The Big 10 for Maya December 2012

December 16th Maya turned 10.  The big double digits.  I can hardly believe it.  She didn't want to have a party.  She was happy having a friend come and spend the afternoon at Build a Bear and have lunch.  It was great for me.  Super easy.

Chick fil A for lunch.

 Maya and her sweet friend, Marissa

AND their dogs from Build A Bear.

 Marissa got her this matching shirt and they both just happened to be wearing matchy matchy head bands.  Too cute.

 That night we opened presents.

 Maya HAD to get a shuffle just like her sisters.

 Sisters got her this fun marker airbrush.  It's super cool and doesn't require batteries.

 

 The Daddy making the birthday dinner of choice. 

Spaghetti and stuffed meatballs.

 Gotta have the door picture.

Dinner.  These were so delicious. 

 Liv and Maya

 Homemade sauce, homemade meatballs and of course, she wanted homemade French bread.  None of the store bought stuff.  It was a long day in the kitchen.

 Sisters

She didn't want just any cake.  She decide she wanted Moravian Sugar Cake.

It's more like a breakfast coffee cake but what the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets. 

 

I love this girl.  She is so energetic and I can't keep up with her half the time but she makes me smile and I can't wait to see what she accomplishes in her life.  Whatever she decides she'll do it with enthusiasm and excitement.

A couple of funnies!

1.  Olivia:  It's so hard being left handed.  When you are writing you get ink all over your hand. 

Me:  Yes, I know, I can relate.

Olivia:  But it must be wonderful to be left handed when you are writing in Chinese.

Ah, this girl always sees the positive.



2.  The other day McKenna and I were driving and I realized that I was going over the speed limit (like 35 in a 25).

Me:  Oh, I better slow down.  I didn't realize how fast I was going.

McKenna:  What's the limit, Mommy?

Me:  25

McKenna:  Oh, so you were going 26?

Uh, yeah, 26!



3.  On the same drive she told me how she likes coming just with me in the car.  "It's just so much quieter without having sisters around.  You know, they are always talking and making noise."

Not a week later McKenna is again talking to me.
McKenna:  Yeah, I talk a lot.  I don't know why.
Me:  Why do you say that?  Did someone tell you that?
McKenna:  No, I just know it.

Braces + 2 years = Beautiful

Back in June of 2010 Alexa got braces.  We knew it was going to be a long journey.  The poor girl had so much going on that the first time Alexa went to the dentist the dental hygienist said she had never seen so much metal and gadgets in someones mouth.  She had to have a pallet stretcher and a herbst appliance along with just the regular braces and then eventually rubber bands to finish it off.

The first day with the braces.

 And the Last.

 This same week she got contacts also.  So no braces and no glasses.  (I wouldn't let her have contacts at the same time as braces because that is just too much nagging for one mother.)

She just get's more beautiful every day - inside and out.

Thanksgiving 2012 with the Zollinger's

We were so thrilled when Tim's sister, Tara called and asked what we were doing for Thanksgiving and they said they wanted to come out and spend it with us.  I can't remember the last time we had Thanksgiving with them.  We had a great time. 

Tim prepping the turkey. 

 Pumpkin, Choc. chip muffins for breakfast.  Yummy!

 The girls made these cute little pilgrim hats and place mats, of course.

 The finished product

 Waiting patiently for dinner.

 Modeling while waiting for turkey.

 Making a toast!

 What a good looking group!

 After dinner Tara was so on the ball she suggested we take pictures for Christmas cards.  I think this is the one they used.

 Our choice!

 I wanted to use this one but the girls wouldn't have it so I'll just debut it here.

 Had to capture the matchy matchy outfits.  Look how cute they are.

 The day after Thanksgiving Tim and Scott took the bigger kids out shooting.  They had so much fun.  The word in the desert is that Livie is a pretty good shot.

Alexa

 Scott and Olivia

 Liv

 Caleb

 Noah and Livie

 Scott and Caleb

 The VB's

 One night these girls convinced the boy cousins to a challenge of Just Dance on the Wii.  The nice hair piece Alexa is wearing was only warn by the winner of each dance.

 Alexa got to wear it a couple of times (except when I played.)

 They were all so cute I could have watched all night.

 One last night of fun.  My friend, Krissy had borrowed all of our old pool noodles for a game she played with her family at a reunion.  It sounded so fun so I borrowed them back for the kids to play.  The noodles are cut down for swords and then you take a saltine cracker and dental floss and tie it to your belt loop.  The idea is to use your noodle and break the crackers of all the others.  The one with the most cracker left wins.  I think they ended up with their own version towards the end.  I love when kids go out and play like this - they have to come up with their own rules as they go and monitor all themselves.  I think they all had fun.

Alexa with her game face on.

 Getting ready for the game.  The crackers weren't the easiest to tie on.

 Noah

 Action shot.

We had a lot of fun and Tim got to enjoy oodles of football with people who actually wanted to watch with him.  The only thing I didn't get on camera was Caleb roller blading.  I think he loved it.

Hope we can do it again sometime, Zollinger's.



Olivia and the BIG 12! November 20, 2012

Back in November Olivia turned 12.  We love her so much and her sweet personality.  She is so loving and giving.  When things don't go her way she is so quick to just shrug it off and act like it's no big deal.  Being the second child AND having the it's no big deal kind of attitude it's easy to set her feelings aside to care for those that express their wants and desires a little more.  We decide we wanted to make this birthday special and planned a surprise party.  We invited the girls from her class at church.  She was so surprised.

This girl is NOT a chocolate cake lover but wanted Strawberry Shortcake - so yes, Strawberry Shortcake in November it is!

 

The party girls:

Kaitlyn, Aubrey, Natalie, Mikayla, Courtney and Olivia

 

I love killing 2 birds with one stone (just metaphorically, I really don't think I could really do that, I mean, really how is that even possible?) 

I found a great little game to play at the party while getting rid of all the rest of the halloween candy.  We took the candy and rolled it up into packaging tape.  Every few inches we'd stick a piece on the tape and then roll it up until it was a giant ball.  Then the girls sat in a circle and took turns rolling the dice.  Once someone rolled doubles, they grabbed the ball of candy and tried to get the candy out of the tape.  They had as much time as it took for the next person to roll doubles and then that person grabbed the ball and tried to get the candy.  A super fun yet noisy game.

 

After the party, the daddy got home and made the birthday dinner.  What did this girl pick?  Stuffed pork chops of course.  Yummy!

 

 Every night before Liv's birthday, some of the girls and leaders from the Young Women's program at church brought her a gift.  Each value in the program has a color coordinated with it.  Every night her gifts would match the color of the value for that night.  She looked forward to that doorbell every night.

For her birthday, Liv wanted her room redone.  She was through with the butterflies and seriously, what 12 year old girl wants one ugly brown wall.  Here are some before pictures and one after shot.

BEFORE:

 

 

AFTER

She LOVES her new room.  And we LOVE this girl dearly!

I couldn't imagine life without her.