Tea Party Girl

Here's Maya throwing a tea party for me! I am such a lucky girl! Isn't she a gorgeous little barista?
Maya has had a wonderful time this week playing with her cousins from Minneapolis! Jack is 6 now and Eli is one month older than Maya. Here they all are modeling their winter hats and attempting to sit still.

Santa brought Maya her baby cow

Earlier this month we were explaining to Maya that we would be taking her to see Santa and she would be able to ask him for a toy or present that he would then bring her on Christmas. I asked her what she thought she would ask him for and she said, "baby cow". Well, Santa did not let her down (via a distributor out of Vermont!) Here she is showing baby cow the snow.
And here baby cow is receiving a phone call on Maya's new phone from Aunt Ruth and Uncle Don (who we have a sneaking suspicion are both pretty tight with Santa).

We have had a busy Christmas week with the Dailey's here from Minneapolis. I will have to put up pictures of Maya with her cousins in the next few days. We had a great Christmas and Maya had a blast! She has yet to realize that once you open a present, it's time to move on to another. She took the time to enjoy each present slowly. She even had a coloring break after her stocking, not realizing that the presents under the tree were waiting. I'm guessing we won't have that moment repeat itself next year! It was sweet. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

From Maya

What should I ask Santa for anyhow?

Helping put the final star on the tree!

Click here for a Christmas greeting from Maya:

Remembering last Christmas...

Here is a picture of Maya last Christmas Eve.

A year ago Maya was crawling around the tree. It is amazing to see what she has accomplished in one year. Mark and I are enjoying helping Maya understand the many traditions and things that go along with Christmas this year. She has learned many sentences in the last month. One sentence, inspired by the Christmas display at the store, "I Like!"

She is so animated as she responds to the lights, decorations, and music that go along with the holidays. She had her first cup of hot chocolate yesterday and LOVED it to say the least! Today, we set up our tree and wouldn't you know Santa has already popped over?! He dropped off a copy of "A Night Before Christmas" so Maya could learn all about what he'll be up to on Christmas Eve! She has been playing with our nativity scene quite a bit as well. Baby Jesus, aka "JC" according to Maya, has gone missing but we're sure he'll show up by the time his birthday arrives.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy the holiday season and all the celebrations that come along with this time of year!

Snow day!

Snow Ball

I made myself a snow ball as perfect as could be
I thought I'd keep it as a pet and let it sleep with me
I made it some pajamas and a pillow for it's head
Then, last night it ran away
But first -- it wet the bed.

Shel Silverstein

Tootsie Rolls at Bedtime: Happy Halloween!

Here she is, Princess Maya, after a busy night of trick or treating for the very first time! The evening began with a tantrum. I had purchased her costume last year after Halloween on clearance, thinking princess was a safe bet for any little girl. She tried the costume on this week and LOVED it.

This brings us to the big day. After dinner Mark began doing the dishes (he rocks) and I took Maya into her room to get her all princessed up. She freaked out. Cried as if I was torturing her. I set her free from the changing table and she ran into the living room and began to read a book while sniffling and taking very deep breaths. At this point, she was wearing a turtleneck and leggings with pumpkin socks (the under-the-princess-dress attire.) It took us about 10 minutes of selling to convince her this dress was a good idea. Then, Mark had the genius plan to tie her tiara to her little bun. She was warming up to the experience. We scurried out the door and to the neighbor's (which is 3 feet from ours.) The neighbor answered the door with a bag of M&M's and trick or treating was off to a successful start! Maya told everyone "Happy Ween" and blew kisses to most candy givers. After raking it in on our block we headed over to Nana and Grandpa's to borrow the wagon. She had so much fun! She very RARELY has candy, so this whole thing was a big deal. At one point a preschool girl dressed as a lion came over to Maya's wagon and took a piece of Maya's candy. Maya didn't care a bit; she was so mesmerized by the big girl. I secretly wished the little lion would have taken more of her candy.... Around 7:30 she was getting heavy eyes. She had eaten one pack of fruit snacks and part of a tootsie roll. We went back to my parent's house and she told Nana all about her adventure. She tried to share her candy with the dog. Then, we headed home. She rocked to sleep with Grandpa as Mark and I headed out to a Halloween party. It was quite a magical night for her. Next year it may not take as much convincing to get her in a costume; I better head over to Wal-mart clearance today!

