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

February 27, 2008

Tiny Dancer

Filed under: Pictures,Videos — Tags: , — Luke @ 9:21 pm

Well, little Mara’s birthday just seems to live on and on. Of course her party was two weekends ago. But on Friday, her real birthday, she got to go for a trip to the movies to see The Chipmunks. She was decked out in her birthday gear for that event. Alvin is her favorite, or “the one with the red shirt,” as she likes to call him.

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Baby, I can accessorize.

Later that night she went with Mom and Dad to her favorite eatery, Red Robin. She wore her crown again, but we didn’t get any pictures. When the serving crew came by to sing to Mara and deliver her chocolate sundae, she had a great big smile on her face.

Then came Monday, and Lisa was just too kind. She got Mara a dance outfit, a ballerina dress. Mara loves it! She didn’t want to take it off for dinner that night, but we were afraid she would get it dirty. On Tuesday she put it right back on, and wore it to her dance class at the little gym.

Tutu 02

Watch this!

Tutu 03

And I sing too.

Here is some video of what she learned in class.

Tutu Video
Tutu Video

52.4 MB / Time 0:29

December 31, 2007

Christmas 2007

Filed under: Videos — Tags: , , , , — Luke @ 7:16 pm

As mentioned on her brother’s site, we have some video from Christmas this year. Although a majority of the pictures over there were taken on Christmas Eve, this video was shot on Christmas day. It isn’t indicated in the video, but the first portion has all the kids at the beginning of the morning and them opening some gifts. The next portion of the video is just Mara opening some of the rest of her gifts while the younger ones take a nap. It just took so long to get through all the gifts that the kids got this year, we spent almost the whole morning opening things. Needless to say it was difficult getting them through the morning. With every gift for Mara she wanted to open it up and play with it right away. It took some finagling to get her to move on to the next gift each time. You might even catch a sourpuss face on her every once in a while as if she doesn’t want to open the gift, because she is still thinking about the last one we wouldn’t let her play with.

This is a VERY big file. Start to download it, then walk away for a little while.

Xmas07 Video
Xmas07 Video

139 MB / Time 27:53

September 18, 2007

Last Day At The Pool

Filed under: Pictures,Videos — Luke @ 12:06 am

This past Saturday marked the last day at the neighborhood pool for the Evans family. Luckily the season went a little long for us, as they decided to keep it open past the Labor Day weekend. That is the beauty of taking over ownership of the pool by the neighborhood.

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I Love The Pool

Mara has come a long way this season in her abilities. She began by using swimmies for the first time, and followed that up by swimming alone without anyone touching her. She has even gotten to the point where she is willing to jump in the pool by herself with little coaxing. On Saturday she was running and jumping in. Click a picture to see more photos from the day.

pool0907 05

Look At Me…

On a whim, we decided to use the video function on our digital camera for the first time. It didn’t turn out too bad and we were impressed. For the sake of it, here are the raw videos, no fancy editing (warning, the file sizes are a little larger than typically posted here). Oh, and in the 2nd video, that isn’t added theme music for the south. That is a couple of guys that were sitting and playing in the pool area. Nothing like a little Banjo.

Jump In The Pool 1 Video
Jump In The Pool 1 Video

40.8 MB / Time 0:22

Jump In The Pool 2 Video
Jump In The Pool 2 Video

144 MB / Time 1:21

August 29, 2007

Reading Already?

Filed under: Videos — Luke @ 8:20 pm

Reading already? Well, not really. But she puts on a good show.

One of the popular books at Mara’s daycare is “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” Mara has heard it so much and the wording is simple enough that she actually can recite the whole book. She showed off this skill at the beach and we taped it to play for everyone. The fact that she rarely looks at the book is a dead give away that she is not reading it. She needs to practice her faking more. Preston tries to get in on the act too.

Brown Bear Video
Brown Bear Video

11.0 MB / Time 2:18

August 15, 2007

Using Swimmies

Filed under: Videos — Luke @ 11:23 pm

We have been trying to get Mara acclimated to the pool this summer and teaching her little by little techniques to use to swim. You might remember that we had so far only used a life jacket like float in order to get her “swimming” by herself. A few weeks ago on the visit to Richmond we got the use of some borrowed swimmies from Grace’s cousin. Mara has her own pair, but I think Dad was thinking she might be too small or young for them. Nope, they fit her fine and she was OK for that round. They actually balanced her better than the other float.

