Maya's Birthday

Maya came down on her birthday to the living room decorated with purple and white streamers as well as a giant frog balloon and a giant Ariel ballon. She is still waking up in this picture and trying to figure out what's up! She was so excited in the days leading up to her birthday.

For her birthday we gave her a Leap Frog Tag Reader with 3 books.

She also received a Hungry Hippo game 'from' Owen.

For her birthday party we went to Pump It Up (a bouncey house facility) where we jumped then had lunch and cake with all sorts of her favorite people. Here is Maya anxiously waiting for our guests.


Here is Maya with her Tiana cake and two of her favorite people: her cousin Charissa and her friend Emilie.


Finally, here are most of the kiddos (plus Chris, minus Owen and 2 others) at her party.

Maya is 3!

Maya Elizabeth Carpenter is 3 years old!

Statistics:
Height: 41.25 inches
Weight: 37.3 lbs
Shoe Size: 8
Dress Size: 4t/5t
Pant/Skirt Size: 4t
Bedtime: 8:15
Wakes up: between 7:30 and 8:30

Favorites:
Favorite Color: PINK
Favorite Animal: Giraffe
Favorite Toy: Tiana Doll
Favorite Movie (at least today): Monsters Inc.
Favorite Princess: (tie) Ariel & Tiana
Favorite thing to do with Owen: Climb up the stairs with him
Favorite thing to do with Daddy: Ride on his shoulders
Favorite thing to do with Mommy: Painting
Favorite ride at Disneyland: Casey Junior Train

The Facts:
* Maya remembers to say please & Thank You ...most of the time
* She loves to entertain her baby brother and he laughs and laughs at her
* Maya races me to Owen's room to 'get him up' after naps.
* She 'reads' so many books and loves to be read to.
* She is great at 'imaginative play' with everything from barbies to My Little Ponies
* She wants to wear dresses every single day (and usually does)
* Maya has memorized a pretty major number of lyrics to different songs
* She has cute wavy curls that are CRAZY in the morning
* Maya requests back rubs during 'call backs' after bed time
* Her amazing blue eyes shine
* Maya is great at sharing with her friends
* Since she was a baby she has loved playing games with the vacuum cleaner
* One of her new past times is digging in the garden
* She loves a nice long, hot bath
* She rarely naps any more but once a week
* She has gotten to be a picky eater again and likes nothing hot (or even remotely warm)
* Maya loves doing 'projects'; recently we painted a bird house & made suncatchers
* There are two nightlights in Maya's room & a fan that need to be on for her to sleep
* She can spell her name
* She knows her phone number

The Pictures:

Birth

6 Months Old

1 Years old

18 Months Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old (I need a better one..)

Standing Tall

Owen has been pulling himself up on EVERYTHING for almost a month. He is so darn proud of himself and it has reminded me how unbaby proofed we had become. I just love that when I go in to get him in the morning he's bee bopping up and down excited to see me, reaching his arms out to be picked up. He is such a happy baby and pretty easy natured. I was telling Maya today that we were going to need to help Owen learn how to talk. It's a little ways out (he just turned 9 months this week) but she started by trying to teach him the word 'bird.' She even insisted he was trying to say it but it was very hard for him. She and I spent the day telling him the names of things he was playing with or looking at. She really is a good big sister.

If I Were a Human Being!

Maya loves the music from The Princess and the Frog. We listen to it either on my IPOD or on our stereo at least twice a day (usually more, lol). Maya especially loves the song If I Were a Human Being by Louis the alligator. In the song there are three characters singing: Louis, Prince Naveen & Tiana. One day as we were listening to the music she decided that I was Louis, Chris was Naveen and she, of course, was Tiana. She then told us we were to dance 'our parts'. During each persons turn the others were to sit on the couch and clap and cheer for the dancer. It's pretty amusing but it makes her smile and laugh. Owen even gets in on the bouncing (he's Ray, by the way). Maya knows every song on the CD and most of the words too. I would post pictures but you really don't want to see me getting my groove on. Maya's love for music is so awesome.