Christmas Morning...

Here's a few pics from Christmas morning at home.  It was so fun seeing the joy on Maya's face as she opened up her gifts!  I can't wait for next year...it'll only get better!

Our tree!

Stocking were hung with care ;)

Coming down in the morning!

Pirates booty was the first thing she pulled out of the stocking...and it cost us at least 10 minutes!  She didn't want to move on!

We love stamps!

Of course we had to open them right away!

Princess fork and spoon..."princess" has officially been introduced into our house!

And Minnie/Mickey are her new favorites.  Drinking juice from her new Minnie cup :)

And she got a new "Pack Back" just like cousin Isaac! 

So excited to blow the whistle

Slyngers in jammies on Christmas morning!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year!

Halloween at Little Gym...

Tonight was the Little Gym Halloween party!  Maya was able to wear her halloween costume for the first time and enjoy lots of games and activities...and some candy too ;)  

My dad had bought her a cute elephant costume for this year, but she's very anti anything on her head, so she wasn't at all interested in putting it on :/  Her exact words were "all done, mama, all done!"  So as much as I would have liked to dress her up like an elephant or some other adorable fluffy animal, I knew I needed a more subtle option.  When I came across the Seahawks cheerleader costume at Target, I knew I found a winner; no crazy head gear, wings or other accessories, plus it would be a big winner with dad and most everyone in Washington.  She wore it well and even let me put her hair in pigtails :)

We found our friends Andrea and Hallie as soon as we got there.  Maya loves seeing Hallie every week at Little Gym and talks about her all morning till we get there!

We played lots of games and Maya enjoyed getting candy :)

And she showed off all the "skills" she's picked up over the last couple months to dad...

There was also a craft table set up where she could decorate her own trick or treat bag.  She LOVED the stamps!  Her hands were a mess, but it's fun to see her try :)

We finished the night off with a walk (or 5...Maya loved this part) down the "catwalk" for the parade of costumes...

Thanks Little Gym for a fun family evening!  I think we're officially ready for the main event next week!

Pumpkin Patch...

I'm a little behind on this post, but a couple weeks ago we had our first trip to the Pumpkin Patch in Washington.  We were invited to join our friends Joe and Taunya and their two girls Coura and Ella (and some of their family and friends).  They took us to a great Pumpkin Patch in Snohomish called The Farm.  Besides the Pumpkin Patch itself, there were all sorts of fun activities offered at The Farm including a giant kids' play area, a corn maze, a petting farm, wagon rides, live duck races, plus some super yummy food options. 

We had a great evening!

 

Happy Easter...

He is risen!!!  

One of my favorite take aways from today's service:

LOVE is giving someone something they NEED THE MOST when they DESERVE IT THE LEAST

So thankful for Christ's love!

Here are a couple pics from today...

Finding eggs!

Learning to put her eggs in the basket during the easter egg hunt

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!  

Christmas...

With my family in California and Brad's in Washington, we had a two part Christmas so we could see both sides.  Since the flight to WA is under 2 hours, it works really well to leave early Christmas morning and have all of Christmas day in Washington.  

We spent Christmas eve in California.  It was great to spend time with our family and fun to see Maya open her first Christmas gifts!

Maya and Papa

Opening gifts

Paul is dying to see Maya have her first taste of lemon, so this gift was the symbolic "green light" to have the lemon tasting!

She was a little unsure what to do, but eventually figured out how to rip at the paper

I feel like this picture needs a caption!  What is she saying?!?!

Then we headed to WA Christmas morning.  I was really anxious about a 6:30am flight but Maya did awesome and slept from take off to touch down.  Awesome!

We loved our time in Washington and really miss our family there.  Maya had a great time with her cousins, especially Isaac who is two and adores her!  It was really sweet to see them together!

Auntie Deanna got her Maya fix!

Maya and her cousins, Caleb, Weston and Isaac

Brad and Paul opening their gifts

Joan, Deanna and I decided to do DIY gifts this year.  I  made them menu dry erase boards, a necklace for Deanna and a jewelry dish for Joan, Joan made slippers and Deanna made tote bags and a notebook.  It was really fun and I'm excited for the tradition to continue!

Maya and Grammy

Cousin love :)

We were able to visit Pike Place market on this trip.  Brad and I hadn't been in years and of course this was Maya's first trip.  

mmmm...mum mum

Love Seattle!  Can't wait to come back and visit again!