The Maynard Family

Well, we've definitely had a lot of happenings since my last post! Mary-Evelyn is doing really well. She is still just such a sweet child and so friendly to everyone. She is so fun-loving and loves to have a good time. Some of her favorite things right now are dancing, playing with all her new toys, dancing, stickers, her new beta fish, dancing, suckers, her ba-ba (cup) with milk in it, dancing, pigtails (which she asks for every day), and did I mention dancing? She's got rhythm, too! All you have to do is turn on some music, and she will cut a rug until you turn it off!! It the cutest thing! She had a verbal explosion a couple of months ago, and now she talks all the time. It is so sweet to hear her express herself! She loves to be read to, and she'll pull either me or Jon wherever she wants us to go, and say "seat." That means sit right here and play with me.

The next 2 pictures are Mary-Evelyn showing off her new t-shirt! We found out towards the beginning of November that we will be having another baby in July!! We are thrilled and so thankful for the Lord's blessings! Mary-Evelyn completely understands what is to come. The other day, I leaned down to clean something up off of the floor. She came over to me, held both arms out, gave me a big bear-hug, then leaned back and touched my belly and said "baby" in a soft sweet voice. We have a lot to do before baby#2 arrives - potty-training, transfer to a big-girl bed, get nursery ready for new baby, etc. I hope we can get it all in, but I don't know if we will! I went for my second doctor visit today - I am 12 weeks and the baby's heart rate was around 160. Everything looked good!

Here is Mary-Evelyn posing for pictures that I took before church on the Sunday before Christmas. She is all dressed up in her Christmas dress and you can tell she knew she looked beautiful!

The next 6 pictures are of Christmas Eve night at my grandparents' house. It is tradition for us to go over to their house to eat and open presents. Since my dad has been music minister at FBC Tupelo, my sister and I have helped him lead in worship at their Christmas Eve service before going to my grandparents'. Well, this year was a different story. I was so sick that couldn't even go sing! I woke up on the 23rd with terrible nausea and a little bit of a fever. I thought well, this is just a stomach bug and will only last 24 hours. Little did I know that it would put me out the entire week of Christmas. I made it to all the family functions but was not able to enjoy all the good Christmas food that surrounded me! I thought it might be pregnancy nausea (but was not sure becuase I did not experience that with ME), but after talking to my doctor, we decided that it was a prolonged stomach bug! Thank the Lord that nobody else in my family caught it!

Nanny and Dada watching all the kids tear into their presents.

ME enjoying the music (or noise) that Parker is making with his new maracas.

Nanny and Mary-Evelyn. ME loves her Nanny and Dada. They keep her a lot if my mom ever needs their help.

Mary-Evelyn decided that she would rather play with Caroline's Hannah Montana headset than with her new toys. She was absolutely fascinated with this!

Jon trying to keep peace between these girls! Caroline wanted to help ME open her presents, but ME wanted to do it herself!

ME figuring out her new cell phone!

The next 5 pics are of Christmas morning at home. Mary-Evelyn had such a big Christmas and she just couldn't believe all that she got. I think Jon and I had more fun than she did just seeing her big eyes!!

ME just waking up on Christmas morning. We both went in and got her!

Santa brought ME a beta fish. His inspiration was Dorothy, Elmo's fish. He also thought that it would be good for little ME to have something to take care of and feed everyday.

Santa left her stocking on the couch. He filled it with apples, oranges, dum dums, M&Ms, 2 sticker books, and some silly putty!

ME checking out her new kitchen and pots and pans. It's in our kitchen now, and she loves to cook while I'm cooking!

This is a picture of everything that Santa brought - a scooter, tent, shopping cart, pink ball, kitchen, pots and pans, a cash register, a popper that you push, and a fish. The 2 tunnels are part of the tent, which was also supposed to come with a hut to go between the 2 tunnels. On Christmas Eve night, we took the tent out of the box to assemble and there was no hut - just the 2 tunnels!! Jon was livid. He said, is Toys R Us open right now?! Mind you, it was Christmas Eve at like 9:30! Also, earlier that day, I was putting together the shopping cart and there was a piece missing. The one that I had gotten her was so cute and pink, but when Jon went to exchange it due to the missing piece, he came back with this blue Wal-Mart cart! I was so upset, but it was okay! Another mishap - the first beta fish that we got died before we even got home, so we had to exchange it on Christmas Eve, too!! Also, Jon decided to wait until Christmas Eve night to assemble her kitchen. He opened the box and poured out a million tiny pieces. The look on his face was priceless, but he pulled himself together and got it done perfectly in about an hour! I was a good wife and sat with him handing him the pieces as he needed them! Mind you, all this happened on Christmas Eve, and I felt TERRIBLE - very nauseated! I really don't know how I got through it all! We learned our lesson to not wait until the day before to assemble all these crazy toys!

Christmas morning after getting our Santa presents, we headed to Pontotoc to have Christmas with the Wood family. Since my grandmother has been gone, we rotate between my parents' house and my aunt and uncle's house. We eat a big lunch and then open MORE presents. ME got a baby Stella doll, her cradle, some play food and a bottle, and dress-up clothes for her! She absolutely loves it (as do I)! Jon and I got a Christopher Radko ornament (one of my aunts and uncles gives us one every year) and a gift certificate to Harvey's (which we've already used!). We had so much fun just being with family (even though I still felt awfully nauseated).

My dad playing with ME and sweet Thomas and all their toys!

ME opening her baby Stella.

Sarah Grace showing ME where to put the baby's paci. Notice the pigtails. She loves having pigtails, and now that we have baby Stella and she has pigtails, ME really wants them all the time!

Mama and Daddy helping her open up the baby's clothes.

Gah Gah (grandad), please don't embarass me like that. Take that bow off my head!!

