Today we celebrated Maggie’s 2nd Birthday! It’s hard to believe that she is already 2, time really does move that fast; as any parent will attest. Birthday’s of your child take on an entirely different meaning when you sit back and reflect upon all that has changed in your life and how happy you are to make the necessary changes to accomodate such a little life. Jason and I often times find ourselves dancing around the house, or just doing something silly (such as singing the lyrics to Curious George) and realizing that never did we picture those moments 10 years ago!

Truly, this little kid is a blessing. Jason and I just love her with all our hearts and souls!

We had a small little party for her today. Jason has been gone the last week to a fire in Davenport, WA and was unfortunately unable to be at the party, but that didn’t stop the festivities. Grandma, Grandpa, Gammy, Steve, Grandpa Goat, Bill and Amber all joined us for BBQ and then some birthday cake.

Here are a few raw snapshots of the festivities!

My mom made a quilt for Maggie right after she was born. This is her 2-year-old quilt and it includes a needlepoint section that has all the pet names we call Maggie. Jason and I call her Mabster and Piggie; My parents call her Cutie, Angel Girl and Little Squirt; My father-in-law calls her Margaret. Isn’t my mom just incredibly awesome for memorializing those little things forever?!

And I’m not sure exactly how this happened… but I asked my dad to take a picture of me and Maggie together (since we never seem to get too many) and the time stamp on this was 4:39pm. Which is ironic because she was born at 4:39pm!!

Last, bit not least, meet Moose! Moose is 10 weeks old chocolate lab who just joined Bill & Amber on Friday. He is about as adorable as they come… I think I’m in love!

I am sick sick sick sick of this weather!!
Cold. Windy. Rainy and just plain YUCK!

In the last 2 weeks I’ve had 5 brides reschedule their engagement sessions because of the nasty weather and I’m just sick of it. And I’m bored of being cooped up in the house not working. Can we please get at least a LITTLE bit of spring?!? And now, we’re closing in on summer… and it’s still not even breaking 60 degrees around here. Blah.

And the 7-day forecast?
Saturday – Rain
Sunday – Rain
Monday – You guessed it… Rain
Tuesday – Cloudy
Wednesday – Nope, back to Rain
Thursday – Downpour

Yuck.

Maggie loves berries…

And swings…

And that is what life consists of around here right now!
Busy working on a few big projects… but that will be revealed soon!

I’ve officially made the change over to the Dark Side.

No no no no… I didn’t move to Canon (fools!!); I love my Nikons way too much for that silly switch. But I did make the switch from PC to a MacBook Pro!!! I’m officially part of the Apple revolution, but don’t expect me to give up my precious Windows… oh no no no. I will just be a dual user. It sounds too evil doesn’t it?

Funny story as to how I ended up with this super computer…

My dad. Oh my dad is a funny man. And I bet every woman out there can relate to this story.

I hate it when I’m talking to my husband and he’s distracted by the computer. It’s just a bunch of ‘Uh-huh’ without him REALLY paying attention. Well, my dad is JUST as guilty! I can always tell when he’s distracted, because he cuts me off in mid-conversation and says “That sounds great. Thanks so much for calling. Bye!”

And then he just hangs up.

Well, he got caught last week!

His boss out shopping and buying a new Mac for his daughter. He was impressed with all the pricing and called my dad to ask if he wanted a new Mac. Well, my dad, for those of you who don’t know, works in IT and has about 3 computers working at all times; at home, at work, and on vacation… well on vacation he takes it down to only one; so needing a Mac wasn’t completely out of the question. Anyway, Dad wasn’t exactly paying attention and replied “Uh-huh, sounds great. Thanks for calling. Bye!”

Later than afternoon a brand new MacBook Pro showed up on his desk.

Then he had to tell my mom.

Suffice to say she wasn’t too pleased with his new purchase… nor my father who wasn’t listening when he agreed to buy a very expensive little machine.

So I ended up with a brand new MacBook Pro.

I guess there are worse things in life… right?

I haven’t posted in a week now! Oh my!

We have been super busy around the house while Jason has been gone. We are on Day 12 of his departure, surviving (although the floor needs some vacuum attention) and still having a good time. On Saturday, The Goat (aka – my father in law) took Maggie and me out to Moclips, WA. I never knew this place existed… but it was BEAUTIFUL! Maggie has been to the beach a couple of times now, but it’s always been so cold. Luckily, Saturday was about as nice as it gets on the Washington State Coast – which is usually cold and miserable – so she had an opportunity to actually PLAY on the beach.

And play she did… it ended with one really wet, sandy, tired girl. But she had a blast.

On the photography front – I’ve been practicing with some new flash/full sun techniques. This was my first attempt and I have to say I’m pretty proud of my accomplishment. I’ll be posting a lot more of this technique this summer as I really am trying to master some pretty advanced lighting concepts!

This was Maggie’s first reaction at seeing a kite in the sky for the first time ever:

Wet and Happy!

It’s a big world out there:

Just happy – having a day with Mom and Goat:

Time to go home:

I don’t see how I could ever post too many of my little girl… but here is another.

No amount of swinging is too much for Maggie. It’s a commitment to put her on the swing now days… expect AT LEAST 45 minutes of pushing!! So I have to fill my time somehow, sometimes it’s talking on the phone, but mostly just taking pictures.

Thankfully Steve is home from New Mexico and you can see pictures as they should be shown now!!

We have a lot of play at our house on sunny days. We’re finally getting some nice weather around here so we’ve been trying to take advantage as much as we can. (The Hawaiian dress is courtesy of Bill & Amber. They brought it home for Maggie from their Hawaiian honeymoon!!)

Maggie started yesterday by playing with the lock on the shed. She really didn’t want inside, but she knows how to stick the key in the lock to let herself in.

Our day went on with a little bubble play.

Then, since it was getting so hot, it was time to take a break for some water. “Mommy, I can do it myself!!!”

“Uh-oh! I spilled down my dress!”

“Aw… refreshing!!”

Ok… I’m a little misleading with that title… but it was still really funny! Tonight, after dinner, Maggie was playing the backyard and found a flower pot back behind the shed. She decided it made a good hat and started running around the yard with it over her head. Hence… our little PotHead!!

And Daddy got into the action too!

When she got bored with the pot, she moved onto a little playing on the playground!

I’ll spare you the photos of us making her come inside after all this play!

Happy Mother’s Day to all those mom’s out there!

And a very special mother’s day to my own mom. I love you so much mom… you are more than a mom, you are my friend! I love our special relationship; thank you for always being there for me and supporting me in so many different ways. I love you!!

Not much has been going on in the Berman household as of late. We’ve been putting a ton of time and effort into our yard. As I mentioned last week, we had the sprinkler system done, the garden planted and then last week Mabster’s playground was installed. She is now obsessed with the swing; meaning mom, dad or who ever else is around, must push her for hours. And I mean hours…

Luckily I’ve had a lot of work and I spend that time on the phone and making calls. Oh, and the laptop does get wireless out in the backyard, so I can sit at the picnic bench and answer e-mails. It’s not such a bad life.

So we are planning a Hawaii trip!! This year I celebrate my second-29th birthday, and Jason and I decided to go to Maui for a week and then onto the Big Island (Kona) for another week. All in all, we’re looking at about 14 days in Hawaii!! We’re really quite excited, however, we’ve always been city vacationers. In the 5 years we’ve been married and the countless years of dating/knowing each other, we’ve never had a beach vacation. I have NO IDEA how we plan on relaxing… I’m so scared we’ll get there, lay on the beach for 30 minutes and then look at each other wondering what we do next?

So leave me a message… tell me we are going to love Hawaii!!