Monday, November 17, 2014

A Blog Post About Maya, Pebbles, Evita, Justin, Callie and Cindy Lou

I could not think of a clever title for this post, so I went with one that may peak curiosity, and probably some confusion.

Maya has some hilarious similarities to a few well known, um, characters.

I discussed the first one a few weeks ago on my Pony Evolution blog post.

The high pony just SCREAMS Pebbles Flintstone.


Additionally, her undone hair is getting pretty close to young Justin Bieber status these days.



When she is excited, her whole body shakes.  She straightens her legs, but more importantly, she lifts up and shakes her arms, a la Eva Peron from Evita.

DON'T CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA!
(I love guacamole)
I was pretty proud of my clever comparisons, and then I thought I should maybe look for a Callie doppelganger. It was the big blue eyes and her love for all things Christmas that brought me to Cindy Lou Who.


Okay now I'm done. 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Weekend Wrap-Up

It. Is. Freezing. Outside.

It is too early for single digit weather, but alas, here we are.  Brrrrrr.

We had a nice weekend.  Fairly low-key.

Saturday

Callie had dance class.  Chris took her. I did her hair with a little braid, pony and headband.  She looked adorable.



We met my friend Amanda, her husband and daughter at an indoor park on Saturday night.  The kids had an awesome time running around, playing and jumping. 


Maya mostly just wandered around (still with a slight drunken sailor unsteadiness) and enjoyed the excitement of being able to move around like the other kids.


IMG 1127 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Sunday

We had a lot of fun play time at home.

A couple of us shoveled, a couple of us watched from the warmth of inside.
We spent the afternoon over at the condo so we could hang out with Boom and Bops.  At one point I got caught napping.


I can't believe it is mid-November already.  The holidays are going to be here before we know it, as well as a certain preschooler's birthday.  FIVE is rapidly approaching.  WHAT?!?!?!

Hope you had a great weekend!

Friday, November 14, 2014

FTPDF

Happy Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like I haven't seen the girls much this week (including being pretty busy last weekend), so I'm so glad to have a couple of days off without many plans to just spend quality time with them.

Callie is SO fun to talk to these days.  The stuff that she comes up with is both hilarious and smart and inquisitive and almost adult sounding.  Tonight at dinner she asked, "Have you made a decision about having a third child?"  Um...WHAT????  I have no idea where that came from, though I guess she was looking at the Disney "A Christmas Carol" book, which shows Tiny Tim's family having 3 siblings.  Hilarious.

Also, I am having so much fun teaching her how to read.  On Wednesday night I started writing a story that had decodable words and some easy sight words.  The girl is so smart and she remembered many of the words when we re-read the story tonight. 

Favorite Thing #1: Teaching my big girl to read


IMG 1105 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.


Maya is cruising around like nobody's business.  She still looks pretty wobbly when she walks, but is actually pretty stable.  I don't anticipate her running anytime soon, but it is nice that she wants to get around by herself more now.  She is becoming so verbal (with baby babble language) and it is adorable to listen to.  She also loves giving high fives, as evidence by this video.

Favorite Thing #2: High fives for Daddy and Kona


IMG 1046 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

On to the pictures for the week...

Favorite Thing #3: Winter Storm "Astro" was a tad disappointing, though
it did get me the afternoon off and a chance to play with Cal in the snow.

Favorite Thing #4: Playtime at Southdale
Favorite Thing #5: Along with reading, she loves to write
"Maya is special"

Favorite Thing #6: Taking a baby selfie is becoming more of a process

Favorite Thing #7: Hanging out with Boom, G-ma and G-pa
Favorite Thing #7: Playing at Edinborough
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

TBT

Happy Thursday!

Sweet baby faces.  It shows their personalities pretty well.  Callie was/is a
goofball.  Maya can be, but is definitely more serious.

Matching star shirts and zebra shoes

Taking in the sights and sounds of outside

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm not sure how in the world it is Sunday night already, but it is.  We had a great weekend.

Saturday

We spent time at home playing.  The girls are more and more interactive and it is so fun to see them play together.


Callie had a "Dance Show" on Saturday, which just meant they did the same dance class but we could bring extra people to watch and it was called a show.  Sorry family, but Callie did NOT want us to invite anyone else.  But Chris, Maya and I could go as long as only Maya watched her.  Chris and I were not allowed to watch her at all.

I obviously didn't obey that rule.
Our friend Libby got married on Saturday night.  Chris and I were able to have a night out (thanks Auntie Yoda and Craig for babysitting!).  We hung out with Casey and Travis at the wedding and had a great night reveling in not having to chase tired children around.

Libby and I have been friends since 7th grade- that means we have been
friends for about TWO DECADES.
We also had fun at the photo booth.

