Ear to Ear

"Hi."


Hmmmm... She looks like Daddy, but she smiles like Mommy - with teeth.

"I'm a happy camper."

Why does the Time Have to Change??

We have been exhausted since Sunday. Maya has totally adjusted to the time change, in terms of napping and bedtime, but she is still waking up over an hour earlier than usual. As you can see from this video, Maya is in a bit of a daze, because she's a sleepyhead. At least she isn't missing her mouth, right?

Pony goes Trick-or-Treating

You know, I always liked Halloween as a kid, but I honestly don't remember ever having as much fun as I had yesterday. Now I really love Halloween. We had a pretty low key day yesterday, and then started the Halloween festivities in the mid-afternoon. First, we went to a party on the lawn of the Norwich Inn, in Vermont (it's only about 5-10 minutes from our house). The party was great - there were hundreds of people there, and the inn provided cookies, brownies, cider, hot chocolate, and games for the kids. Maya had a terrific time eating all the treats, playing with the dogs, and just running around like crazy. She really wore herself out. We met Beth, Daniel, and Noah at the party, so Maya and Noah played until it was totally cleared out. Then, we decided to do a little trick-or-treating in Norwich, which supposedly has the best trick-or-treating ever. Well, I wouldn't really call it the best, but it certainly was crowded. There were lines at every house. Unfortunately, it started to pour while we were getting our treats, so we eventually decided to turn back and go to the car. Maya didn't mind the rain, but Kevin and I were quickly running out of steam. Anyway, we went home and had some dinner, and then decided to go out for round two. It was still pouring, but we wanted to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood, so we took the car. Let me tell you - driving around to get the loot is much more efficient. I think we visited every house in our neighborhood that had their front light on. It stopped raining halfway through our adventure, so Kevin and Maya started walking to a few houses at a time. Maya, though she was super exhausted, really enjoyed seeing the dogs and babies that came to the door. He favorite part, however, was when people would hold out their bowl and let Maya take whatever she wanted. She usually chose Milk Duds, which is quite coincidental, because we aren't really a Milk Dud family, but that's okay. Anyway, Maya had a rather restless sleep last night - probably from all the sugar she consumed in cookies and other treats yesterday (no candy for her - just goodies), so our first day on standard time was kind of a bust. It was well worth it though!

"I started off at the party, with this yummy oatmeal raisin cookie. It was okay. I would say I ate about a quarter of it."

"There were lot of things to look at during the party. I stayed serious almost the whole time!"

"This is right about the time where I got sick of this cookie."

"I may be sick of this cookie, Tigger, but you can't have it."

"Next, I found a giant basket of apples. It was supposed to be for a game, but I dug in. Actually, throughout the party, I started 4 different apples, but ended up dropping each of them in the mud at various times. Then, I would just go get a new one. I probably ate the equivalent of 1 whole apple at the party. It just took 4 tries..."

"I don't like the peel, so I usually spit it out as I go. Yesterday, I was storing my spit-out-peel in my bandana."

"Daddy let me try his chocolate chip cookie, but I preferred my apple."

"Then, we did bobbing for donut holes. I didn't really understand the game, so I just took my donut hole off the fork and walked away. Oh well."

"I really liked this doggie. Every time I walked away from him, I just kept coming back. He was really sweet. I think he liked me, too."

"Is the party over now?"

"When we got home for dinner, Daddy put my costume in the dryer for a bit, while Mommy made dinner. I busied myself playing with my candy. I like this candy a lot, because it's mine.

"I'm back in my costume for round two of "trick-or-treating!"

"Look at all my loot! I got a ton of candy! I wonder what I should do with it..."

"I think Mommy and Daddy dug into my candy after I went to sleep. How rude."

"I gave these to Mommy, because she used to love Charleston Chews when she was little. I don't have enough teeth for these anyway."

"This morning, I picked up where I left off, and continued to play with my candy. I really like wheeling it around in my play stroller. You know it's a successful Halloween when you wake up and want to take your candy for a walk."

