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‘Round Here

Yesterday we were driving in the car and Maggie noticed a school bus out the window and freaked out yelling “Bus, Bus!!!!” while pointing at it. I think she had thought that her very own little bus at home had come to life and found us on the road. After that, she kept pointing out the trucks and cars and telling me that she was ‘yooking’ for another bus.

Mags was showered with valentines from Barry’s mom, Sue, the Merk boys and my grandparents and I can officially say that she now knows how to open a present on her own, so there will be no need to practice before her birthday this year. (Thanks for the gifts, guys! Our little sweetheart loves them all!)

This past weekend I hosted our annual Cousins Dinner and set up a craft station for everybody to make their own crown; because who doesn’t love to wear a crown and eat, right? Anyhow Maggie has absolutely fallen in love with putting stickers on herself and anyone in a 10ft radius. The other night Barry had stickers inside his ears, which I thought was very clever placement.

We’ve also got our coffee table covered in butcher paper and Maggie has spent quite a bit of time drawing and coloring away.The other night, if I could just brag for a moment, she accidentally scribbled an “M” and then noticed it and pointed it out to Barry and I, who were sitting with her. She did it a few times, but then started scribbling and claiming the scribbles were other letters, so the Miracle Moment was short lived. But still. She made her first “M” and I’m proud.

Today we’re going swimming with our A-Town crew at the new pool by our house. It should be interesting, but hopefully we’ll all have a good time and it can become more of a regular thing.

Eeek. Mags is shouting for me from the other room, so I better wrap this up.

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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!

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Howdy, Cowpokes!

It bothers me knowing that I’ve got a slew of pictures and anecdotes that I haven’t had a chance to sit down and process. Life has gone on and I’m just going to have to let some of those moments go because we’ve got new moments happening right before our eyes. We finally got a chance to meet up with Thomas and Lara to visit, we’ve missed them both so much so it was really nice to finally be able to see each other in person. Lara and I dressed the kiddos up in their respective cowboy costumes and let them wander around outside.

It was quite hilarious because they both wandered around without any obvious plan, but they were interested in each other just enough to stay in close proximity. Tons of babbling and demanding yells from both little cowpokes…and both nearly got distracted by the swing, but that was sure to create chaos with their cowboy hats.  I taught Thomas how to bellow “Yeeee-HAW!” and I’m sure that Marc and Lara are both glad for that. What else are friends for??

Back home on the ranch, at HBHQ, the Merks stopped by to see our new rock wall and give Syd a few pets. Cameron was especially proud to understand what HBHQ means, it was really cute. Beyond that, he was a great friend to Maggie because she’s got an infatuation with walking on the wall in a dangerous way….but we’ve been through that before, remember? He chatted, she listened and Charlyn, Connor and I watched.

Holiday Cheer @ HBHQ

We invested in some lights and have been working to set them up at our house, first testing them out on a tree out side. Side note: we’re not afraid of setting up lights in the dark…..but doing it in the daylight is easier. Plus, we’ve started sipping on hot chocolate almost daily. I haven’t abandoned my tea, but we treat hot chocolate like a new BFF every year and right now we’re in the getting-to-know-you stage. Last weekend we went down to the Edmonds waterfront and used a Groupon at a little coffee shop. Maggie really, really enjoyed my marshmallow flavored hot chocolate. Sounds gross, I know, but it was good.

 

We’re headed to Camp Janet to eat some turkey and that has meant that we’re busy making our contribution to the yummy meal….and washing dishes……naked.

Strike that.

I’m baking, but MAGGIE is busy washing dishes naked, with her apron on.  She has really been into serving us ‘tea’ from her tea kettle and taking big, fake gulps herself. The girl has a sense of humor and a huge imagination, I love it. I’m working with her to wear clothes on a more regular basis….

That’s all folks!