Push it up!

The boys trying to get their kids to push it up

Maggie Playing Hide & Seek

Can you see where she is hiding?

Happy Easter!

The small world of Secret Sisters

In squadron life the guys go away 'alot'. While they are away, if your spouse is home you 'adopt' another spouse whose husband is away... a secret sister. Picture a grown up version of a sorority. (Side note: This is all very funny, because even though my best friends in college were in a sorority, I refused to join. They are all laughing at me now!!)

Well, when we were in the UK a woman I did not know, Jane, was my secret sister. Her husband was away, she had one boy and was pregnant with her sweet little girl. I sent her a bunch of goodies throughout the deployment and had fun getting to 'know' her. Fast forward to the end of the deployment: her husband got home, she had baby Elizabeth, I got pregnant, had Maggie, Jane PCS-ed (moved for none military types), we PCS-ed, and ... we NEVER met! Since her husband was not in the same circle as mine (he was a flight doc), I figured I would never see her again. I always thought that I failed at the end of my 'secret sisterhood' and that I should haved called and I always wondered if everything was ok with her. Since I never met her, knew her, or even had a conversation with her, a certain spouse of mine would call me the 'secret stalker'! Ha!

We moved to our new squadron, John goes to work, comes home with the name of a flight doc that flew with his new squadron... I almost fell off my chair (I actually got some goosebumps)... it was my secret sister!!

They were here,
in Ohio,

and they lived a few blocks away!

Needless to say I am very grateful to have her so close by and happy to get to know sweet Elizabeth. I am pleasantly surprised by the way that life works.

Here are Maggie & Elizabeth enjoying Easter treats today.

Our yard is blooming!

Monday: Opening Day!

Today was opening day for many teams around the country. That means Spring is here! We were extra excited because we were heading downtown to see the fly-by for the Reds (and to see John as number 2!). First disappointment of the day: It was cold. Really cold, snowing/sleeting type of cold. Second disappointment of the day: They cancelled the fly-by! Apparently snow and sleet is not the ideal weather for them to work their magic.

But, we were not disappointed to be able to spend the entire afternoon at home with daddy.

Bowling = Fun!

A girl and her daddy

First Haircut!

I think it is a good thing that we don't watch TV at home. Especially at moments like this. Maggie got her haircut for the first time today. I waited for the weekend, expecting a huge fuss and wanted John's extra hands. Well, once they put on Blue's Clues and stuck her in an airplane, she was a perfect quiet angel. Look at that stare!

Here she is! Haircut and a smile on her face.

Dundee Dog

Dundee is the farm dog. He has a natural instinct to herd. Can you guess what he is doing here? Yes, he is herding us. While we are driving. In the gator. By spinning in circles. Strange? Yes.

Gardening

Today we planted some seeds in the garden. She loves to help me outside.

Her expressions are priceless. Here she is telling me that she needed more seeds to plant.

Oh yeah, and we are getting her first 'real' haircut tomorrow morning. I know that there is not too much to cut, but we need to even out those fly-aways!

The beginning of discipline

For those we speak to daily, you know that we have had a glimmer of the terrible twos over the last few days. We decided to continue with the time-outs in an effort to establish some good rules around this house!

Maggie was sitting on the time out step today for throwing the playdough. After her minute of 'quiet reflection' I went to her, knelt down to her level, looked her in the eye, and said, "Maggie, you are sitting in time out because you threw the playdough at mommy. We don't throw playdough in our house. I love you and you are a good girl. Let's go have a good day together." That is the line I always say to her. Then I give her a hug and a kiss.

She looked up at me with her big blue eyes, spread her arms, and said, "ahhhhhhh, Mama!" and then leaned in for a hug, then planted a big kiss on my cheek and ran off. I was hugging her and really had the impression that she was forgiving ME! Or feeling sorry for me because I was in time out. Whatever her intentions, it left me very confused!

Yesterday, she was also sitting in time out for a similar reason. The entire minute, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Joooohn, Johhhhhhhnnnnn, JJJJJOOOOOOHHHHNNNN, JOHNNNNN!" That would be her daddy's name and she was screaming it in the nagging way that I do when I am calling him while he is upstairs. I had no idea I sounded that annoying!

Where your money is going...

To support Homescapes in Carmel! Thought you would enjoy this one Bill :)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102322609

I did it...

Well, I did not actually do it. But, Maggie did it. She LOCKED herself in my car. I will save you from all of the boring details, but just so you get the idea...

Me: In my sweats, early morning heading to farm & then to work out.

Maggie: Cute as a bug in her car seat with her snow boots on and a blanket (thank goodness because it was 30 degrees!). Had a great time pushing buttons!

Police who came to my rescue: really annoyed at the airhead blonde mom who allowed her daughter to 'hold' her keys while she walked around to the driver side.

Darling husband who was already at work: Rushed 35 minutes home with the spare key just in time to see us driving away happy in our warm car.

