ABC? YES!

When Maggie was around 20 months old we began working with her on the letters of the alphabet. I assumed she was a little young but she showed major interest so who was I to deprive her of the alphabet? In this recent video you'll see she is playing with her new foam bath toys. While she didn't get them all perfectly, she did a pretty darn good job for 22 months old. R and W are her hardest letters to say. Oh, and watch your ears for my loud obnoxious shouting at the end. Sorry about that...

Birthday Parties

Spring is here and that means it's time to bring on the birthday parties! Maggie's had a number of friends turning a year older lately and we've been lucky enough to celebrate with them all. Here are some shots of her celebrating with her buddies. (Sorry, but not all of them are represented here. Oh and there are pre- and post-haircut shots mixed in there.)

Dino Dig

Last Friday Maggie and I went with our friends to the Chaffee Zoo. It was a warm, crowded day at the park but we had a fun time together. Katrina, our friend, suggested we take our girls to the Dino Dig exhibit to let them dig around and play in the dirt and rocks. I was totally game but figured Maggie, Miss Must-Have-Clean-Hands, would shy away from it. Turns out, she didn't mind getting her hands dirty and enjoyed using the little shovel to move the rocks around. What she didn't want to do, however, was let her feet touch ground. After we took off her shoes (because little rocks were getting inside) she froze and wouldn't take another step without me carrying her. So I picked her up,  moved to an open area and then we all sat together in the dirt. The first thing Maggie did was prop her feet and legs up on mine... and her legs stayed there the entire time. She was, however, fine with putting sand and rocks on her legs and playing that way, as long as her legs weren't resting on the ground. Such a funny girl.

Sesame Street Live

Wednesday I took Maggie to see the traveling live-action Sesame Street show. On our way there I explained to her what we were going to see, but I'm positive she didn't get it. Still too young to understand the concept of the theater or a live TV show, I suppose. She did, however, understand the fact that every child (and/or parent--even dads!) was wearing or holding something with Elmo or another character on it. Grown men in Elmo shirts. For real. Right when we got there the 15-minute warning from the voice of Big Bird told us it was time to find our seats. Maggie shouted Big Bird, Big Bird, Big Bird! and intently looked around at the empty stage and semi-full audience trying to find him. Big Bird!? Maggie has always been an Elmo girl so I have no idea where this Big Bird fascination came from. A new thing I guess. Or maybe, this just dawned on me, Big Bird's familiar voice from the loud speaker helped her realize we were somewhere special and about to see something fun? Anyway, once the show started Maggie lit up as each of the characters, particularly Elmo and Grover and Cookie Monster, arrived on stage.  Anyway, she did really well, smiling wide-eyed and dancing and jumping along with the cast for the first 45 minutes. Then came a quick 15-minute intermission before the last 30 minutes of the show. And that was when she started getting squirmy. Not squirmy enough to leave, but she couldn't decide if she wanted to sit on my lap, sit in her own chair (which I had to hold down because she wasn't strong enough to keep it from closing on her like a taco), or stand up and dance. Back and forth from one to the other for the last 30 minutes. She had a ball and was still talking about Big Bird and Elmo and Ernie on the way back to the car.

Haircut

On Easter Sunday we gave Maggie her first haircut. Well, I didn't do it, but I was ready to have it done. My aunt Janet came to our house for dinner and, because she gave ME my very first haircut, I figured it would be fitting and appropriate and super cool if she'd give Maggie her first haircut too. Janet was kind enough to agree and brought over her official hair cutting tools. Maggie was SUPER squirmy so we had to entertain her in a variety of ways. Good thing we had a number of people there to help distract her.

Easter 2011

Maggie's second Easter was nice, despite the mostly chilly overcast day. We had family here for dinner and my mom planned a little egg hunt for Mags in our backyard. We hid the eggs in the grass and she found them. And then unloaded her basket and found them again. Maggie's funny.  Anyway, we had a nice day with my Aunt Janet, Uncle Jerry, grandma and parents. Sorry to everyone we invited who couldn't make it!

Birthday

Last week I celebrated my birthday and a great one it definitely was. My friend, Loren, who lives far away came to help us celebrate and we had such a nice time with her. I received some interesting and generous and thoughtful gifts this year. Lucky me!  Thanks to everyone who remembered and helped me celebrate. I appreciate it so much!

Kids Bowl Free

The Kids Bowl Free bus rolled into town on April 17 and early that morning we went to check it out. It was an awesomely big and fancy bus and it was fun to get to tour the inside. Kids Bowl Free, for those of you unfamiliar with it, is a program that allows kids to bowl two free games every day during the summer. The only thing they have to pay for is the shoe rental. It's an amazing deal. Andy, one of the owners of Kids Bowl Free is our good friend and the boyfriend of our great friend, Loren. Luckily for us she joined him for the Arizona/California leg of the tour and then stayed with us for a few days before flying back to the east coast.

New Car

We finally broke down and bought our butts a new car. It's so nice to finally have that process behind us because Maggie was getting sick of test driving cars. She's been a patient girl this past year so we can't complain, but you know. Now we have a 4x4 that we can take to the snowy mountains that won't be a scary ride when Chad goes snowboarding.  Or at least as scary as the 4x2 is for me.

We'll sell Chad's car as soon as we get a chance to clean it up.  If you know of anyone who might be interested...

Angels of Grace Foster Care

We've been super busy this past month and to be honest, blogging hasn't been at the top of my list. I'm finally feeling motivated to blog again so whew, here we go!

The mom's group that Maggie and I belong to sponsored an early Easter BBQ for the Angels of Grace foster care program in Fresno.  It was at a local park and included a BBQ, egg hunt, bounce house, basket decorating and bubbles. Maggie, Chad and I had a great time, even if I did stain my new shoes while hiding the eggs. Dang!