Celebrate the B for Papa D

For his birthday, Anna and Mae made cookies for Papa D (with assistance from Mom).  They made hearts and balls and iced them. -T

It seems as if she has no interest to give these away

Anna's just glad to be there

That's what I thought...and Anna is still glad to be there

Mae and cake fire don't tend to go over so well

One last check to see if Mae's about to lose it

Atta girl...wayda keep your composure!  And Papa D loved the cookies!

Zoo Babies

Papa D and Grandma Weez wanted to take Mae to the zoo.  She absolutely loved it!  Still, over two months later, she still talks about it.  Mom got to go see her first zoo experience.  It was Anna's too, but she hasn't talked about it much since and we think she'll probably enjoy it more in another year or so.  What also made it even more fun were Aunt Mar and Cameron being there too.  We think this was the best day of Mae's life. -T

Anna is ready to go!

I believe this was the last time Anna was seen awake until after the zoo was over

The stroller won't be able to contain her much longer; Anna's stroller seems to be the perfect sleeping place.

Cameron was "adventurous" and rode the rhino; Mae wanted no part of it.  In her defense, Papa D wouldn't get on either

"Kea-kop"

Ridin' the train with Grandma Weez

All aboard

Oh she did wake up for a little bit I guess

And right back to sleep...the train must have rocked her to sleep again

Since everyone else was taking pictures, Mae used the light-up ring that Aunt Mar gave her as a camera.  Her first shot was of the "kea-kop."  Cameron later used his ring the same way.

Mae fell in love with penguins because of Mary Poppins; it was a thrill for her to see them for real - it was luck just to get her to turn around for this picture



"Papa D...this."  This is a story Mae still tells.  She says that line and then holds her hand out as if she is feeding the goats.



She loves animals...at a certain distance.

More picture taking by Mae and Cameron.

Mae the photographer

"Say Cheeeese!"

I wish we could see all these pictures she took

There is a wallaby on the other side of this glass, but the excitement shown here is for the ball she sees in the corner.  That's our girl!

The adults wanted pictures of the kids' faces with the animals.  You try getting young kids to look away from the animals for a picture. 

Yup...that's our Anna.

The monkies were SOOO loud that Mae thought Anna was in the trees.  Not really, but the monkies were "SOOOOOOOO LOUD" (-Lindsey).  And Anna is loud too.

Grandma Weez pointing out the bears

"Pole-uh Bahr!!"

This picture doesn't seem right.

Again, animals from a distance.  She loves the carousel in Mary Poppins, but didn't have any desire to do it herself.

One story not pictured is when Papa D clapped to get the gorilla out from behind the tree.  We hear this story a lot too: "Goalla.  This."  And then she claps.  It was a very memorable day for all and I enjoyed hearing all the stories...and still do.  

Praying She's a Good Influence

So everyone wants their kid to be the influencer and not the influencee, and if they do influence others hopefully they are an influence for good.  Well, maybe this was a little taste of what Mae will grow up into as we saw maybe a good sign for the future.  Mae's neighbor friends Addy and Carly came over for a "picnic."  That's when Mae wanted to stick with the routine. -T
Thanks for the quilt that doubles as the perfect picnic blanket, Grandma Great! -L

Mae: Okayyy...who's turn is it?

"Uh Mom?  They just started eating."

"Okay girls, we need to bless it."

She said a very nice prayer

Very animated as usual

"Okay NOW we can eat!"  Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention King Louie joined the picnic as well.

Biker Chick

We got Mae a bike.  She was ultra excited and sometimes she put some unwanted pressure on me to get it put together.  In fact, she started riding it before I even put the seat on it.  Good thing it wasn't an big kid bike. -T

We temporarily distracted her by making her shuck corn

Ummm, Mae dear, it has no seat, Sweetheart!

She's a biker chick...of course her hair is going to look like that after a ride in the wind

We're Cute, We're Sisters, and We Like It

At least Dad's not the only one that has "Uh oh's" in his nose

It's Mae and her balding old man of a little sister

Can we get just ONE picture where one of you isn't making a face?

How 'bout where ONE of you is at least looking at the camera?

This will have to do

And they're done.

Slides: An Adventure Mae WILL Do

So, we found something adventurous Mae WILL do - she will go down slides.  As long as they don't have water shooting down them I guess.  We bought a slide.  She loves to go down it, which isn't much, but she also loves go on her own at parks which we consider to being a little adventurous. Anna likes to watch.  The bigger slides though, she still lets her cousins assist her down those.  -T

Very excited!

Playing with her new toy

Her first ride down

And it looks like she's either bored with it already or annoyed with Dad for it taking so long to finish

Pepe' (Morgan) loves to take her down

Somersaults down the slide?

No, just regular sliding for now