Here she is again...

...with that darn present from Baba. Maggie was not even dressed yet this morning and she wanted to make sure her present was still under the tree!

Lighting up Oakwood

Last night we walked over to the park for the neighborhood holiday party. They had Hot Cocoa, Santa on the Fire Truck, horse drawn carriage rides, and of course the lighting of the tree. It was fun to get together with our neighbors and new friends.

John, Maggie, Cousin Ange & Cousin Eri

The tree!

Mom & Maggie with Frosty & the Mouse King!

Christmas Present from Baba!

Maggie received a Christmas present in the mail last week. She loves the package! Every morning she pulls it out from under the tree, sits on it, moves it around, stnads on it, and points to it over and over again saying, 'Mine!' 'Mine!'. Do you think that she will be disappointed when we finally open it?

A new hat

Maggie thought that Jude's party favor was a hat! She put it on and walked into our kitchen laughing. She is so funny.

Maggie eating again!

I just can't help taking picture of Maggie when she is eating. She is just too cute and it is the only time she will sit still.

Jude's Birthday

Pictures from our friend Jude's birthday party on Saturday. It was really fun! Ange & Eri at Jude's Birthday Party

Jude enjoying his birthday cake

Eri with green frosting all over him.

The beautiful cake.

Weighing in... 15 months

We went to the doctor last week and Maggie weighed in at 25.5 pounds and 33.5 inches long. She is off the charts for height and just in the middle for weight. Everything else looked great and she is a healthy and happy little girl.

This blog is suppose to be...

...all about Maggie, documenting her life, creating her baby book via the web (yes, there is a company that will turn your blog into an actual book! Perfect!), and of course, providing pictures for all of our friends and family from around the world. But, I just have to share a great website I found today.

Tis the season for Christmas cards and I LOVE getting them. Really, I can't wait for the mailman. Today we received a card that was sooooo beautiful. Nosey that I am, I flipped it over to find out what company made it. To my pleasant surprise, the name of the company was on the back. I have found my new obsession: IOMOI. They have great calling cards to leave after you visit for tea (which I have always wanted and actually needed while we were in England), clever stationary, and the owner posts a blog of cute gift ideas. For example, they blogged about this company: http://www.morganandmilo.com/ and this one: http://padraigcottage.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=2 and one more: http://www.pinkchicken.com/SpSm08/spSm08.html

Here is the original website if you are interested in window shopping:
http://www.iomoi.com/

Next post will be back to Maggie.

Thank you Auntie Gianna!

Gianna sent the best Christmas present for Maggie. Tom Shoes! The company was started in 2006 and for each pair of shoes you buy, Toms donates one pair to a needy child in a different country. This time around, they are aiming for 30,000 shoes to send to children in Ethiopia. You can help out, by purchasing a pair at:

http://www.tomsshoes.com/shoes.aspx

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention: they have Vegan shoes?! Hummm, I know someone who would love those for his birthday coming up on Friday. :)

Our Hero!

John starts flying again after his long break with the Brits. I thought that I should post a blast from the past. This is John's original 'hero shot' which is now over 10 years old! I will try to get another one if he lets me :)

Ange, Leo & Eri in Ohio for a visit!

Cousin Ange & the kids have escaped the depths of winter in Texas and are visiting for a while. Whooo hooo! Someone to walk to Starbucks with and have playdates all the time! It is also a great excuse for friends and family to come up for a visit. Sunday we had a brunch down at the farm. Here are some pics from the day: This might be one of my favorite pictures. Cousin Katherine singing along happily, showing her little cousins the way around the farm. Eri & Maggie look so confused!

Eri & Cousin Sarah.

Cousin Katherine & Maggie... yes, she is teething!

The story behind this skirt. As many of you know, Grandpa Bill has a bunch of horses. The most beautiful ones are the Kigers. Steph found this skirt with Kigers on it! I think it is the perfect way for Maggie to start buttering up her Grandpa for her own pony. The rest of the outfit is my fault. I could not find any other socks!

Great Grandma Trudie with Leona Smith, 6 Months old already!

Best wishes to Jill!

Cousin Jill is getting married next year so all of the Smith/Slaven ladies got together to shower her with love & gifts. We were so happy to see everyone there and especially to see glowing cousin Kate carrying baby number 5! A little baby girl who we can't wait to meet! Unfortunately there were no good pictures of the ribbon bouquet that I made for Jill's rehearsal. I guess we will just have to wait for pics from the wedding.

