Wednesday, February 29, 2012

New Clothes, New Shoes, New Bed!

As I've previously noted on this blog, Maya is a very lucky little girl to have so many generous people in her life. We get lots of hand-me-downs from our friends, which has the double benefits of being environmentally friendly and cost effective. And we get gifts from our friends as well, which is always nice too, though not necessary at all.

Maya recently received a new sweater from our friends Sidney and Andrew, who know that Maya loves stripes and Hyder loves yellow. Maya also recently received new shoes from our lovely neighbors Marilyn and Ken, who think of her as a princess who needs sparkly shoes. Maya wore her new clothes and new shoes with much joy the other night:


















Maya also recently received a new bed from her friend Zach, who had finished using it. She LOVES this bed and doesn't want to get out of it in the mornings. And she's thrilled to have all her fuzzy friends join her in bed:































Our little girl is no longer a baby! Now if I could just get her to stop sucking her thumb...

Enjoying a Day Off

Maya and I had the day off for Presidents Day earlier this month, so we decided to enjoy ourselves by meeting up with our friends Kathryn and her daughters Erica & Audrey at a kids' gym nearby. This place is called The Klub House and, despite their poor spelling skills, is actually a pretty fun indoor spot for kids.

There are bounce houses, which Erica seemed to enjoy. She took Maya along with her and tried to help her up the steps of one bounce house:


















Unfortunately, Maya got scared and didn't want to go up more than halfway:


















After retrieving her from this predicament, she seemed to have more fun climbing the ramp onto the pirate ship:














And she & Erica took some time to ride dinosaurs:














After all that fun, we headed over to Kathryn's house for lunch and a special treat - hot chocolate! Our friend Amy joined us with her kids Aidan and Fiona; it was great to see them! Here all three kids are enjoying their hot chocolate:














In the afternoon, Maya woke up from her nap with lots of stories to tell. She took a break from eating grapes to chat with me. I didn't understand most of it, but she clearly has something important to say!

Celebrating at a Special Baby Shower

As mentioned in the previous post, I was super duper excited to celebrate with Sidney at her baby shower. I was so thrilled that she came down for my baby shower, so it was lovely to be with her on this special day. It's always nice to spend time with someone I've been friends with for almost 15 years!

Sidney's sister Shirley hosted the shower and did a fabulous job with decorations, activities, and food. I got a photo of the guest of honor in her stylish outfit under her celebratory banner:














As well as a picture of Andrew as a bellhop, delivering food for the shower:














Maya enjoyed playing with the balloons:














She also enjoyed painting a onesie:














And playing in the playroom next door:














The food at the shower was amazing! A combination of Chinese food and soul food, it was all delicious. And there was enough there to feed a small army. Sidney seemed to enjoy eating while painting:














And eating before gifts were opened:














The cupcakes were beautiful and delicious:


















I was so happy to spend time with a good friend:














And Maya was thrilled to get so many balloons at the end of the party:














We had a lot of fun!


We Love New York

When I heard that our good friend Sidney would be in New York in mid February for her baby shower, I jumped at the chance to meet up with her. She and her husband Andrew drove down from Waterloo, ON and we drove down for the weekend too.

Before meeting up with Sidney & Andrew, we went to visit our friends Mohan & Rachel in Brooklyn. After a delicious brunch at one of their favorite restaurants, they took us down to Jane's Carousel in the DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) neighborhood. It's a really cool carousel from the 1920s that has been beautifully restored:














Maya was of course super excited to get on the carousel:


















And she was all smiles once she got on her horse:














As usual, she was not as thrilled once the ride was over:














And it really is in a beautiful setting, right on the East River, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges:














After that, we stopped at a playground, also right near a bridge:


















Later that night we met up with Sidney and Andrew for dinner out in the suburbs of Long Island. After some delicious Indian food, we headed over to a diner for some late-night dessert. Maya entertained herself by arranging and re-arranging sugar packets on the table and hanging out with Sidney:














After some gigantic slices of cheesecake, we were all smiles:















Celebrating a Monster Birthday

Maya's buddy Zach turned four earlier this month and his parents Joshua & Rachel threw him a monster-themed birthday party, which was tons of fun! This involved a crazy game of Stick-the-Eye-on-the-Monster, during which Uncle Josh helped Maya up to the poster:


















There were some extra monster eyes, which Rachel decided to stick on herself:














Next up was a monster pinata:














After this, we had dirt cake, which was DELICIOUS:































And let's not forget the littlest guest at the party: Zach's baby sister Alisha. She snoozed through most of the fun, but woke up in time to watch him open presents:


Making Valentine's Day Cards

Just like last year, I decided it would be fun to make Valentine's Day cards with Maya. She loves doing arts & crafts; last year she did some fingerpainting and this year she did some gluing with ribbons and other decorations.

Here she is creating her works of art:































I forgot to take pictures of the finished products, but of course I think they turned out looking adorable. Her cards got mailed out far and wide to friends & family; hopefully they all brought joy to all their recipients. :)

Super Bowl Sunday 2012 - Part 2

After our dosa adventures later in the day, we headed over to see our friends the Wades, who were hosting a Super Bowl Party at their house. Before the big game, we also held an adoption shower for our friends the DiCarlo-Scaparottis, who adopted an adorable little 3 year old girl.

We started out with a toast:














Which was a precarious activity:














We hung out with the guests of honor:














Despite the discouraging outcome of the game, we did enjoy the halftime show. Maya danced her little butt off during Madonna's performance:














Hopefully the Patriots will do well next year!

Super Bowl Sunday 2012 - Part 1

Before the big game earlier in February, we headed over to see our friends Kitty and Joe, with their little baby son Max. We had met up with them in December at the hospital. This time we went to their home and cooked up a tasty Indian meal for them.

First we said hello:














Then we made some dosas (Indian savory crepes) with aloo (potato) and saag (spinach):














Baby Max hung out with his dad Joe:














While Maya hung out with her Aunt Kitty:














Then Baby Max hung out with his Uncle Hyder:














But Maya realized that she wanted to be in her Dada's lap too:














At least she's willing to share our attention!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Celebrating a Friend's Birthday

The first weekend in February included a birthday party for Coral, the daughter of our daycare provider Sheila. We headed off to celebrate with the birthday girl and a bunch of Maya's other daycare buddies, including some old and new friends.

There was dancing:


















Including some special moves with her buddies Evelyn and Georgia:














There was eating:

















And there was yo-yoing with her buddy Kate:














Lots of fun was had by all! :)