Happy Halloween!

Mariana was a little ladybug for Halloween. She had so much fun playing with her little friends in their costumes. On Halloween night we all went over to Mary Lynn's house for a party and to hand out candy. Mariana had a great time checking out all the costumes. Mommy and Daddy thought she was the cutest of all!

Time to Carve the Big Pumpkin

Mariana loved helping Daddy carve the big pumpkin!




She wanted to reach the bottom of the pumpkin to help get the seeds out, so here Daddy is giving her a lift.





Check out those seeds...so slimy and cool!




Yeah, the finished product!

Fall in Asheville

It's me, Mariana, with my new pumpkins.



Wow, this pumpkin is really big. I don't know how I'll ever get it in the house. Oh, by the way, check out the pretty fall colors in my backyard. We love living in the mountains.







Opps, Mommy caught me giving the big pumpkin a kiss. I love pumpkins!

Pumpkin Patch...

On October 26, 2009 Mommy and Daddy took Mariana to our local Pumpkin Patch to pick out a pumpkin. Mari had a wonderful time cruising around the big pumpkins and playing with all the itty bitty ones. After lots of fun playing with all the pumkins, we finally came home with two. A small one for Mariana and a BIG one for Mommy and Daddy.

Books, books and more books!

Another one of Mariana's favorite activities is reading books. Here you can see her imitating an elephant trunk. She is starting to try to recite some of her books to us. It is soooo cute.

Jammin' with Daddy!

Mariana LOVES music and as you can see here one of her favorite activities is playing drums alongside her Daddy!

Trip to Hershey to see Gran and Pop!

On September 21, 2009 Mommy and Mari flew to Hershey to visit Gran and Pop. What fun we had as Mari showed off all her new skills...including saying "Hi Pop!" and "Hi Gran" to greet them at the airport. Throughout the week, she followed Pop around the house from the moment she woke up until she went to bed. She also picked up on a few of Gran's catch phrases and came home saying "Oh, fooey!" on just about any occasion.

Several highlights of the trip included playing with Gran's bubbles, a trip to Cocoa castle, feeding the ducks with Gran, visiting Nana and her friends, playing with cousins Olivia and Grace, celebrating Grace and Uncle Dave's Birthdays, going to Olivia's Homecoming parade and reading books with Nana! What a fun trip!

Mariana at 13 months!

It's been a while since our last post...and boy is Mari growing up! On September 12th she was 13 months old. We took her to the NC Mountain State Fair to celebrate. She loved seeing all the animals and the big tractors. She also loved watching the people. Here are a few pictures from the event.

Mariana also got a new walking toy from Nana for her birthday. Here you can see her testing it out for the first time. Walking creates a whole new element of fun!

Birthday Celebration!

Here are some pictures from Mariana's Birthday Party. Because Mari loves dogs so much, I decided to make her a dog cake with paw print cupcakes. As you can see, she takes after her Mommy and has quite a sweet tooth! She loved playing in the cake almost as much as eating it.

Another highlight of the party was the gigantic bubble machine, which was a gift from Gran and Pop. The bubbles were huge...and bubbles inside of bubbles. Mariana and all her little friends loved it!

Good Things Come in Small Packages...

Happy 1st Birthday Mariana!

On August 12, 2009 our Baby Sprout turned 1! She had a wonderful day with the highlight being the arrival on Gran and Pop from PA! She had a great time being the center of attention and loved showing them all the new words she could say and things she could do!





Here is a picture of her trying on her birthday hat and opening some gifts from Gran and Pop!

Gotta love that Smile!

Last year at this time, we were in anxious anticipation of meeting our Baby Sprout and in two days time our "Little Sprout" will be turning ONE! We can't wait for Gran and Pop to arrive on Wednesday. Fun times to be had by all!!

Visit with Aunt Jean and Uncle Bob in Knoxville

Hard to believe it is already the beginning of August. We have had a great month with lots of new discoveries for little Miss Mari! Mariana is now pullling up on everything she can reach and cruising along the couch. Funny how our once so child-proof house, is not so child-proof anymore.

We had a great visit to Aunt Jean and Uncle Bob Sinclair's house in Knoxville last weekend. Mari loved meeting her Aunt and Uncle and spending time with Uncle Bryan, Aunt Ge Ge and cousin Ava. She especially enjoyed splashing in the pool.

Out...

Mariana has learned a new word. She can now say "Out!" Here is a picture of her at the back door saying, "Out!" We are little biased, but we think she's pretty cute. Besides, who could say "No" to those cheeks!

Playing with Color!

Here is my artistic side trying to play with color... We took a few black and white images and I thought they turned out pretty well. The other one is me just trying to play about on the computer with color.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great Fourth of July! The weather was beautiful and perfect for an afternoon hike and a fun evening of grilling out. Mari wilted from her active day and was sound asleep by the time for fireworks. Mommy and Daddy had a great time sitting out back and watching all the action, while the little one slept soundly through each and every "crack" and "boom"! You can see Mariana here sporting her red, white and blue. She was the best dressed kid on the block, thanks to Aunt Mimi and Uncle Bill Macek! We love this outfit!

Hangin' by the pool with friends!

Mari has a great little group of friends in the neighborhood. The other day we all met at the pool and we were able to get a quick shot of the group. Most of our pictures include at least one Mom reaching in to sit up a falling child or keep one child from pulling another's hair, etc... They have a lot of fun together!

Preston, Mariana, Lawson, Allison, Sawyer

Daddy's Girl!

Daddy Sprout had a very nice Father's Day with his little girl! She woke him up with a "Hi Da Da!" and boy is that enough to make a guy smile.

Mariana loves her Daddy! She squeals with delight every evening when he comes home and reaches up so he will give her a big daddy hug!

We are so blessed to have such a great husband and daddy in our lives!

Laundry Basket Rides!

Mari has discovered a fun new activity. If there is a laundry basket anywhere in the house, she will find it. And no doubt she will rapidly proceed to empty its entire contents, load it up with her toy(s) of the day, crawl in and squeal.... just waiting for some kind soul to push her around the house. Oh, to be 10 months old! What fun!

Learning to Crawl

On May 25, 2009 (Memorial Day) Mariana began to crawl for the very first time. Unlike many babies who commando crawl (with their bellies on the ground), our Mari was a roller. She found a way to rock and roll just about anywhere. Then one day she discovered all fours....she would get up.... ever so slightly reach forward...and collapse just like Bambi! It was really funny to watch. But finally after weeks of trying, Baby Sprout began to crawl. Here is my lame attempt to get a few pictures during those first movements. She moved quick, so it was tough to capture.