Our Baby Turned 5 Years Old

Our baby girl is not a baby any more. Maya turned 5 on Sunday! It can't be true! I honestly don't know where the time goes. She is so grown up.

The day started with breakfast in bed. Maya got her favorite: a doughnut! It's a tradition that was started in my family, one we LOVE to keep doing. Then all the girls headed off to church. Maya even had a birthday celebration in her Sunday School class! So special. That afternoon we had some friends and family over for the big day to help Maya celebrate. Every year is is blazing hot on her birthday. So this year we decided to do a water theme with a big blow up pool, a kiddy pool with a slide, sprinklers and a slip-n-slide. Of course it would be the one year to rain the same weekend as her birthday! But God is good. The sun came out off and on Sunday so the kids were still able to play in the water! What a fun day it was, but we were exhausted at the end of it!

We are reminded again this year of how blessed we are to have such a bright and wonderful little girl. I always new I would love my kids, but I never knew I could possible love a person so much! Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

(You can see a slideshow from the day to the right!)

7 months old

Look what I can do now that I'm 7 months old!

Sisterly Love

As I was driving home from Orange County one day, I looked in my mirror and I saw something so precious I had to take pictures of it. Maya and Teagen fell asleep holding hands. I just whipped out my camera and starting snapping away. So yes, I am driving, and yes, I am on the freeway. But we are fine, no accidents, no one beeping their horn. There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to capture the sisterly love between my girls. It literally melts my heart! I pray that they will always deep down, love each other like this. I'm so glad that they will always have each other to lean on! I can't wait to watch their relationship grow.

Could It Really Be?

Could it really be time for my sweet little baby girl to go to school . . . everyday. . .at an elementary school? It feels like it was just blink from the day Maya made me a mommy until today.

Yesterday Maya had her kindergarten assessment. This is so the teachers know where each student is at and they can prepare for them and create the classes to match what is best. I absolutely LOVE her school. There were a couple of the kindergarten teachers there and they all see so wonderful. The teacher who assessed Maya said, "Boy she's sure wants to come to kindergarten, doesn't she?" I told her Maya would be just fine starting tomorrow if she could. Maya is so excited about her school, meeting new friends, and she's really wants to learn. Right now she is learning how to spell a few words, but when we are talking in a conversation she will say something like, "Hey mom, do you want to get a d-g-a-h-e-j-n?" She just throws out letter thinking she is spelling something. I am amazed everyday at how intelligent my little girl is.

So we have a couple more months until Maya is officially in "elementary school". Part of me wishes I could keep her small forever, and the other part of me dreams everyday of the person she will become, the places she will travel, and the people she will meet. For now I cherish this time and try and soak it all in!

Our Crazy Kids

"I've fallen (asleep) and I can't get up"

"I'm stuck under the table, I'm crying, and all mom can do is take pictures??"

And the grand finale... Maya singing "Peace Like a River" or in her words..."Pee like a river". (Both meanings work, right??)

Family Time

Sunday started off with Chad going to work and the girls and I going to Church. It's always hard when Chad works so hard and long 6 days a week, and then Sunday he has to have meetings, make some deliveries, and make sure the packing house is ready for Monday morning.

When Chad got home yesterday we had the special treat of getting some Mexican food for lunch. Then we just laid in bed all day and watch fishing DVDs! It's not very often that we have a couple hours to just burn, but Teagen to an EXTRA long nap and Maya went back and forth between fishing movies and Hannah Montana.

Chad got a hold of these DVDs that have fishing off of Cabo San Lucas (his stomping ground) and also off of the Los Suenos (Costa Rica/Panama) coast. It made us miss fishing so much! They were catching a ton of marlin, dorado (mahi mahi) and tuna. They even showed a grand slam, which is a blue marlin, a strip marlin, and a sail fish. I was lucky enough to get that on my first day of fishing ever! (I'm told people pay thousands of dollars to try and do that. But I had the best captain and deck hand around . . . Chad and his dad!!) Watching these took us right back to when we were in Mexico! We can't wait to go back, hopefully this fall, and have Maya experience it all. At the end of the day, the kids were in bed, and we had to force ourselves to turn off the TV and go to sleep! WE'RE ADDICTED!

Following in our footsteps

We have been waiting for this day for a long time! It was a rare day that Chad was able to be home early from work ("when the sun was still out"!) We had dinner as a family and then made the journey to . . . AYSO soccer sign-ups.

That's right, Maya is following in her Daddy and Mommy's footsteps and starting soccer. She has been very excited to play. Every weekend there are soccer games going on at the middle school that we drive by and she is always asking, "when do I get to start playing soccer?" It doesn't help that her Papa (Lindsey's dad) is always asking that same question about Maya. So Maya (and Papa) finally got their wish.

And even more exciting is that Chad is signed up to be her coach (if they need him!). He was a little weary about signing up. All it took was for Maya to say, "Please Daddy, I really want you to be my coach. It will be so much fun!" Those string tugged on Daddy's heart and he agreed! Only of course if I helped. So in August the Hustead clan will be at the soccer fields running after the bee hive of kids chasing after the ball. We'll have to see if Maya is like most kids in the bee hive, or like her Mommy (and auntie's) who would be the smart one on the outside of the hive, wait for the ball to pop out, dribble down and score!