FFFF (12/19)

This week's FFFF at Diana Rambles is about Pets. We are supposed to post a photo that has something to do with pets, whether they be ours or someone else's. Well...check out this video (hope that's ok, Diana!) about how Maya feels about Pets.

Family FotoFun Friday (FFFF #5)

I am participating in a give-away contest at DianaRambles (see sidebar for link).


FFFF is a weekly post on her blog that is fun to participate in. Diana picks a theme and you have a few days to post pictures relating to that theme on your own blog and link back to your post on her blog. I've never participated, but was prompted to this week and next by the awesome giveaway opportunity that she has going on.


This weeks theme is PARTY!


I've been doing alot of photo browsing lately and have had fun comparing Maya over the past two Christmases and this one. So today, I offer three photos from my parents Annual Christmas party.

2006 - Maya with her cousin Sam.
He was one of the first people in our family that Maya would allow to hold her.
Aren't they sweet?

2007 Maya, Charlotte & Henry -- checking out the good eats!

2008 - It seems we all forgot to take pictures this year!
Here is the one shot I did get -- Maya, camped out in front of the M&Ms

Super cute kid's clothing giveaway .. check it out!

You will NOT be disappointed -- my friend Diana is hosting a giveaway for some super cute clothing from Coco bonbons -- check out Diana's website, Diana's Daily Ramblings, for more information!

Enter to win a free Epson Printer!

Lately I've been following a few "mom-blogs" and getting some great ideas for being more frugal, being more crafty, saving money at the grocery store, you name it!

One blog that I enjoy is SimpleMom. She has a fantastic give-away this month. A new Epson printer/scanner/copier/fax. This thing looks amazing!

If you'd like to enter the drawing, click on the SimpleMom link above.

Halloween festivities....

Here are some pictures from our various Halloween activites....regretfully, I didn't get very good ones of the actual night! We went to a Pumpkin Parade, participated in Trunk or Treat & walked a few blocks of the beautiful Holly Hills Neighborhood on Halloween evening. Lots of fun was had by all...and Maya has informed me that next she is going to be a pirate, and then Superman, and the Spiderman. COOL...that takes us through 2011 :)

I'm a monkey, mama!

Maya and Carly ... cuteness doubled!

I'm not sure this is what they meant by "trunk" or

treat....Maya preferred hanging out IN the trunk!

Halloween night...2008

Got sugar?

apple picking

Ok...so it wasn't apples, but pumpkins. Over and over, Maya said we were going APPLE picking --- over and over, I would tell her that we were going PUMPKIN picking. And, um, we didn't end up with a pumpkin. oh well....I did get some cute pictures!

would you like fries with that? Maya always likes to play restaurant when she sees an open "window"

My little pumpkin...

and a cute Maya-ism of late....

As we are laying in bed at night, we talk about our day. I always say "tell me about your day Maya" and after I am done, she always says "tell me that, momma" which translated means "ask me to tell you about MY day" -- the funny thing is that I almost always get confused and think she's asking me to tell her about MY day again -- momma is slow at night-night time! :)

Gymnastics!

Maya loves her gymnastics class -- and really loves Ms. Kelly! This has been one of the best things I've enrolled her in. Her confidence level on many of the pieces of confidence has grown in just the few weeks she has been in class. I love watching her interact with Ms. Kelly, too -- she really trusts her and listens SO WELL! There are about 6 girls in her class, which is a great ratio when there are 2 teachers (sometimes) but can be a bit hectic for Kelly when she's by herself. They do a great job of keeping the girls moving, though!

This weekend was the ultimate compliment to her teacher. While hanging out at home, Maya decided to "play" gymnastics. She was Ms. Kelly and I was the student. Soooo cute!

Oh..and just when I thought it might be a "fluke" that the name Maya is/was popular for the year 2005 when Maya was born -- there's another Maya in her class of six! She has a Maya at daycare that is her age, as well. There are only 4 other 3 year old girls at her daycare. I guess I wasn't being quite as original as I thought! LOL!

An update...of sorts

Life is cruising along at an alarmingly fast speed here in Wobbe-land! I don't believe that Fall has officially arrived, but it seems like ours is booking up fast! I'll post a link to some recent pics at the end of this post ... you can skip all the blah..blah..blah if you'd like! :)

~ Maya has been taking a gymnastics class on Saturday mornings. We started out with a bribe to get her there on the first class but by the end of the 2nd class she declared that she liked it and wanted to go back. Wahooooo Maya!

~ We celebrated a traditional chinese holiday, the Moon Festival, this past Sunday. We got together with some friends and had a fabulous chinese dinner and then playtime for the girls.

~ Maya and I will be venturing out on our first ever camping trip in a few weeks. No lodges for us though, we're roughing it and going tent camping with a few other families. We will join them on Saturday after gymnastics...I'm good with our trial trip of just one night! :)

~ Next weekend I will be attending my 20 year high school reunion. Could someone please tell me how that happened so fast? Sheesh.

Among other exciting social events, Maya and I will be getting the house ready for all of the wonderful fall seasons and holidays. I'm looking forward to celebrating the 2nd anniversary of our "gotcha day" next month -- and marveling at just how cool it is to be Maya's momma!

As promised..here's a link to some pics...enjoy!

August/September 2008

2 year anniversary of referral day!

Enjoy! Now that I know how to make a free slide show, I'll be putting more together from our first 2 years as a family!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

take me out to the ball game...

