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Maggie, Mara & Thomas Enjoy Camp Janet

I feel so lucky that some of my very best childhood friends also have children that are about the same age as Maggie. When we’re all in town at the same time (aside from Erin who now lives there!!) we try to make a point of it to get together with the kids. Most recently Erin and Lara came out to my parent’s house with Thomas and Maggie and we ended up going to see the cows next door and eating large amounts of popcorn.

Mara is old enough that she understands what it means to go on a walk, but when it comes to Thomas and Maggie, their still a little hopeless when it comes to directions or walking distances without getting distracted.

By the time we made it to the cows, and picked up some pussy willows on the way, it felt like we’d reminded both of them that we were going to see the cows many, many times. The cows weren’t really sure what to do about a bunch of kids staring at them, so they just stared back. Sydney, on the other hand, decided that the best thing to do was to charge at the fence, which made me nervous because there was one cow that looked like it wanted to eat Syd for lunch.

My parents have a collection of toys that stay at their house and it is always fun to see what other kids, besides Maggie, glom onto. Thomas was all over the fruit cutting station, the hammer,  a truck, and also my dad. He kept bringing my dad different things and made sure that my dad noticed it. It was all sorts of cute.

While the kids played with play-dough my mom started to pop some popcorn and by the time the first kernel had hit the bowl, nearly everyone was done playing with playdough. As the adults and kids both huddled around  bowls of popcorn, we started talking about all the different groups of people that have enjoyed popcorn at my parent’s kitchen table. It was a long, long list and it seemed fitting that Maggie would be shoving handfuls into her mouth with two of her buddies by her side.

I only wish I could have understood their conversation as they each reached for handfuls. Mara is pretty quiet, so much of the talk was between Thomas and Maggie. It wasn’t long after that both Erin and Lara had to leave, but lucky for Mags and me, we got to stay and keep eating and chatting around the popcorn bowl.

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The Moosehead Crew

Seeing as it has been almost two weeks since we rang in the new year and we finally just put most of our thank-you cards in the mail, I figure now is the appropriate time to fianlly get the pictures up from our New Years weekend.  For nearly ten years now a group of our friends have been getting together to celebrate New Years and what follows are photos of our most recent celebration at The Moosehead Cabin. We’ve gone to The Moosehead three times now and since we’re growing in numbers, either by significant others or babies,  and bursting at the seems of the cabin. Some of us wondered if this would be our last year at The Moosehead, it is time for us to find a bigger house. 

Traditionally the boys go fishing (really a booze cruise) and the ladies go to a local winery for a tasting. The rest of our time is spent playing board games, cooking, avoiding the mud during Sardines, walking to the nearby park, and lounging around. This might have been one of the first years that we’ve struggled to make it to midnight and some of us didn’t. This also marked the first year that we’ve had babies along for the ride. 

The same stories get told, but new ones get created as well, and we all can chime in on specific ones. On our last night we sat around the dinner table telling stories that pretty much NOBODY else would think to laugh at the right parts, but we were all busting our guts.  We’re definitely all adults, with adult jobs and lives, but it seems that our weekend at The Moosehead lets us all unwind and kick our feet up for a moment our two.  

 

 

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Merks & T-Man Party @ HBHQ

My December dream came true the other day when Charlyn and I made plans to have our kids make sugar cookies.  Since it didn’t quite work out the last time I decided to call in the reinforcements and it worked out just fine and dandy. All that rolling, patting and marking that Maggie has done sure paid off.

But then she noticed that Cameron was nibbling on a cookie and the girl just went for it! She was practically taking spoonfuls of frosting by the end of it, but at least she had fun. Aside from the fact that Maggie ended up hitting (OMG!) Connor, it sure was a great visit. Both boys are so kind and gentle with Maggie. I noticed that Cameron stopped calling her Baby Maggie and I’m wondering if he now thinks of her as a BIG GIRL.

They got to run off some of their cookie-making steam by running around outside while we cleaned up and shuffled cookies from the oven to the cooling racks. I yelled a few ‘hold onto her hands’ and ‘go help Maggie’ from the doorway, but I think Cameron secretly liked being in “charge” and Mags liked running with the big kids.  I probably could have toned down my order and cut the apron strings, so to speak, but my BABY insisted on wearing her 3 sizes too big cowgirl boots outside and I didn’t want to see her take a nose dive. Such fun and I feel a tradition starting…

In between the Cookie Making Extravaganza and Thomas’ visit, we squeezed in a few visits from Grandpa Miller &  our friend Christina and even went to visit Sue (a.k.a. Ish) and 3G. Phew.  By the time Thomas, Deneva & Lara arrived at our door, Maggie was in full-on excited mode. Days ago we’d wrapped Thomas’ present and she’d been itching to give it to him.

What she wasn’t expecting was for Thomas to take her down WWF style (Barry says it’s WWE now, what do I know?). I tell you, there was something in the air today because as excited as Maggie was, Thomas was right there with her….until she started doing her ultra high-pitched screaming. T-Man does NOT like that and never has.

The gift exchange went off with a bit of confusion (maybe Mags was confused about the WWF/WWE take down?) about what to do with the gifts. Thomas tried to open a gift for my mom, one that I don’t think he would have enjoyed one ounce and Maggie thought the box WAS the gift.

After the gift opening, which lasted all of five minutes, the two little chickens ran wild around the house and Deneva, bless her, kept checking on them when they’d be in another room. I suppose Lara and I are of the ‘if we can hear them they’re alright’ school.  Devo did discover them having a party with the origami balls and glass vase in the kitchen. And by party I mean throwing them everywhere and hauling the glass vase from one place to another.  This year Thomas/Maggie gift exchange was much more crazy than last year, I can only imagine what it’ll be next year!