Happy Birthday to Me!

I celebrated my birthday this week. It didn't go quite how I wanted it to – John had to close on my actual birthday and my department basically forgot about it. But, we made up for it with a celebration Saturday. Here are our pictures for this week.

Tuesday, May 26

It almost always rains on my birthday. I know it's still the day before, but I was watching the clouds rolling in as I was coming home from work. It ended up raining after midnight, which would technically be on my birthday. :)

Wednesday, May 27

Happy birthday to me! I left work early today so I could pick up Mara and meet John for his "lunch." We went to Chick-Fil-A (I think it's starting to become a birthday tradition), and I opened my presents there. John got me the 1TB external hard drive I've been wanting, and Mara gave me a DS game. It was nice to spend some time with my family even if John had to go back to work in less than an hour.

Thursday, May 28

Last year, we cashed in some of our Disney Movie Reward points to get Mara a Princess tent and blanket. Mara loves the tent, and we finally got it out for the first time this year. The cats love it also.

Friday, May 29

Lani graduated from preschool today. It's hard to believe that she'll be starting kindergarten in less than three months.

Saturday, May 30

John had today off, so we went to see Up, saw Lori and Lani perform in a skate show, and celebrated my birthday with my family. Mara even learned how to play Go Fish. It was nice to be able to spend the day as a family again.

Sunday, May 31

One of Myra's friends invited us over to her house today to go swimming. It was the first time we've been swimming this summer since our trip to San Antonio, and I had a hard time getting Mara out of the water even though she was in the pool for more than two hours.

Another Edition of Mara-isms

It's been a while since I've posted some Mara-isms, and I thought this would be a good break from the Project 365 pictures.

Mara's vocabulary has exploded recently. She sounds so much more grown up, and sometimes we look at her and wonder if those words really came out of her mouth.

When trying to get her buckled in her car seat, she told us, "I'm not sitting in my seat correctly."

I think she was trying to tell me she had a headache when she said, "There's a temperature in my head."

She has also become very polite. When I carried her to the car one day, she told me, "Thank you so much for carrying me to the car, Mommy."

If she tells us that she loves us, we have to respond, "I love you too." We can't forget the "too;" otherwise, she corrects us.

She walked into her bathroom where we keep one of the litter boxes and said, "Doxy pooped-ed...YUCK!"

When we are in traffic, she's been known to say, "Go faster, peeps!" or "Move, peeps!"

We can tell her friend Logan has been an influence on her when we hear her work the word"cool" into her sentences.

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope everyone had a good Memorial weekend. This past week has been pretty busy for us, but it means many opportunities for pictures. :)

Monday, May 18

One of our favorite drinks for dinner is sweet tea. Mara constantly asks for it and likes to help John make it.

Tuesday, May 19

Mara wanted to play in her sandbox when she got home from school today. We also planted some sunflower seeds so we could watch them grow.

Wednesday, May 20

It's hard to believe that we've had Doxy for almost eight months. She has really grown during that time.

Thursday, May 21

Aunt Kathy came to town this week with Beverly, Phil, and Johnnie for PJ's graduation tomorrow. We all got together at my dad's house tonight for dinner. It was a full house, but it was a lot of fun.

Friday, May 22

Today was PJ's graduation from Northwood University. It was also his birthday, so we celebrated both occasions, along with their wedding and the announcement that they'll be parents soon.

Saturday, May 23

We went to Mike & Myra's today because everyone was gathering there, including all of Myra's Filipina friends. Mara and Lani had a lot of fun together today, and they enjoyed a bath at the end of the night.

Sunday, May 24

John had today off, so it was a family day for us. We ran some errands and had dinner at Red Robin so I could get my free chicken burger for my birthday.

Monday, May 25

Today was a pretty quiet day as Mara and I spent most of it at home. Mara decided to make a hideout with our couch pillows and a blanket. She used the hideout to play with her Ariel and Snow White dolls. I also checked on her sunflowers that we planted a few days ago, and one of them has already sprouted!

Second Week of May

Monday, May 11

A Newflower Farmer's Market opened near us last year, and it's become the place we go for our produce and meats. Plus, they have "double ad" Wednesday since their ads are good from Wednesday to Wednesday.

Tuesday, May 12

After her trip to the dentist, John got Mara a Barbie that she had been wanting. She has been playing with that doll ever since – even sleeping with it on most nights.

Wednesday, May 13

Mara got to go on another field trip today – this time it was roller skating. It didn't surprise us that Mara was afraid of falling, but she was starting to gain confidence just as it was time to take off her skates. She did play one round of "dead bug" before calling it quits for a little bit.

Thursday, May 14

Mara loves to take baths, and we usually give her special a special hairdo with her shampoo. Afterward she wrapped up in her frog towel.

Friday, May 15

We enrolled Mara in ballet lessons this summer, and tonight we bought one of the outfits she'll wear for the lessons. She insisted on trying it on shortly after we got home.

Saturday, May 16

Today, Mara got to spend some time with Allie, who turned one yesterday. It's hard to believe how quickly this past year has gone.

Sunday, May 17

Mara spent the night with Lani last night so we could go see Star Trek today. After we picked up Mara, we went to the mall where they now have a new Lego store. For the grand opening of the store, they had a huge R2-D2 made completely of Legos out in the mall. Mara would not go near it since it made noise, so we had to settle for a picture of just R2-D2.

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are our pictures for the week leading up to Mother's Day.

Wednesday, May 6

Mara discovered the joy of roly polies today. Since it's been rainy, we have roly polies and snails all over the place at our house. We also had another cat trying to adopt us while we were out front playing with the bugs. Actually, he was using us more as a shield from a bird that was bombarding him since the bird wouldn't come near us.

Thursday, May 7

We love strawberry season around here, and we make strawberry shortcakes quite frequently during strawberry season since it's one of our favorite desserts.

Friday, May 8

Mara went back to the dentist today to have her teeth cleaned. The dentist said the gums around her missing tooth are healing much more quickly than she expected, which is good.

Saturday, May 9

We had another busy Saturday today. It started off with us meeting one of my old high school friends at Chick-Fil-A so we could catch up. She also has a daughter, Ava, who is a few months younger than Mara, and they had a lot of fun playing together. Then, we went to Fort Worth for Robert's going away party. He is joining the Navy and will be shipped off sometime between now and August 13. (They have an opening and his name is on the waiting list, but he's not sure if he'll be called up early or have to wait until his official date in August.) Mara enjoyed the ribs we had for dinner.

Sunday, May 10

John had to work today, but luckily he opened and got off around 5. Mara gave me her present when he came home from work. We then went out to eat with my family up in The Colony.