Jam Cruise 11

Two weeks ago, Ryan and I set sail from Fort Lauderdale on Jam Cruise 11.  Magic Hat was sponsoring the cruise so Ryan, his co-worker, and the head brewer all had rooms on the ship.  There were various events sponsored each day.  The cool thing about the cruise is that it's really all about music.  Jam Cruise is a 5 night cruise around the Caribbean with concerts all day, every day.  All of the bands on the cruise are eating, drinking, and listening to music right next to you.  I can't say that I came off the boat a big fan of cruising, but it is easy to do, just get to a port and leave from the same port a couple days later.  

The bands were fun, especially since it's been awhile since I've listened to live music.  The crowd was so enthusiastic and happy that it was so refreshing.  Even though I'm not a big fan of getting seated with other tables of people that I don't know, we had two great tables of fun people.  The food was not great.  I could do the buffet for lunch, but we ended up going to the sushi place on board three of the nights.  5 nights, plus the night before in Fort Lauderdale was a little too long to be gone from Maeve.  She spent first 4 nights with Nana & Papa Daley and then Michelle wrapped up the week.  I heard good reports all around, but doubt they would have told me differently. 

I've got a couple pics from the cruise, but just google Jam Cruise 11 and you'll see more than enough evidence for the craziness that ensued.  

Ryan and Justin, Magic Hat Head Brewer, pouring some draft for the masses.

Standing up on the balcony watching a concert, the sunset, and enjoying a Pistil... yum!

This was JJ Gray's set on the patio.

 
Bands at sea!

So we got up to watch the sunrise one day and this is what greeted up when we came up... about 25 people (plus the 200+ behind me) that had the same idea, but they had been up all night while Ryan and I were coming off 6-7 hours of sleep.

Overall, fun time and nice to get away with just Ryan, plus I got to wear flip flops for 6 days straight:)

Happy 2013

Not really starting this year off right by blogging frequently but just when I think I'll catch up I've gotten socked with a new project at work and Maeve came home from school on Friday with a fever of 103 and a cold.

Pictures always tell the story better so let's catch up.  The rest of Christmas was great.  Here is Maeve finally getting into some presents... bath toys of all things, as well as here kitchen.  It's hard to believe but even since Christmas it's as if she's flipped a switch verbally.  She is talking up a storm!!  As in I can actually understand some of it, certainly not all, but she's learning to communicate and she loves it, yet it frustrates her beyond believe when you aren't doing what she's saying.

Lots of her vocabulary so far is coming from her books.  This is pretty typical - hanging out with some milk and a couple books.  Words so far include oldies of "Dada, Mama, No (!), On, Oh No, Apple, Isla, Drew, Dog, Lion, Roar, Woof, Butterfly (muffled, but pretty good), Hey, Bye-bye, Neigh (working on horse).

 After Christmas, Julie and the King family came into town to see everyone and hopefully get in some snow time.  Fortunately for them, a nice snowstorm arrived just before their arrival with plenty of snow to keep the girls busy for a couple of days between sledding and just horsing around outside the house.  We got to have a couple family get togethers, which are always the best, as well as a relaxing New Years Eve dinner (Thanks Bill!) with Michelle, Al and Jon.  They left for Baltimore New Years Day, but a perfect way to end the holidays before start of the new year.  I was pretty terrible with pictures, but did snap a funny one of Alexa and I playing with the kitchen.  She was the chef preparing my meal.  I think Alexa might of enjoyed Maeve the best because she finally had someone younger and smaller than her.  I think Maeve enjoyed all of the attention as well!

 Cute as a button!  The headband didn't last long, but I'll keep trying.  Her hair is a DISASTER right now and desperately needs a cut.  The back is growing out so much quicker than the sides so she looks alittle funky, especially with crazy bedhead in the morning.

 Maeve's latest thing besides talking is her love of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Here she is completely enraptured with the show.  She'll burst into a huge smile as soon as it starts up and she'll always run back into the room to watch/dance to the Hot Dog Dance.

 Nothing wrong with alittle snow!  She was trying to grab snow off my car today to eat before I got her in the car seat.

Friday we got a call from school in the afternoon letting us know that Maeve had spiked a fever.  She woke up with a cough that day but nothing crazy.  By the time we got her home from school, she was really warm and just out of sorts.  We pretty much spent the last 3 days just trying to keep her hydrated and comfortable while sleeping.  Her fever is gone and although mucus is draining, cough isn't too bad.  I'm hoping she's on the mend.  Any one else ready for spring and the end of cold/flu season?

Ummm Yeah... so let's just get through Christmas

So it's been over a month.  It's not that there hasn't been alot going on, it's more that there's been SO much going on that I can't keep up!  Pictures will help catch me up.

Here were a couple more of the pictures that didn't make the cut for the 2012 Christmas card.  

