Never Enough Chocolate

The Easter Bunny made his annual home invasion, and normally there is a lot of candy. Sooo much candy. In the basket, hiding around the house, stuffed in the freezer, candy is left everywhere, but this year he did things a little differently.

Instead of a tremendous amount of candy, there were potted flowers, colored eggs, and lovely gifts, but all of those wonderful things didn't keep Maya from expecting candy. Neither did the candy filled basket that Granny and Papaw gave her the day before or the candy filled egg hunt she had at school 3 days before Easter keep Maya from expecting even more candy from the Easter Bunny. One would think that all the wonderful gifts from the Easter Bunny would more than make up for the lack of candy.

Well, one would be wrong.

Luckily the Easter Bunny did leave this little guy stuffed with some chocolate. Smart bunny.

Despite not being made of chocolate, Maya loved her new easel.

Updates!!!

Can you believe that I've been juggling such a ridiculously busy schedule that I was finally able to work in some "blog time" for the first time in like, 6 months? Well, then can you believe that I completely forgot about the blog? OK. Fine. I kept procrastinating until it got to the point that I would much rather hide under the covers than deal with updating this thing.

I should point out that I was able to find the time to do this by putting off my Biology homework. These are the sacrifices I am willing to make.

This year Maya attended her very first Teddy Bear Tea. The adults had standard tea sandwiches while the kids dined on a specially made selection of pb&j, turkey, and ham salad sandwiches.

Every boy and girl at tea were presented with their very own teddy bear.

Even Santa stopped by for tea.

Her basket of desserts. You can't see it because I was taking the picture, but I had the same expression on my face.

Inspecting her food. It didn't take her long to declare it edible.

Maya during her dance recital performance. These were some seriously cute flowers.

Maya's dance recital ended with a special visit from Santa.

Enjoying the snow in Tennessee.

You Turn 60, You Get A Certificate

The Pajamas Are What Makes It Work

We made an abbreviated visit to Tennessee for Thanksgiving this year, so we had to cram as much fun as possible into just a few days. Luckily, Maya was up for the challenge.

We also celebrated Christmas with Jason's family since we won't see them in December. Thanks to this trip, Maya is now armed with everything she needs to be a ballerina princess.

Improvements

Getting better at the whole "family picture" thing. I like how we all seem to have the same level of zombie smile going.

It's Flat Aubrie!

We were lucky to have another visit from Flat Aubrie this year. Maya's cousin, Aubrie, sent a flat version of herself for us to photograph and send back to her school. This time we made sure to take her around town, including the zoo. I really wanted to get a picture of her next to a gorilla, but when we checked out the exhibit, the gorillas were out of sight. We decided to check back later and I'm glad we did because one eventually came around and hung out for a while. The zoo was surprisingly busy for a Friday morning and all of the parents were scrambling to get their kids into position for a picture next to the gorilla. They were fast, but I was faster:

I was impressed with how everyone waited patiently as I took several pictures of the gorilla with Flat Aubrie. Not a single weird look or comment.

Birthday Boy

I found that I have no desire to make fun of my brother for getting older, like I do with so many others. It's different when the person is younger than you; you can't help but think, if he's already this old, then I'm. . . eek. It just doesn't end well.

But all of that doesn't mean I can't pull out old pictures to make fun of him for other reasons. Sure, he's a tall, hairy, twenty something that knocks people over whenever he pats them on the back, but for some reason I have him stuck in my head as an 8 year old. He may forever be that obnoxious little brother that always put the cats' lives in danger and wouldn't stop getting into trouble. However, there was much to learn from it.

There was that time he threw the kitten in the well and dad was all "Hmm, yeah, it's not going to make it. Did your mother make dinner?" It taught us that we must always go to mom if we want help fishing kittens out of wells. How else would we have learned that? Also, I never would have known that you could twirl a cat through the air like a lasso by holding onto its tail. Silly me, I always thought cats were for petting.



Dad would teach us that if you mess with the farm equipment you won't live to tell about it; but with a little brother you learn that you can flip a three wheeler, run a semi into a grain bin, and drive a truck into a barn (that's housing your dad's beloved sports car) and live to tell about it. Of course, you may not be able to talk about it while sitting, but you'll be able to talk about it.




It didn't take him long to teach us that, in his mind, pants are optional. Also, see all that grass? It doubles as a bathroom.

These are life lessons, people.

Happy Birthday Morgan

Not Yet Mantel Worthy

We found ourselves in an awkward situation this week when a request for a family photo was sent home with Maya from school. We don't have one. At least not one that's less than two years old. Sad, yes, but you just get busy and sometimes you would rather throw yourself into a shark tank then sit down with your best vacant smile. One. More. Time.

