Maya's Not a Baby Anymore!

Here is Maya running, she gets around pretty fast on those feet now. Rescue and Maya are playing ball, Maya likes to fetch more than Rescue!


Maya will be 20 months in about a week, we can't believe it! Seems like just yesterday we were at Winnie Palmer in Orlando at 5:59 A.M. holding this beautiful little baby.


Here's Maya taking a break from all the dancing we were doing, taking a quick "dog nap" on Rescue's bed!




Saturday was Maya's first night in her toddler bed. She loves her "big girl bed!" She even stayed in bed in the morning. I was so excited to see if she would be playing with her toys when we
went in to get her. She was just laying there talking to herself, what a good girl!

Big Girl Bed = Freedom

These are shoes that her Aunt Laura & Uncle Gus got her for Christmas, she loves them! As soon as we put them on her she started dancing!

She is very girly! She loves shoes, purses, and talking on the phone! She will also put anything to her ear and pretend it's her phone. Like her tupperphone!

I had to include this one of Maya cracking up watching her favorite show, The Backyardigans!

Looking good J!





For Maya's 1st birthday, her Aunts Terri & Christie got her a Dora the Explorer car. She zips around the house on it! Josh and Rescue are Maya's pit crew!

As many of you know, we call Maya, "Monkey." We have since she was born, I'm not sure why but she just reminds us of a little baby monkey. Here are some examples...

BREW YOUR OWN !

Brew night on the patio, there's nothin' quite like it. With Julia's help I brewed an Irish Stout. The weather was fantastic and the new brew kettle made the night that much better. Two words, Propane Burner. Something about the combination of fire, smoke, and beer that really makes me happy. Kettle to the left, brew night goodies below.
As you can see by this picture on the right Julia enjoys brew night as well. HEY, Give me back my cigar!!!




We also made Apfelwien, German Hard Cider... yummmm, apples.
Brewing is really easy to do if you're a big nerd like me or Alton Brown. I linked an episode of Good Eats to the title of this blog post. It's a basic home brewing episode. If you come to our house sometime, I'll share one or two with ya. But if you keep coming back you better bring your own... wait , I mean ...
BREW YOUR OWN !

Arkansas Christmas

We were very fortunate to spend a few days in Little Rock with Julia's family for Christmas. It is always great to see all of the family there. When we say ALL the family we really mean it, cause there are a lot of 'em!

Maya was still a bit confused when opening presents. The look on her face said, "why is there all this paper around my elmo"? She's 18 months here, next year she will be 2 1/2 and telling us what she wants from Santa
(that should be interesting).

Josh helped Papaw and Julia's dad put together a porch swing in the garage. OH, Just thought of a joke...
How many Razorbacks does it take to put a swing together... ?

It was too rainy to put the new swing on the patio, but that didnt stop Julia, Maya, and Mamaw from swingin' in the garage that afternoon. It is really neat to see 4 generations of Julia's family laughing, talking and enjoying each other's company.

Julia's mom brought a box full of shakers, drums, and tambourines along with a new shiny tutu for Maya. She loves them and will probably play drums in a rock and roll band someday. Not that stupid *rock band* game the kids are playing these days. A REAL rock band that plays way too loud in our basement and irritates the neighbors, the way it should be.

While the band practiced, Josh took a nap in his new Pittsburgh Steeler's throwback jersey (thanks Julia)