Bands, Books and Cookies!

Libby and Mary sporting their rain gear!

Over the last few weeks, Libby and Mary have found themselves making the Grandparent Sleepover Circuit.  When Mom and Dad went out of town for their anniversary, the girls stayed the weekend with Grammie and Papa Hanna.  They had a great weekend with them and Aunt Reen.  The following weekend, Libby and Mary spent the night for the first time ever at Grammie and Papa Yandek's house while Mom and Dad went to a wedding.  Again, they had a great night.  It was somewhat surprising, since they shared a room.  Might this be an omen of things to come?

Reading some books!

On Sunday, Libby, Mom and Dad made cookies, just for funsies.  It's not even October yet, but Libby made some pretty sweet Halloween cookies--ghosts, pumpkins, witches and moons with orange frosting and purple and black sprinkles!  Everyone sampled the goods and then sat down and watched the Browns win!  To close out the weekend, Libby, Mary and Dad read some books together.

Gettin' her groove on to "Hang on Sloopy"!

As Libby gets older, she is starting to develop interests.  Among them are dancing, music and marching bands.  On Friday night, the fam went to the Rocky River Homecoming Parade.  While the parade didn't get washed out, everyone got soaked running back to the car.  But that was just the precursor to Tuesday night, when Libby and Mary got to "March with the Band" at Rocky River High School.  Libby walked around and checked out all the instruments and "played along" with "Hang On Sloopy."  Mary, on the other hand, had a ball running around the field.  Libby has also discovered "Dancing with the Stars."  It's great, because she compares every dancer to a Disney princess, based on the color of the dress.  She dances around the living room and does her best to copy the steps.

Mary marching the field.

It's amazing how quickly Mary has taken to walking.  She took her first steps exactly one month ago today, and she is really doing a great job moving around on her own.  Her balance is good, she has adjusted to wearing shoes, and she can get a pretty good head of steam going.  She is definitely more mobile than her sister was at the same age.  Finally, congrats to Libby and Mary for their first trip to the dentist today.  Both did a great job!

Mary's Big Party

Mary's Monkey Cake

In keeping with tradition, Mary had her own big first birthday party, similar to Libby's a year and a half earlier.  Unlike Libby's, however, it was on the hottest day of the year (or so it seemed) and it was at the Yandek House instead of a rented location (which will never, EVER, happen again).  While it was extremely hot and Mom and Dad were pretty much wiped out by the end, it was a nice day for everyone!  The theme of Mary's party was monkeys, as that is her go-to stuffed animal (and one of the many things her Papa calls her!).  Mom did a great job on the cake, although keeping it from melting was a bit of challenge.

Mary 1 -- Birthday Cake 0

Unlike her sister at her party, Mary had no issues digging into her cake.  And she had ice cream, too.  Lots and lots of ice cream!  There was a craft table for all the kids to make cool stuff, a monkey pinata over-filled with goodies, monkey balloons, toy bags for everyone, and lots of cold beverages for the grown ups.  The hit of the day, however, had to be the bounce house the Uncle Jerry brought over for the day.  The kids definitely enjoyed that!

Mary amidst the carnage!

Mary got lots of cool presents from everyone, too.  While she didn't open them until the next morning, and she had plenty of help from Libby, she loved all the new clothes, toys and stuffed animals.  The whole weekend ended with Claire and Corinne coming back on Sunday for a pancake breakfast and then a trip to Kiddie Park!  The only downside?  Mom and Dad are still cleaning the house!