Adults do crazy things with funny props.
It was a great night!  The girls had a lot of fun with Auntie Yoda and Craig, too.


Sunday

We had more playtime at home today.  The girls are just so stinkin' cute I can't stop taking pictures of them.


Maya has been walking more and more lately, and today she really took off and started doing laps around our house.  As you can see, she is still a little unsteady and falls down.  But at least now she gets right back up to keep walking.


IMG 0982 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

With the impending snow that will be happening soon, we decided to get out for ONE last wagon ride of the season.  It was chilly, but nice to get some fresh air.

Maya's snowsuit is ready in case of a snowmaggedon.
Tonight my mom, sisters and I went to the theater!  We had a great meal and saw Hello Dolly.  It was one of my favorite movies to watch when I was younger (and Laura and I would act it out when we played together), so it was really fun to see it on stage.

Our waitress asked us if we were sisters and said we basically
looked exactly the same.
Mari ordered a $13 piece of chocolate cake.  She managed to eat half of it
and now will have dessert for the rest of the week.
Hope everyone else had a great weekend.  Good luck with Winter Storm Astro! 

Friday, November 7, 2014

FTPDF

Happy Weekend!

I feel like it has been awhile since I have given good updates on the girls.  But I was trying to think of a creative way to do it, so I decided to tell you a couple of things I can't get enough of about each of them, as well as a couple of things that I can do without.  Ha.

I'll start with the things I can do without, so that I can end on a positive note.

So I guess instead of my favorite things, the first things will be captioned as my LEAST favorite things.

CALLIE JOY

1) I can do without the constant upper and lower mouth licking.  It always starts when she gets a cold and decides to lick her snot away instead of use a Kleenex (GROSS, right???).  And then it snowballs and just becomes a habit until she looks like she has very bizarre red facial hair.

Least Favorite Thing #1: The Red Moustache and Goatee
2) I can do without the insistent and uncompromising opinions on EVERYTHING. UNDER. THE. SUN.  I know it is lovely that she is developing her free will and own mind and independence.  Truly- it is lovely and awesome to watch her blossom.  But seriously, just put on the freaking clothes I brought down for you because we have to go in like 10 minutes and your sister still isn't dressed and your dad is still in the shower and I still need to make your lunch and put the diaper bag together so please just get dressed in what I brought you instead of complaining that I didn't bring you pretty enough pants.

MAYA LEIGH

1) I can do without the being crabby unless she is glued to Mama.  I'd love to get home and be able to pee (since I didn't have time to do it all day) without guilt because of the wailing that ensued when I walked in and she saw me but I didn't immediately scoop her up.  Other times I get the crabby face, even though Daddy claims she was happy as a clam all day.

Least Favorite Thing #2: The crabby face
(And this one is actually pretty mild- she has a much CRABBIER
crabby face that I don't even want to photograph)
2) I can do without the ridiculous amount of snot that has been in her nose for over a week (and off and on for months).  It probably contributes to the crabby I talked about #1.  Crabby 1-year-old's aren't that fun.

CALLIE JOY

1) I can not get enough of all of the smart things that she says.  We had her parent/teacher conference this week and her teacher told us that Callie is always the one that participates the most during circle time.  The teacher is sometimes blown away by what she has to say and contribute.

2) I can not get enough of her imaginative play.  She is so good at it, that her sister loves to copy her.  We hear her making up her own stories, as well as reciting other stories that she knows.  She is so creative and our dining room table is full of all of her little toys.  She will sit and play there forever.

Favorite Thing #1: Playing at Boom's house
Favorite Thing #2: Playing at G-ma's house
MAYA LEIGH

1) I can not get enough of her latest love of accessorizing.  She loves putting on necklaces and it is hilarious and adorable.

Favorite Thing #3: So many necklaces, so little time
2) I can not get enough of her when she gets excited about something.  She stiffens her whole body and shakes.  She was doing it tonight at dinner because she LOVED the guacamole.

Favorite Thing #4: Learning to dip a chip in guacamole, but then forgoing
the chip and digging right in with her hands
Favorite Thing #5: SO EXCITED (on the left), Getting a drink from Auntie Cat
So there you go- an extended version of my usual Friday update.

Here are a few more favorite things from this week...

Favorite Thing #6: Things I did for myself:
Play the guitar for the first time in years
Drink wine
Watch the beautiful evening sky

Favorite Thing #6: Family piano night
Callie played, I played, and even Chris and I played "Heart and Soul" as a
duet while the girls danced.  My Grandma would have loved it.

Favorite Thing #7: Out to dinner after voting
Hope you have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 6, 2014

TBT

Happy ALMOST weekend!

All the throwbacks are of straight up sweet-faced babies.  Er, toddlers.

They love swinging!

Riding on the bike at Boom and Bops' house.

Just chillin'