Halloween

This year Mayah decided to be the princess on the movie "Ever After". If you haven't seen it, here is Drew Barrymore in the movie:



My mom was in town for Mayah's baptism, so she helped me think through what the dress would look like and she ended up doing a lot of the work on sewing it as well. I did most of the finishing touches and added some jewels/decorum, and gathered up her accessories. Clint got some industrial wire and engineered the wings. Together we added the material and decoration to make the wings pretty.

Here is Mayah's outfit as it turned out...


Here she is walking into the gym...




...she got a lot of compliments, but most importantly she felt great about it. There was a parade at her school for all the kids to show off their costumes. They came out by grade level and classroom. When Mayah's class came out, all the other kids had entered the gym before this extended pause, and then Mayah made this grand entrance as the last kid in her class, sporting the biggest ear to ear grin, and the sharpest bounce in her step ever. You could tell she thought it was awesome as well. She had to go through all the doors sideways, because of the size of those wings.

Ava was lucky enough to get two costumes this year...a Geisha for Friday's festivities and a Genie for Trick or Treating. We determined the Genie was easier because it required less make-up (and sitting still).





Ava has started to make a number of cute little friends her age. Tonight she got to go trick or treating with two of them (Dhevan and Dillon). It was so fun to watch how excited they got. After the first few doors they just tore through our neighborhood knocking doors and taking names later. You'd be amazed by how much candy each of them ended up with.




In all, it was a pretty fun Halloween. Considering we are in Omaha, we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was clear skies, fairly warm and just a perfect environment for Halloween fun.

Mayah's Baptism

Yesterday was Mayah's baptism! It was really fun to see how excited she was. When we woke up, there was snow outside and Ava was all excited for the day and for Mayah's baptism. Grandma Darcy and Grandpa Mike came to visit from St. George so they could attend the baptism, and so did Clint's parents, Rudy and Brenda. Uncle Justin and Aunt Andrea came up from Whitman Air Force Base outside of KC as well.

We weren't sure if some of Mayah's friends were going to be able to make it because they had soccer games. But thanks to the snow, everyone's game was cancelled and Mayah had a bunch of friends come to support her. After the baptism a few people came over to the house to hang out and eat a little bit... It was good having all our friends and family together.

We're proud of Mayah for making this decision and hope she remembers it for the rest of her life.

Boating...

Today we skipped church and went boating with some friends that work with Clint. Mayah has never really had a day of boating and tubing and all that fun stuff, and Ava was too little last time to really enjoy it... so they were excited all morning leading up to it.

It was a little chilly out today (around 70), but other than that it was a great time. Here are some pictures to sum our time up. As you can see, even Ava got to ride behind the boat...

Jonas Brothers/Jordin Sparks Concert

Tonight, was a night for Mayah to remember. One of her last birthday presents that Clint and I got her were primo tickets to the Jonas Brothers and Jordin Sparks concert. We went out and got her a cute outfit to wear at Justice For Girls, and got me a new one at Urban Outfitters. We were set for the big show. When we got there the crowds were crazy. We saw the Jonas Brothers tour bus and bought a Jordin Sparks t-shirt for Mayah on the way in. She was all fired up for the fun to begin.

Our tickets turned out to be pretty great. As you can see from the pics of Joe Jonas, he was standing right in front of us. We had no idea but all the girls were the most crazy for Nick Jonas, who is kind of the soft nerdy young one. They just screamed like crazy whenever he did anything, and I must admit he was the most talented of the three. It was hard to recognize Jordin when she came out because her hair was up in this crazy bob hairdo, but she did most of her big hits on the radio. We just had a blast dancing and singing next to each other the whole night. It was so hot in there, and we were close enough to get drenched with the bubble machine and some of the water effects...but that's the price you pay for a great time.

Mayah went home with the hugest smile and said it was a night she will never forget. I'm glad we got to go together on this "coming of age" experience for Mayah.

Ava's Birthday Bedroom Makeover!