Auntie Sus-sus & Maggie

All of the gifts!

Grandma Trudie & the beautiful bride to be, Jill.

Lebanon Horse Parade

Every December, the town of Lebanon holds a horse-drawn carriage parade through the streets. It is a full day of food, fun & horses dressed up for the festivities. Maggie, Steph & I went downtown to see the parade. We met up with Cousin Sarah & Branden. Lots of fun, a little snow, and a little baby girl Maggie fast asleep through the entire event!

Eating Ice Cream

Food all over her face! Maggie enjoying a ice cream treat.

Happy Friday!

Reasons to be happy today: The sun is shining (but it is still 20 degrees outside)! Great weekend planned with Cousin Jill's Bridal Shower, the horsedrawn carriage parade in Lebanon with the Smith Family (Maggie should love this event!), reconnecting with friends at a Christmas party, and thanks to Steph's offer to watch Maggie over night on Saturday, we get to sleep in on Sunday!! Have a great weekend!

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving 2008 was spent with great food, great family and of course our wonderful friends. Thank you to Bret & Carol for an amazing feast and really fun wine tasting (Bret, we still think that your wine is the best of them all!!). We are also thankful that dad came home from the hospital on thanksgiving and is now quickly recovering with the best nurse in the world! The feast is about the begin. Carol is making sure that her little guest is happy!

Cocktails outside by the fire before dinner. Ahhhh, perfect. The labs are circling the table just in case something falls.

Always fun to have Brian home from college. He was such a big help at our Thanksgiving last year in Barton Bendish!

Kelly & Maggie playing before dinner. Fight on!!!

Dad looking and feeling great! He was Maggie's favorite. I think it was the See's Candy he was slipping her on the side.

Capitola

We had a great time in California as always. We ate way too much, spent too much time at Gayles, and rushed around trying to see everyone! For those of you who have not yet come for a visit to the beach house... you should! Besides the beach, etc there is the best bakery in the world just a few blocks away from the house. Why are we surprised that we have both gained 5 pounds? John teaching Maggie the basics of the ocean

Checking out his favorite surf spot the "Getty" (as he puts it).

Ta da! Sand!

Can you tell that it is really early in the morning? That is the sunrise. In case you are wondering the beach is south facing, with the bay that allows for an amazing sunrise and sunset. We are still on east coast time after all... that means 4 am wake up call from Maggie.

The best place for a cup of coffee in the morning.

Gianna's wedding

While I was looking for a picture of Carol for my welcome post below, I came across tons of pictures from Gianna's wedding. Some of my favorite people are below: Maggie at the rehersal dinner.

Maggie taking her first steps down the aisle. Only 11 months old and she had to perform!

The girls.

Sweet Eric putting up with us :)

Erin & Miss Audrey.

Erin... determined.

My Sister Carol

At Thanksgiving, my sister Carol did not realize that we had a blog! So, her darling children were going to teach her how to log on and see miss Maggie in action. Welcome Carol to life with

Maggie! Picture of Carol from Gianna's rehersal dinner at Rodney Strong.

Thanksgiving with the Smiths

The Grandkids (minus Hannah and Owen) with Bill & StephThe great-grandkids (minus Hannah!) with Gram Trudie. Maggie was busy playing with her toy. Here is what happened when dada took it away!

We are heading west for Thanksgiving so we will not post for a week or so! We hope that everyone has a wonderful week with family and friends.

Perfect Height

The Diaper wipe box seems to be the perfect height for Maggie. Yes, the book is upside down. Give her a break, she is only 14 months old! Thanks to Martha for giving her the Peter Rabbit books. They are just her size!

Snow already

We are in for a long cold winter here in Ohio. We had our first snow fall this week. Makes me start to think about what to do with Maggie for the rest of the winter! We bought the pass to the children's museum, have signed up for playgroup, and just purchased the play kitchen for the basement. I think that we are ready.

While it was snowing here, I was informed by all of my California people that there was a heat wave and it was 80 + degrees! How nice, November and 80 degrees. Don't worry, I am sure that it will cool down when we arrive for Thanksgiving next week.

A Tie???

We witnessed a bizarre game today... a tie between the Bengals & the Eagles. Thank you Dave for taking us to the game. John & Evan on the way to the game.