Walking on Sunshine

Maggie decided to take some first steps the day before her birthday. Since then she takes little strides here and there and especially likes to walk between two people. With that said, it's obvious that she thinks crawling is a much better way to get around. Or at least easier, faster, and with fewer tumbles. Here's a quick video of our little Frankenstein Monster moving this morning.

Ouch

Maggie has been a bit accident prone this week and to top it off, this is the same week she got a few vaccination shots. Her body's doing great. Ha!

This first accident was from the water park. Yes, the fun little water park we went to on Sunday. Maggie was crawling around enjoying herself in the water and it wasn't until we took a sno-cone break that Chad noticed the blood on her feet. Turns out that crawling on cement, even when wet, isn't a smart thing to let a baby do. So in reality, was it an accident or bad parenting? Let's go with accident.

The second injury happened yesterday. After coming in from the car I put Mags down on the bathroom floor so I could pee. She got mad at me (wanted to stay in my arms) and threw a little fit, smacking her mouth on the floor tile. When the blood finally stopped I was happy to find just a split lip and nothing more. But still...yuck. Her Boo Bunny came in handy for the first time and thankfully it did help ease her pain.

Hopefully for the rest of the week everyone will remain happy, healthy and accident-free.

Water Park

Earlier this month the City installed a free small water play area at a local park. We've been hearing about it and decided to take Maggie on Sunday. I stayed under the shaded canopy and took pictures while Maggie and Chad played in the water. I'll be honest: I'm not sure which of those two enjoyed it more. They have a dozen or so little water features to play in or under and, while it's geared for children, on warm days kids of all ages will definitely enjoy it. As an added bonus there's a little sno-cone cart there too. Of course we had to buy one, and once again Maggie really enjoyed eating the ice.

Swim Party People

Saturday we were lucky enough to help celebrate our cousin Bailey's 13th birthday. She actually turned 13 last month, but this past weekend was the first time we could all get together. We ate lots of good food, played in the pool, competed in a ping-pong tournament, played water volleyball, jumped on the trampoline, spent time with family and listened to great music. Maggie enjoyed swimming with everyone (including with her water polo cousin, Chris, as you see here). And below is another four-generations photo with me, Mags, Mom and GG.

Last Party Post

Chad and I made a giant photo booth for Maggie's party. I also made and/or gathered props for people to use so they could take photos that were a little more memorable than the usual family shots. To round out the recap of Maggie's birthday party, here are a few of the best photos taken of our friends and family in the booth. Because I haven't asked for permission to post these photos, I'm not going to include names to protect our guests' privacy. (Send me an email if you want to know who they are. Ha!)

Party Continued...

Unfortunately I didn't get many great photos of Maggie at her party. I did get some, but nothing particularly amazing or frame-worthy. I was a little busy, I guess. Instead of posting a couple of cuties I'm going to show you, using yet again another collage, some photos of her throughout the day.

Maggie's Birthday Extravaganza

Maggie turned one last week, as you probably know, and we threw her a party on Sunday. Never in a million years did we believe that so many people would be willing to come help us celebrate her big day. We are so lucky! We had family and friends (51 people total--oh my), food, and heat. Boy was it hot. We had fans going outside under the tents and the a/c was cranking inside the house. The party was busy and a little hectic for me, but I think everyone had a good time. I know Maggie did.**A big thank you to my mom, dad and friend Crystal for all the help at the party, and to my friend Kellie for a few of these photos.**

Obon

Last Saturday afternoon, Maggie, Chad and I went to Obon, a Festival of Lanterns. It was held at the local Buddhist Family Center and we had a really nice time. It was hot outside but they had a wonderfully powerful a/c unit inside that cooled the humongous gym and felt so so good.  Outside they set up carnival games and snow cones (of which we bought) and inside they had sushi, other Japanese food and info booths about various local Japanese and Buddhist organizations. Chad gave Maggie had her first taste of ice (thanks to the top of the snow cone) and you can see that she enjoyed it.  We had plans to go to the 80s party (see post below) or we would have stayed for dinner and the dance. Next year, for sure. At the calligraphy booth we had the artist write Maggie's name on a board to hang in her room. In the the photo you'll see the calligrapher, his assistant (holding Maggie) and towards the front of the photo is her name on the board. Neat!

80s Party

This past weekend went by in a flash. We had so many fun things going on and I'm just finally getting around to posting about them. Saturday night my mom came and babysat Maggie while Chad and I went to celebrate a friend's 30 birthday 80s-style. The house was decorated fantastically with vintage movie posters, old school video games, a Pac Man cupcake cake and tons of cool retro outfits. Here are a couple photos we shot with our camera.  You can see Chad went with vintage OP corduroy shorty-shorts, a Cobra Kai (Karate Kid) t-shirt and checkered Vans deck shoes. The second photo is me with our friends Kristin and Amy. Are we babes or what? Ha!

Happy Birthday, Maggie!

One year ago today our sweet little Maggie was born. Without a doubt, this has been a wonderful, love-filled year.

Holiday Weekend

Maggie has now experienced every holiday we celebrate throughout the year. Yay for her! This past weekend we had ten family members visit us for a couple of nights. Even though it was a quick visit, it was great and we enjoyed spending time with them. We packed in lots of eating, swimming, fireworking and fun. Unfortunately I didn't get nearly as many photos as I had hoped to get, but here are a few...

Group Photo

Fourth of July Cake




















Waiting for the fireworks show. Maggie didn't want her photo taken. We aren't sure why.









Not everyone, but a good number of us swimming.

Hooray for Freedom!

Shenanigans

Today Chad, Maggie and I went to buy fireworks for tomorrow night. I hope we got some fun ones. We don't have lots of experience setting off our own so we kind of guessed at what looked fun, colorful and exciting. We'll find out tomorrow how we did. Cross your fingers that we all still have our fingers and toes (and other body parts and house and neighborhood and...) on Monday.

Weaver Lake

For the past five years Chad, my dad and their friend Mike go fishing at some point during the month of June. And they always go to Jennie Lake. It's a strenuous hike of nearly 11 miles round-trip. For the most part the lake is secluded so they can fish in peace, eat a sack lunch, and mentally prepare for the hike back down the mountain in the afternoon. There have been some years where they've encountered lots of snow on the trail and some years with very little. This year was one of the former and upon arrival they found that the only choice they had was to hike to a different spot. Weaver Lake is where they ended up going and, because of the amount of snow on the trails, Weaver became the landing spot for lots of other fishermen and campers too. 

Maybe they'll give Jennie another shot next year.