Note: Don't ever hand your keys off to a little one in the back seat!

Groundhog Hiking Day!

A note from clever Cousin Amy straight from the mouths of babes. I could not resist posting on the blog. I hope you have a great Groundhog Hiking Day!

"For months, Raizy has been telling us that soon it would be Groundhog Hiking Day. Today, it finally arrived. (Raizy says its the first day that's nice enough to go on a hike in the spring, so it may not be too late for YOU to celebrate Groundhog Hiking Day.) The order of the day includes going on a nature hike to look for groundhogs. No groundhogs were spotted in the Smith's festivities today, athough the girls did see some frogs and a turtle at the nature center. After your groundhog-scouting hike, return home, change into your pajamas, and play. Raizy notes that if everyone isn't in their pajamas "the celebration will be ruined." Happy Groundhog Hiking Day to you and yours."

Ha! She is adorable.

New obsession...

SHOES! She laughed and laughed when she put on dada's uggs. She is too cute. Thanks to Uncle Johnny for the shirt and the high expectations (no pressure here girly)!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Getting ready to boogie in the kitchen with momma! In Momma's shoes!Step, step, step...

Ta Da! PS. see the paint spots on the wall? I am happy to report that our kitchen is now painted and there is no more blue tape. We are almost done!

Helping Dada

Maggie was a big help putting the final touches on the kitchen. She took her job very seriously!

Little missy sitting under the bridge

Moment: Bee song

I thought I should explain the picture a few posts down with Maggie & Dada running around the kitchen like bees.

Maggie loves the bee song. You know... the BEE song. Well, if you spent any time in my house growing up you know the Bee song. My brother John plays it on the piano and as kids we would run around after dinner acting like bees (I can't believe that I just admitted that!). Yes, we had television and other things to entertain us... but we would always run around like bees. Doesn't everyone? (Brian, do you remember the Bee song?)

Anyway, I take Maggie to music class once a week and the teacher gave me a CD to take home of all of the songs we sing. One of them was... the BEE song! I taught Maggie the bee dance and now she starts a buzzin once we go downstairs every morning. She even has bee stickers on her shoes and points them out to Grandpa. I think that she is channeling her Grandpa Win... who really loved bees.

The Moon

Walking home for the park tonight, Dada pointed out the moon. What's that Maggie? Mooooon.

Mooor cookie???

Scene: Maggie sitting in her high chair at the farm. Dinner is served. Full plates are sitting before us.

Maggie: "Mooor? Moor? Moooor?" (translation: More) Pointing to the freshly baked cookies cooling on the counter.

Dada: "No. You can not have any cookies until you are all done with your dinner."

Maggie: Looked down at her plate, looked up at the cookies. One second passes, hands go up in front of her giving the baby sign for all done. "All done, all done!!"

Adults in the room break up in laughter. She is clearly smarter than all of us put together. I hate to admit that we did not see that one coming!!

Before I forget...

18 month check up went well. She is healthy and happy (did I mention cute?).

***For my records***

Weighing in at 28 Pounds... the 90%
Growing to 33 1/2 inches... the 97%
And her head is 19 inches around... the 90%

18 months

Happy 18 month Birthday to our little girl.

Guest writer tonight... Dada!

Maggie Jane Smith continues to be the center of our world. She is lucky to have us and we are lucky to have her. Everyday is an adventure of patience and discovery. We learn as much from her as she learns from us. It has been a wonderful experience to see the world through her eyes. She is clever, energetic, funny, opinionated and loving. If all parents were as proud of their children as we are of ours, the world would be a better place. We love you little Maggie!

Fun after dinner!

Maggie narrowly avoiding a bee attack from dada!!!

Hello? Are you there? We were practising talking on the banana phone tonight!

Exploring the museum

Baking cookies with mom!

She was such a good little helper in the kitchen! She loved the cookies!

Bath time!

Cutie after bath time

What is this? Why did it take so long to get here?

When we were in CA, a very strange car pulled up in front of the house, the guy got out, took a picture of the view, and then got back in and drove away. Not that big of a deal right? People park at the vista all day long. But look at the roof of the car. I believe this to be the google street view picture car. Here is the guy out of his car and taking his very own picture (car on Left, guy on right).

FYI, street view is where you can type in your street and city into google and up will pop a picture of your house. Creepy. Well, we got curious so we typed in our address in Ohio. There it was... our house! Then, we typed in the address in CA. NO PICTURE YET! As you know, we are only 45 mintues from Google headquarters, yet they have not taken pictures of our street? Why did it take so long? We will have to check back in a few weeks to see if the picture of the house has Maggie & I standing there in our pajamas taking a picture of them!

I can't believe I FORGOT to tell everyone...

We saw the WEINERMOBILE!!! As you can imagine, we were very excited that when it pulled up outside the Children's Museum. Maggie daydreaming in the hot dog.

Erin directing traffic