One more to go

 
This past weekend we had three family Christmas celebrations. Lucky us! As usual we were spoiled with great gifts and we hope our family and friends feel the same way. Maggie is still a bit young to understand what Christmas is all about but she did enjoy spending time with family, the presents, and of course all of the attention.

Our next and final celebration is with Chad's family this weekend and we're really looking forward to the trip.

Happy New Year!

From Our Home to Yours

 

We are off for a bit to spend time with family but didn't want to miss out on wishing you a merry Christmas. Enjoy the holiday!

Float Your Boat

We have had rain since Friday here at our house. There have been a few breaks in the clouds, but for the most part we've just been wet. Sunday we drove to my folks' house to pick up Maggie. To our surprise, here's what we found going on across the street. The normally green park filled with soccer players and running dogs has turned into a lake! With boaters! There were four boats when I ran to get my camera. Such a funny and strange sight.

Holiday Party

We have attended a number of fun Christmas parties this year. Most recently Chad and I went to his station's holiday party. My parents watched Maggie so we could go and we had a blast. Food, friends, djs, dancing, gifts and awards all amount to a good time. Then on Monday Maggie and I went to her little play group holiday party. The moms went all out and had tables with crafts, snacks and cookie decorating. Santa and Mrs. Claus even took the time out to make an appearance. They read two Christmas stories to the kids and handed out bells and a personalized gift to each child. (The gift was a book each child's parent bought, wrapped, and gave to Santa before the party.) Maggie received Olivia from Santa this year but unfortunately she'll never know that. She loved hanging out near Santa, but when he called her name with her book she wanted nothing to do with him. She ran to me screaming. It was hilarious. I didn't get many photos from the party because we were too busy having fun. Sorry for the dumpy quality of these shots.

Santa

Maggie's second meeting with Santa wasn't nearly as adorable as her first. She wasn't thrilled with Santa this year and the visit with him was fast and squirmy. As you can see from the photos, she initially thought he was sort of OK, then she didn't at all and wanted off his lap within about two seconds.

Players

Maggie and I have been really busy this past week. Unfortunately I keep forgetting to bring my camera with us so I haven't had many updates for the blog. I did remember, however, to bring it today for a fun little rainy day playdate with friends. We all played with Oobleck in the kitchen and as the kids were wearing down from all the playing and toys and horsing around, they enjoyed watching the rain from the couch.

Baking

This past week Chad left town on business and my mom came and stayed with us for a few days. Maggie, Mom and I managed to fit in shopping, a hair appointment and still found time to start and finish our holiday baking. Maggie and I had a great time. Below is what we ended up with in our kitchen:

Chocolate Covered Pretzels








Ginger Crackles

Rocky Road










Caramels

Decorating

Now that December is here we decided to decorate the house for Christmas. This time though we didn't use all of our decorations like we have before. It was getting to be too much and the house started looking junky and cluttered during the holidays. No one wants that look in her home for an entire month, right? This year we chose to put out our favorites and keep it simple. Maggie enjoyed helping Chad put the ornaments on our little tree. She doesn't quite have an eye for aesthetics and symmetry yet, but she was able to quickly figure out how to put the ornaments on the tree, so we are happy with that.

Christmas Light Parade

Saturday night was the annual Christmas light parade in town. I was a bit apprehensive about taking Maggie because I wasn't sure how she'd react to the activity. I knew she'd love it, but I wasn't sure if she'd want to run around and end up out of control. You never know. Anyway, turns out I was completely wrong to worry. We brought chairs and a big blanket and once the parade began she sat on my lap for the duration. She waved to the kids with a huge grin on her face and loved it all: the lights, the dogs, the horses, the kids, the bands...all of it.

 Self Portrait

 Who is more excited to be here?

Maggie and Chad after the parade

Christmas Tree Lane

When you live in the suburbs you get to experience events for the holidays that don't seem to make it to the more urban areas. And while I so miss living in a hip-happening place there are some local festivities that are pretty hard to beat. For example, while nearly everyone gets festive to some extent with lights and decor outside their home, a few neighborhoods in town really go wild at Christmas. We are lucky enough to live just over a mile from one of them and Chad, Maggie and I took the opportunity to check it out last night. Taking photos of lights at night proved to be a difficult task for us but here is the best of what we shot. As you can see there is no-doubt-the-world's-greatest-bow-of-all-time on one of the houses. Man, I would love to have one of those on our place. Also, you'll see the holiday wish-list that Chad and I have signed in years past. This time Maggie signed it and apparently she wants a pony. Other wishes on her page? Video games, a hot rich boyfriend, a genie, 100 more wishes, toys... Finally, one of the homes had this little dancing mechanical animal band which inspired some kids to have an impromptu dance party. Maggie said, "What? A dance party without me? No way." And she was off to get her groove on. That girl can and will dance to anything. Even to a dorky dancing mechanical animal Christmas band.  

