The Saga of Harrison Bear

Last weekend in Columbia, MO, a tragedy occurred. Lolo lost her beloved Harrison Bear, aka "Bear". Lolo has had this bear since she was one week old (below is a pic of her coming home from the hospital and Bear is sitting on her highchair a gift from Aunt B). Lolo does everything with Bear, but most of all he soothes her to sleep and comforts her when she needs him. She was beside herself for most of the day, constantly searching for him even though he was nowhere to be found. The drive home from Columbia was pretty rough with Lolo crying most of the way because she didn't have her bear (her mama was crying a bit too).
Here is the last known photo of bear at Christmas:

Much to her parents relief, and after several replacement bears were bought, Lolo has attached herself to a new bear named "Hope". Here she is getting ready to go to bed with Hope:

Today the Holiday Inn in Columbia called to tell us they had located Harrison Bear under a stairwell by the indoor fountain. We must have searched the hotel high and low looking for that bear, so we were completely shocked that they had found him. Now what do we do? Lolo seems content with Hope, so we're not sure if we should give Harrison back knowing he is her favorite or just leave well enough alone. Taking advice.

P.S. We highly recomend the Holiday Inn in Columbia, MO. They called us nearly a week after we checked out to let us know they found it AND are shipping the bear to us free of charge "because we know how hard you looked for him".

Little Artist

Lotus has been really into art lately. We met our friends the Benbens and Margie in Columbia last weekend and she was introduced to Playdoh for the first time. She was completely engrossed with it. Here she is with Lennon, Ollie and Elizabeth playing with Playdoh.

She has also been really excited about coloring lately. She will sit for an hour and color with mama. Here she is with her new table and chairs in her room (which replaced the baby glider/ottoman).

Coming soon: The Saga of Harrison Bear.

More Presents?

Lolo finally got to open the rest of her Christmas presents when we celebrated Christmas with Grammy/PopPop and the Blizzard-Wedmans. Here is Lolo with a bunch of dress up hats that Aunt B got her.

Here are Lolo & Ollie with their matching Big Wheels that Grammy/PopPop gave them. The biggest hit was the tent Lolo got from Aunt B.

Here is Lolo in her PJ's that Grammy handmade for her. She looks like a doll baby in them!

Here is a Lolo/Ollie hug:

Christmas Fun!

The Blizzard McClures' were solo on Christmas this year. Aunt B and family went to Harper, KS and my parents flew to Las Vegas. But, we had an awesome day! We went to Crown Center in the morning and played around by the mayor's Christmas Tree and saw a really cool Ginger Bread town display. Then we opened a few presents. Lotus got a new puzzle stool and some elmo hands that she is terrified of. Her favorite present are her Elmo slippers from Grammy and PopPop. She must wear them at all times including while sleeping, pictured here:

After nap, we made a huge Christmas feast, then we drove out to Longview Lake to see the drive through Christmas lights. Lotus kept saying "wow" at every display she saw. It was a perfect day. We can't wait till this Saturday when we celebrate Christmas with Grammy/PopPop and Aunt B/Ollie/Uncle Wes!

Christmas and 18 month pictures

Here are some of Lotus' pictures from her photo shoot. It was VERY hard to get her to sit still, but we managed to get some good ones anyway! These are some of our favorites. Thanks to my friend Sarah for helping me figure out the collage making!

Lotus Loves...

Playing dress up. Here she is wearing a tutu, backpack, golashes and mittens. She will walk around in dress up clothes for hours if you let her.

Ollie and Lolo in their matching Elf pajamas that Aunt B got them. Ollie has Lotus' other newest love, Frosty the Snowman. He sings Jingle Bells and dances. Lotus is obsessed.

P.S. We survived getting her Christmas and 18 month pictures taken (barely)! Pics coming soon!

We took the cousins to Union Station today to see all the model trains. Lolo had so much fun running around looking at all of the displays. Here they are posing under the huge Christmas tree:
Lolo did an awesome job riding in the train without trying to stand up... until right after this picture when she saw her mama and wanted out immediately. But, she still didn't try to stand up, instead just started wailing. Good thing the ride is only $1 on Tuesdays :)

This was their favorite display when the train comes through the present.