Happy Birthday Maren!

I can't believe it has been a year since Maren joined our family! She went from being a little scrawny thing, to this beautiful, fun and energetic little girl. She took her first steps (by herself) a couple of weeks ago and has mastered her first word - "HI!" She called me Mama once, and calls dogs Da! She loves to dance and jump and climb on whatever she can. She eats almost everything (food or not!) with her 7 little teeth and can motion to me when she is all done eating. Maren is truly a joy to us, and we wish all of our friends and family could see her more often.

Birthday balloon
We went to the park in the afternoon so that Maren could ride the swing...she wasn't so sure about the leaves, but I managed to get this one where she wasn't crying!
A couple of little presents...

Mini cupcakes for birthday dessert. We did have candles and singing, but it was caught on video, not still pictures.

All done!

Glasses...

Halloween

I am not a big fan of Halloween, but our church was having a Harvest Carnival on Halloween night, so we decided it would be fun to go to that. It was!

Our little giraffe...we knew this costume would be perfect for Joel - he has always loved giraffes!

Sweet butterfly - delicate and pretty, just like our little Maren.

Here's Joel trying to whack the pinata...he was not so sure about the blind fold, and didn't even stay around for the candy! Despite having face painting, trunk-or-treating, a box maze and a pumpkin toss, Joel spent the majority of his time jumping in the blow-up castle (we got video of this, but no pics).

Maren got her first taste of pure sugar, in the form of a sucker...thanks daddy! :)

A visit to Olympia

Maren and I went to Olympia to visit my sister and her family in October. My mom also came up from Portland to see us and help with the kids while Christina and I went to a scrapbook workshop most of the day Saturday. It was so fun to see her new house and spend time with her sweet kids, and of course the highlight was the scrap day! I didn't get very many pictures but here are a couple that turned out pretty cute! Christina and her four kids...I had made scarves for the girls and brought the silly mask for William. The girls - especially Emma and Aliya LOVED the scarves and wore and played with them all weekend!
Christina and I at our scrap day - 8 hours of fun scrapping, talking, laughing and drinking coffee!
Maren LOVES dogs! She says Da whenever she sees one and waves her arms up and down. This is Maren with Fetch, the Ankeney family dog...he was very patient with her patting him and following him all around!

I didn't get a good one of my mom, but she was there the whole time and it was SO nice to see her and have her see Maren! We also had a big family reunion with all of my Moms sisters and brother and their kids and my grandparents. This included my aunt and uncle and their 8 kids who live in France and are back on furlough. None of my pictures turned out well, so you'll have to take my word for it that it was lots of fun!