Finally a weekend together!

This weekend Charles and I were both off work.... at the same time... together! It was great! Maria miraculously slept until 8:00 on both Saturday and Sunday (this has rarely, if ever, happened before... she's usually up at 6:15ish!) We got ourselves ready to have some family fun! It looked like rain on Saturday morning, so we decided to head to the Magic House. Daddy hadn't been there before, and he was pretty impressed! And it wasn't even very crowded, so we all had a great time. We even bumped into some friends, the Schoenwalders! The last time we went, Maria was a little overwhelmed, but this time she really got into 'playing' there - stacking blocks, sliding on her own, and basically running from one exhibit to the next. I carried her the entire time previously.

Here are some of the highlights:

Morning ritual... and evening fun!

Maria has been so interested in the school buses each morning when we come downstairs to play. The middle-school bus stop just happens to be in our front yard, so we get a lot of action out there in the morning! Her favorite part, though, is watching the kids with their backpacks. I had forgotten that she had one of her own, until she dug it out of her toy basket last week. When she sees the kids on the curb, she goes to get her backpack. She likes to be able to see it though, so we have to put it on her front!

Here she is crouching down to look out the window for the bus....

....and here she is just after the bus has arrived with her back pack.

I'm sure she'll be thrilled when she can ride that big bus on her own. I pray I'll be able to handle it when she does!

And later that day, Nonna came over to watch Maria while mommy and daddy were both at work. They watched attentively at the window for daddy to come home, and Maria even included her stuffed animals (at least the downstairs population) in the waiting game. She and Nonna put up all the animals at the window to watch for daddy! She was a little upset when I took them down during one of her naps, so a few of her favorites are still standing guard at the window.

Lots to Update

Well, I've definitely slacked off in my blogging this summer... sorry! It's been so much fun to be home full time playing with Maria - she is so much fun right now!!! She is trying so very hard to talk, she still LOVES books (yippee!), she is running everywhere, feeding dolls & stuffed animals, dancing her "Happy Feet" dance (no correlation to the movie), and she even figured out how to operate the DVD player! No kidding.... She has become an Elmo junkie - mommy is not proud that this started at 5:30 one morning and she's been hooked ever since. It is definitely more difficult to divert her attention from what she wants (Elmo)!


Now that I am back at work doing the Parents as Teachers thing again, Maria is staying with Nonna on Tuesdays. They have a blast together, and Maria sleeps very well on Tuesday nights! I am working Tuesday days, and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. Those nights are Daddy-Maria nights, and Maria loves them! She still wakes everymorning with a questioning "Dada??? Dada??" I say, "Daddy's at work," and she says, "Dada vroooom!" (which means dada has taken the car and gone to work.) She is trying to put together words, even though she doesn't have have too many yet. Her famous one is "Dada SHHHHHH" for dada sleeping! That's definitely her favorite!



Charles has been helping out at DePaul hospital on Monday and Friday evenings for a few extra hours and $, which means Charles and I see eachother....ummm, yeah. Not too often these days. Hopefully that will change soon! We celebrated our 4th anniversary by falling asleep on the couch... my how times have changed!




Our latest excitement was our house getting struck by lightening on Monday! Oh, so much fun! Thankfully, we are all just fine, and no fire or major damage. But through the powerful electric surge, we lost our computer, garage door opener, 2 phones, and the DVD player. The electrician guy said we were very lucky, and by the way our house shook at 1:30 in the morning, we feel very lucky too! The jolt even knocked pictures off the walls... it has been a crazy week getting everything back into place...



Here are a few pictures of the rest of our summer. The heat has been unbearable the last few weeks, so not much outside play for us. I've also added a few more YouTube videos, since it takes forever to upload them on this site. Check them out: http://www.youtube.com/mom2maria


Maria and Grandma at Grant's Farm.



Maria and Grandpa at the Luecke Luau in Chamois, MO.


Maria and Daddy slide at the school by our house.




Bradley Josephsen, Teagan Moore (and daddy Rog), and Maria at the mini-SEMO reunion at Olympia House. Maria even liked the hummus!!!



More to come soon - I promise!!!



Jody