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.