When we did Mayah's bedroom for her Birthday we debated on switching the girls bedrooms to make it feel completly new. We ended up not doing it because I was worried that Ava would have a hard time with the change. I thought this because when we moved into this house Ava was feeling really insecure and struggling with the changes. When we were all done with Mayah's room, though, Ava walked in and said with such pleasure and excitement, "This my room Daddy, you make this bed for me daddy...?" It broke my heart to explain to her that it was for Mayah. So we decided that we would take the stuff from Mayah's old room that was still good and use it to redecorate Ava's room like a "big girl's" room for her birthday too. The bedspread that Mayah had was a country flower design, so I thought it would be really cute to have her bed frame made out of a picket fence and continue the garden theme throughout her room. I am lucky that my husband is pretty handy, because all the picket fence bed frames I looked at online were running anywhere from $700 to $1200. We had been planning to do it, but didn't actually get around to putting the fence together and painting it until about midnight the night before her birthday. As you would know if you've ever done construction, there are always problems! We finally got done with everything around 4:00 am, the morning of Ava's birthday. Despite the hurdles (not enough paint, screws were too long, mis-sized wood) I think the room turned out great and Clint did an awesome job on the picket fence! I know that he wasn't too excited about staying up all night to do Ava's room when we had to be up the next day by 7:30, but he did it willingly because he knew it was really important to me and would make Ava happy. Thanks Babe.

Here are some pictures of Ava's new big girl room, and some of Ava when she woke up to find her entirely new bedroom.

Tuck Lovebug Ramos Carlos aka the tiniest turtle

So the other day, Mayah went to her friend Ashley Johnson's house to play. Her mom had found a tiny little painted turtle out by Lake Zorinsky on the outskirts of Omaha and brought it home to show her kids and maybe keep it as a pet. It was literally the size of a quarter. We can tell she really got into it, because she was telling us all about the type of habitat it needs, the appropriate water level, how to avoid chlorinated H2O in the tank, what it feeds on and how to tell it is a boy (because the underbelly is concave). The Johnsons make an annual trek to Utah each summer to see family and they stay for nearly a month. They are leaving soon and didn't know what to do with the turtle.

After Mayah went to their house, she kept hounding Amie to go to the pet store and find a small turtle she could bring home. In "typical Carlos fashion", we were tough and held out. Then, the tides turned with a single phone call from Ashley's mom, Pat. She called us tonight to say they had reached a crossroad and needed to decide what to do with the turtle. They would either let it go in the wild, or turn it over to Mayah for ownership, since they couldn't take care of it while they were on their trip and couldn't commit to ownership after they returned. Mayah was ecstatic. In "typical Carlos fashion", we were soft and caved in to Mayah's request. So we now have a tiny pet turtle. He kicks some serious butt. We fed him a worm today and although it was about 6 times as long as he is, he absolutely devoured that thing. There were worm gut floaties drifting around in the water afterward. Now he's safe at his new home in a plastic bowl with some rocks, some turtle vitamins and a piece of lettuce. After a dismal search for an aquarium at Wal-Mart (it was the only place open when we got home), we'll resume a search for the proper habitat tomorrow. Petsmart here we come.

We had to go through quite the debate as we chose a name. Mayah had already settled on Mr. Lovebug (with Grandma Brenda's help), before we really started the conversation about a name. Ava happens to love watching WonderPets! so of course we wanted to name him Tuck (it's the funniest thing, if you ask Ava what works, she always says TEAMWORK in a loud energetic voice)... After a 3-1 vote, Mayah lost, but continued to pout. So we gave in. I told her Lovebug could be the last name if Tuck could be the first name. Then she said, well its last name is Ramos (which is Mayah's father's last name). So again we compromised and settled on Tuck Lovebug Ramos Carlos...the tiniest turtle in the world. He's pretty cool looking and Mayah's stoked to have a pet.

Mayah's swim/sleep over 8th b-day party

This year Mayah decided that she wanted to have a slumber party for her birthday. Clint and I thought it would be fun to take the girls to LifeTime Fitness to swim for a few hours before heading back to our house for the craziness. I think the party turned out great and I am pretty sure all of the girls had a really great time. Mayah said this was her best birthday party to date!

