M's New Toy

Thanks to a tip from a neighbor, M visited "Once Upon a Child" a few miles up the road. There she found a new toy that was marked for ages 3 and up. A few whimpers and her parents relented allowing her to buy the toy with her allowance.


The toy in all its massive glory can be seen below. M was worried about the smaller parts choking her so she packed them in a plastic baggie marked "Time Capsule! Do not open until 2009!"

Many Faces of M

M calls this pose "Sad Kermit"



This is a scene from M's version of Gulliver's Travels

M is pumpin' iron

Halleujah, I finished...Almost!!!

Two months and more than a few headaches later, I finally finished my pages for M's quiet book. On Tuesday, we all got together and exchanged pages. So, now I just have to find a way to bind all 18 pages (yes, that's right--18) into a book. M--if this doesn't show you how much I love you, I don't know what will. And, if I ever suggest to anyone that I'm going to begin a new project...Please, remind me of this experience!!!

We Are Virginia Tech...

Eight days ago, 32 people were killed on the campus of Virginia Tech--my hometown, our alma mater. I felt a strong need to be home with my family and my community and so we packed up the car and headed to Blacksburg. On Sunday afternoon after church, we took M to campus to pay our respects. It was very emotional but we were glad we went and it was wonderful to see such an outpouring of love and support. Between being with family & friends, going to church, and visiting campus we were able to find some of the peace we were looking for. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with them.

In the words of Nikki Giovanni:

We are Virginia Tech.
We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.
We are Virginia Tech.
We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.
We are Virginia Tech.
We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.
We are Virginia Tech.
The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.
We are the Hokies.
We will prevail.
We will prevail.
We will prevail.
We are Virginia Tech.

M---We love you!

Brat Pack

Over the past few months, M has been on many playdates. She enjoys them because she has a new audience for her shennanigans. Here the question has been posed as to how much sugar you should dump in peas to make them edible. The healthy eater, B, says just a pinch will do. M, on the other hand says "This Much!" (she really hates peas)

On another playdate, someone asked "When a doctor says 'Ahhh!" what does your mouth do?" A, not missing a beat, (and helped by her doctor father) makes the open mouth immediately. M's only experience with doctors is Uncle Jesse of ER, however, so she stalls and asks for the question to be repeated.

On this playdate, a sarcastic mom said, "Hey babies! Gullible is written on the ceiling!" M is not fooled and flashes a look to the sarcastic mom that says, "Are you serious? I'm like 8 months old!"

Thanks to all the photographers that made this possible!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday arrived and M was able to show off her new dress. Notice that my tie is color coordinated for an added affect!


The Easter Bunny had visited over night and M quickly found her basket. In the shot below, M is carefully checking the tag to make sure that she had found the correct basket.

M received a new friend in her basket from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa from Utah!

M also received her first pair of shoes. The new shoes were a size 1 but were still too big for her little feet. In the shot below, M gazes longingly at her new footwear. Immediatly following, she proceeded to suck on her feet in a bid to make them longer.

Thank you to all the Easter bunnies who made this Easter special.

Easter Weekend

For Easter weekend, M's relatives from Northern Virginia came and visited. Included in the group of visitors was her Aunt Julia who just recently passed her CPA exams. In order to help celebrate, M's mom made a cake and M's dad wrote the message in icing. One point for M's mom!




M also received another Pre-Easter bonus gift from her Aunt Jaime and Uncle Jack. Using every bit of his education M's dad figured out how to inflate the ball with the Hi-C straw that was included. One point for M's dad.

That Saturday we attended the church's Easter egg hunt. It was held indoors because of the snow...yes, snow--that was outside! Pictured below is M ready for the egg hunt. Minus one point for M's dad's cheesy grin!

After a solid week of having M practice with other plastic eggs, M wasted no time in finding a blue egg hidden in a toilet paper roll. One point for M's mom for taking an "action" shot.

Looks like M's mom wins Parent of the Year award 2-0. There's always next year for M's dad - just like his Orioles.

Orioles' Opening Day

It's opening day for baseball season. By some fortunate stroke of luck the Orioles are playing on national tv despite their poor finish to last season. But today is a new day for a new season. And, perhaps, the Orioles have been one fan short for the past few years --- enter M!

The game starts and Brian Roberts is leading off. Like her Aunt J, M is smitten with the cutie who only stands about 17" taller than her. Below you can see that Brian is so cute, M can't even look at him in the eyes.
Later on in the game, Jay Gibbons comes up to bat. His new hair style is so bad that M has decided to vomit on my pants.
Finally, Eric Bedard gave up two home runs on two consecutive pitches. M reacted much like her father (not pictured).
Despite this being opening day, M still had to go to bed. Too bad, she missed the Orioles scoring three in the top of the fourth to take the lead! This will be the Orioles year!

Buggy Ride

Why is M smiling so much...

Because she is not wearing any shoes or socks! What a delightful way to cruise through town!

Given the nice weather recently, M decided to call her good friend A and ask her if she wanted to go for a buggy ride. Here in this photo, M tells A that she doesn't have to wear any shoes or socks on this ride. A becomes jealous.

A has now spit out her pacifier and has stated to her mother that if M can ride bare footed, A should be able to as well. M smiles knowingly and is prepared to enjoy the small feud she helped create.

The crisis is averted when A's mom pulls out the Veggie Puffs and all concerns with the feet are forgotten. M drools slightly at the thought of a yummy corn poof!