Catch ya later!

Here's Maya trying to run off with Nana's shoes! She digs trying to tell us all "bye-bye" and then pretending to head out to the "tore". She is usually running out for some "juice" or "doodles" (noodles).

Maya has been busy starting potty training these days. She is not completely sold on the idea every time, but does like to work on it a couple of times a day. We are hoping to be done around her 2nd birthday. At this rate, I think we're off to an excellent start! We have a special potty book we read in the bathroom and sometimes she gets to watch an Elmo DVD about the potty.

This week we also discovered a large set of Curious George books at our library. There are enough there to get one a week all year long. Maya could read about George all day!

Mark and I are busy with school. Mark is a full-time grad student as well as a substitute teacher. As H1N1 hit our area this week, his phone is ringing off the hook. So, he has plenty of sub. jobs, but we are hoping he can stay healthy! Time flies and in 2 months Mark will be student teaching and beginning to look for a job for next fall. I will then have about 1.5 years of school left depending on what I can take this summer. Maya continues to adore her babysitter and we couldn't be happier about her care!

Hoping and praying that everyone stays healthy and safe!

Billings Zoo Day

Saying hello to Big Jake!













Please Daddy can I go live with the otters???

Insurance Company Tells Woman to Get Sterilized

Insurance Company Tells Woman to Get Sterilized

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Recipes from a person who has burned Macaroni and cheese (more than once)

Alright, I am a ridiculously lazy cook. I like things that are easy and quick and somehow still get me big compliments. This rarely works out for me. I have recently found a few excellent recipes that I thought I would share (even though I'm sure you all have much more skill flipping a pancake!) Still, if you want to have a full-belly and some free time here ya go:

Joy the Baker's awesome Pumpkin Pie Bars
Autumn Pear Bread
Tuscan Soup
Chickpea Curry
Easy Oatmeal muffins (I add applesauce instead of oil and also added a bit of cinnamon and orange peel to add a little something to these! Very easy base recipe for any muffin type.)

Pumpkin Patch Kid

Here's our little girl farming away at the Johnson's farm on Saturday! She had so much fun picking pumpkins and laughing at the chickens! She got to meet a black cat named Junie and worked really hard shoveling gravel. The pumpkin patch always feels like the beginning of the holiday season! Time to decorate some pumpkins and have a big cup of cider!

My Grandma: Gert Van Roekel

My Grandma, Gert Van Roekel, looked just like Shirley Temple as a child.

I remember on the day before my wedding I spoke with her on the phone. I was telling her that I was nervous to meet so many of my husband's relatives. I explained to her that I was nervous they might not like me. She paused and responded in disbelief, "Why would anyone dislike you?" She was being genuine. She truly found it impossible that anyone could find a problem with me. I assure you many people have found problem with me (hopefully not my husband's relatives!) But, nonetheless what comfort and encouragement to find someone that finds the fact that I could possibly be disliked to be unthinkable. She adored her children, grandchildren, and the growing crowd of great-grandchildren. She put family first and it would not make sense to her to do otherwise.

Grandma passed away today after struggling for quite some time with various medical problems and quite a bit of pain. She is finally in no more pain. I pray that we all can leave such a beautiful legacy of loved ones-who KNOW they are LOVED ones.

I will try to match her example of love as I am quite sure my cookies will never come close.

Red Lodge Summer trips

Follow up on "Change is in the air"

Just to catch you up:

My mom's surgery went great! She is in pain, of course, but doing actually quite well! My sister came out from MN this week and we had a blast cooking up some food for Mom and Dad's freezer! She also had the master plan to plant my mom's fall mum pots for her and all sort's of other wonderful things to help out! Mom will have weeks of recovery (if not month's), but we are so excited to see how well she is doing!

Everything is set for fall for school for both Mark and I. Mark will be substitute teaching at a number of area school districts (and networking because people immediately love him!) He will also be taking 3 classes this fall and then student teaching in the spring. He will be certified to teach next fall and very soon after that have his Master's complete!

I will be going to school full-time for Elem. Ed/Early Childhood. I am taking 18 credits, which I am nervous about, but I'd like to go for it! I have 2.5 to 3 years left depending on how I do as a student/mom :) It's handy that Maya will be demonstrating the very subject I"m studying for me!

