Christmas in California

We had a WONDERFUL time in CA for Christmas with the Wayne/Tacketts. Gene, Wendy, Cindy, and Danny - thanks for hosting us for 5 days filled with laughter, great food, and not too much snow!

We spent the first 2 1/2 days in Bakersfield.
We spent a lot of time with Grandpaji, Shushu, Benji, Amy, and cousin Lola just hanging out.
Lola was a little more into Maya at times than Maya was into Lola.

But we got them both to smile at the same time a couple of times (Maya is just like me in that a necklace always brings a smile).
We also spent time reading...
...making tea with a brand-new tea set....
...sending emails on Uncle Marshall's Blackberry...
...pushing Great Grandma around (literally)...
...giving kisses....
...playing in a brand-new Princess sleeping bag (thanks, Elana!)...
...hanging out with Shushu...
... and cuddling (the 3 hour time difference really through Maya for a loop - as well as waking up to a new group of people after every nap. No complaints from me, though!)
We (Larkin and I) also had a great time playing with Lola - she is one of the happiest babies I have ever met. I thought Maya was pretty happy; Lola tops her.
We spent the next 2 1/2 days in Lake Arrowhead with the Chernows, Wayne/Tacketts, and Tom and Laurie. We had a great time relaxing in front of the fire, going for walks (Larkin), and watching college football (me). I, unfortunately, can't seem to download all of the pictures from Arrowhead for some reason.

Maya did some drawing with Laurie (I think by this time of the vacation Maya was OVER having her picture taken, which is unfortunate given her Shushu's propensity to have the camera nearby at all times).
We tried to get pictures of Maya with all of the cousins (Sarah, Samuel, Justus, and Lola) but she wasn't having it.
Oh well. Maybe next year....

Thanks again for a wonderful trip to California!

The Tackett family is looking forward to a cancer-free 2010... and welcoming our newest member in May!

Snow!!!

Washington, DC got hit with almost two feet of snow yesterday - luckily, we were not among the thousands of people whose holiday travel plans got ruined or were counting on another day of Christmas shopping or just needed to be out and about in general. The 3 Tacketts and Abe hibernated in our house all weekend and enjoyed it immensely!

Abe was a little unsure of the snow at first... but it didn't stop him from hunting for cats.
Maya didn't like the snow this time as much as last time, which probably had to do with the fact that the snow came up to her thighs (and this was Saturday morning - by the time it stopped snowing, poor Maya would have been almost shoulder deep!)
We need to get her kid-size gloves.

Our neighbors' car. Fortunately, Jen and Ricardo were able to just walk over for an impromptu dinner party Saturday night.
Our backyard Sunday morning....

Sheridan Street on Sunday morning

We spent a lot of time looking at the "nnnnoooo." (We think that was Maya's attempt to say snow - it may be that she was just letting us know that she didn't want to go out in it).

As we'll be in CA for Christmas, we decided that Sunday morning was as good as time as any to open gifts.
Maya enjoyed playing (i.e., taking all the blocks in and out of the box) with the blocks from the Barnards.
She also had a lovely tea party with the tea set from the Atlanta Klinglers.

Maya loved playing with her new grocery cart from Grandma and Grandpa.
Here she is helping Daddy nap.
The pictures below are from a few weekends ago - we went to a botanical garden in Maryland where they have quite the light display.


We are looking forward to spending a nice loooonnnnggg weekend in snow-free CA!

Snowing in DC

Thanksgiving/big news

We hope that everyone had a safe, happy, and relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time in Atlanta with the Klingler side of the family. Larkin and I commented many times to each other that Maya was having the time of her life - she loved playing with her cousins, looking at her newest cousin Jeff (otherwise know as "baby") and all of his gear, and, to top it all off, Aunt Tracy and Uncle Pete had a cat! Combine all those things and you get one very happy bug.

Maya really doesn't seem to notice an age difference between her cousins and herself. She always seemed to be in the middle of her older cousins -doing whatever it is they were doing.
She also enjoyed eating Thanksgiving dinner with her cousins - she was one of the last ones to leave the table.
Maya's newest cousin, Robert Jefferson Klingler. Or if he becomes a NASCAR driver, Bobby Jeff.
All the Klingler/Mueller/Barnard cousins: Megan (2), Jeff (10 weeks with Aunt El), Courtney (13), Maya (18 months), Thomas (10), Frankie (4), Ali (3), and Jackson (5). It isn't a family picture unless at least one child is upset.
Poor Blaze. We don't know if he'll ever be the same as he had to deal with Maya's shrieks of utter joy every time he came close to her.

On Friday, we celebrated Frankie's 4th birthday with a Superhero party. Each of the kids got their own cape and mask.
Maya was okay with the cape, but she felt that she looked better without the mask .

Besides continued remissions on both sides of the family, the thing we were the most thankful for this Thanksgiving is the new addition to our family! Maya will become a big sister towards the end of May/early June - just in time for her to turn two. Although it is hard to imagine how we are going to handle two, we are very excited about becoming a family of five (we can't leave Abe out!)

How strong is Maya?/Barnards' visit

We had a great weekend with Scott, Cory, Jackson, and Ali. Jackson and Ali spent two nights at our house, and Maya loved every minute of it. She and Jackson have this great bond; I swear that no one makes her laugh the way that he does! We, of course, have no pictures of the 3 of them together as apparently taking pictures is not a Tackett strength.

But Cory did take a video of Maya showing off two of her tricks (and Ali showing off her trick of not responding to us - "the statue".)


Thanks, Barnards, for a wonderful weekend in DC!

Da-da's b-day

I got the best birthday present today--a day off to spend with Maya.

We went to Poolesville, MD to pick out a Halloween pumpkin. Maya saw all her favorite animals at the farm. A little, baby goat.


A big, adult pig.

And the one animal she can talk to. "Mmmm." (She hasn't yet mastered the "ooo" sound.)


Although apple season ended, picking and stacking the bruised ones was fun.


Working with all the fruits and vegetables was hard work, so we stopped for a snack.


There were tons of pumpkin options to take home. To 99% of them, Maya said, "no."


We ended up taking home the one she sat on.


The day ended perfectly--a little dance with her favorite animal.



Happy birthday to me.