SNOW!!

I can't stay up!


All I keep doing is falling down!


Me and Auntie taking a tour.

It is so bright out here, I am so glad mom remembered my shades!

I *heart* my new/used snow pants!

I can't put my arms up! Guess it is time for new snowpants!

I love you daddy!

I got a farm! Come on, cow, lets go play!

Mr Farmer, you are supposed to drive like this.

Oohhh, this turtle looks cool! Think I'll rip it off the tree like so...

What is all of this?

Cookies from a cookie exchange party we had.

Oh, I just love playing with baby Anijah.

Don't bother me, me and my giraffe are playing.

JUMP AROUND SUCKERS!

Mara enjoying her first sucker.


Mara in Daddy's rugby shorts.


Rachel's yummy cake!


Jump Around, our Saturday morning tradition. Mara seems to really like it, now. Before she was just annoyed with the loud music.


Attempt #1.


Now we got it down...


What a great sharer!! Yum Yum!

American Sign Language

Here is what Mara can sign and every day it grows:

Bear, lion, tiger, dog, horse, cow, duck, bird, alligator, turtle, frog, sheep, please, thank you, mommy, daddy, eat, drink, milk, more, all done, stand-up, sit-down, walk. She can say Mara, more, mine, dada, mama, all done and some other words that I haven't been able to ID yet. She can also identify her eyes, nose, ear, hair, mouth, teeth, fingers, toes and her bee-bo (belly button). We are working on helping her learn to dance and jump, but she has down a bob up and down when music comes on. She is doing very well on learning how to hold a crayon right (a product of her excellent daycare teachers) and loves to color and paint! She absolutely loves these plastic animals we got her (about the size of her palm) and goes everywhere with them. Unfortunately, at last count she had lost 10 of them because she loves to throw everything. And boy does she have an arm. Even her PT was very surprised by this! All in all, she is talking more and more every day and we couldn't be happier!!

Halloween

CUPCAKE!!


On her way to greet our neighbors.


Cute cupcake with a cherry on top!!

Painting and fun times

Here is our cheery little Mar-Bear when she gets up in the morning! With her favorite book, of course, The Belly Button Book!


Mara working on decorating her pumpkin. We decided to mix it up and paint our pumpkins, but the endless rain has kinda messed our pumpkins up. Oh well...


It's a family affair.

PIGGYS!

Ms. Smiley.

Having lots of laughs with Mommy.

Eye of the Tiger!

Mara ready for some painting for birthday cards. Believe it or not, the headwrap did get dirty with blue paint!

School Pictures

Samara's uber cute school pictures. I almost cried when I saw these because she looks so grown up!

The frenzy of the swim start of my last triathlon in Sept.

The sun rising before the first wave of pro's and elite went out.

Mara and Mommy before the race.

We visited the Wind Point Lighthouse (just a few miles north of us) one weekend to get some cool pictures and play around. Who knew it was so fun there!

Mara played with tunnels, slides, parachutes, balls, stairs, ladders and a whole bunch of other stuff at her first Gymboree class. It was so fun and affordable (one free class to everyone to try to suck you in to joining!) We will not be joining, though, unless we win the lottery. =)

18 MONTHS!!

Samara, aka Mar-Bear, had her 18 month check-up yesterday! Can you believe it? Where did the time go? Anyway, here are the stats:

Weight: 23 lbs. 4 oz. (50%, finally)
Height: 30.5" (short, 10-25%)

She had more shots, including the flu, and did OK. She was very hyper, tho, which was so funny to watch. She tore up as much of the examining table paper as she possibly could, then would stand up and march around on the paper. Her physical therapist was also very happy to see her yesterday almost running around the house, stooping, squating, going up and down stairs and what not. She is doing great! Now if only that speech stuff would catch up...We are anticipating that to catch up soon, since she can't really work on walking and speech at the same time yet.

We traveled to a nearby lighthouse on Sunday and had a great time taking pictures, playing with rocks and shells near the lake, and running around. I will post some pics, but not many cause we are hoping to use them for our Christmas cards. Yes, I am going to be the first one to get them out again this year! HA HA HA HA!

Video Update

Here is our manmade slide in our family room for Mara. Notice at the very end, when I ask if she wants more (to do it again) she signs more!! She knows a lot of signs now!

Here is the first part of a long water fight between Trav and Kameron at a family get together this summer.

Here's our Walker!!

This is follow up to a picture of the race course I posted a while back. Nice Nascar track, T-Nonn!

Alright, already!

Yes, I have heard the cries for some pics and video via Rachel and, rest assured, I am responding, slowly. The last part of August and Sept. have been very busy for us: School has started and that means my work hours are all over the place now, I started classes, the after school center I co-direct is back up and running, Trav was out of town for 2 weeks, we have a new roommate, and of course, there is Mara! Things have been crazy!!

Mara is doing awesome! Her PT and Speech ladies are really happy with her progress. She is walking/running everywhere now. She has some orthodics in her shoes to help correct some ankle/foot issues and this has helped tremendously in getting her to walk and feel more stable. One of the tubes in her ear has healed up so we are hoping that she can have the tubes replaced on 9/30, after two other tries in Aug. and early Sept. to have it done. The first time Mara was too sick to have the operation (temp was 105.6) and the second time there was a chance she had hand, foot, mouth. Last weekend we took her to Urgent Care on Sunday and she was started on antibiotics because of the strong possibility that she had the start of pneumonia. I am so glad we caught it early. I actually wasn't going to take her in that day cause I wanted to give the coughing one more day to go away. But as I laid in bed that morning wondering what to do, God totally spoke to me and said 'this could be pneumonia.' I didn't even think of this possibility before but I am so thankful that He is forever guiding this forgetful soul! But rest assured, she is doing great!!


We visited the Racine Zoo for the Taste of Racine. This is Mara in a bucket of a dozer.


Cool cat Mara with the baby calf at the zoo.


Mara, Mommy, and Auntie.

Mara waving to the Giraffe.

Check out the tonue on this giraffe. It was trying so hard to get some leaves!!

Rachel joined us at the zoo.

Family pic at the zoo.

Mara and Daddy in the Case Tractor.

Mara loves to walk around the house talking on her phone (remote).

Mara and I went to my company picnic while Trav was in LA and Rachel was home. She wasn't too impressed, but free food is nice!

The ladies at the picnic: L-R Rachel, Sara, Emily and Heidi.

Our new favorite player is #32 John Clay, from Racine. He is a sophomore running back, 6-4 275! We found his jersey and this became part of our pregame ritual of putting the Badger flag up, getting dressed in our Badger gear, and dancing to Jump Around!!

Mara terrorizing the house, with diaper in mid-flight! She really has an arm and throws everything. Promise, Dad, she will start Tee-ball as soon as she is old enough!!

Picture day at home.

Mara waving at the ducks that were quacking at her.

Mara pointing at the ducks.

Mara loves her Dora outfit (courtesy of Aunt Shelle).

Cutie PaTutie.

Mara loving her blueberries for breakfast!

Mara and Auntie Ray-Ray playing.