Happy 4th Birthday, Mazie!

Miss Mazie James turned FOUR on May 23.  It was quite a birthday... on Friday the 18th we celebrated at her school.  Caleb and I both co-oped for the birthday celebration, which involves a series of specific rituals... with all of the kids sitting in a circle, Mazie told everyone to lie down and close their eyes and then she picked out a candle.  She then went around the circle and asked each kid what color they thought the candle was, and then she told them to open their eyes and she told them its color.  My favorite part was when her teacher, Jim (who, along with Yvonne, taught Caleb at Our School Preschool when he was Mazie's age!), asked her how old she was, and the Mazie had to go around the circle and have each kid ask her, "Do you have four year old hair?" ("Yes.") Or "Do you have a four year old belly button?" (Also "Yes.") The whole thing was very sweet -- she was very serious about each step and definitely felt like the special birthday girl!

Celebration #2 was on Saturday.  We had a party at Memory Square Park with many friends and family, and then Mazie led us all on a parade to Sweet Cow for ice cream!  Plans were almost derailed by rain, but luckily the sun came through just in time for the party, and then the rain started promptly as we were walking back from Sweet Cow!  Our big present to Mazie was a new (used) bigger bike, which she learned how to ride immediately.  Here she is with her bike and the awesome boots Aunt Jen got her!

On Sunday the 20th we packed up the car and Ahya, Uncle Logan, Mazie, Athena and I drove to Yellowstone (or "Lellowstone"), where we met Ty and Sara.  Dad and Karen joined us on Tuesday, and on Wednesday (Mazie's "actual birthday," as she would have told you) Caleb arrived, so we were all together for the big day!  It was a fantastic trip... we had all different kinds of weather, including one sunny and hot day followed by several days of rain and snow, but the upside was that the park was pretty empty (we were there right before the season officially begins) and we had enough good weather that we were able to get out and see a ton of stuff, including 2 bears, tons of buffalo, an animal that we all tried to convince ourselves was a wolf, but was most likely just a (large) coyote, elk... and then of course all of the geysers, pools, pots, and fumeroles.  Logan made a fantastic video documenting our trip -- take a minute to check out these 1500 or so pictures he took!

Here's what I wrote on Mazie's birthday card:

Dear Mazie,

Happy birthday, my four year old girl!  I can't believe you are already FOUR!  Here are some of my favorite things about you:

- your SMILE!  I love your cheeriness, the way you shine, the way you laugh and enjoy life.
- your CURIOSITY!  I love the questions you ask, the attention you give, your eagerness to learn about your world.
- your ENERGY!  I love watching you play soccer, ride your bike, run and climb and dance
- your CREATIVITY!  I love listening to your stories, watching you draw and build and play.
- your TENDERNESS!  I love cuddling with you, hearing you say "I love you," and, more than anything, watching you and your little sister be sweet to each other.

You are an amazing, lovely, awesome person.  I love you so much!

Love,
Mom

Athena at 9 months

Hard as it is for me to believe, Athena hit the 9 month mark this week, so she's been "out" in the world for as long as she was "in" my belly.  It's a very fun age... she is loving her mobility and her current routine involves crawling from one spot to another spot where she can pull up to standing and play for a while, and then getting down and crawling to another standing spot.  For example, yesterday in our playroom she spent a while at the dress-up chest pulling out necklaces and "talking shoes" (Mazie's name for the dress-up "heels" she has), and then made her way over to the changing table, pulled herself up, and proceeded to throw every washcloth, bib, and burp cloth off the middle shelf.  She's incredibly interactive and very clearly on the cusp of doing some real communicating... she waves "hi" and "bye" fairly consistently, knows exactly what I mean when I sign and say "milk" to her, and watches my hands and mouth intently when I sign/ask her if she wants "more" food.  She babbles a lot and will repeat sounds like "Up."  So amazing to watch her brain putting all the pieces together... before we know it she'll be talking up a storm along with her sister.

Speaking of her sister, watching their interactions continues to be the highlight of my days.  When Athena sees Mazie -- even if they've just been apart for a minute and Mazie walks in from another room -- Athena will do this little cackle and her whole body jumps.  She doesn't react to any one else that way.  (I get the typical mommy treatment... when I come home from work she gives me a big smile, which then immediately turns into a fuss if I don't IMMEDIATELY go hold her.  Also very sweet... but nothing to match the Mazie excitement.)  Athena has also started giving really good hugs, and Mazie is a favorite hugging target... she'll grab her with both hands, pull herself into her, then rest her head on Mazie's shoulder.  As a mama, there's nothing that makes me happier than watching them be so sweet to each other.