Party Harty

Last night Chad and I went to the annual Best of Fresno party. It was lots of fun and the food was delicious! My parents watched Maggie for the day/night and we were able to enjoy the evening to ourselves. Mike Scott, one of the anchors at Chad's station took this photo of us and put it on his blog.

Um...here's another one

Like before, this sign is from a school in an award-winning district. The pathetic part about this one is that it's not a sign that changes periodically and it probably was not assembled by a 4th grader. The letters are not stickers. They are printed or burned or whatever-the-process-is-to-make-such-a-sign-ed so this mistake is there for the long haul. My walk today was the first time I've noticed it. I wonder how long it's been there and I wonder how long it'll remain...? Is it possible that the person who made the sign was under the influence of a substance while making it?

Sledding

Chad decided it was time to take Mags sledding as part of our wintery fall weekend. There is a hill right next to the cabin that's perfect for a short sledding introduction. Maggie had a ball every time they went down the run. Seriously, we could not wipe that smile off her face.

Clashing is in this seaon

On Saturday we drove to the cabin, knowing a storm was on the way. Had we known exactly how strong the storm was going to be we might have stayed home. But we didn't and it was beautiful and fun. And so snowy and cold. In fact it was unusually snowy for the weekend before Thanksgiving. Chad and my dad got to shovel snow and put chains on our car at the peak point of the storm. As soon as we saw a break in the clouds we all high-tailed it out of there.

As you can see, Maggie got to try out her new pink snowsuit. And red jacket.

Maggie Mac will make you jump, jump

Last Friday Maggie and I went with her play group to Tumble America. It was our first time there and she enjoyed it, plus it was a great way to burn off a bit of energy. There was some serious exploring, running around and jumping going on in there.

Crapeola

Recently we had the displeasure of experiencing roseola with Maggie. Poor little thing didn't know what was going on and honestly, neither did we. A friend of ours suggested we not rule out roseola when, on the fourth day of a 100+ fever and no other real symptoms of anything, we had to cancel some fun plans with her family because of Maggie's condition. Turns out she was right. After Maggie's fever broke she got the rash. It appeared pretty heavily on her butt, upper legs, arms and face. I was assured that the rash wasn't itchy and that it wouldn't hurt (thank goodness!) and fortunately that seemed to be the case for Mags too. She ran around the house looking horrible but feeling just fine. Thank goodness that's over.

Happy (belated) Halloween!

Little Mags was a honey bee this year for Halloween. We didn't want her costume to be too girlie, but we did want it to be sweet and cute, so this outfit seemed to fit the bill. Plus, we know that bees are super important to the world and Maggie is super important to us. A perfect fit. We began the evening at a friend's house, then did a little trick or treating before coming home and giving out the goods to the neighborhood kids. There were lots of candy-grabbers this year and, as most of you who know me know, I loved it!

Annual Pumpkin Party - 2010

Last night our friends Jim and Kellie hosted their annual pumpkin-carving party and once again we had a great time. It was a little different this year because Maggie was full of energy and curiosity. Last year she was only four months old--big difference in age and activity level for sure. Anyway, tonight she wanted to play with the other children, test out all the toys, run around the house and yard and, in a nutshell, move move move. All. Night. Long.

This has been a jam-packed weekend and we haven't even hit Halloween night yet. Good thing we like staying busy.

Carving

We carved our pumpkins yesterday. Chad went with an abstract vampire face and I did my typical basic-faced pumpkin. We are looking forward to lighting them for the trick or treaters who come our way. And then we're going to toss them. They got moldy super fast last year. Yuck.

Pumpkin Party People

Last night the three of us went to our neighbors' Halloween party and had cool time. Probably around 75 people showed up  and you should have seen the amount of food, drinks and desserts. Whoa. There was also a face-painter there to entertain the kids, as well as tables for pumpkin carving and other fun Halloween things to do. 

The hosts rented two bounce houses. Yes, two. Maggie totally tripped out and was in awe walking around one of them. Of course she was inside by herself at the time. I didn't want any of the big kids falling on her or jumping hard and catapulting her into the air. Cute to imagine until she lands on her head, right? Anyway...she walked and fell and bounced on her own and loved every minute of it.

Not My Daughter?

