Long time readers know that Maile Girl is very lucky because every year her Grandma Gail makes her a costume for Halloween.
In 2009 she was Totoro.
In 2010 she was a monkey.
In 2011 she was Elmo.
And, this year, she’s a PURPLE FLOWER!
Watering our new purple flower...
I'm growing! I'm growing!
View from the back
Why a purple flower? A few months back when Grandma Gail was visiting, she, Mommy and Maile were brainstorming ideas of what Maile could be for Halloween. When Mommy mentioned that once Grandma Gail made her a flower costume, Maile was sold! She wanted to be just like mommy.
And sure enough, here’s a picture from October 30, 1981 where word on the street is Mommy took 3rd place at the Big Save costume contest…
5 year old Mommy as a yellow flower
THANK YOU GRANDMA GAIL FOR ANOTHER WONDERFUL COSTUME!
I always miss my girls when I travel without them, but pictures like this help me get through the time away!
Maile & Mommy (October 2012, 3 years 3 months)
Maile started showing us her muscles at dinner tonight (with an appropriately intense muscle face) and we managed to catch it on video. Watch until the end for a special shout out from Maile to her sister…
(Click here for the video.)
We realized we hadn’t taken a family picture in awhile, so we let Maile pick out our outfits, and we set the timer on the ol’ camera. Turns out its a getting a bit more challenging to nail the picture these days…
Wait! We need Daddy...
Hmm... that's not right.
Daddy! Move your knee and duck down lower. Geez.
There we go! Daddy, Maile and Mommy (September 2012)
by Papa K on September 20, 2012
Maile and I are headed off on a “Maile and Daddy Adventure” tomorrow – we’re flying to Chicago to visit Great Grandma Bea and Great Grandpa Irv along with the rest of the Chicago family (and Grandma and Papa Boston are coming to meet us too!) Maile is VERY excited about the trip – her teachers said she didn’t nap today because she said she was too excited (note that the teachers didn’t assume that, Maile actually TOLD them she was too excited to sleep!)
In any event, after dinner tonight, Maile brought out her suitcase and started to pack. After she went to bed, Christine and I decided to investigate to see what she actually tossed in there. I think it’s safe to say that she covered all the essentials from maze books to dolphin stuffed animals…
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on September 10, 2012
Maile’s new favorite thing is to pretend she is a teacher and have Mommy and I be her students. She shows us how to exercise, perform different dances, sing songs, cut and paste art projects – we basically have our own little school running here on the weekends. Maile takes her teaching very seriously – she doesn’t like it very much when Mommy or I try to take the teaching reigns for a spin.
In this video, she starts off teaching Mommy some stretches and then they roll right into some songs…
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on September 5, 2012
We took advantage of the long weekend and headed over to Sausalito on Sunday. We mixed things up and decided to take the ferry. Boy, was that a great choice – Maile had a blast cruising across the Bay!
Daddy and Maile watching San Francisco fade away...
Look Mommy! Look!
Maile and Daddy trying to see if we could find our house - Maile swears she could see it 🙂
Maile has a future as a ferry tour guide - she pointed out every big boat, island and sea gull we passed...
Maile's first Karate Kid pose!
Maile and Daddy jumping on the sea wall in Sausalito!
(We had a great time – and props to Mommy, as always, for taking such great pics!)
I’ve been waiting to write this post for a couple months. Back in early June we found out that Christine was pregnant(!), but we decided we wanted to tell Maile the news before we posted on the blog. We thought it would be easier to tell Maile about the new baby once Mommy was showing a bit and if we knew the baby’s sex (so we could tell her if she was going to have a baby sister or a baby brother). Yesterday, we had the ultrasound and learned that we were having … a baby girl!
Christine and I were absolutely thrilled to learn that we’re going to have two little girls that will grow up together. We couldn’t wait to tell Maile and boy, the experience didn’t disappoint. We printed out a couple pictures from the ultrasound and headed to school to pick Maile up. We decided to tell her while we were there, so we found a bench outside her classroom and told her that there was a baby in Mommy’s tummy and that it was going to be a little sister for Maile. I will never forget the look on Maile’s face – it was like we had given her the greatest gift ever – it took a moment for the news to register and then her eyes lit up and she got this “for me?” smile on her face.
Those who know Maile, know she’s not shy about displaying affection and she immediately started to hug Christine’s belly and kiss it. It was adorable. (And she hasn’t stopped since!) We then showed her the pictures and she proceeded to run around school waving the pictures and telling everyone she ran into that “my mommy has a baby in her tummy” – it was awesome!
I took a few pictures and some video after we shared the news …
The baby is in your tummy? Like right here?
Love, love baby sister!
And, of course, here are some pictures of Maile’s little sister – she’s a little shy right now, but she’ll warm up when she arrives on January 20th!
Peek-a-boo little baby girl!
First pics of Maile's little sister!
(Click here for the video.)
Maile Girl in her new ballerina tutu - she LOVES it!
Guess what? I’m starting ballet classes! How fun is that? I love dancing all around and while I think my moves are pretty great, Mommy and Daddy said that there are teachers that can help me learn even more. I like my teachers at school, so I figure a teacher who teaches dance must be pretty awesome as well!
I thought just taking ballet classes was going to be enough, but Mommy said that I get a special outfit to wear. And let me tell you – the outfit is soooo pretty! Since Grandma and Papa Boston were in town they took me to a special store to pick out my ballerina outfit. Grandma says she was in heaven. There was a lady at the store who helped us out – I got to pick out my very own tutu, some pink tights and special shoes. Mommy says I can only wear the shoes in our house when I practice or at my ballet lessons – I can’t wear them outside. BUT she did let me wear my tutu outside AND she even said I could sleep in it. I might never take it off.
Thank you Grandma Jill (and Papa Mike) for my very first ballerina tutu. It’s purple and pretty and perfect. I love it.
(Click here for the video.)
Maile and I headed out for a walk yesterday afternoon and was able to update our “shadow” picture. My little girl is growing up fast!
Maile and Daddy shadows (August 2012 - 3 years old)
Maile, Daddy and Mommy shadows (August 2010 - 1 year old)
