Family Pictures

It always seems like you have so many things to worry about when taking formal pictures. Luckily for us, our photo session this past weekend went pretty well. Everyone was in a good mood, we had smiles from everyone, (not the teeth grinding ones like Maya loves to do) and we got cooperation from both girls.

Here they are:

Brooklyn patting the big block.

B's newest "trick" is sharing. It wouldn't be right if she didn't share with our photographer!

Two years ago, we had Maya in this same pose. It is really cute to see the difference in the girls heights at the same age.

Brooklyn giving us a big wave.

B is showing us how big she is!

Check out all the teeth Brooklyn has...all six of them!

B was concentrating on something..not sure what it was.

Total sweetness!

100% cuteness!

We couldn't have photos done with Maya's pet bunny!

There is Maya with her million dollar smile.

We are not ordering this one, but Maya loved it because her bunny was in it!

Maya's big blue eyes and adorable smile.

After five tries of the family together, this was the best one.

Now the hard part... Which ones do we order and in what format; black and white, color or sepia. Um..decisions, decisions!

October Overload!

WOW! What a VERY busy month we had. In one way, I am glad that October is over, but in another way, I know that November is going to be crazy too.

Let's get right down to all our fun events:

Our month started off, by a party at The Pumpkin Patch which my sister hosted for her work.

On our hay ride back from picking out our pumpkins.

Daddy and his two girls.
Brooklyn showing off her piece of straw.

One final picture before going home for the night. We had a great evening with a bon fire, eating hotdogs, going through the corn maze and roasting marsh mellows.

Days later, we decorated our pumpkins.

From left to right:

Daddy, Mommy, Brooklyn and Maya

I then thought it would be cool, to make a haunted house. We were given a kit by a friend a year ago, but did have the chance to do it. We cracked open the kit, and had a fun time doing it. I added the spiders and the skull fence. (The spiders were party favor rings and the fence was a necklace that lit up. When you pushed the button, the fence really worked!)

A side picture.

The front of our house.

During the month, we also had some awesome fall weather. One beautiful afternoon, I decided to take the girls around the corner, to a huge leaf pile. They had such a great time sitting, playing, climbing, giggling, waving and tossing the leaves around.

Maya then had her school fall field trip to Plumber Farms. I was very excited that I was able to attend her field trip. I was so busy helping out, I forgot to take pictures. We had lunch, visited the farm animals, went on a hay ride, went down two different slides, picked out a pumpkins and played on the play equipment! We had a wonderful time.

A few days later, we again decorated pumpkins.
From left to right:

Maya, Brooklyn, Mommy and Daddy.

This time we used stickers, which was so much easier and faster.

We then attended Maya's Preschool Halloween Party, which again I didn't take pictures. The school had a parade, a dance, games and of course trick or treating. We had such a fabulous time. The school did such a great job decorating and making it special for the kiddos. Next year, I WILL take pictures.

Last but not least....Halloween. We had a blast. My family came over for our 2nd annual party. We had pizza for dinner and then went trick or treating.

The girls this year went as...

a cow

and a 50's girl.

Even though you can't see Brooklyn's face, we still love it.

Auntie Jen came along trick or treating

along with Rob, Rileigh, and my parents.

Phew, what a lot of pictures! Better go erase our pictures off the camera and charge our batteries; can't wait to start snapping pictures. We have a lot of exciting things planned for November, beware!

If you didn't get a chance to read our post "Do we have a doctor in the house" scroll down.

Do we have a doctor in the house?

Stewart recently got Maya a doctor bag, and lately this has been her favorite toy to play with. The other night, I heard the two of them playing with all the instruments. When I walked in, I heard Maya say, "I will be doctor and you will be the kid." Stewart and I smiled at each other and he said, "ok." Here are some funny pictures of how the evening went.

"Hold still daddy, I am going to take your blood pressure. It will give your arm a hug, but won't hurt."

Oh and by the way, do you see the band aide on her wrist. She wears it like a bracelet!

"Lift your pants up, I am going to hit your knee with this hammer." The first time she hit his knee, it was pretty hard. We had to tell her to do it softly! When Stewart asked her, do you know what the doctor uses it for, she said, to see if your arms and legs bend.

Maya then decided it was time for a shot! "Pull your shirt up daddy, I am going to give you a shot. This will hurt, but hold still, K?" We were both smurking because we were not sure where she got the idea of giving him a shot in his back.

She then told Stewart it was time to take his temperature. By now, we were both hysterical! Check out Stewart's face. We were busting up laughing.

"Turn over daddy, I need to listen to your heart."

"Now, I need to listen to your belly."

All of us were giggling, because Maya decided to use the reflux hammer to check Stewart's ears.

Doesn't every patient hug their doctor?

Maya, your concept of what a doctor does is exactly right. Thanks for the fun time and good laughs. If you decide to be a doctor when you grow up, daddy and I will support you in every way!

Sweet Dreams

Tonight when I went in to kiss sweet Brooklyn goodnight, this is what I saw....

I was laughing so hard, I woke her up!

If you are wondering why Brooklyn is sleeping in her infant car seat, it is because the doctors THINK she is still battling with acid reflux. We are unsure if the medicine is working, but keeping her upright has helped. Believe it or not, she is sleeping much more soundly in her car seat. Our problem is going to be when she can no longer fit in it.

Humm...Was her leg over the side because she was too warm or that she was trying to escape??

A funny story

I thought this was too funny not to post.

Just FYI....Tuesday is our garbage day.

