Dancing Queen

Sunday Maya had her ballet recital. She was so excited to perform ON STAGE! She has been talking about it for weeks! On Saturday they had their dress rehursal, so Maya got to where her costume to that along with her hair in a bun AND make-up!

Maya was so lucky to have so many people there to support her: Us (of course), Papa & Gigi (Lindsey's parents), Aunt Kendra, Taylor (cousin), Cooper (cousin), Aunt Sheena, Aunt Roxi, Gammie & Grampa Scott (Chad's mom & her boyfriend), and Kohl (cousin, the other cousin Kaden had the flu. They had to leave eary so no pictures). Maya did a GREAT job we are so proud of her. She is already asking when she can do it again!!

Maya after her recital

Us

Maya with Papa & Gigi

Maya with her Auntie's

Maya and Taylor

Maya and Cooper

(I'm trying to upload the video but having problems. I'll post it when I can.)

Spa Day

So in the last post I mentioned that I took Maya to get her fingernails and toenails painted. Well, there is a story that goes with it all. (As there usually is with Maya).

I asked Maya if she would like to go get her nails painted with Roxi and I. She thought it was a great idea. So off we went. Adventure #1: Roxi drove us to the nail place.

When we got there we told the ladies what we wanted and Maya picked out two different polish colors: one for her fingers and one for her toes. Maya was just getting her nails painted and I got a manicure/pedicure. So the ladies went to work on me while Maya sat in a chair right next to me.

All of the sudden Maya's face went blank. I asked her what was wrong, she said she wanted to leave. Um NO! I asked her why. She said she didn't want them wearing masks (reminding her of doctors!!) I told her that the ladies painting her nails wouldn't be wearing masks. The VERY SWEET lady working on my manicure saw that Maya was a bit upset so she said that Maya could sit in my lap. REAL RELAXING MANI/PEDI! While I was soaking they started taking off Maya's nail polish and getting them ready to be painted again. I looked at her and TEARS are running down her face. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN AND RELAXING!! They quickly painted her nails and toes at the same time and everything was better once she got a flower on both her thumbs and big toes. I also calmed her down by telling her I would switch my nail polish to the same color as hers. I guess she was just scared because she didn't know what they were going to do. Once she was done she talked to everyone who looked at her showing off her nails and explaining what she was doing that night. Now she CAN'T WAIT till she can get her nails done again. Go figure!! Check out our pretty MATCHING toes!!

Weekend of fun

This last weekend was my 10 year high school reunion in Orange County. I can't believe it's already been 10 years. I was on the planning committee and we had a meeting Friday and set up on Saturday, so the girls and I decided to go up early. Well, with gas prices being outrageous we didn't want to have 2 cars up there. Maya has been wanted to go up to "Papa & Gigi's" house (my parents) on the train, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity. That way Chad could finish up work Friday and Saturday and then meet us up there.

So on Friday our friend Erin dropped Maya, Teagen and I off at the train station here in town along with my suitcase, Maya's backpack, Teagen's carseat (and base), Teagen's stroller, diaperbad, and my purse. (I was smart enough to take the kids' suitcases up to my parent's house on Tuesday when we went up to work.) We actually got there just in time for the earlier train, so we hopped aboard. All was fine and dandy for the next 50 or so minutes while we rode to Oceanside. We then had to change trains and get on the Surfliner (Amtrack) to heat to OC. First we needed our ticket, so I hawl everything into the ticket station to get a ticket. I thought we would have to wait about an hour for the next train, but I guess we got there early, so we could catch an earlier train that was leaving in 5 mintues. We hurried over to get onto the train. As soon as it pulled up it was a mad dash BY EVERYONE to get on. With the stuff we had, there was no mad-dashing! We got on, with help from a very nice old Asian man only to find that there are NO SEATS ANYWHERE! I collapsed the stroller, put the diaperbag on the ground for Maya to sit on with Teagen in her carseat next to her while I stood the whole way up to San Juan Capistrano. There we waited for my mom and sister to pick us up.

Saturday Maya took one more step to being a girl. She got her nails done AT A SALON for the first time! We're trying to get the picture, but we are having technical difficulties. I'll post it as soon as I can. The rest of the weekend was spent laying around the pool and going to the reunion. It was so much fun to see people I haven't seen in SO LONG! We definitely had a great time. Good thing for Sunday, though. . . church, naps, pool and double burgers at my parents house. Here are some picture from the weekend.

Maya waiting to get on the train.

Waiting for Gigi and Aunt Roxi

Chillin' by the pool - Nap time for Teagen

Down the slide I go

DOUBLE BURGERS!!

Baby on the loose

From Army Crawl (June 10) . . .

. . . to crawling (June 19) . . .

. . . to STANDING!!

Father's Day 2008

Chad setting up the slip and slide

Maya patiently waiting

Slip Sliding Away
Reaching to the end

Teagen's grin

Daddy with his girls

Silly face time

What a great Father's Day we had. It was Chad's first day off in . . . well we can't even remember the last day he had a day off, so it's been at least a couple months!

The day started out with the the whole family going to Church. Teagen is finally old enough to go in the nursery, and Sunday School is out for the summer, so it was fun sitting with Chad AND Maya during the service instead of by myself! (That is when I'm not sitting with my wonderful friends from Bible Study!!)

After Church we took Chad to a surprise lunch. Let me start by giving you some background. There is this little Mexican market off the 78 freeway. Literally every time we drive by we see a huge cloud of smoke coming off the bar-b-que and it always smells so good. EVERY time we drive by Chad says, "I really want to go there one day and try it." It has become a joke now and we try to see who can say it first. So the girls and I took him to lunch. We walked through the market and it was FABULOUS!! They had some really great things inside. We ended up leaving with some civiche, guac, a soda, horchata (or chachata as Maya likes to call it) and a killer steak sandwich. Chad couldn't resist and had to stop next door to boomer and kill a dollar worth of tokens playing games with Maya!

We got home, scarfed down our food and it was family nap time! We all laid down and slept WAY longer than we were planning! It felt so good to get some much needed rest, for all of us!

After nap time it was still in the 90's here (at early evening time) so we broke out the slip and slide for Maya (and a couple of neighborhood boys). It was so fun to just sit back, cocktail in hand and watch Maya go.

Dinner included bratwurst and the Laker game. How much better could it get?? What a fun day with the fam!

Graduation Day

Alright, so I'm a little bit behind. Maya graduated from Grace Lutheran Preschool last Wednesday. It was such a neat ceremony. The kids sang a couple songs and the teachers called up each child individually. Previously the kids were asked the following: What their favorite thing to do at school is; their favorite Bible story; and what they want to be when they grow up. Maya's answers melted my heart and reminded me A LOT of me! (Click below for her answers)

One of the songs they sang.

PICTURES OF THE GRAD

Flower's from Maya's boyfriend-Bryson

Maya & her cousin's-Kaden & Kohl

Maya and her teacher-Mrs. Henry

Maya and her teacher-Ms. Jaylin

Maya and her best friends-Lilly & Hailey

Maya and Ms. Matos

Maya by her graduation class sign

Family picture with the Grad

Maya & Teagen

Maya with the Jarvis Family

Maya with her Gammie

Maya with Chad's brother's family

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!)