Camping!

This weekend, we went on Maisie's first camping trip! It was pretty cush camping - our friend Rebecca's parents have a lodge in northern Wisconsin, where we stayed, so we had indoor plumbing and wifi and satellite TV - all the amenties, in the great north woods.

It was a lot of fun!

Here, Maisie is suited up for her first boat ride. We went for a short trip in a paddleboat, which she quite enjoyed, and then in a canoe, which she haaaaaaaated. She had a meltdown in the middle of the lake, and screamed "Out! Out!!" until we got back to shore. Poor Aaron had to paddle us back in by himself while I kept her from leaping out of the canoe!

But of course, the highlight of a camping trip is spending time with your friends. For Maisie, this meant playing with Rebecca's daughter Sophia, who's about six months older than Maisie is.

They had a LOT of fun together.

They discovered some plastic margarita glasses that were great fun to play with (until one got broken, then the glasses had to take a time out); they spent a lot of time playing outside in the playhouse, on the slide, and in the toy car; and they went for walks with Sophia's Grandma Sue. I don't have many pictures of all their outdoor activities, because they were so busy, they didn't want to stop to let anyone take a picture!


Inside, they read books, tried on Grandma Sue's hats, colored, and pretended to cook eggies and vanilla cookies.

Because they were so busy, they also ate voraciously! They had cheese pizza and grapes for dinner on Saturday night, with ice cream bars for dessert. (The grownups had grilled walleye.)

Maisie enjoyed it so much that when we got home, she asked for pizza for dinner again tonight! Ah, a girl after my own heart. But she got carsick on the ride home, so no pizza tonight for Maisie.

We had so much fun camping with our friends! The weather was perfect, the food was good, and the company couldn't be beat. The whole way home, Maisie kept asking "See Fia? See Fia?" Soon, kiddo, we promise! It was also neat to see how many changes we having coming up in the next 6 months. Sophia has so many more words than Maisie does, and is quite the little chatterbox! I can't wait to hear everything that Maisie will have to say.

We can't wait to do it again!

Strawberries

On Sunday, my mom and I took Maisie to the St. Paul farmer's market. She was kind of squirmy and not enjoying riding in the stroller, so I bought some strawberries and started feeding them to her...

She was shortly covered head to toe in strawberry. And when I say "head to toe," I'm not exaggerating. She had red streaks in her hair from the berries!

It actually looked pretty cute, and if I'd seen it in college, I probably would've followed suit myself!

The children's museum: not just for winter.

Yesterday, we joined Gramma J and Dylan at the Children's Museum where we all checked out their new exhibit, "Once Upon a Time." It's all about fairy tales, and is very cool.

The exhibit has a number of interactive stations based on various fairy tales. Here, Maisie (and Dylan's shoe) are going for a ride in Cinderella's carriage.

The exhibit had all kinds of interesting fairy tales, both familiar and new to me. For instance, there was a Hmong fairy tale, Lon Po Po, that I had never heard of before!

Here, Maisie and Dylan are the elves in the fairy tale about the shoemaker and the elves, where the elves mended shoes all night... remember that one?

I don't really recall its name, but I'm sure you remember the one I'm talking about. The whole time they were pounding shoenails on this exhibit, Dylan kept saying "We're elves! We're elves!!" It was very cute.

Finally, she spent a lot of time climbing up Jack's beanstalk (with a little help from her daddy), and sliding down the slide on the other end. She really loved that part of the exhibit!

Artist at work

Happy solstice, everyone! It's officially summer, and we know it here. Although it's been raining a lot elsewhere (and we think of our Iowa friends and family often!), it's beautiful and sunny here, and we haven taken the opportunity to get some much-needed yardwork done.

Yardwork used to be a real challenge, what with Maisie wanting to help trim the hedge and mow the lawn and all that. But now we are able to be more productive, thanks to perhaps the best $5 we have spent on Maisie: a bucket of sidewalk chalk.

Like most kids her age (I think), Maisie loves to scribble with different colors. When we bring out the crayons inside, it's a perpetual battle of "No, Maisie, crayons stay on the paper. On the paper! Don't color the kitty, okay? No, not in Mommy's book! On this paper!" But with sidewalk chalk, she is free to scribble away as the mood strikes her. We also sometimes draw pictures that she can color in, but she really prefers her free expression.