Pretty much most of December the whole family was dealing with colds and runny noses, but we did our fair share of preparation for the Christmas holiday.  I made cut-out cookies for the first time in about 10 years.  They turned out pretty well and Maeve officially developed her sweet tooth.  My favorite part of the holidays is seeing all of the family and friends that we don't see year round.  My parents were in town for a whole week ahead of Christmas so it's always nice to get those extra visits.  Maeve is consistent with both sets of grandparents at least.  Both Grandma & Nana go out of their way to get on the floor to play/read with Maeve, while she will quickly ignore them to bring a new toy or book to Grandpa/Papa who are in the other room or up on the couch across the room.  She's a stinker who seems to love the men in her life.  I get the same treatment since she'll say "Dada" about 100 times a day vs maybe 5 "Mama's".

So Christmas 2012 was wonderful.  Maeve and I were still battling colds, but we pushed through to enjoy the holiday.  Here is our pretty girl in her Christmas dress. I found this on sale at Macys and couldn't resist.  She might only wear it once, but she looked angelic.  We started out Christmas Eve with the Daley's.  She was alittle unsure of the whole party and presents, but slowly came around.

 Evan and Maeve practicing coloring outside of the lines.

 Alittle unsure... maybe pink isn't Dad's best color.

Maeve continues to get loved/spoiled on by her family.  She got lots of great gifts, but her favorite for the moment is the tricycle from Nana and Papa.  This thing is tricked out and she loves to get pushed around the house with it.  Here was the first test run!

 We left Nana/Papa's house around 7ish to head to Pohlman's.  Maeve did fall asleep on the way, which wasn't surprising since it was close to bedtime, but she rebounded and pushed on through for another hour so I could hang out with some of the Griffin family.  She was OBSESSED with my cousin Kim's dog and pretty much just chased Ernie around the house... not sure Ernie enjoyed the attention, but Maeve sure did.

So Santa arrived with plenty more gifts... maybe a few too many because we were still unwrapping on Dec 26th.  Maeve just wasn't really into opening presents.  She got a kitchen from Heather with lots of accessories but it definitely took her about 1-2 days to comprehend everything.  Once the toys were moved in the back room/toy room, she started to dig in more and play with everything.

 Love these two!

 Mid-morning pajama change before we headed to Mark & Jennifer for Wallace presents!

So wonderful to have these two around for Christmas.  They were just taking in all of the madness... much of it coming from Aidan, who was just so jazzed up we were all cracking up at him.

Such a happy boy on Christmas morning.  I got him an ornament for Christmas and he was so appreciative and wanted to hang it on the tree right away.  He is such a sweetheart!

Online Shopping

The post is dedicated to Aunt Patty Wallace, who actually does read my blog!  Thank you:)

Couple things happened this weekend...
1) I finally made it out to the stores to do some in-store shopping for the holidays
2) I've reaffirmed myself that I prefer online shopping instead of lines, crowds, and chaos
3) I did more shopping online
4) I did more shopping online
5) I did more shopping online
6) I realized I'm too efficient at shopping online, using coupon codes, and spending enough to get free shipping
7) I then realized that I need to STOP shopping online...

Only good thing that has come out of the weekend is that I'm about 95% complete with holiday shopping... just a couple more small things to grab and have to mail a box to Chicago.  This is a personal best.  I just ordered Christmas cards so if all goes well, they should arrive in everyone's mailboxes the week before Christmas.

Besides my shopping distractions, the week/weekend was relatively low key.  I had a girls night out on Friday for Kassi's 30th.  We got a hotel room downtown and just had a great time!  Lots of laughs, dancing, and drinks!  Ryan and Maeve had a pretty chill evening, however our girl was up around 5ish so I came home to a very tired house.  Fortunately, we didn't have much going on the rest of the weekend.  Ryan went into work and Maeve and I relaxed.  I have a hysterical video of her falling asleep while eating lunch but it's too long to email and post.

Since I just ordered Christmas cards, I'm all up to date on getting pictures from camera to the computer so here is a hodge podge.

Here are some pictures that didn't make the cut for the Christmas card.  She's such a ham these days, so when we could actually catch her smiling and looking straight at the camera, it often looked like this... squinty eyes and her either sticking out her tongue or with something in her mouth or trying to wrap a bell around her neck.

Maeve getting some Daddy back rub love.  This girl loves a good back rub.

 Doing alittle coloring and playing in pajamas on the weekend with alittle bedhead.

Nothing like reading some books in a blanket fort with Daddy.  Yes, the one to the right has both of them in there. 

Here were some snaps from Thanksgiving.   I just loved her dress from Aunt Kerry.

Coloring with Daddy

Post Dinner and the tights are off... let's do a little dancing!

Or hugging with cousin Evan!

As I mentioned, we took Maeve to see Santa and she wasn't much of a fan... even a visit from Mom couldn't calm her down.  Maybe we'll have been luck next year!

 Have a great week!  Kisses from Maeve!!

December... really?