Now, onto the story. Monday late afternoon, Stewart gathered all the garbage and recycle from inside our house and took the bins/cans to the curb. We then had dinner and afterwards, Stewart took both girls out to play with the neighbor kids. When they returned about 1.5 hours later, there was a pair of my black dress shoes next to the door that I put there. When Maya walked in, she said, "mommy,why are your shoes here?" I said, "well one of straps is broken so I need to throw them out. Do you want to take them to the garbage can for me? I will stay here at the door and watch you." She eagerly said, "sure" and with one shoe in each hand she headed out. She went down the stairs, down the driveway and to the curb. (The lid to the garbage can was already partly opened) When she got to the garbage can, she immediately threw the broken shoe in. She then set the "good" shoe down on the grass and put the lid back onto the can. As she headed up the driveway, I yelled, "Maya you need to throw the shoe that you are holding into the can too." She looked at the shoe and yelled back, "no mom, this shoe isn't broken. You can still wear this shoe, don't throw it away!" What could, I say? She was right! There was nothing wrong with the shoe she was holding. I began laughing and a second later, Stewart was laughing too. (He was on the couch feeding Brooklyn a bottle) After a couple of minutes convincing her that in order to wear shoes, you need to have two of the same ones, she ran back down the driveway. She put the shoe on the grass, took the lid off and threw the "good" one in. She then put the garbage can lid back on and ran back up the driveway. As she came running through the door, I said, "hey, thanks Maya for throwing my shoes into the garbage can." As she was taking her shoes off on the ottoman, she said, "when my shoes break, can I throw them away?" While a smile, I said, "yeah, of course you can."

Maya, you are so right. I should have kept the "good" shoe. There was nothing wrong with it. Who says that your shoes need to match?

You make daddy and I laugh all the time. You are SO funny, SO smart and SO adorable! Don't ever change. We love you SO much!

BTW: If you didn't see the most recent post of Maya riding her new bike, you should scroll down and look at it. It is pretty cute.

Bikers Beware

Maya is on the loose! You will now be sharing the bike paths and bike routes around town with her. Maya loves her new bike and each time she rides, she is becoming more comfortable and confident.

Our adventure last week took us to the East Bank Esplanade...

We started at the OMSI parking lot, not really sure how far she would ride. Needless to say, she rode all the way to the Steel Bridge and back to OMSI. That was 2.5 miles of pedaling!

"Look at me mommy!"

Daddy's turn to run along side of her.

Daddy and I are so proud. Look at Maya go!

"I am a big girl, riding my big girl bike!"

Our favorite picture from this adventure.

Maya, keep up the great work. It won't be long until we can all ride bikes together as a family. Remember....we need to practice, practice, practice!

We were so focused on Maya, we forgot to take pictures of Brooklyn in the stroller. I promise to get some pictures of B on here soon.

Party at the Park

I must confess...we really didn't have a party at the park, but we did (and always do) have a great time. We love parks! There are so many here where we live. Of course, we love our favorites, but we are also on a mission to try a new park about once a week. The girls are at great ages for both to have a wonderful time. All we need is a bucket seat swing for Brooklyn and a good playground; slides, swings, the "merry go round" and a climbing structure for Maya. We LOVE to play and it shows!

This was a new playground for us...

Maya loves to go on these "rocking things." The faster she can make them go the better time she has. This was a motorcycle.

Big sister Maya taking her sister down the slide. The two of them were laughing when they got down to the bottom.

Brooklyn loves the bucket swing! The higher you push her, the harder she laughs.

You wouldn't know it by her face, but she was giggling SO much.

When Maya sees one of the BIG swings, she always pretends that it is a ride at Disneyland. She likes for you to double check that the belt is fastened and pretends to give you a "ticket."

Holding on.

Here's our happy girl...giggling up a storm!

"Whee!"

"Watch me, I'm a big girl." (That seems to be her favorite line these days.)

The next three pictures are of Maya climbing down a rock wall. She had never done this kind before. She had no idea that I was taking these pictures of her.

When she got off and looked over at me, she said, "did you see me?" When I told her that not only did I see her, but I took pictures of her, she said, "can I see them?" After she saw them, she said, "I did it. I am a big girl!"

Brooklyn was cheering her on the whole time!! She is always Maya's biggest supporter.

Maya had never been on one of these spiral things either. Nanny Sara was quick to show Maya how to do it. After a few turns on it, maya said, "I can do it by myself Sara, let go of me."

She was right, she could do it. She just needed someone to show her how to do it.

Maya made it all the way. Good job M!

This is why you should ALWAYS buckle a child into the stroller...

When we weren't looking, Brooklyn decided to pull herself up. (Mind you, she has never attempted this before!)

This is what we saw next....
and this is when Sara and I went running. (Mind you, we were only about 10 feet away.) We are lucky that she didn't end up falling out. Now a days....she is ALWAYS buckled in! B may be little, but she is VERY quick and mobile.

Maya practicing the spiral thing,

again,
and again,
and again.

Nanny Sara decided to take both girls down the slide.

At least we know that Sara had a good time!

Brooklyn had a great time "banging" the sides of the slide.

Mommy's turn! Ready...Set...Go...

That last corner caught mommy off guard.

Brooklyn sitting in the bark chips while Maya was drawing with side walk chalk.

"Look at me, mommy!"

One of our favorites!

"OK, enough Sara!"

This is more mommy's speed...very S-L-O-W-L-Y!

While the 3 of us were playing on the merry go round, B decided to take a nap.

I love to "stand back" and watch Maya interact with Nanny Sara. The two of them have a very special bond together. Moments like these make me smile.