Maya's Moving Moving Moving!

I seriously feel like it happened overnight... Maya went from sitting in one place playing with toys to being fully mobile and getting into anything and everything!! She started really crawling about 3 weeks ago (7 1/2 months), then just this past weekend she pulled herself to a standing position in her crib (and cried b/c she couldn't get down!) and now is going up the stairs (8 months)! She is into EVERYTHING and is loving it! It's a whole new world for her :) And mommy... I'm not used to shadowing someone like this anymore! Now we just have to teach the girls to keep little things off the ground and to shut the bathroom and basement doors.


This is the day Maya turned 8 months old... she was sick but that didn't keep her from trying to go up the stairs for the first time!


And just a week later... Success!! She made it up the stairs! She was so proud of herself! I was in the kitchen and came out to the living room and couldn't find her! She was sitting on the stairs giving me this goofy grin!


That proud, goofy grin I was mentioning above...


And one of the other awkward positions she gets herself into...


My roommate and friend from college, Anne, came to visit with her little girl Avery. Maya and Avery are only a month apart. It was fun to see them interact. They were both very intrigued by the other baby :) Avery's on the left, Maya's on the right.

Carving Pumpkins

I just realized I don't have very many pics of carving pumpkins :( Oh well, I'll try to make up for it on Halloween! Makenna was running a fever this day so we were happy to be doing anything at all. The girls love carving pumpkins. Maryn made hers with the tongue sticking out! How appropriate!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

We got a few brief hours of sunshine this past weekend so we decided to hit the pumpkin patch. It was a little cold, but the girls thoroughly enjoyed the hay bale maze and the very noisy cows. Makenna and Daddy also participated in the corn maze, which luckily Makenna always helps show Daddy the way out so he doesn't get lost ;)

Everything about Kroul's Pumpkin Farm is a tradition for us. Josh and I went here before we even had kids and we knew we would be back when we had kiddos. We have now been there 5 years in a row, every year since Makenna was 15 months old. It's great because even Makenna is starting to form memories of the place and remembers things from previous visits. I started off thinking that we would just go to a pumpkin patch closer to our house this year for convenience, but Josh tugged at my heart strings when he reminded me we wouldn't have all of our traditional pumpkin patch photos.


One of my favorite traditional pumpkin patch pictures... Daddy on the hay bales with his girls :)


Our other favorite pic... "How Tall This Fall" It's great to look back and compare pictures to see how much the girls have grown over the years!


Makenna - 5 years old


Maryn - 3 years old


Maya - 7 1/2 months old


Makenna and Maryn


The girls with their pumpkins. Maya was more interested in the grass than in taking pictures.

Fall Fun

Fall is the favorite season at our house, hands down! There are so many fun things to do in the fall! Here are two different fun fall activities the girls have participated in!!!

Now that Makenna is in elementary school she gets to participate in the week long Linn Mar Homecoming festivities. Each day they do something fun to dress up at school and celebrate. The photo below is from Mix, Match and Clash day - I think we got the clash part down pretty well :) She also got to participate in the Echo Hill Fun Run to raise money for her school. Each grade is given 30 minutes to participate and the encourage the kids to keep moving the whole time (walking, jogging, running, skipping, etc). Of course our kiddo decided to run the ENTIRE time (that's a lot for a 5 year old!). The next day she could barely walk when she got out of bed because her ankles were so sore!!! Now she understands how mommy and daddy feel after a long run!


Taking Maryn and Maya out for a morning run! This is my favorite time of year to do this with the girls. The leaves are gorgeous, the temperature is usually nice (although it's been a bit too cold this year) and Maryn loves to stop at the bench and enjoy the pond! On this particular morning the sky was extremely blue and there were lots of white, fluffy clouds in the sky. I asked Maryn if she knew who made the sky, clouds, trees, birds, and flowers. She shook her head and said "I don't know." I told her that God made all that stuff and she got this goofy grin on her face and said "Nooooo, Daddy did!" I tried, but I couldn't convince her otherwise :)

Sick Kiddo

The first round of illness for the season hit our house this weekend. Late Sunday afternoon Maryn started running a low-grade fever, has a cough, hoarse voice, chest congestion, and was extremely lethargic. Luckily it seems to only be a virus and she's already on the mend. She hasn't had a fever at all today, just the hoarse voice and cough. We're praying this ends quickly and doesn't spread to other members of our family.


Snuggling on Daddy always makes our little girls feel better...


One of the reasons why I think my kids actually like being sick.... they get to eat their meals in the living room on the tray!! Maryn thought this was extremely cool this morning when she got her breakfast this way. They also like the fact that they get to wear their jammies all day and watch more TV than is typically allowed :)

Maya's Crawling!

It's so hard to believe, but yesterday (7 1/2 months) our baby officially started crawling! She's been up on all fours for weeks now and scooting in various forms, but she finally got the hang of moving arms and legs at the same time. She was slow at it yesterday but then today she just took off! She made it all the way across the living room in one try to get a toy from me this morning! She also learned how to wave (the whole arm wave!) about a week and a half ago. The waves are few and far between, but once you get her startd she won't stop! Baby Maya you're getting so big!


Not fully realizing her crawling capabilities, yesterday I left her in the living room alone for a few minutes while I ran upstairs. I came back down and couldn't find her. Finally I hear some baby noises and low and behold... little Maya had made her way over to the laundry basket and managed to tip it over on top of herself! It looks like she's in baby jail!!! And of course like any good mom would do, I ran to get my camera before I let her out (don't worry, she wasn't upset about it!)!


Peekaboo Maya!


Free at last and ready to crawl some more!

Blessed!

We are so blessed to have these three!!! Thank you God! Words can not describe how grateful we are to be sharing in their lives! They bring such joy!

Apple Orchard - 2009

Last weekend we made our annual trip to the apple orchard. It was a quick trip this year, but the girls still had a blast. Makenna nicely reminded us to twist the apples from the tree and not pull them! I was very impressed that she remembered! The highlight this year was probably the goats. They liked "talking" back and forth with Daddy and the girls thought it was hilarious!

Pics from the apple orchard (don't mind my outfit... it was pre-workout)