Well this past week at the Outer Banks she took it upon herself to swim by herself using the swimmies. It got to the point that she was telling Mom to not touch her. Before we left for the beach she was a pink frog, since she liked to jump everywhere while on land. Now she was telling us she was a pink fish. Take a look at the video and see a guest appearance by Campbell and Preston.

Swimming Video
Swimming Video

20.9 MB / Time 4:17

July 19, 2007

Tons Of Elefun

Filed under: Friends,Videos — Luke @ 10:21 pm

This past weekend we had the Sowell’s over for a little cookout and dinner. Nothing fancy, but just a good opportunity to get the kids together for a little playtime. Mara and Parker had fun running around inside the house, then when we were cooking they took full advantage of the sand table outside.

After dinner we went upstairs and the kids got busy in Mara’s closet. Somehow a game of Elefun broke out. If you don’t know what it is, its where butterflies come shooting out of an elephant’s trunk. The object is to catch the butterflies in a net, but it is pretty hard even for an adult. Mara has always been haunted by this toy, for reasons unknown. The very mention of playing with it brought a frown to her face. Not this time. After the initial fear she was all game. See the kids have fun.

Elefun Video
Elefun Video

11.8 MB / Time 2:26

April 16, 2007

First Visit With Little Brother

Filed under: Videos — Luke @ 9:10 pm

We’ve gotten the video together that we were trying to have ready for the last post announcing Campbell’s arrival. You can see first hand Mara’s timidness around the new little one. She is a little bit shy for the first time she sees him on Saturday, but she comes through with a kiss for him in the end. We think that it will take some adjustment for her to having him around, but Mara is going to love him very much and be a great help to Mom and Dad in giving him care within no time. Take a look.

Little Brother Video
Little Brother Video

4.1 MB / Time 1:42

March 19, 2007

Running Scared

Filed under: Videos — Luke @ 8:19 pm

No, this is not the real movie Running Scared. But this is Mara’s version anyway. Mara really gets a kick out of being chased around our island in the kitchen. Next she will turn the tables and start to chase you back. This inevitably turns into an opportunity for her to scare you as she chases you around. Although we have tried to teach her the subtlety of surprise and how that works into the “scare” equation, she doesn’t quite get it yet. So she is resigned to simply trying to make a fierce face and roar at you as she gives chase. Its a funny little video. Even more interesting when the tables turn on her. Take a look.

Scary Video
Scary Video

6.2 MB / Time 2:37

Note – This is a repost of a previous entry that was seemingly lost by our website host.

March 10, 2007

Our Little Frog

Filed under: Videos — Luke @ 3:58 pm

Every once in a while, Mara will just start something new that we haven’t seen before. Sometimes it can be a conglomeration of stuff we are doing randomly that she picks up on. Other times it is something that she has picked up from day care from the other kids (or so we figure) since some things she does we hope are not being taught to her (not that they are THAT bad, but you know what we mean). In this particular case in the past week, Mara has proceeded to transform herself into a little frog. This is clearly something they are doing in day care and being taught. She really likes doing this impersonation. Every time she heard herself while I was making this video she would tell me she was going to go ribbit. Enjoy the clip.

Ribbit Video
Ribbit Video

2.4 MB / Time 1:02

January 11, 2007

Ridin’ Dirty

Filed under: Videos — Luke @ 10:25 pm

Nana got Mara a 4 x 4 play truck that is battery operated. Mara couldn’t ride it the day Nana brought it, since it had to be assembled and charged up. But a couple of days later Mom took Mara outside to try it out. She had ridden something similar over at her buddy Parker’s house. She’s not exactly an expert at getting around in it yet. Coordinating the gas and the steering takes some practice. It doesn’t help necessarily that she was in her Michelin Man coat.

I think the main objective for Mara is to push her foot. Watch the video and you’ll understand.

4x4 Video
4×4 Video
10.1 MB / Time 4:05

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