You cant find me!!!!!!!!!!!

Recently Marley has learned the time honored game that children everywhere have grown up with: Hide and Go Seek. It started out really cute. She would hide, under her covers, and when we would walk in she would jump out and yell at us. Then she would count to ten by saying "one, two, ten" as fast as she could. After her abbreviated counting she would run after us , usually catching us running as fast as we could to get to a decent hiding spot. The next time it was her turn to hide she would be back under her covers. Well, wanting our child to get the most from this experience, we taught her how it was more fun to hide in different places every time, and to stay put until we found her. BIG MISTAKE! She is small enough to fit just about anywhere. This includes any cupboard, in the coffee table, in her dresser drawers, her toy boxes, under any bed and in all closets. Her hiding repotaire has grown to include about thirty hiding spots and now she does not make a peep until she is found. Now I can imagine some of you out there going, "Well hey, that doesnt sound all that bad. Let her hide a while and give yourself a break." In theory I completely agree with this philosophy, but there are some problems with this. Like i said earlier, she is JUST AbOUT small enough to fit anywhere. Small enough in fact for her to believe she can fit anywhere. This leads to episodes of her being stuck in any number of places. I have found her feet sticking out of a toy box head covered by stuffed animals and another time completely stuck between my dresser and the wall. Both places the amount of oxygen she is getting is compromised. Regardless of safety hazard though, this is definately her new favorite pasttime. (& Josh and I love it almost as much as she does. )

Josh's Hair

Josh, being the wonderfully creative freespirit that he is, has a head entirely covered with dreadlocks. I am torn on this issue. Part of me thinks they are cool and fun, and the other part of me hates them. Regardless of my opinion though, Josh is proud of this development. He hasn't brushed his hair in almost a year now. For the record, he does wash them almost every day and they really dont smell. From a sanitation standpoint, this seems to be an acceptable do. My problem with Josh hair is that people seem to be a lot quicker to judge him than when he had nondreaded hair. Oh well. He doesnt' let it get to him so neither will I.

Marley's new life calling

Marley has recently enrolled in ballet/tap dance. She is in a class with about seven other two year old girls. It really is precious. Marley's teacher doesn't seem to know what to make of her. Any time she says anything, Marley claps and cheers. This led to the comment, "Well. There's a cheerleader in every group." I'm not sure if that was an insult or not. Another time the class had joined hands and was walking in circle. Marley flung her hands free, jumped into the center of the circle and started shaking her booty for all she was worth. I certainly don't move like that. The music just spoke to her i guess. I do have to say that Marley is the best dancer in her class. She seems to remember the moves from week to week when the other kids don't seem to remember ever being in the studio before. They have a recital at christmas , they are performing Rudolph. It should be pretty cute, but we are still waiting for her solo performance to be announced.

The pumpkin patch

Today we had an event filled day at the corn maze/pumpkin patch in Millcreek, IL. It was a family operation, quaint being the operative word. Free hay rides, three different patches and a corn maze. The maze was small, but perfect for Marley's little legs. She walked the whole way, making almost all of the directional decisions. The goal was to find six different buckets hidden throughout the maze and I am proud to say the Lanier clan accomplished this feat in under twenty minutes. We got three big pumpkins and three tickets to the corn maze for thirteen dollars. I dont think the woman's math was spot on when she added our total, but we all seemed happy with the transaction. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to carve my pumpkin into some form of respectable artwork. These pictures are the results of three hours of focused carving. Josh still has to carve his, and though he does not know it yet, we are having a carving competitiion. I will keep you posted on his results...

Our trip to Missouri

Growing up, we were blessed to have one pair of extraordinary grandparents living close enough to see on a very regular basis. And we had a set of grandparents living across the country that we got to travel to, giving us a worldly air. With our recent move to Illinois, I am lucky enough now to live much closer to the family that I used to get to see for a week or two in the summer. Last weekend Mars and I took a road trip to visit her "gramma souri" as we so affectionately call her. We stayed two nights and had a great time. Mars, Gramma Souri and I went to the drive through animal park that had some interestingly aggressive animals that frankly scared the three of us. (Missouri has more lax animal laws than the rest of the country, making it a breeding ground for upstart zoos.) We also went to the old reliable Bass Pro Shop, only to find it under complete remodeling, with all of the cool stuff off display. That was a bit of a disapointment, but we ending up taking marley to the park to play. She was instantly inducted into a wild pack of children running all over the park. They ranged from about 8 years old to 18 months old. The avidly played some intricate game that had them all laughing at specific times, but left all the parents watching them scratching their heads. It was really cute and when it was time to go, Mars ran up and kissed the only child younger than her on the lips. (She had been mothering him the whole time, making sure he was keeping up with the group.)
The next night we went to Uncle Bob's for dinner. Aunt Nancy made a wonderful meal and it was good to sit around and get caught up. The Fieldings all came and we sat around talking and laughing for quite some time. The best part is that we now live close enough to come back whenver we want. We actually have a trip planned for next week end so I am really excited!!