We had all the parents drop the girls off at our house around 4:30. The girls decorated flip flops as they waited for everyone to show up. As you can see from the pictures, the girls had fun giggling as they showed their artistic side through their decorating.


Next we loaded up in two cars and drove to the pool around 5:30, where we played in the water (the girls mostly tortured Clint in the water), went down the slides and played what the girls called "toilet tag" in the grass. Once you get tagged you have to sit with your hand out like a little lever or something and wait for another person to come and "flush you." Once you have been flushed, you can continue to play. At the pool, we ate sandwiches from Mr. Goodcents and just had a good time.





We headed home around 8:00 for Birthday cake (which we hired my friend Jessica to make). It was delicious and adorable... Thanks Jessica!!) While we were eating, Mayah opened all of her presents. After that we did a chocolate fountain and had sparkling cider in fancy little plastic champagne glasses. This was the highlight of the party. When we asked them, each of the girls said the chocolate fountain was their favorite part of the night. Originally, when we had checked the forecast for the day of the party it was predicting thunderstorms and Clint informed me that under no circumstances would we do the chocolate fountain indoors, because when we did this at Christmas time in Cancun with cousin Mia it was a complete mess. I told Clint these were all very mature 8 year old girls and would be able to do this in a clean manor! Luckily for us the weather turned out great and we were able to do the chocolate fountain out on the deck. Clint was right, though, because that chocolate was everywhere! We had to check each of the girls thoroughly for chocolate splatter before entering the house!!!





When we went in the house, we played a game where the girls had to go around the house and find little glow in the dark critters. Whoever collected the most bugs got a little prize. It was fun to watch the girls hunt for bugs around the house in the dark with their flashlights which I had put in party bags for each of them. They would scream with excitement each time they found one. They never did find them all, because we are still finding random critters around the house. Mayah's friend Josie won that game with 31 bugs. Then we had a potato sack race (in sleeping bags) which was pretty entertaining to watch. It was too close to call in the end, with the last two girls racing so close that we had to settle the winner by doing a long jump contest. In the end it was Kyleigh who won that game. Next the girls went down to play a few games of Twister (another present from Gma Brenda).




Finally around 12:00 it was time to wind down with a movie. Mayah, Josie and Kara all fell asleep around 12:40, but there were two girls Halle and Kyleigh who stayed awake until nearly 2:00 am! I was so tired and sooo ready for those girls to pass out. In the morning the girls didn't even let me sleep in on the one night without Ava. On my one chance to sleep in, the girls woke up at 6:00 am!!! We had breakfast at 9:00--pancakes with strawberry's and bananas, eggs, sausage and bacon. Finally the party came to an end at 10:30. It was fun and I know Mayah loved it, but I was so glad it was over! I fell asleep the next night at 7:45 and slept until 9:30 the following morning. I just can't handle late nights like that, like I used to!

Mayah's Birthday Bedroom Makeover

We've been planning to makeover Mayah's room for some time now. We started collecting decorations and pieces of furniture that fit what we were looking for and had done a good job keeping it under Mayah's radar. Then one day, I asked her to go grab something out of the laundry in our basement. As she walked down the steps I remembered that we had stashed her new bed down there along with a few other decorations. After she came up, she casually mentioned to me that there was a cute pink headboard and footboard in the basement. I quickly looked for an excuse and told her it was for Ava. I wasn't sure if she bought it, but a few weeks later Clint went and got a twin bed for Ava which helped convince Mayah that maybe the stuff she saw was not for her afterall.

Over the past six months, we've fallen in love with this little boutique shop in Omaha's Old Market. It's called "You could, but wood ya?" and is run by this overly friendly (and talkative) lady, Linda. Linda is the owner, operator and artist all in one. She finds old pieces of quality furniture and then paints them to look sort of shabby chic...or antiqued. We bought a little rocking chair, a step stool and a dropleaf table from her a few months ago and told her to keep her eye out for a cute bed and dresser. It came down to the final week before Mayah's birthday, but she finally had all of the pieces we were looking for. My father-in-law was a little skeptical of the dresser when he helped me pick it up yesterday, because at first glance it looks pretty aged. He didn't know what theme we were going for... but when we got it home it fit in just perfectly...and added a lot of character.

