Random pictures

We made it through Thanksgiving. We had 7 adults and 3 kids for dinner and everything was tasty and went smoothly. Now the tree is up and the house is mostly decorated. Just a few things left to put up, and everything left to put away.

Here are several pictures from the last week or so. Nothing exciting, all cute! ; )

Oh, I almost forgot...Maya had her first gymnastics class this morning. She had a great time as I knew she would. We were debating whether or not to take her because she has a cold and I think an eye infection of some sort - pretty sure not pink eye. But, here eyes are puffy and red and there is some goop going on. It's entirely possible we infected a lot of kids with something, but I hope not. We couldn't bear not to take her after talking this day up for EVER! Poor baby, now she's taking a nap. ; )

Mags in front of the tree, Cinderella ornament in hand, sporting one of her many leotards.

Um, yeah...this was yesterday. I got her a dress to wear for Christmas, and yes, those are our stockings on her feet. She was "helping" me decorate the house. : )

Look at our HUGE tower of blocks!!!

For her birthday, Mags got a Princess cookbook. They had these ice cream sandwich things in it that used rice crispy bars instead of cookies. We ditched the ice cream, but make the rice crispy bars, complete with a lot of sprinkles!

We were having a major cabin fever day. Mommy made up a game called the "Sticky Notes Body Parts" game. It's really self explanatory...Mommy wrote a bunch of body parts on sticky notes, Maggie had to read them, then stick them on Mommy's corresponding body parts. Then we switched roles and I stuck them on her. Loads of fun!

Doing stickers at the kitchen table with "Princess Hair".

Silly girls. Maya says, "Wanna cookie?"

Big Pa-toot!

I've always heard about the nightmare moment..you know, the one where your kid says something totally inappropriate in a very public place. Well, it finally happened to me. We were in the grocery store yesterday getting the rest of the needed items for Thanksgiving dinner. We were in the middle of one of the isles, along with several other people. I wasn't paying attention to who was walking by, but apparently Maggie was. She just blurted out, "Mom, that lady has a big pa-toot!" Of course I was mortified, but the lady just walked by and acted as if she didn't hear it, although I'm sure she did. I'm sure this won't be the last time Mags says something inappropriate in public, but hopefully next time it won't be a comment about the size of someone's rear end!

Maggie-isms

I have always prided myself on someone who has a lot of patience. But now I'm not so sure. I think we're all going stir crazy with cabin fever, and it's not even technically winter yet! I think the girls are having a hard time adjusting to the fact that they can't burn off all their energy outside anymore and they're driving me nuts!!!! Maya has once again decided that naps are a thing of the past and I'm pretty sure its for real this time. We converted her bed a couple weeks ago to the toddler bed, and she refuses to nap in there. So, we thought we were real smart and put the pack n play in her room for naps..she can't get out. Well, that worked for one day, then she figured out how to get out! So, the pack n play is put away again and we're back to step one. She is just exhausted, but refuses to sleep. Plus for some reason she's been getting up at 6 to 6:30 am. Maggie too. Thank goodness daddy's still home at that time and I can lay in bed and pretend to sleep until 7. And, to make matters worse, she gets nasty when she's tired. Hitting, spitting, kicking he dog, pulling Maggie's hair. She's a real charmer. : ) On the bright side, she's starting to potty train and that makes me happy. I'm not pushing her, like I did with Maggie. That really drove me to the brink of insanity and I vow not to do that to myself again. So, she's going 4, 5, 6 times a day on the potty and we're talking about how ALL the potty needs to go in the toilet. And I'm pretty sure her favorite room in the house is the bathroom. She had her 2 year checkup last week and she's perfect. Her growth has definitely slowed down. She's not going to be a giant like her big sister. She's now only in the 60th percentile for height and 10th for weight. So, kind of a lightweight. : )

Maggie on the other hand is really fun right now. I am thoroughly enjoying the 4's! For the most part she's respectful, patient and generally fun to be around. She's old enough to actually do a project, or play a real game and stuff like that. I had my first parent/teacher conference this week and she's doing great. They had the kids do a coloring, and her teacher said that only like 1 in 40 preschoolers do as good of a job as she did. Stayed in the lines, colored the whole thing, using appropriate colors for corresponding parts. So, she's a stellar colorer! She loves school. She's kind of funny with the things she says too. Here are a couple of Maggie-isms:

1. Oprah's - translation: overalls
2. 101 Damnations - translation: 101 Dalmations

Tonight we had family pizza and movie night. We had a "pizza picnic" downstairs on a picnic blanket, and then watched the movie Cars (which we rented from the library) and had popcorn. The movie was really cute and Maggie watched most of it...Maya watched about 5 minutes of it. She did enjoy the 5 minutes that she watched though. She was making car noises and cheering the race cars on! It was pretty cute.

One last thing, just an update about Becky and baby Emma Faith. Emma had her hernia surgery and everything is now back where it's supposed to be and she's off her breathing tube. Her heart has seemed to be miraculously healed and she's doing great. Continued prayers for them though as there is still a long road ahead.

