Five

I'm really glad we had Maya's big party during the school year, because I did just as good of a job staying in touch with everyone from her school as I did updating this blog.

It's a wonder I can even remember their names.

So on the big day, we kept things pretty low-key. We spent most of the day in the pool, and Maya's only requirement was about the cake. It had to be exactly as she wanted it.

Maya has her own little cookbook that contains a few cookie and brownie recipes in it. One of the sections shows different ways to decorate the brownies and she wanted her cake to be decorated just like it. She insisted that she had to help with the cake and that really took the pressure off of me when I had to make some substitutions. In the end, the cake was pretty cute and delicious!

What do you think? I think we got fairly close to the picture. There were going to be more M&Ms on the cake, but Maya was in charge of that and for every M&M that went on the cake, one or two (or five) went in her mouth.

I was able to talk her out of one request: birthday brownies. She wanted the cake pictured above, but she also wanted to have brownies so that if anyone wasn't in the mood for cake, they could opt for brownies instead. She thinks of everything.

Summer Birthday, Spring Party

Speaking from experience, summer birthday parties can be a pain. No one is ever in town at the same time, ourselves included. So we thought we would throw Maya a birthday party two months early so that her classmates could come. We also had an ulterior motive. Jason wanted to start offering birthday parties at the store and this would be the perfect dress rehearsal/advertisement. Honestly, I felt a little guilty using my little girl's birthday as a promotional tool, but the whole reason we moved here was to help turn things around at the store. Everyone is making sacrifices, so I decided I would relieve my guilt by making sure this party was extra awesome.

Maya wanted so very, very much to have everyone in her class at her party and I was feeling guilty, so we invited everyone in her class. All 15 of them. Plus one friend from last year who was in a different class, and we had invited 16 kids. Jason convinced me that there would be enough room. He would make enough room. Maya could invite her whole school and he would make sure to accommodate them. I was skeptical, but not worried because they wouldn't ALL come. I have notoriously bad luck with scheduling parties. Conflicts always arise. I just hoped that at least 5 kids would show.

As it turned out, I wouldn't have any idea who was coming until the day before the party.

I made the R.S.V.P super easy. Call or text. You don't even have to talk to me! No human involvement! No problem, right? Whatever. I had to go up to people and ask them personally if they were coming. I have a feeling that they will never forget to RSVP ever again. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to do it. I would rather chug a gallon of predigested protein (have I told you about that? I'll get to that in another post) than face that many awkward encounters, but you can't throw a party with your guest list being anywhere from 6-17 kids. So as it turns out, there were 9 confirms. 10 kids is alot, but we could handle it, right?

The store doesn't have a party room- the party would be taking place on the sales floor. Awkward? Surprisingly not. Jason set everything up in a quiet area in the back, right in front of fish (that department is not doing so well, so we may as well throw a party!) and we were in our own little world.

Do you see what's weighing down the balloons? Dog bones. How cute is that?

Pawprint cupcakes I made using Oreos and Hershey's Drops. They had me at Oreos.

The whole idea behind the parties is that kids will be able to get up close and personal with all the animals as well as learning about their habitat. The best part? Giving your kids the experience of being able to touch a snake, rat, turtle, bird, ferret, hermit crab or whatever else you can find in the store and not have to deal with it yourself.

Of course, the parents are always invited to get in on the fun.

I. Am. Fearless!!!

(Ok. I did threaten Paul with his life if he let that tarantula go anywhere except across my palm.) The tarantula was the biggest hit. All the kids wanted to look at it and several of them held it. To be completely honest, I didn't hold it until after one of the 5 year olds did.

It wasn't limited to just creepy-crawly critters. They did pull out some bunnies, hamsters, and, of course, puppies. Going into it, I was worried that there wouldn't be enough activities for 4 and 5 year olds, but the kids had a blast playing, poking, and petting all the animals and taking turns with the face painters who, and I cannot emphasize this enough, were awesome.

So awesome! All the kids looked amazing, and the girls were totally into it.

Maya managed to be the only one who was uncomfortable getting her face painted. Even the boys sat still and didn't scrunch up her face.