Maya did not make the cut for the University daycare. The Montana Health Dept. would not allow Maya to attend daycare with her vaccine schedule the way we have set it. They provided a compromise (that was actually, in fact, a dance around way of NOT compromising...loveliness). We decided that we would not bend on our convictions. I have found a wonderful woman who has her Education degree and stays home currently with her own 3 children. She will take Maya for me while I am in class! She will give her breakfast, snacks and lunch. She does preschool activities with the children and takes them to the park! Maya will be with Joni on Monday and Wednesday. I will have her Tuesdays and Thursdays and she will have Daddy day on Fridays! I am actually much more excited about this option and glad it seems to be working out for the best! I am sorry that Montana is not more open, but we have found a wonderful solution and I am so glad to have it figured out!

Foodie baby

Maya has always had a love for food (especially fruit). She could care less about french fries (I know, she is so super cool)! She also hesitates at green beans and broccoli. Otherwise, you can throw pretty much anything at this kid and she'll chow down.

I also noticed the other day that she has no idea what that very identifiable sound of an opening candy wrapper is all about. Most kids hear that crinkle and come running, but not Maya! She has had candy, but very little and SO rarely, that she doesn't respond to that familiar sound! I wish I didn't!

She has been a sponge lately! I have been working on my own sign language skills and then showing her. She knows the signs for : more, all done, thank you, please, help, bear, dog, cat, flower, Aunt, and water. She may be attempting others, it is sometimes hard to say! She also recognizes her name spelled in sign.

I can tell keeping up with this kid will only get more fun and become a greater challenge!

Ruth and Don's Wedding

We headed to Vermont last Thursday for Ruth (Mark's sister) and Don's wedding! They were married on Saturday and it was beautiful!

Maya did much better than I expected on the flights. We had three flights to get out there. We handled it with a Kelty carrier given to us from a friend, cookies, and a portable DVD player with Curious George! We had to run to catch our plane in Salt Lake, Maya cheered the entire time we ran through the airport!

In Vermont we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast, relaxed with family and enjoyed the small and beautiful wedding! Maya ran around barefoot in the grass and had a blast.

I had never been to New England. The towns were very cute with hills full of trees and old buildings. I really enjoyed the fact that Vermont doesn't allow billboards and also has very few big box stores and chains. There is something very peaceful about the whole thing. We went to Burlington on Sunday and hung out on Church St. where there are many very talented street performers (and a Ben and Jerry's scoop shop!)

Our return home was the hard part as we got to NYC and had to run to another terminal for our next flight. This involved going outside, crossing a parking lot packed with taxis, and going through security all over again. Then, we loaded the plane only to end up sitting on the runway for over 4 hours. We did end up in Minneapolis Monday night. We slept at my sister's place for a few hours (thank God they live there!!) and went back to the airport Tuesday morning to catch an early flight (through Denver) home. I would be lying if I told you Maya fell apart (she rocked), but I almost did! We got our luggage finally today and all is finally good!

The trip home was insane, but we had so much fun with Mark's family and especially enjoyed the chance to get to know Ruth's husband, Don, a bit more as we had only met him for a few days last summer. Maya adores him! Congrats to Ruth and Don!!!

p.s. We are thinking next time we take 2 weeks and drive out pulling a camper! We would have no one to blame but ourselves if we got stranded!!!

Playing

I will not play at tug o'war.
I'd rather play at hug o'war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

Shel Silverstein

Change is in the air

Mark has headed back to grad school to finish his teacher's cert. and Master's degree. I am heading back to school in the fall to pursue a Bachelor's in Elem. Ed/Early Childhood. So, we are in constant preparation of change these days.

One of the things we are working to figure out is childcare for our girl. I have a constant inner battle going about this (the "mommy wars" I understand this battle to be called when it unfolds in social settings, working mom vs. stay-at-home mom.) My mom is unable to watch Maya for a while as she is having surgery in August and will be recovering for many months (weeks we hope though!). She was diagnosed with Chiari a couple of months ago and I would love to tell you what it is, but I am terrible at explaining it so you can read about it from Mayo Clinic here. Please pray for her. Her surgery is scheduled to be on August 14th.

