Aunty MaryBeth

Aunt Marybeth is always watching out for her nephews and nieces. She is always trying to find a reason to do things for them. And since Thanksgiving is coming up and she most likely won't be coming, she brought some new clothes over for Skye this weekend. I think she spoils my kid more than I do. She is such a good aunt.

So, I put all the clothes out and skye could not resist the shoes.

Here she is mad at me because I wouldn't put her shoes on without getting socks.

And here she is cute as a button. She has a whole outfit on and shoes. It is amazing what can put a smile on that little girls face.

THANK YOU AUNT MARYBETH

(AND YOU TOO DUSTIN)

First Piggy Bank

We recently got Skye her first piggy bank. So, we sat down with her and tried to teach her how to put money in it. She got excited, but never really figured out how to get the money in. But she's getting close and eventually I know she will pick it up.

I think she was more happy that we actually gave her money than she was about having her new bank.

SICK DAYS

These last few weeks we have all taken turns being sick. It started with me and worked its way through Brandon and Skye. It hasn't been fun. To go with it Skye is also having her first molars come in. It is exciting to see them, but it has been causing her fevers. Everytime a tooth comes in the poor girl gets sick. She is so pitiful.

Halloween

Skye dressed up this year as Tinkerbell, but she seemed to look more like Peter Pan. Either way she is the cutest thing to ever trick or treat.Because I took off four days to go to Mexico I had to work on Halloween. Grandma and Grandpa Maurer came out and we went to the church to meet up with Brandon's brother and his family. They had a trunk or treat that started at 5pm. I was able to go with Brandon and the family for about 20 minutes before I had to go to work. I was nervous about taking the a baby out because she is scared of anything in a mask or dressed up. But she did alright. At first she didn't know what was going on, but after getting candy from a few people, she learned that if she walked up to a new person she would get more candy in her bag. She would walk up stop, look at the person then at her bag , wait for candy and then quickly start walking to the next car.

This last week Brandon and I had four days off of work together. We decided to go to Mexico. We grabbed a few of our friends and off we went. It is just beautiful down there. Look at this sunset. There is no rush, no stress, it just family and relaxation. Here is Brandon with the girls after their nap.And here is Skye on the patio. She is always happy when we are in Mexico. We also went down to the beach. Skye has absolutely no fear when it comes to water. It is scary, but cute at the same time. She would just take off and walk into the water and then keep going. It did not matter what the temperature was or how deep the water beacame. She just wanted to get wet.I remember going to the beach with my family in California. We always had a lot of fun. My dad always focused all his attention on us. It was great. So, now that we have the little one we did what my dad did to us everytime we went. We buried the baby in the sand.
She could not get out. It was cute. Unfortunately, we didn't bury her properly so we couldn't get to her feet to tickle them.

My New Job

Things have been pretty busy around here. They just opened a new In and Out here and I decided that it could be a real good job. So I waited 2 1/2 hours for an interview and whala, I got the job. It's makes me feel good to help my husband pay the bills. Now that I am working, he doesn't have to work as hard and I can see that his stress levels have lowered. It also nice because we don't have to take the baby to daycare. I am with Skye in the morning and her daddy is with her at night. And now that she is spending more time with her dad she is not so clingy to me. It's been soo wonderful.

The baby is now 14 months. She is such a character. Lately, the weather has been soo nice that we have tried to make as many trips to the zoo as we can. A few weeks ago we went again with my friend and her two children.

Here they are after the car ride. They were excited to finally get out of the car. And Skye was especially excited to have other kids around. We went and saw all the animals. Everytime we go it seems as though Skye notices more and more of the animals.

Because Skye is so small, Katelyn found it real easy to push her down. All Skye could do was try to catch her balance. But Katelyn started to feel bad and so she gave Skye a kiss and said she was sorry. What a kodak moment.

Here we are at the arangatangs, my favorite.

THE ZOO

This last week me and Skye went to the zoo. We met up with a couple of my girlfriends and their kids. It was so much fun. Skye is starting to notice more and more animals each time we go. But I think she had the most fun at the water pad.We walked all around the zoo and at the end we stopped at the new water pad and let the kids run wild. Skye had no fear. Everytime she saw water spray up she ran to it.
Here are all the kids after we cleaned them up and took off all their wet clothes. By this time they were so worn out that they all fell asleep on the way home.

