Maisie's second Christmas

Maisie's second Christmas was a lot of fun. We celebrated with Aaron's family in Iowa the weekend before.

First we opened presents at Grandma Jo's. Maisie got a lot of great books and toys, including this xylophone shaped like a crocodile. Isn't it cute? She likes playing with it, and we do too... Aaron has figured out how to play the chorus of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark" on it. He can also play a bit of "Ode to Joy" and almost all of "Good King Wenceslas." Not bad for a toy xylophone with six notes!

We also visited Grandpa Greg, Peg, and Katherine. As you can see they had many presents under their tree! Unfortunately we weren't able to stay long - we had to drive back so I could get to work the next day, and the weather channel was promising bad conditions. Unfortunately, their predictions were spot-on. It was clear as far as the Iowa-Minnesota border, but once we crossed that, it got really bad. We actually had to stop for the night in Owatonna, about 40 miles north of the border. It was hard to stop so close to home, but the driving conditions just were not safe.

We were fortunate enough to get a room, but had to wait for four hours (!) until it was ready. We put Maisie in her new Christmas jammies that she got from Santa, and read books in the lobby until the room was ready. Can you tell how tired she is in this picture? Once we got into the room, she went right to sleep!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Whew, sorry for the long break between posts! Maisie had a double ear infection, followed by an awful tummy bug, and between them her illnesses pretty well took the wind out of all our sails. But now we're all mostly feeling better, and are getting ready for Christmas!

Aaron got our tree up and decorated, with some help from Maisie. She's fairly interested in it, especially when we have the lights on. Between her and the cats, though, it's hard to keep any ornaments on the lower third of the tree. They just love to pull them off and play with them. So far, though, only one has been broken this season. So we're not doing too badly.

Our big adventure for today was heading to the Mall of America to see Santa. We arrived early, so the line wasn't too long - Santa's hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (long day...), and we got there at 9:30 or so. It was quite cute, I think! She didn't really ask Santa for anything, but did like pointing out the roller coaster and other rides around the park.

All that, AND we managed to get some shopping done, too! It was a good, productive day.

Another favorite toy!

One of Maisie's favorite toys is this blue bouncy ball.

She thinks it's lots of fun to throw at us. She actually throws pretty accurately! We roll it back to her, so she can catch it and throw it back. She thinks it's lots of fun, and we do too.

We're pretty impressed by how accurately she can throw already, and I am fairly convinced that she is some sort of throwing genius! Not that I'm prejudiced or anything... :)

brunch

Today Aaron, Maisie and I went out for brunch at the Uptown Bar & Cafe.
Although Aaron and I have been there many times, it was Maisie's first time at the Uptown. It is a real Minneapolis landmark, having been around for many years. All sorts of bands have played there, and it is very popular for breakfast on the weekends. Fortunately, we only had a ten-minute wait... not bad! Maisie liked sitting next to a mirror and playing with the packets of jelly, and she really enjoyed her French toast.

After brunch, Aaron got a haircut while Maisie and I went shopping in uptown. I think we all had a very good time!

Photo call

Yesterday we went over to my mom's apartment. I brought the camera in hopes of getting a cute picture of Maisie in front of her tree that we could use for a Christmas card. Instead, I got a bunch of pictures like this one.

Maisie was way too interested in all the decorations, and would not sit still!

I will keep trying to get a Christmasy pic of her... but if we send out store-bought cards, you'll know why.