Surprise, Nana!!!

This past weekend Maya and mommy took a trip to Columbus to see Nana and Grandpa!! It was a pretty spontaneous trip - I only planned it less than 2 weeks before...since daddy was going to be in Vegas that weekend, I decided, why not fly with a 10-month old by myself!! :) I didn't tell Nana that we were coming, just set things up with Grandpa and Aunt Sheila and the surprise went off perfectly!! When we got to her house, I put Maya on her doorstep and rang the doorbell and hid...leaving Maya to greet her when she answered the door! Boy was she surprised!!!
It was a good weekend to be in Columbus, too! Meyer relatives were there for the making of the apple butter, so we had a very active weekend and completely wore out Maya (and mommy, too!) Here are some pictures of our adventures.....

Nana and Maya on Friday night when we peeled 6 1/2 bushels of apples

Maya wanted to sample everything!!!

Grandpa and Maya in the pumpkin patch...

Nana and Maya in the church nursery (it got pretty cold out on Saturday!)

The Meyer boys stirring the pot of apple butter..

Jarring the finished product...quite the line-up!

Maya and Uncle Arnold...

Last but not least...the cutest little pumpkin kid ever!!! :)

I can stand!!!

The fun is just around the corner....here is Maya's first sign of independence...standing on her own!!! Today was the first she's done it for any length of time...I shudder to think what is waiting for us around the corner :)
More pics coming soon from our exciting weekend in Columbus with Nana!!!

Trying new foods

Maya has been experimenting with new foods these days :) This afternoon we had to be out of our house for a showing between 11:30 and 12:30, so we went to a new pub that opened up down the street. It's a sports bar, which Daddy liked, and, turns out, so does Maya! All the TVs definitely caught her attention! ...as did the pickle that I gave her from my plate - she chewed on that thing for a good 20 minutes! Yum!

I've been busy....

So....I know this hasn't been updated in a while...we've had a busy end of summer/beginning of fall!!! First, as the picture shows, we had a great time on our family cruise to New England/Canada in September! Maya got to be a little princess and spoiled by both sets of grandparents (and all the other grandparents that were passengers on the ship!!)...she perfected her wave and had a smile for every passenger that smiled at her!

Here are some pictures from the beginning of fall...and Maya's first trip to the pumpkin farm! We went to Goebbert's out in Barrington...that I haven't been to since I was probably about 10...and boy has it changed! Maya had so much fun with her cousins, Ali and Madi, and Aunt Jenn and Uncle Dave and Abuelita! Here she is in Ali's wagon...

...and clapping because she just cannot contain her excitement of riding in her first big girl wagon and being amongst all those animals!! :)

...and down here we have some shots of Maya doing what she does best these days...crawling around, pulling herself up on the furniture and just plain getting into stuff!!!! (oh, and waving...because she does that ALL the time :)

...Yes, this is a basket of Macy's toys....probably not that sanitary, but she was having so much fun!! :)

I'm on the move!!!!

Maya is perfecting her crawling technique!!! (and apparently, she is also somewhat of a flasher...hmmm)

Quick update...

I don't have much time, but I have been very bad about my blogging. So, for those of you that still check this...a few cute Maya pics to hold you over: (can you believe she is 9 months old tomorrow??!!!)

First, one of Maya's favorite toys: Mommy's shoes!! She plays on the floor while I get ready in the morning, and one day Daddy showed her my "secret under-bed stash" of shoes, and every day now, that is where she heads! I think we have a future shoe lover on our hands! :)

Next, this was taken on Daddy's birthday - our daily family walk!

This one, picture Maya saying..."hey - who is that in the dishwasher?? She looks like me!" Maya is moving all over now, and can get into the kitchen on her own, and she loves to look in the dishwasher and oven because she can see herself! I caught her giving the dishwasher a kiss the other day! :)

This last one is kind of out of order - the was taken mid-August at our last day of swimming class at the Y. We tried out the safety gear! Maya is all ready for boating!

OK - I need to download more recent pics from my camera...and also need to find a few extra hours in each day to do that, so if anyone knows how I can do that, please let me know! :) In the meantime, keep checking back, I'm bound to get them up here eventually!! Happy September!!

August...so far...

Maya says..."HI" from the lakehouse...and who needs toys when there are plastic bottles just laying around???!!

Daddy and Maya enjoy some splash mat fun! She loves the water!

Today (8/11), we went to my friend, Kelly's, beach by her house. Just a little beach, but so much fun for the kids!! Maya loves to grab the sand and squish it between her fingers (and maybe taste it a little), and splash in the water! (oh, and if you're wondering why she's not wearing her bathing suit...that would be because her mom is not all with it in the morning! I brought EVERYTHING else with us...just left the suit at home!)

Yay for bubble baths!!! ...I do sense a water theme this summer, now that it's finally nice out!!!

Maya and her friend, Amelia. Amelia is 3 months younger than Maya and started out WAY smaller...she's catching up, though!!!

OK - I'm really not a Beavis and Butthead fan, but there is one episode that cracks me up everytime I think about it...and this is Maya's "cornholio" pose!!! :) (for those that have never seen it...please read on.... :)

Maya and mommy at Auntie Jill's pool!!

Some nice baby left this floaty at the pool, so the life guard let us borrow it!! Again - all smiles in the water!!

OK - night, night....all this playing is exhausting!!!