day at the park (the first of a few updates)

Something inspired me today to get the camera back out again and take some pictures.  I met my friend Ruth and her kids at a park and we played and had a picnic.  This also prompted me to upload the other pictures from my camera, so we have some updates coming!  First (although out of order) are the pics from today at the park. 

Mavry sporting her hand me down sunglasses!

Contemplative sisters at the pond.

This girl loves swinging.

Lately she's been into feeding other people, including mama and daddy.

Happy!

Mavry's 4 day older buddy enjoys some swinging too.

We have a climber on our hands.

Look Ma, no hands! (I think she was really saying "all done.")

Mavry's First Birthday Party

We had Mavry's first birthday party a few weeks after her actual birthday in order to buy us two extra weekends to work on the house and get ready.  We managed to get the big stuff crossed off our list before the party!  We got the place looking decent and Colin put in a fence in the front (with the help of a few friends).  I painted the fence (with the help of my mama group friends). 

For her party, we had egg casserole, pancakes, bacon, fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice from the orange trees along our fence, coffee and tea.  We made all the food ahead of time so that we wouldn't be cooking pancakes instead of enjoying our friends and it still tasted good!

Mavry wore a dress that was once mine, a birthday crown that I made her, and had watermelon sliced into a cake. 

Since someone had given Mavry a hanbok, the traditional Korean dress, we had her do the traditional Korean one year birthday "dol jabi" where we set out objects that could represent future careers and see what she would pick.  She went straight for the computer mouse.  Her second choice was the calculator.  She chose that over a wooden flute, paintbrush, ball, money, and pencil. So, apparently she will be like her dad!

I had some nice help getting the favor bags ready for the party.  A friend who I taught with in China came over to help cut the pineapple to get ready for dehydrating.  She cut them in the special Chinese way to make the most of the fruit.  The dehydrated pineapple went into the bag with homemade fruit roll ups, dehydrated oranges and apple slices.  

We had a really lovely warm sunny day to celebrate.  We were thankful for our huge shade tree

Happy birthday to our bright and wonderful Mavry Arden!

Mavry: One Year Old!

I can't believe it's already been a year since Mavry was born! 

She signs her form of "all done" when at the table and on the potty and responds when Colin asks her in Korean too. 

She loves to laugh when we imitate the sounds she makes.
She loves to climb. 
She says "ba-buh" when she sees a dog or hears a dog barking.  (She loves her seat at the table in our new home where she can sometimes see the neighbors' dog.)
She bobbles up and down or sways to music, depending on the style. 

Copying my finger holding up "one."

See Mavry at:
11 months
10 months
9 months
8 months
7 months
6 months
5 months
4 months
3 months
2 months
5 weeks

Mavry: 11 Months

Since my last post, we have been to Texas and back for a week long Christmas visit, came back, closed on our house, packed up boxes, and moved in!  We are still unpacking, organizing, and working on projects non stop here, plus we have been slammed this week with the flu and more teething.  So, Mavry's 11 month pictures are about two weeks later than I hoped. 

Mavry is has been standing unassisted since November 30th.  She seems to have completely mastered it, able to get up from the floor to standing without aid, but she's not walking.  She loves our new place - most of all the yard.  We spend some time outside everyday and she can't get enough of going up and down our three front steps.  We take her walker wagon out to the long front walk and she gets excited about that too.  She continues to talk all the time, making noises that sound like complete sentences.  The recognizable things she says include mama, dada, ohnononono, and we think we've heard her say byebye and hello, but those aren't consistent.  She loves to clap when we say "yay" and sometimes she'll put her hands on her cheeks when we say "oh no!". 

I include this one because it made Colin laugh.  He thought I had thrown Raggedy Ann at Mavry!  I didn't.  She just grabbed her with the intention of relieving her next two teeth coming in, I guess.

See Mavry at:
10 months
9 months
8 months
7 months
6 months
5 months
4 months
3 months
2 months
5 weeks

Mavry Encounters a Lime

Thanksgiving in Ojai

Since we couldn't be with family on Thanksgiving, we decided to get away for a few nights.  We went to Ojai, which was less than two hours North.  Ojai is kind of like a mini Santa Fe and is famous for its "pink moments" that are visible looking East to the mountains as the sun sets.  It only lasts a few moments and is really beautiful!

We found a place through airbnb (people rent out their own homes through this site, so we had access to a kitchen!) and took our own food, so we had a small Thanksgiving feast with rack of lamb, this grain free dressing, these savory sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie with this coconut flour crust, sourdough rolls, and some lacto-fermented cranberries and apples.  Yum.  Especially the sweet potatoes!

 

We went on a short hike up to a small woodland water fall which was perfect!  We walked around Ojai and played on the playground too.  Mavry loves to swing.

On the way home on Saturday, we took some time at the beach to try for Christmas family photos with the self timer.  It was too bright and we are all squinty eyed, so we will have to try for more. 

Mavry: 10 months

Mavry is 10 months old! 

She is standing on her own and getting a little more adventurous with that every day. 

She loves her walker wagon.  She will walk with it until she runs in to something and then stop and pull a book out of it to "read." 

She loves going out.  If the outside doors are open, she will head outside on her own. 

When she wakes up from her naps (on her floor bed), she will usually crawl to the door (I leave it closed but not pulled shut) and come out on her own. 

She has her own shelf in the kitchen now that has some vintage tea tins and other kitchen items just for her.  She can make quite the racket!

She loves to talk to herself.  She can be overheard saying "lamalamalamaduh" or something like it from her car seat or as she cruises around the room. 

She used to stay in the same room as us all the time, but now she frequently ventures into a room we are not in - usually the bathroom - to open cabinets and rifle through the contents.  We have put off baby proofing cabinets in our small apartment since we are hopefully moving soon, so we keep an eye on her!

See Mavry at:
9 months
8 months
7 months
6 months
5 months
4 months
3 months
2 months
5 weeks