Look at this one daddy!

We ventured out to Farmer Brown's Christmas Tree Farm this afternoon to pick out and cut down a Christmas Tree. Maya was a smidge confused about the whole thing when I told her what we were going to do however she had a blast. We had never been to this Christmas tree farm however I would definitely recommend it! They have 30+ acres of trees of 7 different varieties! Maya kept finding all the 'baby' trees and then would decide if they were Baby Owen trees or Maya trees. We walked around for over an hour and finally decided on a beautiful Nobel! Maya thought it was pretty funny watching Chris cut down the tree. It was raining yesterday (though not while we were there) so we are waiting a day until it dries out before we bring it in from the garage to decorate. Maya is so excited for the holidays!

Lost and Found

Tonight we decided to wash the couch cushion covers due to a juice spill which occurred many months ago (right on top of that one!) and found all sorts of treasures. They made me laugh so I had to share.
Found: 1 french fry (plastic), 1 pretzel (plastic), 1 oinking light-up pig key chain, 2 quarters, 5 pennies, 1/2 a pistachio, 2 pieces of Pirates Booty, 1 corn skewer, 1 blue rubber lady bug, 1 pink barbie shoe, 1 pink birthday candle, 1 Princess fruit snack wrapper and various indiscernible crumbs.

The Big Move

We decided it was time to reclaim our bedroom and move Owen in to his own room. With Maya, I couldn't wait to get her in to her own room. She's such a restless sleeper that she kept me awake, even now. This time I was sad. I realized it is the last time I will have a sweet little baby in my room not to mention he's still attached to his binky when falling asleep and I was a bit worried I'd continually be fetching it for him. However, it needed to be done. I decided it was time because we were waking up Owen and he was waking us up in turn. The first two nights were a sketchy. Between the two kids (Maya had two bad nights in a row) we were up 7 times between 9:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. However, the third night after my 'pep talk' (it was all in jest but I'm pretending it worked) the kids both slept! Maya was down at 8:30 and Owen was down at 9. We didn't hear a peep until 6:15 a.m. In the end, it was nice to reclaim a little space for us and Owen is sleeping great!

Santa Train

Today we got up super early, got our warm clothes on and headed up to North Bend to ride the Santa Train. We met several family friends and got to ride a real train to Snoqualmie to have cookies and hot cocoa and meet Santa. I had some serious doubts about whether Maya would sit on Santa's lap BUT she surprised us all and sat right down (though she didn't look at him) and told him she is 2 and that she wants a Princess Tiana doll for Christmas. Owen was asleep in the Ergo so we didn't wake him for it. No worries, in our holiday plans we are going to see Santa 5 more times.

Thanksgiving

Chris and I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner for a variety of people the past 3 years but this year decided we'd take a break. Chris' brother and his family were going to visit other family and our friends had plans so we decided we'd take my mom up on her offer to fix the dinner at her house. We had all the good stuff and were able to enjoy it all a bit more than we do when we're busy in the middle of it all. Chris made a yummy apple pie (I'm not a big pie baker, but he is!) and I made some sauteed carrots with sage. The kids played with their cousin Charissa and had lots of fun watching a new My Little Pony Christmas movie, making a reindeer hand cut-out craft and beaded snowflakes.

Four Months

Looking at old pictures of Maya got me wondering how alike the really look...see for yourself

Exersaucer?

I laughed tonight when Maya climbed into the exersaucer that recently came out of storage. She looks a little big...

Self Portraits

Maya loves taking pictures, especially of herself. Today she wanted a picture of me, her and her apple.

Bath Time

Owen loves to take a bath. Maya never, ever liked the baby bath thus we resorted to putting her in the tub at one month. Owen loves his bath and spends the time splashing, smiling, talking and laughing.

Dressy Pumpkins

Maya has 4 pumpkins left over from Halloween that she has done so many things with (after she took their face stickers off, of course). Today, she dressed them up with all her play jewelery then wanted her picture taken with them. Don't mind the TV in the background (ugh).

Owen

At almost 4 months Owen is busy discovering all the things he can do. He is rolling from his front to his back, chewing on his feet (fist, my fingers, burp cloth, his arm...you get the idea), rolling from his back to his sides, trying to sit up, and sitting up on his elbows. He really never liked tummy time so I was a little concerned but he's nice and strong. Here are a few I took of him hanging out by himself and of course with his big sister.

Marriage

Maya has been walking around humming the Wedding March for weeks because of the wedding scene in the movie Monsters Vs Aliens. Tonight she came down from her room wearing a dress, purple dress up shoes, a crown and carrying her Ariel purse. As she walked in the kitchen she announced, "I'm getting married!" I laughed and asked who she was going to marry. Her response, "You mommy!" So silly!

Mommy Moment #255342

Poor Owen hasn't been sleeping well with a little bit of a stuffy nose that seems to manifest itself in the middle of the night and leaves him gagging, ugh. Last night Owen ended up sleeping with me most of the night so he would stay asleep. Not ideal especially since I don't sleep well in close quarters. It left me still sound asleep still at 8:30 a.m. It was just after 8:30 that I began hearing plastic plates. I laid there laughing to myself because usually it means that Maya is up and has decided to play in her kitchen which is in her room. Most mornings Maya wakes up calling 'mommy, mommy, mommy' though maybe once every couple weeks does she get up on her own. The upside is that her bedroom door sticks....so she can't be up around the house without us....or at least that's what I thought. As I listened closer, I realized that she was a lot louder than I would have expected her to be. So, I got up, put my contacts in and realized that Miss Maya's bedroom was open a crack and that the noise was coming from the kitchen....downstairs. I quietly tiptoed down the stairs and there she was...on the counter (half on the stove, next to the knives) taking out all of her plates and cups. She turned around and got down then looked up at me, holding a cup, lid and straw. Smiling, she said "I'm thirsty" and she jumped off her stool and ran to the fridge from which she pulled out the milk. Laughing, I helped her pour a glass. She put the lid on, stuck the straw in, put the milk back and pulled out a piece of Babybel cheese from the fridge, opened it and looked at me and said "I'm hungry too!" Of course, I took a picture. How could I resist? At least it wasn't a bag a pancake mix all over my living room floor... oh wait, that was our last food adventure.

Disney on Ice

Tonight I took Maya to see Disney on Ice with out good friend Katie and her daughter Emilie who is also 2 1/2. Maya had a blast! Before hand we got to see 3 'real' princess dresses and then we got to wave to both Cinderella and Princess Tiana. I wasn't sure what Maya would think of the ice show but she loved it. We got to see characters from Cars, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Tinkerbell. Of course we also saw Mickey with his friends Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy. I didn't manage to catch a picture of both girls but got one with Maya after the show as well as a funny one which made me think of the way she will most likely look at me when she's 15 and annoyed. She was busy eating popcorn and I think a little tired of me taking pictures. Overall, she had so much fun. It's nice being able to take her to do some things by ourselves. She's been so great with Owen but I know the jealousy errupts when she doesn't get much alone time with both me and Chris so it's nice to sneak these things in.

Halloween

We had a super duper busy day on Halloween. We spent the afternoon at a princess themed birthday party then attempted a nap but Maya was way too wound up....thus we stayed home and went trick or treating in our neighborhood which turned out to be rainy but lots of fun. Chris took Maya while Owen and I handed out candy. Maya was in heaven by the time she returned! Unfortunately, because Maya was overly tired we didn't make it anywhere Owen could wear his costume and he's just too little to send out in the rain with daddy BUT we did get to wear it over to grandma and grandpa's so that was fun.