It's also a great way to keep her occupied while we do yard work. Today we were able to mow the lawn, weed a bit, and trim the hedge while she colored.

It was a very productive day!

Tire swing

A few pictures from last Sunday's trip to a park with Dylan and Auntie Laura.

Maisie used to be scared of swings, but now they are the BEST EVER. She likes the bucket-style baby swings, big kid swings - whatever you've got, she'll swing on it. But the clear favorite is the tire swing.

It's fun to swing by yourself, but it's even better with Dylan!

Picnic!

Auntie Laura and Dylan had us over for a picnic/bbq dinner yesterday!

It was not just us - Gramma was there, too, along with her friend Sue Ellen and Cliff, our family friend Gayle, Gayle's mom Verna, Gayle's sons Lenny and Marco, and Marco's girlfriend and her two kids, and their two dogs. It was a lot of fun!

We had barbeque chicken (with veggie burgers for Aaron, of course), grilled asparagus, pasta salad, fruit, rosemary potatoes...

and of course, no picnic is complete without corn on the cob!

As you can see, Maisie's gotten really adept at handling corn on the cob. She hardly ate anything else, until the cupcakes came out, that is. I think she had two ears of corn and two cupcakes, along with a juice box. That's a balanced meal, right? Right?

There were a lot of people there, and it was very fun and good to see everyone.

Dylan sometimes pretends that he doesn't like having so many people over.

But he really does enjoy having parties! And we enjoy it when they invite us over.

Why I don't go out on Saturday nights anymore.

This morning, Maisie and I got up bright and early: 5:55 a.m.! Aaron and I take turns sleeping in on the weekends, so we let him sleep until 8:00, when we woke him up and suggested going to the Minnesota Zoo.


The Zoo has this new exhibit called "Russia's Grizzly Coast" that we'd heard great things about. We figured that, given it's a weekend day with beautiful weather, the exhibit would probably be pretty crowded unless we went early.

It was a great exhibit! There were bears, of course, and several boars,

sea otters, leopards, tigers... it was really well done.

But even though the Zoo opens at 9 and we got there by 9:30, it was already pretty crowded. So, we headed out to check out the Family Farm. Along the way we had to stop and say hi to some friendly prairie dogs, though.

They were very cute and pretty friendly - as you can see, this one came right up to Maisie! There was one big fat prairie dog that kept jumping to try to get over the fence. We were like, buddy, you're going the wrong way. Think tunnels!

One funny thing about the prairie dog exhibit is that, even though there is information all over about how beneficial they are for their environment, there's always a farmer or two complaining about them at the exhibit.

Anyway, we got out to the Family Farm, which is about a mile's walk (or stroller ride). We saw draft horses, a bull, pigs, chickens, and sheep. The highlight, though, was the goat barn!

For $0.50 you can get a handful of little pellets to feed the goats. The goats are really kind of aggressive about seeking it out, and if you put out your hands you'll have a whole bunch of goats nosing around looking for food. Maisie was clearly delighted by this - you should have heard her laughing. If she'd had her way, we would've stayed at the goat barn all day!

She wasn't happy when we said it was time to go,

but she got over it pretty quickly.

Then, this afternoon we spent a couple hours doing yardwork and playing outside. It was hard work!

I never thought I'd turn down a babysitter, but tonight we did. We're bushed! It's a movie and an early bedtime tonight.

See a resemblance?

A lot of people have said that Maisie looks just like me. Others have said that she's a perfect combination of me and Aaron. As for me, I don't really see it - she just looks like herself!

Well, that is, until I saw this picture that Aaron took of us watching Curious George this weekend.

I always thought it was just the curls, or something, that made people say we look alike. But with this pic, I guess I do see the resemblance between us now.

Just wait until she gets glasses. (Inevitable, I think.) Then the resemblance will be really clear!

Rooftop sandbox!

Now that summer is (finally!) here, a new part of the children's museum has opened up:

Rooftop art park!

Maisie's favorite part of the rooftop art park is the giant sandbox. Which, clearly: who doesn't love a giant sandbox? She had a lot of fun playing in the sand.

You might be able to see that the sandbox is decorated with hexagons. It has pictures of all kinds of different hexagons you can find in nature, including snowflakes and turtle shells! It's really cool.

