Maya's Concert

Powell had an assembly today, and Maya was part of 5 (!) numbers. The cafeteria was hotter than heck, the kids were yelling more than singing, and Ben was screaming once Santa made his appearance - yet Larkin and I loved every minute of it!

Maya is sitting on the stage on the right of the video, next to Leydi and Jose (in a red plaid sweatshirt.)

Sorry, Santa.

Apparently Ben wasn't as big of fan of Santa as he was last year!

Thanksgiving

November was a LONG month for the Tacketts. Through all the challenges, time with family was the silver lining. Time with our children, including our nieces, nephews, and cousins gave us perspective, hope, and lots of laughs.

Katie and I, Maya and Ben split up for Thanksgiving. We did it for good reason, but hopefully for the first and last time. Here are a few pictures from our trips.

Lola and Maya skipping through the LA Arboretum. Susan Reep and Jen Constantine played with the girls so Benji and I could spend time with mom (who is doing much better by the way).


The Chernow cousins--Samuel, Sarah, and Justus Chernow hung out at Balboa Park with the Tackett girls.




Maya and Lola dancing to Miley Cyrus in the car. Note the attempted lip sync and Maya's desire to only dance to the chorus.



Meanwhile in Florida, Ben hung out with his other cousins--Meagan Klingler, Frankie Muller, Ali and Jackson Barnard, and Jeff Klingler.


And Katie and Ben on Thanksgiving Day.

We do have so much to be thankful for.

Boo at the Zoo

The weekend before Halloween, the National Zoo has a fundraiser called Boo at the Zoo. We took the kids this year, and they (and Larkin and I) loved it. It was a nice cool Fall evening, so the costumes provided the perfect amount of warmth. There were tons of kids there. I think Maya's highlight was when two little girls stopped her and said, "Look, it's Snow White." Ben's highlight was the Small Mammal House (see video below.)



A Cow visits the Small Mammal House

Party pics

I know that we are quite behind in updating the blog, but the thought of going back to find the July and August pictures seems quite overwhelming to me at the this moment. We've had a great summer with trips to both California and Florida and lots of time with friends here in DC. The past couple of weekends we've gone to parties with my friends from college (some of whom have much better cameras than we do - hence, the better pictures.)




4 of the 12 Powerhouse from my third year at UVA.
Powerhouse 2.0

We are pretty funny....

Dance recital

Maya had her first dance recital this afternoon. We know that we are biased, but we both think she did wonderfully! She watched all the other dances attentively, seemed to really enjoy herself, and didn't seem nervous at all.



She and her best friend Mae danced 3 numbers (with a costume change at intermission).

In this first dance, she and Mae are princesses that are supposed to wake up the sleeping flowers. The laughter at the beginning is due to Maya yelling, "Mae, you didn't come out of the castle. You stayed in the castle, Mae" as Mae apparently missed her cue coming out of the castle. Unfortunately, my phone didn't pick up that detail (and my apologies for the poor quality of the video.)



In the second video, the girls have no idea that they are supposed to be facing the audience. Oh well. And in the last one, Maya is on the left, Mae is on the right.

We are very proud parents today.

Two birthday videos

Three Years

Three years ago today, I became a mom. It seems impossible to believe that I have only been Maya's mom for a little more than 1100 days. She has filled our lives with such joy (and such noise) that it is hard to remember how quiet and still our lives must have been before she arrived.

Maya Drake is full of life, enjoying each moment to its fullest. She constantly sings, dances, walks on her tiptoes, laughs, and is up for anything.

Her greatest role is as a big sister. If anything, I feel bad that she has only had the chance to do that for a year. She loves Ben, and Ben LOVES her.
Maya Drake, you are my sunshine. Happy birthday.

One year

One year ago today, Benjamin Robert Tackett was born. And I honestly wonder how I made it my first 31 years without him. The little man loves life (unfortunately, all too often that translate into wanting to start his day at 6 am. He doesn't understand weekends yet.) He shrieks with joy when he sees Larkin, me, or - his favorite person, Maya. His hugs are incredible - he will wrap his little arms around your shoulders and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
It has been so much fun watching the him grow and explore his world (as well as seeing what I would look like as a baby baby.) He is an active, curious kid whose default emotion is joy. He has sparkling blue eyes and an easy smile - and he knows how to use both. I am constantly stopped by strangers telling me that he is an absolute flirt. Ladies, watch out.
Another joy of the last year has been watching Maya be a big sister. The girl was born for this role. After telling us that it is 7 o'clock, the second thing out of her mouth each morning is "where's Ben?" She rarely loses her patience with him, even when he grabs her toys. She delights in accomplishments and is his biggest cheerleader. (When he took a couple of steps the other day, Maya ran over to hug him and told him, "Ben, good job! You pretended to be a boy!")

Ben, happy birthday! We love you so very much.

Winter Park

Larkin had a bachelor party in Galveston last weekend, so I took the kids down to Winter Park for a long weekend. We had a wonderful time with my parents and friends; however, it was definitely strange as it was our first time visiting WP with my parents living in their new villa. Maya quickly named the two houses "the small house" and "the funny house" - funny because it had very little furniture! However, the lack of furniture made it perfect for my two kiddos - lots of room to run around, play with toys, etc.

I think Florida has finally replaced Colorado as Maya's dream place to visit (she now wants to wear bows in her hair like "Kwesley" and has named one of her babies "Jonathan".) We ended our first night there with dinner at the Reynolds' house. Maya loved playing with Kresley Reynolds and Jacob Cohen.

Ben fit right in with the Reynolds twins, Jonathan and Aubrey.

My parents came to dinner with us. Having dinner with my parents, my kids, two of my closest friends and their families was absolutely wonderful. The Reynolds and the Cohens get together for pizza most Friday nights - now that Bob and Nancy know about this, they may become regulars at Casa De Reynolds.
The family room in the "funny house" had one rocking chair, a piano, and lots of toys. Ben loved the piano - notice how he is on his tip toes trying so hard to reach the keys.
We spent both Saturday and Sunday at the Racquet Club. We had numerous friends join us for swimming and lunch both days. Betsy Sturgis drove up from Vero for the weekend. Maya had a lot of fun with Bridget and Brent!

Ben thought the kiddie pool was pretty nice.

We spend time at my parents' new house. The villa is beautiful, comfortable, and my kids immediately made themselves at home.




The street they live is on is very quiet - and flat - so perfect for bike rides and walks.





Ben enjoyed the new golf cart.





We stopped by a playground on our last day in town.


My parents then met us at the "funny house" for one last swim.




It was a wonderful trip, but we were all happy to see Larkin waiting for us at the airport Monday night!