CHEAP THRILLS

For about two weeks Skye kept herself busy with this box. She sat on it and watched T.V.

She turned this simple box into her own little jungle gym. So people ask me questions like what does the baby need or what can I get for her. My reply is, buy yourself something big and let me have the box when your done.

And here she is just looking cute.

For Brandon's birthday his parents bought him some gear for his quad. It feels a lot better to know that he is safe when he rides. When he got home from the store he was soo excited. Now all he wants to do is get out and ride. Not much different from before.

I have to admit though, he looks real cute on his quad.

At least I thought he did, but Skye had a different opinion. She saw her daddy and did not have a clue who he was. In fact, when she saw him she tried to crawl under her crib. She was real scared until he took off his helmet and she realized who he was.

Also, for his birthday he got a DVD recorder. It took a trip back to Best Buy, talking to every employee that worked there, and three hours to figure out how to get the thing to work. We still aren't sure about all its functions, but we'll just learn as we go.

This last week was very entertaining. Skye had a friend over to swim in her pool that she had recieved for her birthday.

They had alot of fun splashing in the water.

Then on Friday we left to Mexico to celebrate Brandon's birthday. Here is Skye on the ride there. I don't know what we would do without her blankie and her toys.

Here she is getting ready to go downtown and walk the streets.

She always has fun when we go and this time she took her new turtle floatie. It has a canopy on top to block her from the sun. I love it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Skye's Birthday

We celebrated Skye's birthday with her cousin Novali. Their birthdays are only two days apart, so it worked out perfect. We had the party at the community pool in my brother's neighborhood. So we got our things together and left to the party.

Lot's of people came. We swam, ate, and had fun. It did get a little scary towards the end of the party. The clouds got dark and it got kind of windy. We did not know what would happen, and thank goodness the weather got better. The clouds moved right on by and because it was pretty hot outside the wind felt good on those who did'nt go swimming. All in all I think that everything turned out quite well.

Unfortunately, not everyone was able to come to the party so Skye opened some of her gifts before the party. She caught on real quick on how to open them.

As soon as she realized that there was something in the bags she ripped out all the tissue paper as if she had done this for years.

Thank you everyone for celebrating Skye's first birthday with us.

She's ONE

Skye turned one at the end of August. She gets more and more beautiful everyday. She has such a great personality. Giggling and smiling all day(for the most part).

Recently, she has begun to walk on her own. She's still very clumsy, but she gets better and better each time.

During the day she keeps herself busy playing with her toys,

or getting into things that she is not suppost to.

It seems as though everyday she learns something knew. She gives kisses, high fives, drinks from a straw, and so many other cute things.

AN OBSESSION

I've been spending a lot of time chasing Skye around the house. She is interested in everything and doesn't like to be held back. But I've noticed that she is getting an obsession for shoes. She loves to wear them, tries to eat them, and if she is in her room she is most likely pulling out her shoes. But as soon as I put a pair on, she leaves as though her mission is complete.

The most entertaining part is watching her try to walk with these shoes that barely fit her. But she is learning how to pick up her feet.

Mexico

This last weekend we took a spontaneous trip to Mexico. We wanted to do something together as a family and what better way then to spend it on the beach. And this time we stayed in the house that is closest to the water. When the tide was at its highest point it almost seemed as though the house was floating on water.

All in all we had a wonderful time. It also helps that the baby enjoys herself. She always smiles when she hears the ocean.

I tried to get all of us in a picture, but it didn't work out the way that I had planned.

Thanks mom and dad for letting us tag along.

And

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA MAURER

AND
GRANDPA MAXSON

New Mexico

On the eigth of this month me and Skye took a trip to New Mexico to see my sister and her children. We went with my brother Richard, my sister Marybeth, and my niece Novali. It was such a long drive, but we got there and it was nice to see family.

Me and Connor

Me and Ethan

All the cousins, except for Connor

And the only girls out of the ten grandchildren.

But by the end of our stay we were all exhausted. And when we tried to leave we found Novali trying to sneak a nap.

Here is the clan saying goodbye. We had fun and hope to be able to get together again soon.