Of course, you have to take your shoes off to play in the sandbox.

Then, when it's time to go, you can wash your hands and feet off at the tap on the side of the sandbox.


Aaron had to help Maisie get the water started so she could wash off her hands and feet. But once he got it going, she was ready to do it herself... or as Maisie says, "my do it!"

I don't know how well it worked - the sand really stuck to the sunscreen on her arms and legs, and her carseat has about half a cup of sand in it now. But she had fun with the water, anyway, and isn't that more the point?

And at least she tried!

The joy of parks

The weather was (mostly) beautiful this weekend, so we spent a lot of time outside.

(there was a freak hailstorm on Saturday, but it missed us entirely.)

Saturday afternoon, we went to the city park a few blocks south of our house. As you can see, Maisie really enjoyed the swings! This was the first time she actually enjoyed swings - in the past, they've been a little scary to her.

She also had a lot of fun on the slide!

She went down the slides over and over - she loved both the regular and the curly slides.

It was near 80, so we had to stop by Dairy Queen on the way back. Maisie and I shared an ice cream cone.

Or, rather, she allowed me a few bites of her ice cream cone. It was not her first ice cream, but it was her first cone, and she really enjoyed it. Living four blocks from a dairy queen has its advantages!

Then, today, we had a new first: Maisie's first street fair and parade. Maisie, my mom, her friend Gayle, and I went to Grand Old Day today! We watched the parade and ate some mini donuts.

Maisie also suffered her first skinned knees this weekend, but she took them like a champ, with minimal tears. All in all, it was a beautiful weekend.

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, we got together with some friends for brunch - and their kids!


Don't my friends have just ridiculously cute children?

As you can see, Maisie is one of the older kids in our friend group. The other toddlers are both about six months older than her. And then there are a couple of babies coming up, including Ravi, who you can see wearing a fabulous hat, and sitting up in this picture. Go Ravi with your fabulous sitting skills!

Baby Beatrix is lying on the grass, which she loves, at the bottom of this photo... but she'll be sitting up soon too!

Hanging out with family

My sister had an appointment yesterday, so Dylan came over and joined us for dinner and some fun. As you can see, he and Maisie had a good time playing "fort" together under the table!

They had a good time together all evening, until Maisie went to bed. Then Aaron, Dylan and I watched a good movie and ate some popcorn. It was lots of fun, and we always enjoy having Dylan over at our house. I am even starting to teach him to crochet. He's got a head start, so he'll probably be much better than me!

Today, my mom came over to see Maisie. After all, it's been a few days!

Maisie and my mom played a really funny game of Maisie's devising. Maisie patted the big floor pillow, showing that she wanted my mom to lie down there. Then she'd cover my mom with her blue blankie, which is a very special blankie, and pat her, putting her to "sleep." Finally, Maisie would rip it off, my mom would say "Good morning!", and Maisie would laugh and laugh. It was really, really funny.

They played that game over and over, until it was time for Maisie to actually go to bed.

Weekend update

Wow, it's been a long weekend, and I am exhausted!

Maisie's weekend actually started on Friday - daycare was closed, so she and Aaron stayed home.

It was a beautiful day, so they went to a park near our house and played for a long time. Maisie had lots of fun on the teeter-totter and the swings!
(I went to work and had a reasonably all right day. It was fine, but it was no tire swing in the sunshine. Maisie definitely has more fun than I do during her days.)

Yesterday we went to the zoo.

Maisie's Uncle Chris (who you can see in this picture, behind Aaron) was in town with his girlfriend Kim, visiting Kim's family. Hi Chris and Kim! We had fun at the zoo with you. Here, Maisie and Aaron are checking out the flamingos and some African ducks. Maisie is a big fan of birds, so this is a highlight of any zoo visit for us.

Today, we spent a LOT of time outside working in the yard. We planted a bush that my mom gave me for Mother's Day, popped a bunch of dandelions out of the lawn, mowed the grass, and cut down some scrub trees that are popping up a little too close to the house. It was a lot of work! We tried to grill, but our charcoal didn't light, so we ended up cooking brats and corn in the kitchen. It was good anyway.

Maisie ate grill food (even if it wasn't grilled) for the first time! She put away half a wild rice brat (from Chase Brook Farm, yummmmm) and as you can see here, dug into my mom's corn on the cob!