I decided to go with black/white/pink and light green for colors, and collected all of the boutique-looking pieces I could find... from shelves to a mirror and picture frames. Grandma Brenda pitched in a really nice blanket, lamp and some silk flowers. We were a little uncertain how Mayah would actually like this new semi-grown up look... but the moment she walked in she absolutely loved it. Ava greeted her at the front door and said, "Mayah, Happy Burfeeday!" and then grabbed her by the hand and pulled her up to Mayah's room.

You can get the rest from the pictures... I don't think any other 8 year old girls will have a room quite like this...at least not with this much character. We sure love Mayah and hope she feels special in her new room!

Wicked

Mayah and I have been super excited to go see the musical play, Wicked, which my father-in-law was generous enough to buy us tickets for. All week Grandpa Rudy was talking to us asking if we were ready and excited to go see Wicked this last Saturday and getting us both pumped up about it. So Saturday afternoon Mayah and I got all dressed up and headed out to have sushi together at a fun little place in old market downtown called "Blue." We had so much fun laughing together trying to teach Mayah how to use the chopsticks and just talking about how much fun this place is going to be and spending time together!

As we got downtown, parked and headed into the Orpheum theater we were trying so hard to contain our excitement. The usher walked us down to our seats which were sixth row from the front smack dab in the center. Grandpa could not have gotten us better tickets! We had the perfect view of the whole stage. We couldn't stop giggling to each other about our seats. All of a sudden this group of about six people walk down our row and stop right at our seats and look at us with a confused look on their faces and said to me, "I think you may be in the wrong seats..." I looked at them with such confidence and flashed my tickets at them and said, "oh no, I think we're not." They then proceeded to tell us that their tickets were the same seat numbers. Mayah and I started locking our legs around the seats and thinking to ourselves, "We are not moving!". One of the ushers came down to assess the situation and as it turns out, our tickets are actually for May 16th (we had shown up a week early!!!). The confidence in me suddenly vanished as I shrunk in my seat and was too embarrassed to move. As fate would have it I am going to be out of town the weekend of the 16th and will not be able to see the play in those amazing seats! Clint also bought tickets for the two of us to go for a date night on the 23rd. So I will still get to see it, but it wont be with Mayah and it wont be in such primo seats. Mayah will see it with Grandma while Clint and I are in Kansas City. Mayah had to make sure that she laid down the law with Grandma ahead of time, saying, "Grandma is not allowed to talk and comment during the entire play!" She cracks me up! Even though we didn't end up seeing Wicked together, I still enjoyed the time we spent together. Mayah is so much fun to be around. I love her so much!!!

Bye-Bye, Pacifier

During the month of April all around Omaha different neighborhoods have a weekend set aside for garage sales. This weekend was our neighborhood's. Friday morning my friend Heather and I loaded up Ava and her little boy Dhevan who is the same age as Ava and went looking for a few good finds. I have to say I think I found a really good one too. It was the only thing I bought and it was only $0.25--a book called "Bye-Bye Pacifier". Ava loves this book. We have read it several times to her and you can tell that she fully relates to Piggy about needing that pacifier. On Friday after reading it I asked Ava if she wanted to do as piggy did and say bye-bye to her good friend the paci. I got a definite NO! Then this evening I was talking with Ava about her favorite paci that was completely torn apart, telling her it was ripped and should go in the garbage. With no fight out of her she said "Mommy, I frow it in gabage." I told her if she throws it in the garbage there is no getting it out. She said "OK mommy" and up she went and threw it away. Immediately she ran into her bedroom and said, "I need my blue paci mommy." She found it and was very happy about that. I would say it was an hour later that she tells me she was going to throw her blue paci in the gargbage too. Again I told her if it was in the garbage it was gone forever. "OK mommy"! and up she went again and threw it away. She came down stairs so proud of herself saying "Daddy, I frew my paci in the gabage." We all told her what a big girl she was and how proud we are of her. Later when she went to bed she cried a little saying "I want my paci" when I asked her if she threw it away she said yeah and pretty much accepted that it was gone. She is in bed sleeping now and I am really proud that she did that all on her own without too much fuss about it. We shall see how she does tomorrow.