This morning kicked off a super Halloween weekend with plans for lots of parties and fun. Maggie and I participated in a little trunk or treat event at a local park with other moms and kids from our local moms group. The party started with trunk or treating at a local park and ended with the kids eating healthy snacks and playing in the playground.  Maggie preferred that part. Seriously, she didn't care much for the trick or treating at all. What's wrong with her? Candy...hello! Maybe it's the fact that she's never had candy so she didn't know what it was? I'll give her a break this time, but next year...

Maggie enjoyed watching and copying the big kids, climbing the tall stairs at the park and going down the slide head first. We have a daredevil on our hands. Great.

Zoo Crew

Last week we spent part of a day at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. It was Maggie's first visit to a zoo and she seemed to enjoy it. While we were there she fed a giraffe her snack of mulberry leaves, touched a slimy sting ray (just kidding, but I got to. Maggie's arms were too short to reach in.), and watched animals of all kinds eat, lounge, play and sleep. It's small but a nice zoo. We'll go back again soon.   

Watch Out

Some friends of ours let us borrow their fun bouncy horse for Maggie to play with for awhile. She loves it and lately has been curious to see how other toys perform while she's riding it. Safe? Probably not. Fun? Totally. Last week Maggie and I were at Target (if you can believe that) and we saw a foam sword in the dollar section. It looked cool to me so I showed her how to play with it and, of course, she agreed so we brought it home. Now she likes to ride the horse with the sword. I think we have a future Medieval Times actress on our hands. I'm so proud...

And don't call me Shirley...

Boeing has been testing two cargo planes in Fresno this month, the new 747-8 freighter and the older 747-4. Engineers are comparing the two versions of the aircraft and the jets have been repeatedly taking off and landing at Fresno International Airport. One plane is white with Cargolux printed on the belly and the other is blue and white. That one was harder for me to shoot and but you'll find one shot of it on the lower left side of my collage. Our house is along the flight path so Maggie and I have had many opportunities to watch both planes fly overhead during their trial runs. Maggie points and waves at them and I beg for the pilot to swing by and pick us up so we can experience the new ride firsthand. So far, no such luck.

The Weepies!

Friday night Chad and I went to see The Weepies at the Fox Theatre in Visalia. I had been looking forward to the concert for awhile--in fact the instant I found out about it I insisted that we go. My parents watched Maggie (thank you!) so Chad and I could see the band, and before the show we had dinner at Tommy's Restaurant. It was a great evening with delicious food, topping it off with such a super rad band. I really love The Weepies and never thought I'd get to see them in the Valley. Visalia gets all the good shows. Why wasn't it like that when I lived there? Anyway, a great night. Oh, and sorry for the super goofball photo of me here. I'm not sure why I thought that was a cute pose...I guess I was still really excited after the show.

Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday Maggie, Chad and I went with our friends to the pumpkin patch. It was the same patch we went to last year, but this year it was really vamped up. In addition to the pumpkins there were carnival rides, games, fair-type food and even more stuff that we didn't have time to see. We all had a good time, especially the kids. Maggie really likes her friend and I'm glad we were able to spend some time with them. It's so amazing how much a baby can change and grow in a year. Revisit this post to see Mags and her buddy last year--she couldn't even sit up on her own last time. Notice how round Maggie was back then too. Hilarious! Below are some of the highlights from my camera.

Playing at the Park

Maggie and I have hit the park quite a bit lately since the weather's been perfect and she loves being outside. She enjoys running around, watching the big kids, and figuring out how to use the playground equipment. Last week was a real treat because we got to bring Chad with us to the park. And two sets of eyes watching her isn't such a bad thing when she's curious, brave and fearless out there.

Praying Mantis

          We've had quite a few bugs outside our house lately. I don't know if it's the weather or the harvesting or just the fact that we live in the Valley. To my surprise this big guy was relaxing on our patio chair and hung out long enough for me to take a quick photo of him. It looks like he has big funky eyes, but in fact when you zoom in on him (as I kindly have done for you, below), you'll see that the eyes are instead very small black dots. I'm assuming that's some sort of survival trick, don't you think? He has a funny mouth too.

Urban Salvage

On Saturday Chad took me to a new store downtown called Urban Salvage. It opened on October 1 and I was excited to see what the fuss was all about. It's a mix between a garage sale, an antique store and a regular retail shop, with a heavy emphasis on garage sale. They have vintage tables and chairs from local restaurants, window frames, tools, signs, old pictures and mirrors and lots of crap. But within that crap, given the chance, no doubt you'd find something that is a keeper. The shop is only open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays so the time to head down there is limited. Most of the good stuff was gone by the time we got there, but I'm not going to count it out in the future when we're looking for something specific.

This librarian's heart went a-flutter when I saw this old book-drop.  I couldn't figure out what I'd do with it in our house so we let it go. Sigh.

A quick shot of the inside.