A-Camping We Will Go!

We went to Stone Door in the South Cumberland State Park near Monteagle, TN this weekend. Wow. That's a lot of information. It was beautiful and a great weekend to camp. Mike Dupree couldn't make it so just Tiffany and their kids, Edison and Emme, went with us. We hiked, made s'mores, slept in tents and the whole nine yards. It was so much fun! I was nervous about how Maggie would do but she surprised me by doing amazingly well. She loved sleeping in the tent in her Uncle Spencer's sleeping bag, and she seemed to love sleeping in between Grant and I. She went right to sleep and woke up once in the middle of the night with a short cry out and once to tell me she loved me. It was pretty chilly so we had several blankets on top of our sleeping bag. Here's a photo Grant took right before we got up for the day.

Maggie also wore this great snowsuit that belonged to Spencer when he was little (he's 10 now). We called her Marshmallow Girl the whole weekend. Here she is with Emme, sitting around the campfire circle.
This snow suit was so big and bulky she was like the kid from a Christmas Story. She could barely put her arms down by her side and when she fell down she couldn't get up without assistance. But she was toasty warm! Don't ask me why she's making this face!


Here's a cute one of Tiffany and Edison.Here's one of Maggie hiking with Grant. She's kind of scowling and I think she looks strangely like Grant here. What do you think?!

Random things...

We went camping this weekend with Tiffany, Edison and Emme Dupree and had so much fun! I'll post pictures and stories as soon as Grant gets the photos onto the computer.

Check out this link. I got it from Amanda's blog and it is very addictive. It's a fun way to test your vocabulary and also donate rice to end world hunger. I got a 41 but couldn't get past that score. Some of the words are very strange. Let me know how you score!

Finally, here's a funny Maggie story. The other day she was watching as Grant labeled a new tool with our last name. She asked what he was coloring and he said "Howard. That's our last name, Maggie, like how your name is Maggie Claire Howard." Then he asked her what his name was and she said "It's Daddy Claire Howard!" And he asked her what my name was and she said, "Mama Claire Howard!" Not quite accurate but cute nonetheless.

Want a bizstick?

I remembered another funny word Maggie mispronounces: biscuit. She says it "bizstick". I almost prefer it to the correct pronunciation. Oh! I just remembered another one. Instead of saying "chopstick" she calls them "chopping sticks".

She's also been really into mothering lately. Today in her car seat she held her baby up to her chest and covered herself with her jacket and said, "I'm nursing Bitty Baby!" Guess we've been hanging around with Erin a lot lately. It seems like all she does all day is nurse Jack, and when we're there she covers herself up with a blanket or something. She also wants to rock her babies or her stuffed animals or basically anything she can hold. She'll hold them in her arms and kind of bounce/jiggle them while swaying back and forth and saying "shhhhhh....it's okay". It's really sweet.

Rooooaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!

Here are the promised Halloween photos.

We had such a fun Halloween. We trick-or-treated at Kajsa's house in the morning, before she went to work, and then we went to the zoo with Aunt Erin, cousin Jack, and our friends Kelly and Georgie. Jack and Maggie were both lions (although Jack barely fit in his costume - it was bought before his birth and he's grown so much!) and Georgie was a cheerleader, as you can see.
Maggie and Georgie held hands throughout the zoo. It was so sweet.

Here I am with Maggie.


Here is Erin with Jack, Maggie and Georgie.
Later that night we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and she LOVED it! She didn't really care about the candy, although she ate a few pieces, but she loved getting to knock on people's doors and be friendly with them.

Maggie's been saying a lot of funny things lately. The other day she was playing around with Grant on our bed and she said, "Actually, I can probably do this standing in the floor." And she also says "probably" which cracks us up. "Maggie, do you want to eat pasta for lunch?" "Yeah, probably."

She also likes to dance and say, "I'm shaking my booty!"

I've been trying to think of funny words that she mispronounces and can only come up with two:
gymnacktics
oatmenal

The other day I was humming a song and she said, "Mama, what are you doing?" I explained that I was humming and what humming was. The next day she started humming along with every song we hear and proudly announces, "I'm humming, Mama!"

She also absolutely loves our neighbors and whenever we walk outside she says, "Can I say hi to our neighbors?" If they're outside I say yes, and then she'll yell, "Hi, Neighbors!" or "Hola!" (They're hispanic.) They love her, too, and always yell, "Hi Maggie!"

Flight of the Conchords

Do you have a few minutes? Want to crack up?

Watch this.

And when you're done with that, if you like it, watch this.

If you don't like Saturday-Night-Live-type humor then you may not enjoy it.

I promise to post some Halloween photos of Maggie within 24 hours!