Dirty Ava...summer is officially here

Last night we all went to Clint's double-header of softball games. It was opening night for his city league, and I took the girls out and met his mom there to cheer him on and have fun in the sun. It was the first 80 degree weather we've had and we took full advantage, spending all evening at the ballpark.

As you can see, Ava made friends with kids whose dads are on Clint's team, so she will have fun watching most of his games this year. They got so dirty playing in the dirt, so I learned my lesson and will dress her in grubs from now on. We got home and put her in the shower with Clint. Turns out when you add water to dirt, you end up with mud. After Clint handed her out of the shower to me, I had to re-shampoo her head to get all of the mud out, which had been caked in there.

Easter 2009

OK, so I really don't remember Easter dress shopping being so difficult, but for some reason this year I had the hardest time. And since when does a cardigan cost more than the dress itself?! I can't believe stores can charge $50 for a little girls' cardigan. After returning about a million different dresses, we finally decided to go with a pair of "matchie matchie" dresses and use cardigans the girls already had used before. I was pleased with how cute both girls looked!

We had a pretty good Easter day. My brother Justin and his wife Andrea were able to drive here from their new home in Knob Nauster, MO., to spend the weekend with us. Saturday night they hung out at our house, had a BBQ and made cookies. Ava has never been too good with men and this weekend she finally warmed up to Uncle Justin which might have gotten a little tiresome for him. He could not leave her side, and if he did she would call out her orders for him to come back and sit where she told him. It was cute though and I am sure it made him feel good. Today Ava woke Mayah up pretty early to go downstairs and see what the Easter bunny had left for them and eat peeps for breakfast. After a long morning of getting ready, we finally left for Stake Conference and then went to Grandpa Rudy and Grandma Brenda's house for a yummy dinner and Easter egg hunt with family and friends. It was fun to watch the girls run around searching for eggs. Of course Mayah was a pro and found a ton of eggs, and Ava caught on quick to the concept and was super cute to watch. Ava would let out an "Ahh" with each egg that she spotted. I enjoyed the day and seeing both my girls light up with the excitement of the day. I feel blessed to have been able to spend the day with my brother and sister-in-law, good friends and of course Clint's parents, my husband and two beautiful girls!

As far as pictures go... it was a bit difficult as always to get Ava to cooperate, but to make matters worse it was a cold and somewhat gloomy day so even Mayah was having a hard time being her usual photo-friendly self. Clint did manage to get a few cute moments of the girls, but for the most part Ava was a little stinker when it came to pictures. She frustrates the heck out of me, but that is part of what I love so much about her!

Happy Easter 2009

Viva...Grand Island?

This weekend we packed up the family and did a road trip to Grand Island, Nebraska for a Gymnastics Competition. As you can see from the picture above, it was not the usual sing-a-long in the car, where families play the alphabet game and continually say, "are we there yet?" Mayah, Ava and I fell a sleep the second we got in the car and didn't wake up until our exit in Grand Island. That left Clint with enough time to flip through all 170+ XM channels and recite the dictionary. We got to the dump of a hotel we booked because it was the only one with an indoor pool and close proximity to the Gym. We had a good time hanging out in the pool and hot tub, but there was a team of 12 year old basketball players staying on our hall. They were running the halls, making noise until all hours of the night, when I finally opened our door and hollered a warning down the hall. The kids seemed to settle down after some time, although the parent social hour continued until long after we finally fell asleep. We got up early and headed to Mayah's competition. There were girls from all over the state at around the same level. Mayah competed on the Beam, the Bars, the Vault, and the Floor Routine. She has improved a lot since her first competition a month or so ago. She must have gotten a taste of what competitions are like, and knew she wanted to win...because she's been practicing parts of her routines all over the house, every day. At her level, they do not actually give a numbered score for the girls, or place them (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc). Instead they give them ribbons that signify their proficiency. Blue is the highest level, followed by red, then a few other colors. Last time, Mayah got a blue on the vault, and reds on everything else. This time, she got all blues! They also did a head stand competition, and Mayah placed 4th. We are so proud of Mayah. She came focused, ready to compete, and she was the most graceful, best prepared, naturally gifted, all around little gymnast in that place! I think she has a bright future ahead of her in gymnastics. She better work hard, cause Ava is going to be trying to compete with her before we know it. She is already dying to get out on that floor, as she points and says, "nastics." When Mayah is practicing at home, if she falls down, Ava says, "do over, do over."