We are meeting our new pediatrician today and will be finding out if she is on board with our chosen Vaccine schedule (which decides whether or not traditional daycare will take Maya via paperwork from the Dr.) We are non-traditional on the matter and we have found that the state of Montana is not nearly as freeing as Wisconsin. I firmly believe that it is an issue that is best dealt with doctor and parent together individualized for each child. But, the state of good ol' Montana says that any child in a licensed daycare facility in MT must be COMPLETELY vaccinated. So, I will keep you posted. We have done piles of research and hope to come to some sort of compromise here...ugh.

Anyway, these are just a couple of the major changes moving forward in our lives right now. I hope all of you are finding adventure and joy in the summer months.

Going green in a girlie way!

I'm currently reading "Gorgeously Green" by Sophie Uliano and finding it light, fun and very informative! If you're looking for a fun way to expand your knowledge on living in an environmentally friendly way, check it out! You can also just browse around on the website for some fun facts and products:

www.gorgeouslygreen.com

Have a fabulous weekend!

This lady can seriously quote Grease...

Dear Readers (aka Mom),

My beloved friend Jen is a mom-blogger who goes above and beyond the basic "inform your relatives about how cute your kid is" stuff. She is actually pretty hilarious and I love it! On Mondays she writes creative ways to add praying for your kids/families into your day to day life. The rest of her blogs just make me laugh and daydream about the day Maya might be old enough to say the awesome things her Samuel comes up with!

Check it out! All Things Henderson

Pancakes, Engines, and Dirt

Maya had an excellent Fourth of July...well, for the most part! Sleepover at the grandparent's, pancakes, trains, firetrucks, a parade, banana popsicle, bbq, nap, gardening...whew!!! It was a lot for one little girl!

She had a great time with all of the day's activities! We put her to bed around 7 and then woke her about 9 to head over to the park for the fireworks. Last year she slept through the fireworks. This year, she screamed. She was so scared, so Mark carried her home where she practically begged to be put back to bed. Poor girl! Hopefully next year she will feel less afraid!

Maya's little pool

This weekend I went out of town for a wedding and Maya stayed home with Mark. They had a lot of fun! Mark took her out for ice cream, bought this little pool and even styled her hair! I missed them both a lot, but I'm glad they had awesome daddy/daughter time!

She has also been adding to her vocabulary quite a bit lately. She can now say: hi, hat, hot, duck, truck, eye, "I", no (nay nay), Mom, Da, Nana, dog, toe...and maybe a few more that I have yet to decipher. She can also do some sign language! It is blowing my mind to see how much she absorbs new experiences and how many new things she is learning each day!

If anyone is interested in a pool party, we've got the sippies and the duckies!

Summertime

Here is Maya by a coffee shop in Spearfish, SD. Maya and I went on a roadtrip with my dad and my nephew Jack to Iowa. We visited my grandparents and family there.

Maya did so awesome in the car! I was way impressed! She loved having Jack in the car on the way out. If you see Jack, make sure to ask him about being pulled over by the policeman :)

Erin came and picked Jack up in Iowa to take him back to Minneapolis, so the trip back wasn't quite as exciting for Maya. Still, she had fun eating at Culver's and visiting parks in South Dakota. She also found a new love for large trucks!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

Forest Service Cabin

The Cabin










John and Mark with 2 sleeping babies after our "hike" :)









Maya and I relaxing on the cabin porch










Jack ready to explore!





Maya loves to be on Daddy's shoulder's! Best seat in the house!

Hanging with the cousins

Here's Maya with her cousin Eli and Uncle John! The Dailey's are here for the week and we are having a blast with them! Maya and Eli continue to bond as they are only one month apart. Jack, Eli's big brother, is 5 years old and Maya loves to try to keep up with him and see the amazing big boy things he can do! These days she is on the verge of running and I'm telling you it is a lot to keep up with!!! Hope everyone has a lovely Memorial Day weekend!

Week #3 of swimming went very well!

Maya has been having a lot more fun swimming the last couple of Saturdays! She has yet to relax enough to float. She gets very tense and flexes every muscle if we try to let her go. She is getting there though. She loves to float on this mat and chase after pink duckies!

Pink Ducky

One of the few moments Maya wasn't crying....

Baby swim lessons

Maya and Daddy getting ready for her first time swimming!