Hard to believe it's already December.  Thanksgiving and the days following were amazingly quiet and low-key.  I was able to continue a long standing tradition of going to a movie with Alicia before the festivities.  It's hit or miss depending on if we are in the same town, but we've been doing it since high school.  We saw Skyfall, which was awesome!  I highly recommend it.  The only issue I had with the whole movie experience is that the Regal Cinemas no longer sell Skittles, which was a huge disappointment.  Looks like I'll be sneaking my Skittles in going forward.

The rest of the day was spent at the Daley's.  Food, drinks, and company were great.  Maeve not only got tons of attention from her cousins, but loved her turkey dinner.  She gobbled up the turkey, mashed potatoes (both white and sweet potatos), green bean casserole, and her favorite was the pecan pie with ice cream.  She doesn't eat sweets too often so I think she takes full advantage when she does.  She and I were suppose to be splitting a piece of pie and I maybe got three bites.  We ended the night with a little dance party with Drew and Evan.  It was probably a combination of the food and all of the excitement because our girl slept in until almost 9 o'clock.  I was up by 7:30 just waiting and waiting and waiting... there's nothing worse.

The rest of the weekend was so relaxing.  We had some fires, lots of playtime, and I got a bunch of Christmas shopping done online.  We did attend the M&T Childrens Holiday Party on Saturday at the Hamburg Fairgrounds.  I had never been, but it took place so close to home and was something to do on the long weekend.  We got there right at the beginning which was perfect as we were in an out within the hour.  It's more age appropriate for older kids, but we rode a little train ride and carousal and even stopped to see/meet Santa.  Classic child pic.... she screamed!  It's on the camera so still have to transfer.  On Monday, I had to do a quick trip to Baltimore and got to have dinner with my parents and spent the night at their house. Quick in and out, but so nice to have conversation without a one year old distracting me.  The rest of the week was a blur of meetings and errands and dinner with some girlfriends.  I did have one eventful evening when in the middle of Maeve's bath, she pooped in the tub... that was a first!  We were winding down as I had already taken out all of her toys (thank goodness!) and she stood up and I noticed her peeing, but was just about to grab her when we sat back down in the water and not a moment later, I had a present.  Nothing like alittle poop in the tub for a reality check.

Hard to believe, but I have very few pics of our little girl from the past couple of weeks.  Well actually I have quite a few pictures, but all are of a blurry little one year old running around the house.  She's up the stairs, down the stairs, in the closet, in the bathroom, in each and every bedroom, in the bathroom drawers, into EVERYTHING!  It's exhausting chasing her, but there is no greater feeling then those few minutes right after she's in bed, house is quiet, and toys are all put away.

Maeveism's include constant chatter as she'll repeat almost everything you say and consistently have these hysterical conversations with herself using a scale of emotion.  She's still having a problem with biting as she just bit another little boy in school today. I appear to be her favorite target at home as I think she's only bit Ryan once.  She is a dancing machine lately.  Sometimes there doesn't even have to be music playing and she'll just bust into a couple moves, particularly an interesting Stevie Wonder impression.  I'm constantly in awe of her joy of life and passionate personality.

The Many Faces of Maeve Daley

So our little girl is forming quite a personality.  It's almost unbelievable how quickly she can shift between instant waterworks for no reason and pure, joyful laughter the next.  The next four pictures were across a matter of about 4 minutes. 

Awe, Drama, Happy, and Serious Faces

Round 2 of Serious and Happy Face

Not only has Maeve been more expressive at home, but her teachers have funny stories on a daily basis about what she's doing or really getting into.  She's been teaching her classmates how to empty the book baskets and sit in them as a chair, pretty much making a mess.  I was picking her up tonight and the teacher stopped a little girl from trying to climb up on the teacher's rocking chair... she mentioned that Maeve's been showing everyone how to climb.  She has now mastered climbing up and off the furniture, climbing up and down the stairs, and climbing all over us.  She likes to find corners to read books and just hang out.  At our house it's usually in the dining room or in the front hall closet.  She'll tuck herself right in and just look out the front door watching everything outside.  She's also been talking alot more.  So far words include: Dada, Mama, Dog, All Done, Roar, Woof, Nana, and Isla.  She just learned Nana and Isla this past weekend, but she says them pretty clearly.  The most amazing thing to me is when she takes a bath now.  So she LOVES the tub.  As soon as you tell her it's time for a tub, she'll run right to the stairs and start heading on up.  Lately she's been getting on all fours and crawling around in the water, even putting her face in the water and trying to blow bubbles.  But now she'll flip over and lay on her back with her head back and just start kicking her feet and laughing.  I'm excited, yet slightly scared for next summer to see if she likes the water as much as she loves her tubs. 

Other than that, just counting down days until Thanksgiving.  Lots to be thankful for this year.  For all of my family and friends who I won't see, have a wonderful day and I hope you all know how thankful I am for all of you!