Mara’s Blog Influencing the world one day at a time since 2005…

For those that don’t know, for a while this winter it looked like our neighborhood pool was going to be lost to us. The company running the development was going to reclaim it and turn it into some housing lots or townhomes since it didn’t recruit enough members. A long story later, and we were able to get them to turn the club over to the neighborhood and the pool is open again for the summer!

This past weekend we had some friends visit from VA. Amy, Danny, and their children Brittany and Preston were in town so we went to the pool on Saturday. We had a lot of fun.

Brittany and Preston Loungin’

Mara has been getting better and better in the water. This year she is starting to kick and move her arms. On our way to the pool before we even get there she is talking about swimming and moving her arms. On Saturday we put her in the water with the flotation vest, but this time she asked to have one of the noodles. The only problem with the flotation vest is that she is not balanced from front to back or side to side, and she doesn’t understand how to control that at all. But, with the noodle in front of her it provides the balance side to side and something for her to lean on. We got pictures of her swimming without anyone holding her. It was tough to get her to commit to leaning forward though.

Mara With No One Holding On

There’s not much for Campbell to do yet at the pool. In fact the last time we went he was pretty cranky and cried the whole time. That was tough for the little man, but also tough on Mom as she had to sit with him the whole time. This time, Campbell was more calm, and Mom got to get in the pool.

Little Man C

Mom and Mara

Click through any of the pictures to see some more shots.

All day long we’ve been wishing Mara a happy birthday and telling her she’s two years old. She has gotten pretty good at answering the question, “How old are you?” She says, “two” in her tiny voice with her all of her fingers up in the air and the pointer and middle stuck together like that indicates two. Today at her daycare you can see she had a celebration with her “buddies” in the class as we call them. She even got to help make her very own birthday hat for the party. You can tell by the plates of goodies that party really just means time to get a sugar high. Interestingly enough she is not at all into the sweets. She didn’t even eat a bite of her tiny cupcakes. Instead she opted for the hard sprinkle decorations they put on top of the frosting of the cupcake.

Next week Mara moves up a class into Early Preschool 1. Her teachers pictured here with her, Mrs. Rogers and Ms. Fenner will certainly be missed. They have been so good to us! They are wonderful teachers who have not only taught her a lot but also loved on her. Which, to our little love bug who is always asking for a hug or a kiss means so much! We are sad for her to leave the class where she is affectionately called “Mar Mar” by all. If you ask Mara whose baby are you when at daycare she’ll say “Fenner baby”. She has developed quite a bond with these two teachers so it’s a positive thing that her next class is just beside her old one so she can peek in and see them every once in a while.

Tonight to celebrate Mara’s birthday we decided to take her out for her favorite food and the only one she has proactively asked for out of the blue which is….PIZZA!!!
We chose Elizabeth’s Pizza. How ironic given the fact that, Mario, the owner dropped by our table and we told him it was Mara’s birthday to which he replied, “mine too”. He was so kind and sent over a chocolate dessert with a candle for her. She had no problems blowing out the candle! She now knows the words to the birthday song and sang them to herself while we were there too. All in all I think she has had a great 2nd birthday. We’ve celebrated it so much it might be hard for her to stop!

Click on any of the pictures to see more!

December 7th Mara’s play pal Parker, turned 2. To mark this special occasion his parents (our close friends) Bob & Shannon had a really fun birthday party (Dec 10th) where all the parents helped the kids decorate gingerbread houses. Mara loves to be creative and very much enjoyed the decorating. As a side note she asks us routinely if she can color. Around half way through the decorating Mara finally caught on to the idea that she could actually consume the candy and the icing I was using to help her decorate the gingerbread house. The house turned out adorable and she screeches with delight at seeing it in our kitchen each day. Thanks for a wonderful time Parker!!!

P.S. A Santa of a more familiar type made an appearance at this party. Mara was still frightened at first but when I said he had a treat she abandoned all fears for the candy cane he was handing out.

The pictures turned out nice, so check them out and don’t forget to click on them to go through the whole lot.

Mara giving the birthday boy a smooch

Look what I made!!!

Parker & Mara got together about a week ago and had a blast! They played outside with Parker’s electric jeep and tricycle with the handle. We came indoors and played with washable markers and made a big mess. What fun they had together. At one point they were on the floor acting silly together. Anyway after all the playing with markers and eating they needed a bath. This was too cute not to post. Their expressions are so silly.

Click on this picture to see the other four fun pictures!

Mara had her first trip to the library and it was with none other than her “little boy friend” Parker. Shannon & Bob’s sweet little boy who is now ~21 mos. old. You can see among these pictures they are having a great time. Atleast until Shannon & I get involved and make them hold hands, hug, and kiss each other. They were good sports.

Parker could not get enough of the door you see him coming out of at the library. It was a little playhouse area set up for the kids in the library. Very cute. However Shannon & I did get called down by the librarian because our kids were being too loud. Oh well, we were in the kids section. Who really wants to call down your little ones when they are apparently having such a great time and being very fun! You’ll see we worked in some quiet time with books. They picked out what they wanted to read.

Mara must get her own Preying Mantis toy from the science museum like Parker’s. She carried the thing everywhere once she got her little hands on it. Kind of creepy, if you just noticed it randomly you would’ve thought it was real!

We might visit there this weekend and see what’s going on so stay tuned for some pictures from the science museum too possibly .

I will allow you to hold my pointy finger but don’t distract me from my bug!

You can give me a kiss if I can hold your bug!