I didn't get very good shots of Maya at her first MLB game, mostly because she was so excited that she wouldn't stand still! Here are few that turned out ok. My favorite part of the game was when they yelled "CHARGE!" - Maya thought they were yelling "GEORGE!"

What can we say -- she WAS obsessed with Curious George for the better part of this year. It's just been recent that she switched her allegiances to Dora!

mastering the "twisty" slide

I love watching Maya master new skills. She can be timid at times, but once she sets her mind on something..she's gonna do it! This week was the first time that Maya attempted a big slide all by herself!

08.10.08

A quick drop in to share two pictures...

Say cheeeeeese! Or, chocolate!!!

Sleeping beauty....

All is well....Maya is wonderful....life is busy, full & blessed!

We went to the art museum for a preschool workshop (hey..when did Maya become a preschooler and not a toddler? ) -- it was AWESOME!

They did everything right. From the fact that it was only one hour to a quick and fun look at some real art in the museum that pointed out the things we were doing that day. Not like..hey kids, see how the impressionist did this? More like -- let's look at some sculptures of people...lets look particularly at their hand/feet...etc.

Then we went back to the art room and drew our hands/feet and then painted them with watercolors. Every time that one of the kids did something a little more "interpretive" than the original plan, they were praised for thinking outside the box. When Maya decided that she'd rather "wash" her painted paper with the water-soaked paper towel...we talked about blending. It was fabulous and well worth the $10 fee. We will most definitely be going back.

07.24.08

Summer is just slipping away -- I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've updated. We have had a great summer! Just a few highlights to keep all 3 of my regular readers statisfied! :)

Maya, Julia & Carly playing in the backyard pool



Maya's first carnival ride!



Maya and Alexis in our hotel room at Branson



Just cute!



Being silly -- nice style, baby girl!



4th of July fun!



Being silly -- part 2




Highlights & Tidbits....

~ Maya loves, loves, LOVES to be at the pool. She has progressed this summer from hanging onto my neck for dear life to "swimming" by herself (with the help of her floaty vest). She prefers to spend her time in the deeper water instead of playing at the water playground. I don't have photos yet, but they should be coming soon!

~ Maya has a huge-mongous (her word) vocabulary and suprises me daily with new ones! She loves to sing and makes up her own songs from time to time.

~ Maya loves to be naked. She first used the word actually (a family favorite) in this conversation:

me: Maya, would you like to get dressed now?
Maya: Actually, I want to be naked.

That's it for now. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Still scrapping....

Just stopping by....

My big girl learned two new things today.

1 - She now knows how to swing all by herself! She figured it out today at daycare (with the help of her teachers!) and she is soooooo proud of herself!

2 - She also knows how to spell her first name. M-A-Y- (what comes next momma?) A!

:)

TWO in one month?

Yep...I may just like this version of blogging better. I know ya'll just want to see the pictures anyway! :)

We did have Maya's 3 year check-up last Monday. She is a whopping 33 pounds and 37.5 inches tall! Maya is talking up a storm and says the funniest things! My favorite word mix ups right now are privacy/present/secret. She uses them interchangeably sometimes and I'm never quite sure what she's talking about until she gives me better context.

Great examples:
"Mom, I need to tell you a privacy."
"Mom, did you bring me a secret?"

Cute stuff!

She learned the word privacy when I insisted that she start using that instead of telling me to "Go away from me, now" when she was in the bathroom doing her thing. LOL!

Click on the links below for some Memorial Weekend photos and her final Tumbling Class.

2008_05_25

2008_05_27

month in review

This may be the best I can do from now on....life moves fast!! To see some photos from our last few weeks, click on the photo below, it will take you to PicasaWeb. If you click on the first photo, it will take you to a window that makes the photos bigger and shows the caption of each. Hopefully you won't need to login or create an account!

April/May 2008

Happy Birthday Maya!!!

Maya turns 3 today! Wow!

Maya loves books and has begun to recite books based on the photos -- it is REALLY cute and I was able to capture it this morning - despite the grainy video quality!

The story is Froggy Goes to the Doctor. The main character is Dr. Mugwort. I like how she licks her finger to help turn the page!!

Blackmailed..

Don't let the sweetness in her face fool ya....

Susie Grant is blackmailing me into posting.....she and her adorable son Krey won't even look for airline tickets to come and visit until I've updated my blog! I guess since it's been an entire MONTH, I should put something out here, huh? :)

So..we've been busy enjoying spring -- and then winter -- and then spring again -- oh, wait..it's winter -- and finally SPRING! The weather has been crazy, but we've gotten out into the sunshine and warmth every chance we've had!

We had a visit a few weeks ago from our friends Diana and Dori. Diana and I were in the same group of waiting parents and developed a friendship during that time. This is the first time that our girls have met ... and they got along WONDERFULLY! See for yourself!

Maya LOVES to brush her teeth. She has been asking for a "button" toothbrush like mommy's -- here she is proudly displaying her Dora "button" toothbrush!

Maya also loves this Cardinal's Princess t-shirt that maw-maw and paw-paw brought back from Spring Training -- she also loves to be silly!

Recently, she's been hanging out in my closet when I'm getting ready in the morning -- doesn't this look cozy?
Our 2nd visit to Monkey Joe's went MUCH better than our first visit a few months ago...she was alot more confident and LOVED to jump around in this open inflatable "pit"

Okay, Susie....are you satisfied now? Will you PLEASE by your tickets and come play with us?

:)

Happy Easter!!

EASTER FUN!

Dyeing Easter eggs with Laney and Zoe

be....the bunny!

I think I like the Easter bunny!

beautiful girl....