The Cleveland Family

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 =)

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 =)

Piggy Tails =)

7am-momma on her way to work

daddy & Amaya at home to play

crazy crawler

Amaya can wear pig tails! She is cute as a button!!!

Missing Grandpa

Alot has happened in the past week...we went to Asheville, back to work, back to school, and family fun. Grandpa has been missing his girls-for the past couple weeks he has been living it up in Little Rock (well maybe not living it up, but he is earning a living) =) He has been doing some consulting and seems to be really enjoying it. So the girls decided they wanted to take a picture for Gpa, but they could not agree on which picture to smile in =) So we took many, but none of them has 2 smiling girls.

We had Ken, Jan, and Brian swing through on their way home from a trip along the East Coast. It was great to have them here again...it had been since the first year Michael and I moved in...hard to believe it has been 5 years.

Michael and I decided that it would be fun to take Amaya to Ghouls at Grassmire zoo. We all dressed up in our costumes (50s theme) and drove to the zoo...we waited in line for about 30 seconds before we decided that all we really wanted was a picture...so we went to Meg and Eric's and had a picture taken =) We ended up going to a Nashville pizza place that makes gluten free pizza...yum...yum.

Amaya is going like crazy. She loves being the center of attention and at this point she is standing more than crawling. She has not taken any hands-free steps yet, but walks around everything. She reminds us of Skippy-John-Jones because she 'crawls over, and squeezes under' everything (if you don't know who SJJ is...you have to catch up on your kitty-kiddy reading). She is quick! Even with all of us here, we have to keep a constant eye on her. Same goes for Panama...she quickly found Auntie's mascara today and decided she would be beautiful if she made herself up =)

Amaya loves playing peek-a-boo...notice the pictures =) She will hold up something in front of her face and likes to hear, "Where's Amaya" then she pulls it out from her face and laughs...it warms my heart just thinking about it. Parenthood is WONDERFUL!!!

Fabulous Asheville

We had a splendid time in Asheville-The Brown's were great (as always) and we finally got to meet Buzz boy...We ate WONDERFUL food at both the Laughing Seed (a vegan-vegetarian-gluten free) restaurant and Posanas. Needless to say, I think we all may have gained a pound or two on the trip. We did walk alot at both the Farmers' Market and the Biltmore.