Caroline and Parker got the cutest little jackets with matching umbrellas, boots, and backpacks.

I can't stand it anymore, Gah Gah. Please stop tickling me!!

Christmas night, we went over to the Gregory's to visit and play with Liza Kate, Evan, and Emma. It was great to get to see Clay and Courtney and play with baby Clay! Although still feeling a little sick, we had a lot of fun!

ME with her cousins!

The morning after Christmas, my family (Dad, Mom, Sis and her fam, grandparents, and us) met for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. This was actually the first day of the holidays that I was able to eat without the fear of it re-visiting me (sorry!). After we ate, we went to my parents' house for the kiddos to get their gifts from MiMi and Grandad.

When we got there, my mom had planned a reenactment of the Christmas Story. ME was baby Jesus, Caroline was Mary, Parker was Joseph, and Jon and Jason were the shepherds. Check out the props and costumes. Mom used her robes for the shepherds - we thought pink looked really good on Jon!!

Baby Jesus tumbling out of the manger and Mary and the shepherds sitting back watching it happen!

The kids really didn't know quite how to play the parts and weren't really into it that much! They still had fun, though!

ME got the coolest board with every kind of latch imaginable on it. She loves to figure things out and take things apart (she's very technical like her dad), so she has loved fiddling with all those latches!

She also got a new stroller for her babies.

She got new blocks, a little laptop computer, a new dress, a new CD, and a book ("Where, Oh Where, Is Huggle Buggle Bear?")

That night (still on the day after Christmas), we had Christmas at the Maynard's. We, once again, ate and opened MORE presents!

ME got 4 new outfits and a sit and spin from Grandaddy and Nanna. She also got some new footy pajamas and a bean bag.

I mean, these things have been around for a while - such a classic! She loves it!

She caught onto it really fast!

We didn't do much on New Year's Eve. We went over to Nick and Debralee's house and shot some fireworks for Emma and Mary-Evie to see. They loved it!

Just a little bit scared at first!

Jon (and Nick in the background) shooting the fireworks.

These cuties just couldn't make it to ring in the new year. They (and their mamas and daddies) got tired and decided to put on their PJs. We went home and watched the ball drop in NYC and then headed to bed. ME was asleep by the time we got home! We had a lot of fun being with our friends!!

Little Jon and Nick (in female form)!

I must say, our fall fun day went much more smoothly than I expected. I call it that instead of halloween because we never really celebrated "halloween" when I was little. We still don't today, but we do participate in all the fun activities that kids get to do on halloween. Mary-Evelyn was a precious little flower and was very cooperative with her costume - surprisingly. Every time I put the flower on her head before for practice, she would go into coniption...until October 31st. All those trial runs and pep talks about her costume paid off because she put that costume on like a champ, didn't cry, and kept in on practically all day for all our activites. I think she felt secure behind the petals of her costume. I know every parent thinks their child is the cutest when dressed up, but I must say, I think Mary-Evie was the cutest flower I've ever seen! We had such a fun day!

We started out by going to our church (HBC) for the fall festival. Mary-Evelyn has never taken a paci, but she's with Parker (my nephew) every day and sees him with one. She is teething right now, and she asks for this paci to bite on and just hold on to as sort of a security. I may be doing a really bad thing by giving it to her, but I know teething is really hard on these babies! Anyway, there were lots of big blow-up bouncies in the gym and lots of activities for the kids. It was so rowdy, and ME is still a little too young to appreciate all those activities. We had a lot of fun just playing on the playground outside letting her swing and slide!

She also had a blast on the hayride. We went all around the campus of the church, and it was such a gorgeous day to be able to do outdoor activities!

After coming home and taking her 2-hour afternoon nap, we loaded up and headed out to go trick-or-treating at friends and families' houses. Our first stop was at Mr. and Mrs. Hill's house - our across-the-street neighbors. They don't get to get out much because of their health, so they enjoyed getting to see Mary-Evie all dressed up! I hate that I didn't get a picture of her with them.

Next, we went to Aunt Sandy and Uncle Woody's house, also in our neighborhood. Jen was home from State for the weekend, so ME loved seeing her!

When we left from there is when I gave her this sucker. She looked at me like, "Are you sure I'm supposed to have this, Mom?" She thought it was the grandest thing. Little did I know that I was creating a candy-feen! All night long, from here on out, she was constantly asking for "canny."

Our next stop was at one of Jon's cousin's houses - Hayden Eisenzimmer. She and her husband, Aaron, have 2 little girls - Daylon and Ann Michael. Hayden's sister, Kayla, and her husband, Jarrett were also there with their girls, Addison and Marlee. Jon loved being able to see family, and Mary-Evelyn just loved seeing all the kiddos! Across the street from them, Kevin Caldwell was set up for trick-or-treaters. We visitied him for a little while and got to see all his ghostly decorations!

Here's a pic of all the girls. Marlee is 3 1/2 months, and Ann Michael is 5 weeks - sweet babies!

Next we met up with Mary-Evie's first cousins - Liza Kate (the bunny), Evan (the dinosaur), and Emma (Minnie Mouse) - at NannaLibba's house. This was one of Jon's mom's best friends, so the kids call her NannaLibba. We had not seen her in a while, and she had yummy pumpkin cookies and goldfish to give as treats!

We followed Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Ryan out to their house to see Ryan parents - Mr. and Mrs. Gregory.

Mary-Evelyn wouldn't take a picture unless I was holding her, so I'm in almost every picture that she is in.

Jon with Liza Kate's bunny ears on. Isn't he CUTE!!

The whole gang!

Family pic

Lastly, we headed out to Mimi and Grandad's house for a weiney/marshmallow roast! Caroline was dressed as Tinkerbell, and Parker was dressed as Spiderman!