{{Somewhat}} Wordless Wednesday!

It's been a crazy month since Mellany's birthday. It is safe to say I'm VERY proud, but done, with being a harvest widow. Good thing we're about half way through this harvest. I am thankful for the crop that is produced and the money it brings to the Barretts, but I'm (we're) ready to have Johnny back! :) Here's what we've been up to lately....

A few weeks ago, I went to the annual MOPS convention. The convention was held in Kansas City this year which was a great location for us. Since Johnny wasn't able to be with Mellany during the day due to harvest, my mom was able to take some time off and hang out with Mel. I'm pretty sure Mellany loved her time with Gammy because we had a major adjustment period upon our return. I am pretty sure that she didn't hear the word "no" the entire time. Oh, the good times with Gammy! 

Is there really any other way to watch Finding Nemo?!

She even got new princess slippers! (And since returning home, we have gotten rid of the binky!!!!)

My (and Adrienne's) 1970's "get-up" for the Mom Prom at Convention

The steering team for Kearney MOPS (we are only missing one team member)

Gluing at Kids Club at Just for Ladies....she's really getting so big! She glued that piece of paper like a champ! Sitting next to her is one of her sweet friends :) 

Mellany and daddy looking in the mirror at how silly they are

Mellany's first play-doh experience. She had a great time with it and played forEVER! She was a little unsure about the texture at first, but got over it pretty quickly.

Out for mama's birthday....Ballocity at the Big Apple here in Kearney. We played and had lunch. Katie, Keagan and Avery even joined us! Mellany had a blast! 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!

Mellany is 2!!

It is so hard to believe, but our little lady is 2 years old! It's crazy to think that it's already been 2 years; at the same time I can't really remember what our life was like before she was born. She is definitely the best thing that has ever happened to us!!!

Here is a list of things "All about Mellany"

• She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and can name each character
• Her vocabulary is incredible and is constantly surprising us with her implementation of words. She is beginning to even speak in sentences!
• Her favorite movies are : Cinderella, Finding Nemo, Lady & The Tramp and any Baby Einstein....and can pretty much recite most of them
• Her favorite cartoons: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Doc McStuffins, Dora the Explorer
• She doesn't really have any interest in going potty, even though she has done it a couple of times
• Her favorite snack is M&M's, Fruit Snacks, bunnies and any kind of cookie. Too bad she rarely gets the first and last one... :) 
• She is a pretty picky eater (which drives this mama crazy!) She loves her fruit though thank goodness; she also loves chicken, yogurt, toast and chocolate milk
• Her manners are really good and she uses please, thank you, excuse me, constantly....makes my heart melt! 
• The girl loves her bath time with daddy; with bubbles of course!
• Baby Karen is one of her favorite toys. She is constantly pushing her in the stroller, swaddling her, and snuggling her saying "baby cry"
• Reading books are a definite favorite activity for her; as is coloring. (She draws circles VERY well! And can even identify colors when she wants to)
• She can count to 20 with some help and can say the ABC's with help too
• She loves to sing songs: Twinkle Twinkle, Rock a bye baby, You are my sunshine, Itsy bitsy spider and Wheels on the bus
• She travels REALLY well! She just sits back, holds on to her blanket and truman, and watches her DVD's and identifies pivots, trees, airplanes, etc. 
• She loves her routine. When her routine is off, so is she
• Super independent! 
• Temper tantrums happen every once in a great moon and are quite significant; especially when she doesn't get what she wants
• Can't sit through church, so she stays for a good majority of the singing/worship part and then goes to play in the nursery. As either Johnny or I take her out of the sanctuary, she proceeds to tell the other one of us "come on!"
• Loves to identify pivots, trees, busses
• Yells "Go, go" at stoplights. Then I say "We go when it changes to what color" she responds "Green!"
• She is beginning to learn what emotions are: sad, happy, cry, laugh
• Bo is her buddy! She loves to make sure he has food and water. She at times will even tell him to "Stop", "lay down" and identifies his poo with "yucky!"
• Her friends that she talks about are: Keagan, Avery, Quinn, Kyndall, Maya, Aiden, Erin, Noah & Leah
• She is beginning to pick out clothes and shoes and will even throw in a "cute" on the pieces she likes
• The girl loves to imitate how Johnny stands
• She is an outside girl....loves to play outside and more often than not, throws a fit when it is time to come inside
• She is so observant and really likes to study things
• She loves to rock in the rocking chair with mommy and daddy
• Truman is her favorite stuffed animal
• She is a really great sleeper. She sleeps from about 7:30pm-7:00am and takes a nap from about 1:00-3/4:00. 
• All but two of her teeth and her two year molars have come in; she's so not a fan of teething and we still use teething tablets when there's one popping through. 

• On our to-do list for the next year: transition to a big girl bed, say bye-bye to the binky and potty training! (Whew! I'm already exhausted!) 

We had quite a few birthday celebrations for her this year. I "prepped" her all week for her birthday. Asking her: "What week is this?!", having her respond with "birthday!". I also tried helping her figure out how old she is. That one didn't go quite as well, but it was still cute to see her try. We also sang happy birthday all week long and she wanted us to sing it to her over and over. By the end of the week, she was telling everyone she saw that it was her birthday and saying "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!". I just love this girl to pieces!

Birthday Cookies with friends!

Kansas City Birthday Weekend. She demanded to play the piano with Nana

Birthday shoes from mommy and daddy!

Fun Run!

 Birthday lunch at Stroud's 

Birthday Party!!!

The trail mix bar was a favorite!

The pinata was a HIT! 

So many presents to open....she had a hard time just opening them and moving on to open the next. She wanted to play with every single thing she got. 

Cupcake! She was even able to blow out her candles!

It was such a glorious week/weekend! This past year of watching Mellany grow has been truly amazing and we are ecstatic to see what her future holds. 

Happy Birthday Miss. Mellany, Mommy and Daddy love you so much and can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!!