Thanksgiving 2011

We drove 13 hrs from Evanston to my parent's place in PA.  We decided to take two days each way in order to enjoy the drive a bit more with the girls.  Morgan loved the hotel stays with cartoons, pizza, and swimming.  Maya loved to play and crawl around on a pile of pillows we would create.
At Mimi and Poppop's Cottage we were able to have lots of fun and laughs.  Morgan and her two cousins Daniel and Hannah played fairly well together.  Maya spent most of her time playing with My sister's dog Diego.  That poor dog was so good to put up with Maya's torture.  Ben and I spent time relaxing, playing games, laughing and then there's always the eating, eating and more eating.  It was really nice spending time with family.  

 

 

Story Time

 One of Morgan's favorite times of the day definitely isn't bed time, but she does love story time before hand.  Maya is quickly learning to enjoy the stories as well though she can't quite sit still. Morgan loves that she gets to pick the story and then sits some what quietly while Ben reads. Maya crawls around the room and comes over to see the pictures from time to time.  I love to sit in and listen mainly because it's so sweet watching Ben with the girls!

Trick or Treating 2011

 Seriously we spent all weekend celebrating goofy costumes and eating candy.  Saturday and Sunday evening we went to costume parties.  Ben was a cop who caught me (the bandit) steeling a bag of money (Maya).  Morgan didn't want to join our theme so she was a Fairy Ballerina Astronaut.  She kept that costume for Trick or Treating on Monday as well.  She would even correct people when they would guess what she was and get it wrong.  Maya was a cute little Lion while we were out and about.  Morgan learned this year that having a little sister totally helped bank more candy.  She would go up to a house and say all in one breath, "Trick or Treat, I need one for my baby sister too."  

Morgan's 3 1/2 Birthday

Morgan some how is growing up...  I"m not sure where all the time went but she is now 3 1/2.
We celebrated the usual way with a cupcake.  We took her to a cupcake shop and she got to pick out her very own Double chocolate cupcake with lots of chocolate icing to top it off.  I have to say though the biggest measure for how much she has grown up is that she didn't dive in face first after the icing this year.  she actually eat the whole cup cake.

Maya 9 Months old

At 9 months Maya is crawling all over pulling things off shelves and out of cabinets and pretty much undoing all the cleaning that happens around here.  She loves food and makes quite a mess while eating (then again maybe she doesn't love food...) She is also getting very good at playing peek a boo and she loves to laugh at her crazy sister who runs around the house.  The main change this month is she has perfected her crawl and has picked up speed. She is also now pulling her self up on furniture.  Maya is truly a joy! Full of hugs and kisses.  Now if only she would learn that night time is for sleeping.

8 months old!

Maya is 8 months old and getting into so much!  She crawls all over the house following her big sister around.  She has found her way in to many new places in our house.  Definitely time for those baby gates for the stairs and baby proofing! She is such a happy baby girl always smiling as if she has a secret.  

Sadly she did decide that she doesn't need sleep anymore so she's up 1/2 the night etc... but we're working on that.  

Not pictured but my favorite thing that she does right now is she chases a small soccer ball around the house: She gets a hold of it and then it pops out of her hands and she goes crawling after it.  I'm training her early! :) next stop world cup! (just kidding) 

Apple Picking 2011

Our annual apple picking trip could not have gone any better.  We had beautiful weather and actually made it there before most of the apples were picked.   Morgan had a Blast picking the apples and eating her weight in apples as well.  Maya rather enjoyed her self as well. I think biting the apples helped sooth her poor gums that have had several teeth coming in.  

After picking more apples then we knew what to do with we headed off to the Silo, our new favorite restaurant out near the orchard.  The girls love the toys they have there for them to play with and Steph loves the very large stuffed baked potatoes they serve.  Happy Girls!  Ben rather loves their food too but lets face it happy girls usually means happy Ben...