We didnt roll our windows down too much through this drive through.

Here is Mars climbing the tree in the front yard that we always used to climb, and the other is Marley helping Gramma Souri do her yard work.

My baby's growing up!!

You all will never guess what happened today. Little Marley Jane went poop and pee on the potty for the first time!!!!!! I have been trying so hard with her lately and she has just been strong willed. The other night I gave Marley two cups of juice and then we sat on the potty. We were there from 9 to 10 at night. I read 8 books to her and she was literally falling asleep on the pot. She kept trying to put her diaper on and refused to pee. When I took pity on my little angel, I strapped her diaper back on and picked her up to take her to bed. Well what did I feel as I picked her up but her diaper growing immediately warm. She had instantly soaked her diaper the second I put it on. I thought maybe she wasnt getting it. I had decided to back off a little, when today she was in her room and I heard her shouting. She told me she had to go poopie. She usually tells me this anywhere from ten to twenty times a day, so even though I took her, I had low expectations. Well low and behold as soon as she sat down I heard the music on the potty play. She had done a number 1 and 2 and we couldn't be prouder!!!! But now that she is one step closer to being self sufficent, I kind of want her to stay little. Such is life I guess.

twitter tweety mania

It seems like everywhere I go, every channel I watch, on the radio , etc etc, I hear about Twitter. Twitter this, Tweeting that. I heard about Ashton Kutchers million tweet thing. Oprah uses it. Regis and kelly talk about it everday as I work out. I was really beginning to feel behind the times. Mind you, no one I actually know has said a word about it. It is all through the media that I have been hearing about this. But if the anchors on E! news use it, it's got to be cool, right?

Well I went and signed up for the infamous twitter. It took a while because every user has to come up with a unique screen name that no one else has without using any non alphabet symbols. Let me tell you that if you are planning on signing up, give yourself some time. The first 150 user names i came up with had been taken. I finally stumbled upon hdlala. Dont ask. Upon signing up, I started to mess around with it, and I realized something disheartening. I have no idea what the heck people would use this for. To my understanding, basically people can post sentences up to 160 characters to be printed on a main wall that all your "followers" can instantly read. Basically a limited version of posting a bulletin with their myspace account. Well updates can also be sent to your phone. Isn't that the same as texting? I guess it would be cool if people were doing important things with it. When you sign up, Twitter picks some people for you to follow. The posts listed on my page were as inspiring as "I am going to lunch. I love pizza" from some guy in Brooklyn to "Damn the man, Fight hypocrisy" from a girl in Portland. Maybe there is some hidden message in all that, but to me it seems like drivel. Do I really want to alert all of my friends everytime I go to lunch? What happened to an air of mystery. I guess it's just one more way for people to communicate without actually talking. Kind of like this blog.

The Paci Saga Continues...

So we have still held strong with our intent to break Mars of the binky habit. It's been a little more than a week and we have yet to break down and give her one. It is still been going all right, except for the main developement of marley not taking naps. Her schedule is totally off. Staying up late, getting up early and no nap in between.

This is last night's dinner. It was just her and Pam home. Pam said she left the room for thirty seconds to get marley a juice refill, and by the time she got back, Mars was out for the count. We thought it was pretty cute. Not cute that she took a two hour nap, woke up and then stayed up until one. i guess it just goes with the territory of raising a two year old.

Marley want her baby

With the advent of Marley's second birthday, Josh and I decided it was finally time to throw away her pacifiers. Over the past year, Mars has come to call them her babys. This is due to the fact that we are constantly telling her to "take that thing out of your mouth. Your not a baby." To which she generally responds in the way of "No Marley is a baby." To parents whose kids never truly loved a paci, the fact that Marley never went a day without one seems a little outrageous. But all the parents with kids with pacis, you know what a relief they truly can be. They squelch almost any meltdown. At nighttime, we would give mars her paci and her eyes would instantly start to droop. It was a leveraging device that mars understood in any argument. But alas, we knew it was time. I have heard the horror stories. I have seen the school age kids walking around the grocery store looking ridiculous. So two days ago, while marley was sleeping, we got scissors and cut up all of her pacis. And the transition hasnt been as horrible as expected. Except for the fact that on night one, she was up until almost midnight crying, referring to herself in third person "marley want her baby. Marley be goood. please give marley her baby." This continued untill her eyelids fell closed and she just could not open them again. And she has refused to nap without her paci, so she has been uber grumpy. but its getting better I believe. last night she fell asleep against my arm while we were sitting on the couch. It was eight o clock, the earliest mars has gone to bed in over a year. she literally had been sitting down for about thirty seconds when i heard a soft little snore. it was really cute. it was not really cute when she was wide awake popped out of bed at five thirty this morning though. oh well, at least i wont have any more pictures marred by the presence of a bright orange and green piece of plastic hanging out of her mouth.