This video does a good job of capturing the sweet craziness we're surrounded by these days:

The Baby is Mobile

Athena's been thinking about crawling for a while... last weekend she decided to go for it.

Here she is right on the verge of figuring it out last Friday morning....

Here she is one day later on Saturday morning.  (Yes, she's still wearing the same outfit... don't judge.)

And here she is on Monday morning.  Time to get serious about childproofing!

Easter

So each Easter I've had Mazie put on a pretty dress and we've done photo shoots in front of our house... first in Madison, then in Colorado.  This year she got to share the shoot with her little sister.  Here's Mazie's Easter progression...

2009 (10 months)


2010 (22 months)


2011 (almost 3)


2012 (almost 4)




And here's Athena's on her first Easter.




A few more of both girls.




More pictures here... Mazie was very funny, insisting on doing interesting poses for each shot, so you'll notice some strange hand positions and body contortions.

We had a LOVELY day... spent the morning with our friends Melissa, Steven, Sena, and Noa.  All the girls got their dresses on and we got a great shot of these four little friends.


Then we went home and found out what the Easter Bunny brought.  Here's Mazie finding eggs:


After our photo shoot, we took a bike ride and had a picnic in the park.



And then in the evening we went to Aunt Jen's for a wonderful, relaxed family dinner.  The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and in the low 70s.  A perfect spring celebration!

A Girl and Her Bike

For Christmas in 2010, when she was 2 1/2 years old, Mazie asked Santa for a "strider bike" -- a small bike without pedals.  Santa decided that rather than getting an actual Strider-brand bike, he would get her a toddler-sized pedal bike and take the pedals off... that way, she could learn to ride it without the pedals and then, when she got the balancing down, we could put the pedals on and she would learn to ride a bike!

At first, the bike was just a little too big and Mazie didn't show a lot of interest in riding it.  Then this past fall, I took her to Boulder's new bike park with these guys...

and her desire to keep up with them gave her the motivation to really try it for the first time.  And then on one of his visits Papa took her over to the little ramp at Memory Square Park... he carried the bike up to the top of the ramp and helped her ride down, over and over with his sweet Papa patience.  Since then, she's been riding more and more and getting more confident.  A month or so ago we all rode our bikes about 4 blocks to our friends' house.  It was slow going on the uphill, but on the downhill on the way there she did great -- she was picking her feet up and really trying out the balancing piece.  On the way home, she REALLY got going, and ended up having a major crash right into a chain link fence.  It was pretty scary and she cried for a while, but in the end she recovered well and rode her bike the rest of the way home.

This past Thursday, I took her back to the bike park, and her progress since the fall was on full display.  She was riding over bridges and bumpy trails, and it was clear that she was ready for the next step.  Here she is on Thursday:


So on Saturday, we got the pedals put on her bike and went back to the park to try it out.  Here is the first attempt... she's used to pushing off with her feet, so it's kind of frustrating that the pedals keep getting in the way.

About a minute later, we got to the top of a small hill and Caleb gave her a little push... and off she went!

We spent close to an hour at the park on Saturday and by the end she was able to get herself started.  Most importantly, she was loving it!

The next day was Easter Sunday, and we decided to take a family bike ride down to the park for a picnic.  Mazie did so well that after lunch we hopped on a trail and rode for a bit.  When I mapped out our route when we got home, it said that we rode for about 2 1/2 miles!  Athena happily rode along in the trailer.  It was pretty great.


We're pretty impressed with our little biker.  Caleb didn't learn to ride until he was 7... I don't remember how old I was but definitely older than 3!  It's been great to watch her enthusiasm, and we're looking forward to lots of family bike rides... although it's already looking like she's too big for this bike and will need a new one soon!

A Visit from Nanny and Papa

On his way home from a work trip to New Jersey Papa came to visit us in late March -- he got in on Friday the 23rd, and then Nanny came on Wed the 28th, and they both stayed until April 1.  Both girls loved seeing their Nanny and Papa.  We also went over to Great Aunt Missy's house and visited with the chickens the first weekend Papa was here, and then the second weekend Ty and Sara came down from Vail and we had a big gathering at GG's!



A few more pictures here!

March 2012

First tooth!

Athena cut her first tooth today ...  her first little April Fools joke! And Mazie had a good joke of her own, calling Ahya, Nana, and Aunt Jen and telling them that we were having another baby! That's my girl!