This is going to be a very fun summer!

Crafty interlude.

So as I mentioned before, I've been working on crocheting - I thought I'd share some of my creations.

I made a hat and some baby booties for baby Trixie recently!

The purple booties go with the hat; the orange booties are for someone else, actually. Both the hat and the booties were quick and easy to make - the booties more so just for their size. They are so wee!

As you can see here, they're actually a mary jane-style bootie, with a faux strap and a sewn-on button. I know buttons can be a choking hazard, and I usually don't put them on things for babies. Don't worry, I sewed the button on really tight! Plus, any babies with feet small enough for these booties won't be able to pull off the buttons.

But so it turns out, I really enjoy making toys - no pesky sizing or swatches needed, they work up quickly, and they're fun for both giver and recipient. Everybody wins!

My most recent creation is a crochet Cthulhu.

I made it using the pattern found at the Cthulhu Crochet blog. Cthulhu, if you didn't know, is a colossal ancient monster from H.P. Lovecraft's writings. I mean, though, it's obviously a horrible monster and not at all cute, right? I made him for my friend Kyle who's a huge Lovecraft fan, using yarn that Jo gave me last time we were in Iowa.

I also recently made Maisie a dinosaur.

I got this pattern from Jo last time we were visiting. She is clearly my crafty inspiration. Thanks Jo! It was fun to make, although the pattern is kind of weird and I think I have figured out how I will be modifying it next time I go to make a dinosaur. I think it looks very happy, although sometimes Maisie uses it to attack my feet while she says "RAHR!" Super cute.

I'll end with another monkey.

I think he looks like a Chicago Bears fan, don't you?

Happy mother's day!

This is my second mother's day with Maisie! We had a really nice day. But first I have to tell you about yesterday, because there's a great picture from yesterday that I want to share.

We went over to Bethany's (and baby Trixie's) house yesterday to visit and to look through some books and DVDs that Bethany was getting rid of. On the way back, we stopped by the co-op to pick up some groceries. While we were there we got a big chocolate chip cookie that the three of us shared.

You wouldn't think that someone could get covered in chocolate from a chocolate chip cookie, but Maisie managed! When Aaron took this picture, she had finished her portion and was asking for (verbally and signing) "more." It looks like you've actually had enough, Maisie!

Today was lovely, as I said. Maisie and I went to the zoo with my mom, and we had a really nice time.

Maisie especially enjoyed the birds and the fish at the zoo. Then when we got home, we spent some time outside, popping dandelions out of the yard and kicking a ball around and generally having fun.

All in all, I can't imagine a better mother's day!

Happy mother's day to all the mamas out there!

Bath time!

If you remember, Maisie's bath time used to be not so much fun when she was really little. It kind of stressed her out, and she cried a lot.

Fortunately, things have changed!

Maisie really enjoys bath time now, which is fortunate given her fondness of playing in the mud! She loves her little duckies, and is a champion splasher. The only thing she doesn't enjoy is getting water on her face when we rinse out her hair.

Well, she also doesn't care for getting out of the tub - there are usually some tears then, too.

18 months

Can you believe Maisie is 18 months old already? Our baby isn't a baby any longer! She can kick a ball, talk in three-word phrases, dress and undress herself... and even walk in her mommy's shoes.

The milestones are passing so quickly now! She is becoming a sweet, affectionate kid, although a very strong-willed one. She won't hesitate to let you know if she's unhappy!

This weekend we did lots of fun things, aside from walking around in my shoes and chasing the cat around.

Maisie discovered that she can actually see through one of the hats that Grandma Jo made her, and hijinks ensued. She pulled it down over her face and ran around, chasing me and Aaron and the cats and laughing like a loon. It was so funny!

On Sunday, we went to check out the May Day celebration at Powderhorn Park. Maisie napped right through the parade, but we took a look at the floats parked in the park.

Her favorite was the Hare Krishna float, because of the balloons. But right as I was going to take her picture, she got distracted by the butterfly person walking by in the background.

Today was also my and Aaron's 8-year date-a-versary. Or, as Aaron said, it's our eight-a-versary! We hired a babysitter and went out to dinner. It was a lovely evening.

So, I'll leave you with a good picture of Maisie, since the above are all somewhat covered up of her! This is Maisie reading one of her favorite books, "Brown Bear Brown Bear," to Spiderman. This was on Saturday, shortly after the chasing-in-hat incident.

