Officially a Toddler

I was watching Maura run around the backyard yesterday and realized she's officially a toddler now.  She is a little ball of energy and always seems to be running, spinning or jumping.  When Maura does slow down, one of her favorite things to do is to crawl up on your lap with a book to read.  Her favorite right now, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.

Will nod her head yes or no, it cracks me up some of the "conversations" I have with her.  Likes to call Aaron mommy with a smile on her face just to get a reaction.  Here is her list of words:

mommy    daddy

danny      gama

bapa (Grandpa Bob)

bottle      juice

cheese (for a picture or to eat)

bubbles

shoes

please     tank u

berry

no    mine

bye

walk

stair     up

baby

book   bird

clap

And some videos:

And more pictures:

Is It Spring Yet?

Some pictures from the last couple of months:  

Danny's Birthday

Maura enjoying Danny's cupcakes.  He wanted chocolate with cream cheese icing

Legoland and Danny's super cool race car

First bike ride

We enjoyed the nice weather when it was here.  Both kids love to be outside, the only way to get them back in the house is if they are hungry.

We also had to enjoy a lot of time inside this spring, due to the not so great weather.  Think we made the best of it...

Easter

Just did a post about snow, so logically the next one should be about spring. We had a busy Easter weekend,  with both sides of the family.  Danny and Maura both loved getting extra attention from grandparents, aunts and uncles.  They especially loved getting to play with cousins!

 

Easter Egg Races

 

Easter Morning.  Danny and Maura would not stand still, maybe the Easter Bunny gave them too many jellybeans.

 

Easter Egg Hunt

Snow Days

It's technically not winter anymore, but I'm not sure anyone told Mother Nature.  Another dreary day, so I decided to catch up a with the blog and post some pictures from the snow storms earlier this year.  Maura wasn't sure what to make of the snow.  Danny loves it and would have stayed outside all day.

Getting ready

King of the Snow Mountain

Eating snow

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

December was a little hectic for us.  Between finishing the basement, fighting the flu and having 2 very excited/Santa crazy kiddos, we didn't have much down time.

Danny "got" Christmas this year.  He made a list for Santa and surprised us by asking for a railroad.  Every day he would move the figures in the manger, most of the time all of the figures were shoved inside taking cover from storms.  Maura loved getting into all of the decorations and started saying tree.  She also loves Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, her head starts bobbing anytime someone sings it.

Decorating the tree

Making cookies

Look I got another ornament

Christmas Eve

Checking out the loot Christmas morning

Hard at work on New Year's Day

Time flies

I can't believe it is almost Christmas!  We had such a busy fall, thought I would do a little update

Happy Halloween from Mario Danny

and the Princess

Guess know what...Danny still loves cars, trains and dinosaurs.  He has been wanting to do more coloring and art projects since starting preschool.  Still not a fan of peanut butter, but is always willing to try new food.  Loves to eat at the crab rangoon restaurant.

Danny's first KU football game, loves nachos!!

Maura went from cruising the furniture to walking to running in about a week.  She is constantly on the go, keeping Aaron and I busy.  Will nod her head yes if she wants something and babbles all the time.  Still our happy little snuggle bug, especially the snuggle part since she is getting molars.

Happy Birthday Maura!!

Loving her birthday cupcake!

What is this thing in my hair?

We've started finishing our basement, hopefully it will be done in time for the Super Bowl party.  Aaron went to Vegas for a guys weekend and I got to go to Rome to babysit my adorable niece Olivia.

Road Trips

Some people may think it's a little crazy, but Aaron and I love to go on road trips.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes a plane is the way to go, but there is just something about getting to see the country that makes 8 hour days in the car with 2 kids worth it.

Our first road trip this summer was to El Paso for Olivia's baptism.  We spent a couple of days in Dallas before heading across Texas to El Paso.  Not sure I need to drive across Texas again, but we had a lot of fun seeing the sights and hanging out with family.

The kid loves animal style

In N Out Burger

Maura's First French Fry

Fort Worth Stockyards

Ikea!!!!

My goddaughter Oliva

White Sands National Park

White Sands

Our second road trip of the summer was to Destin, Florida.  We got the chance to spend a week at a beach house with our friends the LaBarges.  Surf, sand, good friends, a little thing called Hurricane Issac.  We can cross being in a hurricane off our bucket list, even though the worst we had was a power outage one night and closed beach for a couple of days.

Our first day at the beach, Maura loves the water.

Danny had a great time building sand castles,
then "smooshing" them

View from the balcony, Hurricane Issac rolling in

Beach next morning, water had gone right up to the houses

Back on the beach

Look at me...

Maura went from doing the worm to crawling to standing all within about 3 weeks, so I figure tomorrow she'll start walking.  Sorry about the shaking and high pitched voice on the video.  Who else hates how they sound when recorded?