Merry Christmas!

And a Happy New Year

Happy Anniversary

Patrick and I were married 6 years ago. The best years of my life for sure. Happy Anniversary babe! Thanks for sticking around.

Catch Up for December

I have a bunch of posts I'm cramming into one. Once I've caught up I'll be taking time off from blogging to relax with my family.

We went to a cookie decorating party. Maggie loved the mini M&M's.

I went to dinner with a bunch of friends to celebrate the upcoming babies due in January (the two women in front--Sasha and Vicki). Can't wait to meet the new little ones.

Micaela and I went shopping. I gave our kids some hats to keep them entertained.

Went to our last Tumble Bugs class (I've got a great video to share soon).

Maggie was very naughty and could not keep her hands off the decorations.

Attended the last Discovery Days of the year. She made LOTS of Christmas stuff.

The Longmont Museum has this train that Maggie simply must see every time we go.

She's developing the funniest sense of humor.

I finally relented and bought her some scissors.

Patrick's boss came through with the Harry & David pears! So good...

We visited our local mall for some Santa time and a ride on the train.

Coloring:

I made my first batch of homemade play dough:

One Year

My brother Brian passed away on my birthday, December first, one year ago. I miss him terribly. I have finally managed to get the slide show from his funeral online. What a year full of emotions it has been! Thank goodness for quiet moments alone to shed a tear (or driving around doing errands--thank goodness for sunglasses to hide behind). I wonder when the tears will stop and then immediately wish they never will. I don't want to ever forget or lose his image in my head.

Today would have been his 44th birthday. Happy Birthday Bri!

Things I Want Recorded

Maggie sings. A lot. The other day she was singing to her letters in the tub (those rubbery things that stick to the side of the tub) stacked 6 high and being rocked in her arms like a baby. "Rock-a-bye letters, on the tree top. When the wind blows the cradle will rock. When the bow breaks the cradle will fall and down will come....letters, cradle and all!" That's exactly how she sang it with the pause for thought at the end. She then carefully laid the letters in the tub as it was draining and said, "night-night letters".

Mail Time. She loves to get the mail and held up a big pile of envelopes at me and said our last name! I told her we were all named that. Driving around a day later she said, "Daddy's a McCarty, Mommy's a McCarty, and Maggie's a McCarty".

During one of her nap times we sat listening to her play through the monitor. After a while it went quiet and she seemed to have settled. I want up to her room to see her sleeping. I walked in to see her bed/toys in complete disarray. I walked slowly and quietly up to her bed trying to figure out where her tiny little body had finally curled up and fallen asleep. As I got closer confusion set in because I couldn't find her! All of a sudden I hear, "I wear these shoes tomorrow?" coming from the closet. She was wearing one pair and holding another (way too small) pair in her hands. Ok. No nap today.

Maggie was a little congested so I brought out her humidifier and had to scrunch everything else on her dresser over--essentially hiding her little CD player. She was sitting on my lap asking questions about the humidifier and then realized something wasn't visible. She asked, "Where'd the singing TV go?".

Since we didn't get into Terrific Two's this month we decided on Tumble Bugs instead. I figured Maggie could use the practice in the large motor skills department anyway. She really loves this one too! Just imagine a tiny obstacle course of jumping, running through hoops, sliding, summer saulting, etc. Then onto circle time of songs (with lots of actions), funny stretches, and movements. They also do some floor mat time with a few yoga poses disguised as "cat arching", "snake squirming", "doggy". Maggie's favorite, though, is always the big colorful parachute. Now I want to do both classes come January but that might be too darn much. Should I already be overbooking my child like this?

Does This Actually Look Comfortable?

How do kids find positions like this comfortable? She can sit like this for huge chunks of time.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

I was in charge of making 3 dozen cookies for our church Christmas dinner. I made 3 different varieties but thought Maggie would really appreciate the peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kiss on top. I pulled on off the cooling rack and handed it to her with great anticipation. She proceeded to tip it on its side and eat the chocolate kiss off the top. She then turned it back and handed me the rest of the cookie, requesting "more chocolate". She doesn't quite yet appreciate the greatness of this cookie. She will one day. She will.

Dunno...Misc Photos

Holding Hands

My friend, Vicki, snapped this photo of us at our local park. I never get to really see us like that since I'm usually the one taking pictures. I love it.

What Can I Say? We Love Discovery Days

Another Tuesday, another discovery days. We love this. She's really getting good with the play dough--using various "tools" to create.

And she's using many more colors and in more precise ways when painting her masterpieces.

She Loves Her Pancakes

One day I came down for breakfast (our usual soy and fruit shake Patrick makes) and found my lovely husband making pancakes. Maggie was in heaven. So was I.

Birthday Celebrations

Last Monday was my 33rd birthday. Patrick really outdid himself this year in an effort to make the day really special (and, I know, to keep my mind off the one year anniversary of my brother's passing). I woke up to flowers, balloons, candy, and a couple celebrity mags. He had also been working with my sister, Julie, on getting me some knitting supplies (everything I needed to make my first cable knit project). He also bought me Photoshop. Yes! Hopefully you'll see the photos on this blog improve as I learn the software.

Patrick also took the day off and took his family to the zoo. We had SO much fun! It was overcast and only 50 degrees out so we practically had the entire place to ourselves. It was perfect.

Waiting to go in:

The elephants:

Carousel:

Polar Bear:

Fishy:

She loved the reptiles:

Naughty, Naughty

I had a pristine white box (to house a gift for our church Christmas party). Maggie decided to color on it. Ok...so mine will be obvious mixed in with all the other perfect white boxes. Doesn't she look contrite?

Always With Her Daddy

she still follows him around like a little puppy dog.

"I Am A Child Of God" Maggie Sings

Caught on Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We kept ourselves pretty busy over this extended weekend. Mostly busy with nothing but laziness. Good stuff. We stayed in Longmont and were lucky enough to be invited to our neighbors for dinner. I had already ordered our free range organic turkey so we ended up having a second dinner on Saturday with just us. So nice. So much food.

The turkey hat from Discovery Days, again:

A hand print turkey from daycare:

After our big fat dinner at the Hartmans:

Friday we headed out to get our Christmas tree. This was our way of getting our season started with enough time to actually enjoy it and avoiding Black Friday nightmare shopping.

Maggie was most interested in this tiny wire tree with little LED lights on it. She put a few ornaments on it and carried it around.

She keeps calling the big tree "her" tree with "all the toys on it". So far she's nearly destroyed a couple of my childhood ornaments as she tries to play with those "toys". This is going to be a very interesting holiday season. I have to go back to watching her like a hawk.