January

We've had a good month so far and have survived the frigid weather. It has been colder than we have ever remembered in Knoxville (in our 3.5 years here). We have actually convinced Maya to put a coat on in the past few weeks. She generally refuses to wear a coat and all of the people we see out and about look at me like I am a crazy mom. I just try to smile and move on. But now that the arctic air has moved in she has caved in. :)
We finally got enough snow to make a snowman on Tuesday. Maya was so excited. We swept the snow from the driveway into a pile and built our very own "Frosty". We barely had enough snow to build him, but we had a great time doing it and he has actually lasted for a few days. Maya named him Frosty. Right before we took the picture Maya accidentally wet her pants, but was a good sport to pose for a photo before we went in to take a bath. (notice the two toned pants).

Maya loves to make a bed on the floor and sleep next to her night light. We really don't care as long as she doesn't come out of her room. We often sneak downstairs late at night to look at the kids and usually have a pretty good laugh when we look in Maya's room.

I took Maya and Mason for a run the other day and they both ended up falling asleep. They have a good time together and generally get along well with each other.

We are trying to get our house in order to put it on the market. We took some pictures the other day and were amazed at how many little things you have to put away even if you don't think you have a cluttered house. We aren't moving until June, but are a little anxious with our slow economy, so we are trying to get an early start on selling. Any takers??

We signed Maya up for swimming lessons starting in February. She is really excited and we think she will do a great job. She loves the water and does pretty well with a noodle, but it will be nice for her to learn a few more skills.

Mason's a great little eater. He loves being able to feed himself and is pretty good at it. He always is so thrilled if he can get his hands on some of our metal silverware. He grips it, throws his head back and gives a big grin. He is starting to master a sippy cup, which we are excited about because we are looking forward to not buying formula after February (when he turns 1).

Maya is very into playing restaurant at meal time. She set up a little table for herself next to us one night. It is actually pretty helpful when we play because then she actually tells me what she wants for lunch and I don't have to guess. We love her fun imagination. She is a busy little girl, but brings us so much joy as her parents. Mason is a sweetheart and loves to snuggle and wrestle. He has such a happy disposition. He's doing really well cruising around the house and has started taking more steps. He'll take a few in a row and then decide it is just faster to crawl and off he goes.

I got this BYU shirt from a friend and was thrilled to teach the BYU cheer to Maya. B-Y-U Cougars!!! She is so cute when she says it. Brett humors me. :)

Brett and I have been trying to write down some of the funny things Maya says. Here are some of her latest ones

“Maya, do you want to read scriptures upstairs or downstairs?” Maya, “In my ladies chamber.”

“Brett, you are cheese.” “Why am I cheese?” “Because your shirt is yellow.” Sure enough, I was wearing a long sleeve yellow shirt.

Maya came upstairs after we put her to bed. She wanted her, “Blanket that is pink on one side and has white fluffles…”

“We have to wipe your nose Mason, because it gets so many boggers in it. Mason, you don’t know how to snuffle it back up.” 1/7/2009

All Maya’s friends have moved on to sunbeams and she came home after the first Sunday of the year sad because she missed all her friends. Jenny said, “Well, isn’t Lydia in there with you?” “Yea, Lydia says she’s big but she’s really little.” “Did you tell her she’s little?” “Yes, and she said that she was big, but she’s not.”

Jenny and Maya saw Brother Kenney (an older brother in the ward) in Walmart and after they passed Maya piped up, “Mom, that man’s really old. He’s gonna die soon.” “Yea, he is old but he’ll probably live awhile longer.” “Yea, but he’s really old.”

At the library Maya finally, after months of trying, was able to negotiate some metal balls up a maze with a magnetic stick. She yelled at Jenny, who was across the library selecting books, “Mom, I DID IT!” Jenny came over quickly and replied, “That is great, but let’s try to keep quiet.” Maya, “I was just so proud of myself I had to yell.”

1/12/2009

We were all walking into the YMCA on a busy Saturday morning. In the hall on the way to the child care, a mass of people came toward us after a class had ended. One was a large black man in a muscle shirt with short dread locks tied in a carrot top on top of his head. As he passed, Maya looked up and exclaimed in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, “Look mom, that guy has funny hair!” the man laughed and walked on. Jenny then took Maya to the bathroom before dropping her off. As she was sitting on the toilet she analyzed, “That guy is silly. He had a pony tail in his hair and boys don’t wear pony tails.”