July didn't exactly turn out how we thought it would. Less than a week before we moved, the house in Alexandria fell through, so it was on to Plan B. Maya went to Winter Park to stay with Grandpa and Grandma Klingler, Abe went to "camp" in Maryland, Larkin went to DC to start work, and I flew in between DC and FL multiple times. Long story short, as of yesterday, the 4 Tacketts are now in our new house in DC. The house is great, we are far from settled, but we are just happy to all be under the same roof!
Abe and Maya seemed to fly through the craziness of July without a scratch. It was Larkin and me that were basketcases! Maya had a fantastic July in FL and is now probably trying to figure out how come her home in DC doesn't come with a pool.
Grandma gave Maya her own cabinet to play with.
Maya also showed off her burgeoning musical skills frequently.
She had quite a daily routine. The highlight of each day was swimming...
and then watching Yo Gabba Gabba with PaPa...
and then watching Quack Quack Waddle Waddle on the computer.
When Maya wasn't swimming or watching her favorite shows, she learned to crawl up and down stairs,
run from room to room,
and look at all Grandma's Santa Clauses (Grandma has been waiting for years for someone to take this much interest in her Santas!)
Maya also learned where her head and belly button are located and is now able to answer the ever-so-important question, "What do cows say?"
We also went to New Smyrna Beach twice. First, we went over a day that Larkin was in town and visited with Betsy, Bridget, and Brent Sturgis.
Then Maya and I took a road trip with Sarah and Jacob Cohen to visit the Reynolds and the Coates.
In spite of being in four different states at times, the Tackett family made it through July with flying colors. We are very grateful to my parents for keeping Maya (except we gave you a baby and got back a little girl); Allison, Mandy, and Steph for hosting all 4 of us at different times; and Tatman and Phillip for allowing their guest room to serve as Larkin's home base once he started work. We owe you all BIG time....
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!)
