Happy New Year!!!

Amaya turns 10 months! She loves her 100% fruit popsicles =) 

She is a Daddy's girl in her Raiders shirt

(I need to take a pix in her UCSB sweatshirt)

Avery's Baptism

Hello All! It has been a few weeks since I have been on-we have been running around like crazy since Michael's graduation. We started our Christmas break with the beautiful baptism of our God Daughter Avery. Then we were off to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. It was a fabulous holiday weekend-we could not have asked for a better 1st Christmas for Amaya (we know Grandpa Cleveland is watching down from above). Amaya had a special Christmas with her two cousins. It was so much fun to see the little girls together playing-Amaya was a trooper keeping up with her two older cousins. As always, we all had a wonderful time. She turned 10-months on the 21st-she is not quite walking on her own yet, but she is clapping, high-fiving, and waving 'hello' & 'goodbye.' 

Smiles all around in pretty Christmas dresses

Who would have thought that Big Girl Pants were the best gift!!!

Panama was so excited when she saw them, she put them on right away!

Michael, Amaya, and I went to visit the Gestautas Family-we hiked, ate sushi, and played on the floor with the kids. Alicia is a trooper! At nine months pregnant she is hiking 4 + miles (there were many pee breaks though).

Megan's Birthday and Garth Brooks!!! My little sis turned 27-WOW!!! The big kids left the babies with the grandparents and went out on the town. **Garth was unbelievable!!!!!! It was so much fun to see him at the Encore. It was a very intimate performance-better than I ever dreamed** It was a long time coming-Thank you Michael for making it happen for me =) You are still making my dreams come true-one of the many reasons why I married YOU!

Graduation Weekend

Michael's Pinning Ceremony

Michael's Graduation

Green's Gluten Free Beer! Hard to find-from Belgium 

(One day Gpa and I will visit the Distillery!)

Well, it is official...Michael has graduated from Austin Peay State University.  It was a crazy week, but we all made it through smiling =)  We could not be more proud of Michael! He had his final assessment (final) on Monday and on Thursday was his Nursing Pinning.  The Pinning ceremony was beautiful-Megan, Eric, Panama, Nana joined the two Cleveland girls to cheer Michael on-he was awarded the Sigma Theta Tau International Award (yes, I am bragging on him!).  It was really awesome-of course, Nana says that is the best award! STT is the National Honor Society for Nursing and it is awarded to the student who has maintained the highest GPA and demonstrates impeccable leadership in Nursing. 

Graduation was on Friday-it was a small graduation in comparison to the UCSB graduations our family is used to. We arrived 1/2 hour early with no parking problems (I worked half a day) and we got great seats.  After graduation, Michael and I went into Nashville for dinner and celebrating with friends.  We went to a wonderful sushi restaurant, the Flying Saucer, and stayed at the Historical Union Hotel.  Amaya had a party night with her Nana-I hear they had a blast =) 

The weekend ends today with the Baptism of our God-daughter: Avery.  It will be a beautiful baptism. We are looking forward to a fabulous ending to a very special week.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes-Yum!!! (Notice her 'bull snort' face-she does sound effect too!)

Thanksgiving Night Pictures-I will get the entire family picture on here soon =)

Her first Christmas Decoration Morning

She enjoyed putting the first ornament on the tree

Rocking at school-Playing Patty Cake!!!

Thanksgiving weekend came and went so very quickly-we find ourselves so blessed! Amaya and Panama looked beautiful in their Holiday dresses. Amaya was thrilled to eat a mixture of sweet and white potatoes...she likes to grab her food by the fist full (unlike her dainty cousin).  

On Friday morning, Michael and I had a early morning date-shopping all of the best sales.  We had a ton of fun! Not to mention we finally went to one of Nashville's famous breakfast spots-Pancake Pantry-guess what-they had gluten free pancakes!!! Go Pancake Pantry!

Michael and I decided to get a real tree this year for Amaya's 1st Christmas.  She had a blast pushing the boxes around and hanging her first ornament on the tree. 

Last week Amaya started playing 'patty-cake!'  It is the cutest thing-she will clap whenever we sing the song.  I am trying to get her to clap to 'Yeah!' so that she can clap at Daddy's graduation =) She also finally has two bottom teeth =)

Our family has been busy, busy, but we are loving every minute of this crazy life.  