Maybe she was trying to make it up to him.

Other people's kids

Maisie is going through a real independent phase lately. She wants to do everything herself - or as she says, "MY! MY DO IT!" This includes putting on her clothes, opening the fridge, opening doors... you get the picture. So yesterday evening I took a little break from the constant struggle for independence, and hung out with a little girl who was happy to let me do everything for her.

That's right, it's little miss Beatrix! We spent a few hours together yesterday so that her parents could get out together on a well-deserved date night. She is such a sweetie!

Also: big fat welcome to our new friend Howie, who was born on Tuesday!! We can't wait to meet you, little guy.

Spring has faked us out.

Well, a week ago it was 70 degrees out, and we were wearing sunscreen and playing at the Falls. Monday was similarly lovely, and Maisie got to play outside after work.

She investigated our gardening materials, including taking a soil sample - that is, she ate some dirt. Reason Number One why we don't use chemical weedkiller or fertilizer in our yard!

However, the weather quickly changed, and a cold front came through - we even had snow on the ground! It was a big change from last weekend. By today, the high was back into the mid-forties and the sun was out. It was a relatively lovely day, so we decided to go check out the Minnesota Zoo.

The zoo was a good choice: it wasn't too crowded, as it was kind of cool out, but we dressed appropriately and were very comfortable walking around. Here, Maisie and Aaron are checking out the prairie dog exhibit. There was a woman in a group right behind us who was complaining loudly about how awful prairie dogs are: "You take your horse out into the pasture, and then he steps into a prairie dog hole and breaks his leg! They're terrible!" That's as may be, crazy lady, but they're still pretty cute.

Tonight Maisie entertained herself by creating a fort under the dining room table.

She had a grand old time under there. She'd roll her toy car over to Aaron, who'd roll it back. When we'd try to get her out, she'd move the chairs to block us, and laugh and laugh. It was really cute. Note the strap on the chair closest to the camera: that's Maisie's booster seat, because (as I think I mentioned before) she is a big girl who no longer tolerates high chairs. 'Cause those are for babies, you know.

Thanks for your patience, readers! I'll try to be more diligent about posting this week. I know everyone likes to get their Maisie updates in a timely fashion!

Spring has really sprung

Happy spring, everyone! I know that the season officially started about a month ago. But here in the Twin Cities, the last of the snow has finally melted and the daffodils are starting to poke their shoots through the soil. So, it's finally really spring.

This weekend we spent a lot of time playing outside!

Maisie's dealing with a little bit of a cold, but it was too nice out to stay inside all weekend. Plus, Maisie really loves playing outside. Yesterday we played hide-and-seek around a box elder tree in our backyard.

Today we did all kinds of outdoor activities. I think the most interesting was when we went to Minnehaha Falls and walked all around. We saw the waterfall from the top of the falls, which Maisie thought was really interesting. Then we went down, right to the riverside. Maisie really wanted to walk right into the water, but we wouldn't let her - it was cold, and moving really fast!

Maybe later this summer when it's a little slower, we can go wading there.

But we made up for the totally unreasonable parenting choice by having some raspberry chocolate chip ice cream when we got back up to the top of the falls.

By the way, check out Maisie's cute hat! Her grandma Jo made it for her, out of yarn made out of corn. Isn't that interesting? Maisie really loves the hat - when we saw "Time to go outside!" she'll run to her room to get her hat before we head out the door.

Camera fun

I was trying to take a picture of Maisie playing tonight, but for the first time, she was really interested in the camera. I said, "Sit down, Maisie! Smile for the camera!" She obediently sat, then immediately jumped right up to look at the screen. So we took a self-portrait: Maisie and her mama.

She liked looking at the screen at the pictures we took. It reminded me of how when my mom takes a picture of Dylan with her film camera, he'll immediately demand to see the picture. "It's not that kind of camera," she has to explain. Barring a serious interest in photography, I wonder if Maisie will ever have a camera with actual film?

I think it's funny that digital cameras are what Maisie will immediately think of for "camera," much in the same way that it's funny that she may never see a corded, rotary phone. I wonder what kind of camera she'll use to take pictures of her kids? My phone with camera and email still kind of seems like something out of a James Bond movie to me!