Maui

Clint and I were lucky enough to go on a little vacation to Maui for 8 days with no kids! My in-laws had been offering to send us on a trip since we got married and we finally found the time to take advantage. Clint got my mom a plane ticket to come to Omaha and stay with the girls. It was nice of her to make the trip and also nice for her because she doesn't get to see them very often. I was a little worried about how Ava would do without me, but she did great. I tend to think she needs me a little more than she really does.

We had a really good time together. We had a bunch of activities booked, including a snorkel cruise, a luau, a zipline tour, and cliff jumping. We did some shopping, lots of eating, and drove around most of the island with the top off the Jeep. All that stuff was really great but honestly our favorite thing while we were there was to just lounge on the beach or in the hot tub and read our books with no interruptions from the girls.

You know how you always go on vacation and come home with only pictures of either you or your spouse (never both at the same time), because the other one is behind the camera? Then the few times you ask some stranger to take your picture together, they end up cutting peoples' heads off, or shooting out of focus. We didn't want to take the risk of being disappointed with the pictures we came home with, and decided to hire a photographer to do a little shoot. We're glad we did.

Now as nice as it was to have a break from the girls it was funny how much we talked about them, and how often we said, "aww, Mayah would LOVE doing this..." or "Ava would be having a blast here." I think the best of both worlds would be to take a vacation with the whole family, but arrange for a babysitter some of the time. Turns out you can arrange for that through the concierge or other local services. We'd just have to get past the initial worry of leaving them with a complete stranger.

After 8 days of doing everything imaginable on Maui, we were excited to come home and tell the girls about the whales, dolphins, sea turtles, fish and other wildlife we saw. We both had built up a pretty good tan (which is already fading), and our batteries were charged to get back to our daily lives.

Omaha welcomed us home with its hospitable 9 degree weather.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Mayah was invited by one of her good friends Ashley Johnson, to a daddy-daughter dance that was at the local YMCA. They also invited Mayah's friend Meg and her dad, so the three girls (Ashley, Meg and Mayah) went with their dads to the fancy Valentine's day dance. She and I have been excited about this night for a month. We went out and bought her a new outfit, complete with accessories to help make the night feel that much more special. I even ordered complimentary boutonnieres for Clint and Mayah to wear. Ashley's mom did a great job planning the evening. She had a fancy dinner set up at their house for the couples with a romantic atmosphere: dimmed lights, candles, goblets to drink from and young waiters to serve them (Ashley's 2 older brothers). On the menu was a salad prepared by Meg's mom, shrimp fettuccine Alfredo, and heart shaped strawberry shortcake for desert which I contributed. After the dinner they all headed to the YMCA for the dance. Now most of you may not know that my husband is a really amazing dancer! As I was getting Mayah ready I told her "you are going to have the best time, because you have a great dance partner" but she couldn't have imagined what that really meant. When she came home she could not wait to show me all the moves that she learned. She was more excited than I have seen her in a while. Clint was doing all kinds of swing dance moves with her and of course those two were the center of attention which Mayah always loves and to be honest so does Clint :) It made me so happy to see the two of them come home in such a good mood and know that they had a great bonding date together. I know that it really meant a lot to Mayah and it really meant to a lot me. I get just as much joy watching Mayah have fun as I would if I were going myself. Thank you so much Clint for always being there for us. We love you!