Backyard Tea Party

After a week of constat rain, yesterday the sun finally decided to make an appearance. So Maisie and I took our new Christmas toys outside for a little tea party photo shoot.

A New Camera Christmas

Austin really pulled out all the stops this Christmas and got me the DSLR camera I have wanted for, well forever. As readers of this blog you probably see that I take a ton of pictures. I would say that it's my biggest hobby and I thoroughly enjoy time behind the camera. So when I opened my gift from him I was thrilled! I immediately started to take pictures until I started to realize that I have a lot of learning to do. I hate wasted potential, so I plan on getting all I can out of this camera. 

Here are some pictures from Christmas day using my new Nikon D3100 with an 18-55mm lens.

As for Maisie's Christmas, she was spoiled! Austin and I kept it simple with just a couple semi-bigger gifts (a wooden doll house and a tea set) and the rest of the family got her so many fun and thoughtful gifts. Maisie is loving all of the wooden food sets (and mixer) and her favorite gift of the year... a real Woody doll from Toy Story. She loves him. She wants to take him every where and talks to him all day long. It's really sweet. 

This Christmas was by far the best in a long time. Maisie gets the whole concept now and is so excited by every light, every cookie and every story. It's so heartwarming to have a 2 1/2 year old on Christmas. I'm already excited for next year! 3 1/2 will be just as great!

Zoo Lights

Very last minute on Saturday night we decided to take Maisie to the Zoo Lights in Portland. It was beyond cold and crowded, but so much fun. The hour wait for the 10 minute train ride was completely worth it. Maisie had so much fun talking about all the different lit up animals and scenes. She even recognized a Wizard of Oz section of lights (that's my girl alright). I would do it again in a heart beat, but next time Austin and I will dress a little more warmly.

Meeting Santa Claus

My child is extraordinary. She LOVES Santa (and any other dressed up character/animal/mascot for that matter). I see all of my FB friends posting pictures of their kids/nieces/nephews/grandkids having a full on melt down on Santa's lap and I was kind of excited to have that picture of Maisie (even Katie and I have a picture like that except with the lovable Mickey Mouse instead of Santa) but nope. She's fearless. She just talks Santa's ear off, giving hugs and blowing kisses.

She was telling Santa that she wanted a Santa for Christmas. Haha then she finally asked for a pink dollhouse.

Monsters, Inc 3D

On Wednesday we took Maisie to see Monsters, Inc 3D. It's one of her current favorites because she watches it almost every time she goes to Uncle Andrew and Aunt Camille's house. So we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take her to the theaters for the first time to see a movie that we knew she already loves (smart right?). She adored the theater! Plus I would consider popcorn to be one of her all time favorite foods. Hmm...I wonder where she gets that from? haha. Maisie loved her 3D "Mike Wizowski glasses". It was a fun day introducing Maisie to one of our favorite things to do together.

p.s I'm pretty sure Maisie saying "Mike Wizowski" is one of the cutest things I have ever heard.

Christmas Tree Farm

On December 1st we made our way to a local Christmas tree farm to find the perfect tree for the holiday season. It was FREEZING, but that didn't stop us from having fun. Maisie was such a happy girl. Not only was it impossible to get a picture of her actually looking at the camera, but in 90% of the pictures she's just a motion blur. The girl  just couldn't resist the temptation of all the muddy puddles.

Ladybugs

Last weekend, on a warm Sunday (it got up to 70 in November!) Austin found a ladybug on my cardigan and handed it to Maisie. She was so excited as she gently poked and held the little bug. After a few minutes another ladybug landed on Austin's back so we gave that one to Maisie as well and let me tell you, she was twice as excited. In the last picture she's yelling "TWO LADYBUGS!!"

We are loving all the wonder and excitement that's been coming out of little Maisie lately. She is such a joyous little spirit that makes us so proud every day.

In the car...

Maisie became super slaphappy while we were driving to who knows where. She was saying incredibly silly things. For example, she saw a bunch of geese in a field and than proceeded to say she wanted to eat them all (should i be worried?). Then the giggle fit began as she kept repeating "Eat the geese? Yummy geese!" 

Anyway, Austin keeps his phone on a GPS holder thing in the middle of the car console which is perfectly centered in front of Maisie, so Austin was trying to take a no hands video of her evil laugh, but he instead took this picture...

Ever wondered what the Lee family looks like while driving in the car?
Well there you have it.

Excuse the no makeup and messy mom hair but that's how I roll 90% of the time.

And Maisie's face? Pure silliness.

Puddle Jumping

We couldn't find Maisie any rain boots her size (size 5- yes she inherited my itty bitty feet) so we had to order some online. Well they finally came, on a perfectly rainy day (did I just really say that?) so we took them for a test spin... puddle jumping of course!

What do we have here?

A worm! Oh the excitement!

Pumpkins

The fruits of our labor...

Pumpkins are technically fruit right?

Maisie has been into Monsters Inc lately, so Austin made her a Mike Wazowski pumpkin. Also, how sweet is the Oogy Boogy Man from Nightmare Before Christmas? And Snoopy!? Man, Austin really kicked my butt at pumpkin carving this year! 

Maybe next year I'll show him up.

E.Z. Orchards

A couple days before Halloween we took Maisie to another local pumpkin patch to pick out a few more pumpkins to carve. It was supposed to rain, but lucky for us the weather men were wrong (which surprisingly happens often enough despite the consistant gloomy weather here). We jumped on the opportunity of the somewhat sunny weather and let Maisie explore the farm.

A few of Maisie's favorite things about the pumpkin patch:

1) Big pumpkins and baby pumpkins. Ok, maybe just pumpkins in general.

2) The rubber ducky race.

3) The baby calf and snorting/squealing piglets.

4) Opening an ear of corn- removing the husk and finding out what was inside. She's on a corn kick as of lately.

5) Warm pumpkin spice doughnuts and fresh apple cider. Enough said right?