. T saw her cousins 2 DAYS IN A ROW!!!
There were no naps and much happiness.
Last night she slept over 13 hours.
We're pretty sure she had a good time.

New Years Hairstyle

One of the side affects of having Niki (my personal hair dresser from when I was 7 (and she was 8) and I had slightly longer hair) in the same house as Tovina who wanted to have her hair done is that T ended up with a very speical New Year hair style.
She wanted to put ALL the clips in her hair. And Niki did!
Then T tried to avoid getting her picture taken

And here she is trying to convice the cop that she is old enough to drink - or get Daddy to fix the toy for her.

Point of interest - her shirt for the night said, 'Party. My crib. Midnight'

Lesson learned

Had some more friends over after Carissa went back to safe PA and this time T seemed to grasp the concept of personal space - see how everyone had their very own pillow AND blanket!

But I gave you a whole half of the bean bag!

Niki and Carissa came out and visited us for New Years. T very much enjoyed having a cool big girl in the house and wanted to spend as much time with Carissa as possible including times when Carissa was trying to
- use her handheld electronic computer (one might even describe it as a personal computing device),
- take a nap (you didn't know that a 2 foot tall cheerleader helps one sleep?),
- go to the bathroom (Tovina often has help so she was willing to extend a hand to others she thinks are deserving)

Carissa was a good sport about it and shared her dolls, her time, and even the beanbag which Carissa really had thought was more of a one-person seat.

T was pretty sure there was room for 2.

Adorable

When T finishes getting her hair put up in pigtails she turns to us with a big smile and says, "My hairs all done."
Truthfully that is not exactly what she says. To be precise, what she actually says is more like, "I'm adorable."
Apparently in Tovina speak "I'm adorable" = "My hair is in pigtails."

Can't image who might have taught her that phrase.

So tired...

This is how I feel right now. I need my paci(fier) and want to go to bed.

Back in State College, the girls tried to catch a nap in the middle of the day by sneaking off with their pacifiers and finding an abandoned couch in a quiet room. Unluckily for them, we caught them at it, forced them to look cute, took pictures, and then revved them back up.
Notice that Tovina has 1 soother in her mouth, 1 in one each hand. 3 is a magic number.

Noreen's visit

Over Thanksgiving (I told you there were a lot of photos that I needed to catch up with) Aunt Noreen came up to Cincinnati to visit. It was great to see her even though it was possibly greater to see her when we were all warm in Florida.

Noreen and Tovina spent some quality time together with a pocket-sized magnetic sketch board. High art was created!
and a car

More of the Bobbsy Twins

There was some mighty impressive sharing between the two girls.

Followed by some more spinning of the heads.

Luckily, though both girls had consumed at least 10 cookies a piece by the time these photos were taken, the head twirling only led to more giggles.

Matched set

Tovina renewed an aquaintance at a Christmas Eve party we went to in State College. These little blond twins were quite the pair.

And they quickly bonded over some heartfelt spinning and fistfuls of cookies.

Luckily the children found themselves almost as amusing as the adults found them.

Holiday and Family

Sorry I have been so delinquent in posting for the last month. I foresee that there might be a slew of posts in the near future as I try to catch up.

Just before Christmas Grandpop came to town.
There was much rejoicing.
Sadly, it eventually had to end - but we got some goodbyes!

Aunt Sheila and T
(just a little family resemblance.)

Grandpop was up for the hug but not quite as good at the whole nose rubbing thing!