Blueberries, Baking, and Baby Isaac

We went blueberry picking on Wednesday with some friends.

It was a fun time, and Charlotte especially enjoyed sampling the blueberries!

When we got home, we rinsed the berries we'd collected...

...and turned them into muffins!

As usual, Maya was quite the helper.

Of course, she had to sample the berries as well :)

This time, Charlotte got to help, too!

Though mostly, she just wanted to climb in and out of the "Kitchen Helper" :)

Then on Thursday morning, we met Sierra at the park for a walk, and I got to get some pictures of "Baby Isaac"! He is getting so talkative and adorable.

In this one, he is looking like a smooth-talker :)

My Girlies

Not a long post today :) Just wanted to do a new side-by-side of Charlotte and Maya-when-she-was-Charlotte's-age.

The One Where Maya Steps On A Toad

My dad and stepmom came to visit today :)

The girlies got to play in their car, and oh my. Let's just say we got a little glimpse of what it will be like when they turn 16! Maya was loving the driver's seat, wanted to adjust ALL the buttons (radio, seat position, thermostat, door locks...).

Charlotte just kinda chilled, as usual :)

Dad and Dona ~ is there some rule that says the first person to introduce a child to a convertible must purchase said child's first car? ;)

When we got home, we played in the yard, and my dad found a toad. It was very exciting, Dona picked it up, Maya wanted (and then didn't want) to touch it, and then Dona put it back down. And then Maya stepped on it! On purpose! I swear we did NOT teach her that it was okay to step on toads. It must have been a little funny to see 4 adults half-lunge at a toddler to save a tiny little toad! Fortunately the toad appeared no worse for the wear, and I *think* that Maya gets that it is not appropriate to step on them :)

Once the toad incident was taken care of, Maya pulled out track ball set. She's still trying to figure out how to throw the ball forward, but she has fun either way! She also enjoyed being swung around and generally getting lots and lots of attention! :)

Maya wanted to wear Dona's shoes.

Charlotte, as you can guess, mostly just wanted to play on the slide.

After that, we went inside, ate some cookies, Charlotte took a nap, Maya and Dona read many books, Maya danced for us ("Tik Tok", "All the Baby Mamas", "Never There", etc. You know, kid music ;)), Maya and Dona colored a ceramic pig with washable markers, we took some pictures, and they headed home. Charlotte needed to take a few phone calls while they were here...we'll have to start calling her "Hollywood"!

It's been a rough week around here, with tantrums, whining, tantrums, and impatience (and I'm not talking entirely about the kidlets). Getting to see the girlies through someone else's eyes was refreshing. My daughters are lucky to have so many people in their lives that love them :)

Thanks for visiting! We had fun! :)

Brave Squish

We have known for quite a while that Charlotte is brave. No, very brave. From the moment she could crawl, she would try to climb. Once she could climb up, she learned to climb down (the stairs, namely). When she learned to walk, she took off. It took Maya until this summer to be really comfortable with going down even the little slide, and she doesn't like the one in our back yard because it *might* have a bug on it. So imagine my surprise when Charlotte climbed right up the ladder, turned herself around, and went down Isabella's slide as if it was no big deal! I couldn't grab my camera fast enough! Later that night, Michael and I took her to the park behind our house, and she tackled the big twisty slide like a champ!

Look closely at this picture...

...Charlotte wanted in on the action!

The One With The Wedding Pictures

A few weeks ago Michael's dad got married! We went down a day early to help set up and do the rehearsal dinner thing, and Maya was a flower girl in the wedding :D Charlotte was supposed to be a flower girl, too, but between a too-short-nap and a t00-hot-for-her-day, she wasn't feeling it. She was happy to hang out in the sling, though :)

The day was really nice and everything went off without a hitch!

All of the pictures that I took over the weekend can be seen here.

Here is a sampling!

Prepping the reception area:

Oh no! Where did Maya go???

Oh, there she is :)

Maya and Charlotte gettin into stuff!

All ready to go

Laura did a fantastic job playing the guitar and singing (seriously ~ if you're looking for a guitarist, she's your gal!)

My nephew Unai was the ring bearer

Michael prepping Maya for her big job!

The happy couple:

Hanging out after the wedding

First dance:

Father-Daughter and Mother-Son dance:

Patrick and his girlfriend Sydney (aren't they adorable??? :))

Unai wanted to get in on the dancing, too!

Maya waited not-so-patiently until Michael relented and gave her a piece of cake...

...but then he refused her a *second* piece

Long day for Charlotte!

Congrats to Larry and Stephanie!