Marley turns 2!!!

Well, the inevitable has happened. My sweet little baby has fully entered the tumultuous twos. Always being a sweet, layed back child, this transition is hitting me hard. My patience is being tested daily, but at least I know she can stand up for herself.

Anyways, we through her a birthday party last weekend. The theme we went with was spongebob pool party. I know the show is controversial to some parents, (my sister doesnt let her child watch it) but Marley just seems to love him. As our annual tradition, Josh and I decided to make Marleys cake at home. Though last years lady bug cakes were super cute, I think we really outdid ourselves this year.

I made the cake and did the base frosting while josh did all the detail work. I think he has missed his calling in life. I just hope we havent' hit our peak to early and wont be able to top ourselves next year. We had the party in Pam and Brads back yard which is super pretty this time of year. The weather was beautiful, but we did run into one little problem. Marley was the only little girl among seven boys at her party. We just dont know anyone with girls. The boys are all very sweet to her, and treat her like a little princess, which is only boosting her ego more and more beyond that of an only child. Not only is she an only child, whenever we go places she seems to always be the only girl around. I think that there is something in the water here. Lets just say that Ham is Mars middle name these days. When we brought the cake out, Marley got mad when we all started singing to her. She thought it was kosher for just her to sing to herself.

I'm baaack~!

All right people, I know it's been awhile. I have been neglecting you but this will happen no more. You would think with myself and my husband being jobless bums, we would have endless hours that we could spend blogging. Alas, this is not the case. I am not exactly sure where the time goes, but the days have been flying by. Here is a quick recap of the last four months: Josh finally ended his career at Qwest, we moved to Illinois, I got accepted to QU, I got a job as a waitress and we planted a sweet garden. Josh is cashing in his 401K and we are investing it in cattle. We are going to use this summer as a time to figure out what we want to do with our lives. We are extremely lucky to have the support of our wonderful families. Without them we would be panhandling on the streets of Tiajuana. I know that this blog is pretty dry, lacking my usual peppy wit and humor, but I am suffering from an extreme case of poison ivy right now and am quite loopy on benadryl. I have never had poison ivy before and I would probably chop off my right hand to never have it again. I have pretty much useless for three days now because the only time the itching is bearable is when I am completely still. The annoying thing is that I only originally had it on a small patch on my arm and now it has spread itself all over my entire being. So have a little mercy, I will be more entertaining next time. As a consolation prize, here's a bunch of pics of Mars since I know thats the only reason y'all are reading this.

Lanier means no TV

Right now, casa Lanier is in the midst of a very important social experiment. To the shock and utter disbelief of friends and family, we have canceled our television service. We are closely monitoring our behavior to see the outcome. Television has previously been an important aspect of our lives, especially so since we have lived in S. dakota. especially since the weather was negetive 23 before windchill on Thursday. Before this experiment, we would wind every night down watching an hour or two of tv before bed. I think that it really becomes a part of your psyche. We have discovered our brains need that non-thinking, non- moving downtime now before bed. Also, marley and I have been sick this week. I never really realized the importance of being able to veg in front of the tv while sick. Without that distraction, all i had to occupy my time was to sit around and think about how horrible I felt, thus I think actually causing my symptoms to be heightened.
Josh and my creative energies have really been being tested these past couple days. Topics of conversation post-tv shut off:

where finger prints come from

would you rather have super powers and be lonely or be able to relate to humans with no power?

what motivates adults to dress up as clowns

who would win vampires or werewolves.


So yes, our social experiments show that we are slowly succumbing to cabin fever and will probably never be the same again. as for results of past conversations, the answers follow in order: god, super powers, no freaking idea, and vampires.

Also, for those of you who are unaware our computer has completely crashed. I am writing this on Josh's work laptop, thus the lack of pictures on todays post. We are hopefully taking the computer in this weekend so hopefully more insightful and thought provoking blogs complete with wildly hilarious pictures will follow soon.... Dont forget about us!!!