She was pretty thrilled with the results though.

It didn't take long to figure out that the paint would be very easy to take off.

The face painters presented Maya with a beautiful bouquet of flowers- made from balloons. They were so cool.

Maya kept telling Jason how silly the party was because of all the animals running all over the place. I think my guilt may be gone.

You Turn 60, You Get A Certificate

Birthday Boy

I found that I have no desire to make fun of my brother for getting older, like I do with so many others. It's different when the person is younger than you; you can't help but think, if he's already this old, then I'm. . . eek. It just doesn't end well.

But all of that doesn't mean I can't pull out old pictures to make fun of him for other reasons. Sure, he's a tall, hairy, twenty something that knocks people over whenever he pats them on the back, but for some reason I have him stuck in my head as an 8 year old. He may forever be that obnoxious little brother that always put the cats' lives in danger and wouldn't stop getting into trouble. However, there was much to learn from it.

There was that time he threw the kitten in the well and dad was all "Hmm, yeah, it's not going to make it. Did your mother make dinner?" It taught us that we must always go to mom if we want help fishing kittens out of wells. How else would we have learned that? Also, I never would have known that you could twirl a cat through the air like a lasso by holding onto its tail. Silly me, I always thought cats were for petting.



Dad would teach us that if you mess with the farm equipment you won't live to tell about it; but with a little brother you learn that you can flip a three wheeler, run a semi into a grain bin, and drive a truck into a barn (that's housing your dad's beloved sports car) and live to tell about it. Of course, you may not be able to talk about it while sitting, but you'll be able to talk about it.




It didn't take him long to teach us that, in his mind, pants are optional. Also, see all that grass? It doubles as a bathroom.

These are life lessons, people.

Happy Birthday Morgan

Best. Idea. Ever.

By the end of July, Maya had been thrown 4 birthday parties. And there was still one more to go. It's not as bad as it sounds, one was at school for all the summer birthdays, one was the giant banana split, and the other two were family parties in completely different states. So that just left a party for the friends. I was kind of over the whole party thing at this point. I was afraid that Maya was going to start expecting cake and presents every other week...or maybe I just didn't want to plan a party.

So I'm lazy. Luckily for my lazy self, Maya's Very Best Friend In The Whole World has a birthday a few weeks after hers and they suggested that we combine parties. Brilliant! By the end of it I didn't feel like I did a thing. I started to suspect that I hadn't actually done anything but I was told that I had, so I won't argue. I strongly encourage combining parties. It's cheaper, easier, and you have more fun. I never would have come up with having a pinata, or water guns:

It was the best way to break the ice with the kids. Maya would rather die than talk to people right away, but this had her running around, laughing, and squirting anyone in her way. By the end of it, all of the kids were soaked and most of the adults had wet shins.

Another perk was cool cupcake ideas, check it out:

It's the beach! You know you love it!

Maya attempting to remove every last bit of icing from her fingers.

Happy Bastille Day!

We like to celebrate the storming of the Bastille by taking Maya out for some birthday ice cream. That's sticking it to the Man.

There Will Be Cake

As part of the weekend events, there was a birthday party for Maya. She is now under the impression that she gets a birthday party whenever we visit family. Whatever gets her in the car.

Guess What I Found!

I found more pictures! Jason's birthday was last week and I was able to get a video of Maya wishing him a happy birthday and using her noisemaker-thingy. Try to ignore the end, where she hacks up a lung.

I don't know why, but the videos I've been taking recently have all had static noise in the background. Since I take most of our videos with this camera I'm starting to find the whole thing highly annoying.

Not Ready For Her Closeup

As a gift to Poppy, I thought I would have Maya wish him a happy birthday. It's a quick video but it does the trick.

I thought I would go ahead and include the video that was taken moments before the first one, I think it explains why I had to resort to bribing her with a cookie.

Huh, August Already?

I meant to post this last month but I decided to go ahead and post it since this is pretty much the only way I keep track of Maya's life. These are the pictures from the birthday party we threw for Maya at the park. Even though it was insanely hot outside, the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves.