Beds and Perkins

Maya is officially a big girl! This afternoon we converted her crib into a big girl bed complete with the princess sheets and pillow Daddy got her for her birthday! She thinks she's hot stuff. We'll see how it goes tonight. We'll keep you posted!


Can I just say we love Perkins?! Yes, the Denny's-like restaurant with cheap food. I took the girls last night for dinner. Daddy was out of town and had been for several days and I just really didn't have any motivation to cook! So, off we went. Kids eat free on Tuesday, which was the main reason we went, but they also have a clown that does balloon animals for the kids, and they have a table out where the kids can decorate their own cookie! It really doesn't get any better. : ) Mags had 2 giant pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles (real nutritious I know!), and Maya had a few bites of grilled cheese and fruit. They had a great time!



Oh, one other quick thing. Our friends, Josh and Becky Watzcak had their baby girl early this morning. I think I've told most of you, but baby Emma has a bunch of serious problems and will be in the hospital for at least the next month. But she was almost a pound bigger than they thought and is breathing well and is stable. She has a long road ahead, so any prayers for Emma and Josh and Becky would be appreciated. You can check their blog if you want more details. There's a link to it at the bottom of this one.

Maya turns 2!

Can you believe my little girl is already 2? She's still a baby to me, even though she's become quite heavy and I think has thrown my back out from recently wanting to be held all the time. : ) She is growning up though...she can ride her tricycle, goes on the potty several times a day, drinks out of a big girl cup with out (usually) spilling, and does handstands (BIG bouncy) and forward rolls across the living room like she's been doing them for years. Where has my baby gone? Then again, the other day she stripped down naked in her bed and peed-and layed in it, pulled out handfuls of her sisters hair, poked and prodded and hit the dog until she got bit, and licked the street. Hmmm...just when you think they're growing up!

Anyway, we invited the neighbors over for a little party, complete with a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, and cupcakes.

This is a bowling set she got from the Zehetners...of course the mat that tells you where to set the pins is...on her head!

Gordy and Lori sent her a Water Baby! The thing is HEAVY when filled up, but she loves it. Aaron came up with the name Pumpernickel...Maggie came up with Roxy. We'll see which wins out in the end!

This is her present from mommy and daddy. Leap Frog fridge letters. She just loves to push the button that sings the ABC's.

Here she is eating her birthday cupcake.

All the party goer's chowin' down!

Daddy lighting the candels and starting to sing Happy Birthday!

She picked the pink cupcake to be hers-with the candles!

Halloween and more

Halloween was yesterday and it was quite an event. Belle and Elmo went trick-or-treating with daddy around the neighborhood. Apparently daddy and Elmo only made it to a few houses because Belle, along with Bat Girl and Bat Girl (neighbors Kyra and Raya), were sprinting from house to house and Elmo just couldn't keep up the pace. All the neighborhood kids were so cute, as usual and we had a little party at our house after trick-or-treating. There was enough sugar to kill a boatload of people and kids were all totally wired, but they played and ate candy and had a dandy ol' time. Me and a few of the other "Cove" moms dressed up in 80s garb, but forgot to get a picture (darn!).

Belle and Elmo all set for trick-or-treating!

Digging for something Elmo?

Mags and her loot.

Aaron's new form of punishment...standing in the corner. She doesn't move!!!!! ; 0

Bestest little buddies, Lily and Maya.

Grandma sent a little Halloween package with some treats that we got the day before Halloween. Maya devoured the marshmallow ghost. I think she got my sweet tooth!!! Oh, and I think she ate at least 6 suckers on Halloween day, not to mention all the other stuff!

This was the favorite activity the other day. Brian pulling the girls around on an old blanket. He was working up a sweat, but they absolutely had a blast! I have a video and I'm trying to get it on here, but it's not letting me upload it for some reason. I'll work on that...it's pretty cute!

Mamma and sickie the other day. Who can pass up a snuggle like that?

Miss Resourceful. She's discovered that the stool is quite a useful tool and can get her all kinds of good stuff!

Seattle trip-Part 5

Here's a bunch from Snoqualamie Falls, great grandma and grandpa's, and when CJ and Gabe came to visit.

Seriously, I can't figure out this picture business on this blog site. Sometimes they load in the order you request them, sometimes not...I'll have to ask Tamara to help me again... : )

CJ, Gabriel, Mags and Maya at Grandma's house.

All the kids attacking Grandpa...he just wanted some peace and quiet!

Maya with great Grandma

Gifts from great Grandma and Grandpa...magnets!

My two babies and great Grandma and Grandpas...at the beach.

Here we are at the beach. It was a beautiful day!

We found lots of crab shells and seashells. Mags and I collected this "crab family".

At a restaurant in Snoqualamie for lunch...this BIG bear was taking up a whole booth for himself. Maggie joined him for lunch.

The falls were beautiful.