We've been busy trying to get the pool in.......Maya's ready!

Happy Labor Day!

Favorite Foto Friday, errr Sunday - Black and White

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This is our "welcome home, maya" montage.
(to stop double music, go to bottom/last post and stop the playlist music)

FRESH PEACH SHAKES !!!

It's a tradition.......every year, around this time, the Port Drive-In has fresh peach shakes. Yummmmmmmy ! We stopped in for dinner, corn-dogs and peach shakes, ahhhhhhhh. This is rumored to be the only drive-in restaurant in Indiana (for youngsters, a drive in is where you pull up to a parking place under a carport-type roof, you order into a scratchy speaker and a server-sometimes a girl on roller skates-brings your food on a tray that hooks onto your halfway up window and you eat in your car).

Ahhhh.....how old are you Maya? TWO years old.

Ahhhhh, life with a two year old......lest anyone think that Maya is an aberration or the perfect child......let me describe my morning with this VERY typical two year old.
"Maya, the hibisicus are thirsty, let's go water them"
"Okay, mommy, later"
"But they are very thirsty, Maya, let's go now"
"I NEED my shoes"
Mommy finds her shoes
"NO, I NEED my flip flops"
Mommy searches and finds flip flops
Maya starts taking off her socks, Mommy starts to help
"NO, I do it MYSELF"
Mommy backs off....step away from the two year old, trouble is a brewin"....
"OWWWWWW" Oh, my gosh, "What's wrong, sweetie?"
"There's SAAAAANNNNNDDDDD on my flip flops, OWWWWW!"
This from the child who spends hours in the sandbox, walks barefoot on the sand covered deck, but okay, I play along and wipe off the flip flop.
"OWWWWWW" "What's wrong?" (no sweetie, this time!)
"There's still SAAAAANNNNNNDDDDDD, OWWWWWW!"
With a scream that sounds like I am using torture on this child.
Wipe off flip flop and repeat.
"Okay, Maya, enough, you are going to put your socks back on and wear your light up shoes."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
Now, it's about twenty minutes later (it takes literally two minutes to water the hibiscus). I give up and just go do it, as the dogs in the neighborhood gather because Maya is doing the scream that is so high pitched, the dogs think it's for them. I can't hear them howl however, because my hearing cut out at the "NOOOOOOOOOOO".
Whew! I decide it's better to laugh than cry and even the wild child has to crack a smile, against her better judgement but nonetheless a smile. Whew!

Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

Today was Stephanie's Sweet Sixteen Party!

Happy Birthday!

Jungle Book

It's been a busy weekend, and it's not even over yet!

We went to Red Robin for burgers and then to see Jungle Book with our friends Bill and Dianne and three of their grandchildren, Paige, Mia, and Rylan. Maya was captivated by the play - for the first half anyway. At intermission, we decided to quit while we were ahead :)

The last picture is Maya and Grandpa, showing off their catch, after their big fishing adventure. What? You say that you don't see any fish? How can that be? Must be a camera malfunction........

Favorite Foto Friday - Friends with Stuffing

Lamby is the hands-down bff (with stuffing).

Thank you Terri !!!

Just need to say this, I am so lucky to have a friend like you. I appreciate everything you do and everything you are!

Maya's Wild Adventure

Got your attention? Oops.....we just went to the zoo......

Maya had BIG fun at the South Bend Pottawatomi Zoo today. Besides seeing all kinds of animals, there was a beautiful butterfly garden and train ride! The gift shop was even fun and we might end up with the zoo "burella" being one of the favorite toys of the year.

I LOVE Painting

Summer Equals Ice Cream

Hmmmm, pictures say it all.

Chesterton European Market

Every Saturday, there is a market in downtown Chesterton. We saw our good friend, Stephanie. Nora and our French chef weren't there, but we did sample the crepes and a new crepe restaurant has opened in Valpo - mommy's in heaven :) Very good music had Maya dancing and dancing!

Favorite Foto Friday - Back to School

I'm too little to go to school, but Mommy thought this cartoon was funny so I told her to use it for Favorite Foto Friday - Maya.

Face Painting

Our favorite family restaurant, where Maya is well-known and loved, had a girl clown, named Snickers, come to entertain. This was the first time Maya has ever seen a clown, outside of a book or television. Although, Caillou and Rosie had paved the way with an episode showing Caillou convincing Rosie not to be afraid of clowns.

Snickers made a balloon pink kitty cat for Maya ( who later popped it when we were playing "red-light" outside - ouch! ). Snickers also did some pretty face - painting. Even Grandpa, Daddy and Mommy, had their noses painted. Grandma retained her dignity, hahaha. What joy this Maya baby has brought to our lives :), thank you Lord for this delightfully precious child!

Such a nice evening!

Uncle Julius and Aunt Marge came over for dinner tonight. Wayne made deeeeeelicious stuffed peppers with peppers from his garden. Then we went out on the deck and toasted "mashmo's". It was so nice to spend time with some of our favorite people on such a beautiful evening.

Puppy Love

Our neighbors, the Browns, came over last night for dinner and a campfire. Glenda's mom, Betty, is in town visiting and we wanted to spend a little time with her. AND Betty wanted to spend a little, nope, a lot of time with Maya. Don't you love it when other people love your baby? The Browns lost their beloved dog, Marco, recently. Chris, who's going to be a junior in high school this year was campaigning pretty seriously for a border collie puppy.

Chris' mom and dad caved in pretty fast - they introduced us to Charlie today. Charlie is an eight week old border collie and our new next door neighbor. Since Charlie and Lola is Maya's favorite tv show at the moment, I suggested it would be the perfect time for us to get a pet named Lola. Thankfully, no one took me seriously. I'm such a softie for pets, I probably would have gone for a kitten or a puppy. And my mom has enough to take care of with Brickie, thanks Mom !!

Hungarian Picnic

The church where my parents were married, Holy Trinity, in East Chicago, had a "picnic". Years ago, they gave up trying to work around the weather and moved it indoors! But it's still called a picnic. We had delicious Hungarian sausage, cabbage rolls, rye bread. Wayne asked for butter and was told, "this is Hungarian food, we eat the bread dry!!" Excuuuuuuse me, who knew? LOL !! I used mine to sop up the cabbage sauce anyway, LOL. Then, fresh-made langos (like elephant ears), for dessert. Maya, Grandma, and I even danced to some Hungarian music but we still don't know how to char-das (sic). That's for another day......

Wayne's Lalapalooza Birthday

We celebrated Wayne's birthday over several days again this year - he's good at stretching out those parties!

The Paragon in Hobart, generously gave us the most delicious German Chocolate Cake (Wayne's favorite) and all the servers sang Happy Birthday! They love Maya, you'd think it was her birthday, she was given lollipops, balloons, toys. Whew, she can be such a charmer :) (Mommy's so proud of her).

Wayne chose Golden Corral for his birthday dinner with my parents. AND we had a birthday dinner on the deck....the man knows how to "milk" a birthday :) It was big fun!

Happy Birthday, honey! Many, many, many more!