So we decided to take a bunch of pictures and hope that at least one turns out good enough that we can stand the idea of it hanging in her classroom all year. I tried taking a few candids of Maya but she always noticed and insisted on mugging for the camera. I guess she was giving me fair warning that this was going to take a while:


Gone are the days when I used to care about hair, makeup, and what I was wearing. Now I just want a picture that doesn't make people wonder if my kid has issues:

We called it a day on this one:

Swim Buddy

I would like to take this moment to thank Nathan and Janelle who, I am told, are responsible for teaching Buddy that Golden Retrievers belong in the water. Everyone is so very grateful.

If you want to swim at my parents house but you don't like to swim alone, then you are in luck! You want to swim alone? And in peace? Too bad. Whenever Buddy sees anyone so much as put on a swimsuit, he goes nuts. You have to make a run for it to even get out the door. Make sure he doesn't catch up to you at the door while you're trying to squeeze your way out. He can jam his head at the bottom crack of the door and ram his way through, leaving you flat on your back, towel still in hand as he sits in the pool, waiting for you to get up. If you're smart enough to evade him, then he just goes from room to room whining, barking, and scratching at the doors. Really want to drive him nuts? Do a cannonball. The sound of splashing water that he cannot reach is torture to this poor animal. So eventually you give in and let him swim with you:

It's not too bad if you don't mind sharing your raft and smelling like wet dog.

CHARLIE!!!

Some highlights of our Florida trip:

Maya's first order of business was to find Charlie and harass him our entire visit. This provided bonding opportunities for Maya and her Aunt Bob since Charlie liked to hide in her room. Mission Accomplished.

Maya was taken to play her first round of mini golf and adored it! She paid attention and knew when it was her turn and became very impatient if anyone was holding her up. She did, however, play terribly. Her awful performance was second only to my own. In my defence, I was apparently playing the role of pack mule that day and was expected to carry everything. As for Maya, there isn't anything to justify that kind of play. Come on kid, you're 3, if you're going to have a Nike sponsorship by kindergarten you're going to have to step it up a notch.

She loved the water and playing in the sand. As soon as she got out of the water she sat down and started building her sandcastle like it was her job.

I'm about 75% sure those are screams of joy.

Ye Olden Times

Uncle Ron gave an interesting speech at the family reunion about how our ancestors made their way across Pennsylvania and Ohio into Indiana. They made their way through forests in wagons and on foot, with nothing but the twinkie to see them through. Our ancestors braved the harsh conditions that were common when traveling in the early 1800s: fording rivers, managing snakebites, constant bouts of dysentery, frequent stops to shoot buffalo, stopping to bury those that had died of drowning or snakebites or dysentery or cholera or fever, and of course nagging children. You see, it was the twinkie that these brave pioneers relied on. Leaning heavily on the sugar to get through the midday slump and quiet any children of their nonstop questions of "Are we there yet?" These twinkies were their driving force and because of that we honor them with a twinkie tower*. At least I think that's what Uncle Ron was saying; I wasn't really paying attention. Anybody want to play Oregon Trail?




*This year's tribute brought to you by John Rhoades, with special thanks to Courtney Rhoades for the design.

Kittens!

Maya's a cat person and it didn't take long for her to work up the nerve to pick up a kitten. I'm pretty sure everyone took turns showing Maya how to hold the kittens, but she preferred to hold them in a manner that was certain to squeeze the life out of them. So after each kitten got a chance to see how their lives were at risk around this kid, natural selection came into play, and well, I don't think the black one is going to make it.

Sprinkles* was wise and knew to hide from the little person who smelled of goldfish crackers.

*Just looks like a Sprinkles, don't you think?

His Dream Tractor

There were plenty of toys to go around at the farm. Motorcycles, golf carts, four-wheelers, and tractors and Maya took a turn on them all (not necessarily while they were running). This tractor was very loud and sounded like it was going to die at any moment; which made it all the more impressive that Maya was willing to go anywhere near it.

Jenny showed up just in time to catch a ride.

Video of Piggy!

Only a day old! And the grunting, so cute!

Piggies!

When we arrived at the farm, we were told about the pigs that were born the day before. I had never seen baby pigs before and these guys were too cute! It's just amazing that something this adorable becomes something so fat and gross. And tasty.

*I just thought it was worth mentioning that during our trip, Maya managed to walk in, sit on, and even pick up manure. I think she definitely received the "farm experience."