Sitting with Santa

Michael and I went to Borders to get some new books and we ran into Santa at the mall!!!  Amaya is not quite sure if she likes him yet or not =)

9 Month Princess

Pretty Ladies

Chasing the Kitty

The months continue to fly by...Amaya continues to enthrall us with her delightful personality, beautiful smile, and sparkling eyes.  She continues to pull herself up and walk around everything-she loves holding our hands and 'running.'  We cannot imagine that it will be too long before she is walking on her own-she has stood on her own, but then realizes that no one is holding her and she sits quickly =) Luckily, she is very cautious on the tile floors. She also loves chasing Lani -our kitty- around. Lani enjoys teasing Amaya and lettig her get within hairs of touching before she runs off. It won't be too long beore Amaya gets her hands on Lani. 

Our household continues to be a fun and crazy place.  Michael has started his preceptorship and the 12 hour shifts (14 hours if you include travel) are not much fun for Amaya and me...he goes to work while we're sleeping and gets back when we are sleeping...at least we are getting our beauty rest =) He is enjoying it though! School days are flying by for me. I am still really enjoying work, but I am also very much looking forward to taking time off to be at home. I am freaking out a little bit, because I am going to have to start cooking on my own again! I better watch Nana and learn all of her tricks. Michael will official graduate in less than a month and then the craziness will really begin =) We will keep you all posted...

Celebrating Life

Mom, Amaya, and I had a wonderful weekend (in Florida) filled with love and many memories of our dear friend Bobbie. Tim was so gracious to have us visit-we made many more unforgettable memories. Amaya was wonderful on the trip to and back from Tim's...I was thankful since I was flying on my own with her-with out the assistance of the hubby-aka Amaya Entertainer =) In our family, dad is the 'fun' one...mom means business =) Well...not really, but I like to think so...

Amaya had her first trip to the beach-she fell asleep about two minutes after we got there-I think it was the sound of the waves and the cool breeze. I enjoyed a 40 minute stroll along the ocean-boy, do I miss the smell of the beach and the salty water. No matter where I go, I will always miss Santa Barbara...

We enjoyed a lot of food and ate fabulous fish-yum!!! We also met many of Tim and Bobbie's friends. What a special group of people there! Tim, mom, Amaya, and I all celebrate my big 30 at a beautiful little restaurant down the street from Tim's house-we all had the Genuine Snapper-as opposed to Fake Snapper =) It was wonderful!!!  Amaya had one of her favorites: pears =)

At 8 months Amaya is still toothless! I did meet an 11 month old who had just gotten her first tooth, so I guess my kid is not too out there =) She is teething like crazy and will gnaw Nana's chin off any time she gets a chance. It is the funniest thing, something about Nana's chin makes Amaya want to chew. Amaya is always on the move. She is still walking around everything, crawling up the stairs (we are still working on how to get down them safely), and talking up a storm.  On the flight, she talked with everyone around us the entire hour & a half there and back...people all get a kick out of her and she is always making her momma laugh.  I cannot imagine life without her!!!

Turning 30...

Wow, I always thought 30-year olds were OLD!!!  Now I am one =) I think this is one of the best birthdays that I have had...I am so blessed with great family and friends. As I get older, I realize more and more how lucky I am to have the support system that I do. I truly feel grateful and I look forward to many more years of memories to be made.

PS...We found out this weekend that we are headed to...da.da.da.da---Germany!!! Who knows when our final arrival date will be-most likely next summer. We are more than thrilled-it will be a bittersweet move-we will miss Meg, Eric, and Panama more than I can imagine!

Pumpkin Patch

She was 'hog wild' for Halloween

She loves to give the 'smirk' smile

Amaya got 2 baby pumpkins 

Jumping Pillow

Amaya had her first trip to the pumpkin patch on Halloween and she had a fabulous time!  Michael, Amaya, and I all headed out on Saturday to Honeysuckle Hill Farms-it was fun for me to go back-it had been years since I went there on a field trip with my 1st grade class.  Each year, the owners of the farm add something new...this year they added a huge 'jumping pillow.'  I think I had the best time on that!!!  We went in the mazes-Michael and I let Amaya decided which direction by going on the trail that she looked in =) Needless to say, she got us very lost! 

Halloween night was fun...we had bar-b-que with good friends Bob and Cathy...we only had 10 tricker-treaters...more candy for me =)