My Little Pony

"Mommy, where's your costume?"

We are gearing up for Halloween tomorrow! Yesterday, since Maya was feeling much better, we went to the Halloween party at the Bouncy House. It was so cute with all the kiddos dressed up! Maya had a great time. I assumed that she wouldn't want to go there in costume, so I was getting it packed up in my bag, so she could change into it when she got there, but she was having none of it, and wanted to wear it all morning. Silly girl. By the time I took it off of her, she was basically soaked in sweat underneath! She didn't care though. I can't wait to take her to the Halloween Fest and then trick or treating tomorrow. She's going to have a blast. She honestly just enjoys going to the supermarket lately, to see the blow up Halloween things, and the witch statues. She's not so scared...
"Mom, these belong to one of the games at the party, but I just want to carry them around."

"No, seriously, I'm keeping these."

"What's lurking around the corner there?"

"Back in my regular duds, and and playing at home."

"Like my glider? I'm really good at climbing in and out of it."

It's Wednesday...

...but I still haven't told you about our weekend! We actually spent a very quick weekend in St. Louis, as Kevin had an interview at WashU on Monday. We were there for about 36 hours, and with 2 overnight stays in a hotel, it didn't make for much time to see friends. We got there late Saturday (about 11:30, St. Louis time), spent Sunday morning at Brie's house with Dave, Owen, Alex, and Brook, and then visited with Beth at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. On Monday morning, Maya and I met Brook for playtime at the mall, since it was raining. We left town at about 2, and finally arrived home in NH at 12:30 a.m. It was a very exhausting trip, and it definitely took a toll on Maya. She exploded with a yucky cold on Tuesday morning, but is recovering nicely. In the past 2 days (since we've been home), she has slept a lot, and has really been a trooper. She wasn't the biggest fan of flying this time around, so we are looking forward to travelling with her when she can have her own seat. I guess she thinks she too old to hang out on Mommy and Daddy's laps for 4 hours of flights... Go figure.

"On our way to St. Louis, we had a really long delay, so we spent 4 hours at Manchester Airport. They had a Fisher Price play area, which had all these fun toys, just bolted to the floor! I had a blast, and played for 2 hours straight!"

"I played so hard, I missed my nap! Mommy and Daddy were thrilled..."

"Daddy and I love Sweet Tomatoes. Mommy, too!"

"I played at the mall play area on Monday morning, while Daddy had his interview. I really love playing in cars."

Doggie Alert!

We had a very eventful weekend, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to blog about it. For now, I wanted to mention our day of dogs last week. Grammy spent the day with us in New Hampshire on Thursday, and we ended up going to the kitchen store we like. The owner has a very sweet dog named Lou Lou, and Maya loves playing with her. We've gone there a couple of other times for the sole purpose of seeing Lou Lou. Anyway, later on in the day, we met Kevin for his appointment with the eye doctor. It turned out that one of the receptionists had brought in her 7-week-old puppy to work that day. Now this puppy posed a small problem. He looked strangely like Scuffy, and was just about exactly Scuffy's size. Therefore, Maya immediately tried to put him under her arm, just like she carries around Scuff. This was the first time she's ever tried to pick up a real dog, so I'm guessing she had no idea he was real. The problem was, this little doggie wasn't even remotely interested in being held, so he simply walked away. Maya was not amused... It was a seriously sweet encounter though...

"Hey, Lou Lou! What's up?"

"Can I touch your nose? I like wet dog noses."

"Wait, is this Scuffy?"

"I'll just tuck you under my arm, like my little Scuffster. Ahhhh... That feels just right."

"Don't run away from me! I love you, little teeny tiny doggie!"

"Phew! The nice lady brought back the doggie. Now stay put so I can hold you!"

Bored, but Keeping Busy

I don't know why I find this video at all amusing. I'm sure that when Kevin sees it, he'll tell me it's really boring, but that's okay. The best part is the last 5 seconds, but maybe I just love it because I'm her mommy...