You Say Potato I Say Elmo

While we were in Florida we had a birthday party for Maya. Nana and Poppy gave her a tricycle and she did pretty well for her first time on a tricycle. She's only been on it once since we got back but I haven't taken it outside for her to use. For some reason it's a little difficult on carpet.

Maya is now able to say everyone's name except for Morgan. We tried to get her to say Uncle Morgan but that was so long she wouldn't attempt it. So for now she says Mo and we'll see where that takes us. Morgan was able to score some serious points with Maya by giving her a new baby doll. She was thrilled to see her new baby came with shoes that Mommy and Daddy get to take on and off at Maya's demands. The baby was immediately given a diaper change and Maya made several attempts at giving her a bath. I don't think there was a better gift, unless.....

you consider Mr. Potato Head. A classic that everyone knows and yet when Maya ripped through the wrapping paper and laid eyes on him she said, "Elmo!"She continues to insist his name is Elmo.

*Sigh*

Today my baby turned 2. And what's a better way to celebrate than by having ice cream for dinner?

Birthday Boy

Jason's birthday was low key this year thanks to the stomach flu. We all managed to get it on his birthday and Maya is still recovering. I sent him to work with his cake that I made completely from scratch (where's my medal?) so he was able to have a slice and the rest wasn't wasted.



Maya enjoyed watching me make the cake but her favorite part was when I let her lick the spatula covered in whipped cream. This is a child who has never been shy when it comes to sweets so I knew that I didn't have to worry about her getting it all over the place. She immediately went to work licking it clean. A little fell on the floor and I had to act fast to beat her to it, she can't stand to see any goodies wasted. The entire time she had the spatula she was nothing but 'Ooh, mmmm, num num.'

Friends Are Fun

If I had to guess what Maya's favorite part about the weekend was, I would say it was definitely having her cousins around. By the time Monday arrived, Maya worshipped the ground Aubrie walked on. Aubrie was so sweet with Maya, she helped feed her, she played with her and she even wanted to ride in the car with us so she could be closer to Maya. Finally, Maya had someone to pick up her sippy cup no matter how many times she would drop it! I couldn't believe it when Jacob got in on the fun. He would make sure Maya was entertained and was exceptionally attentive when Maya was opening her gifts. He was right there in case she needed someone to help her play with any of her toys!

Comfort has always been a priority.

Maya's brief stint as a local weather girl ended when she was fired for allegedly eating the props.

Birthday Monkey

It only took me two weeks to recoup from Maya's birthday weekend and finally update the site! Everybody was here for such a short time and yet it was so exhausting. I guess that's what happens when you try to cram so many activities into only a couple of days. We had Maya's party at the park where we reserved a covered area with several picnic tables in case of rain. We were told that rain wouldn't be anywhere near us until 3, which was right when the party was supposed to end. Naturally, the rain started shortly after we arrived and stopped as soon as we were packing up to leave. But all was not lost! I got to see Jason and Troy grilling in the rain, more importantly, I got a picture of it.

The burgers and hot dogs were fine, luckily we bought large buns so they soaked up most of the water. Finally we got to the part where Maya gets her first cupcake. I was so excited to see her take those first bites and I couldn't wait to see her smear the cake all over her face, but Maya had to be different. That child didn't play with her cupcake at all. She ate every last bite and then when there was just icing left on her tray, she ate that too! Jason and I kept trying to get her to share some of her cupcake with us but she would just smile and shove a huge piece into her mouth. This is the same child who finds great joy in sharing her cheerios and puffs but wouldn't spare a crumb of her cake.
For our special present to Maya we decided to get her a chair of her own. I had so much fun imagining how cute Maya was going to look just sitting in the living room in her own Maya size chair. I found it online and anticipated its arrival for a week. I was just so excited for Maya to get her special chair! She was happy to see it and immediately squealed and crawled right over to it. Jason sat her in it so she could see what it was like and proceeded to topple head first out of the chair. The wonderful birthday chair is now in Maya's room with Hanukkah Pooh sitting in it.