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!

Little Gymnast

Mayah has been enrolled in gymnastics now for the past 5 months, she attends a Wednesday class which teaches the fundamentals of gymnastics. Then she goes on Saturdays for "All Stars." That is where they have the opportunity to learn real routines, how to greet judges, and compete with other girls around Nebraska. This weekend was her first official competition/invitational. It was so fun to watch her compete. She kept watching for us and waving into the stands, but we could also tell she was feeling the pressures of the day. She had practiced incessantly for the week leading up to the event and was getting really good at her routines. At the competition, she was easily the most graceful one in her division, although she did fall off the beam and over rotate on the floor routine. But in all, we were so proud of her and she did a great job. She took home a blue ribbon (the highest) for vault, and red ribbons (the next highest) for beam, floor routine and bars. I think if she would have done as well as she practiced, she would have easily taken blue ribbons in each part. I think next time she will have fewer jitters and be ready for the spotlight. I did a quick post of a picture of her jumping above the beam. Ignore the copyright. We're buying the picture from the photog, but are waiting for the official files =). You can see how much air she got and how graceful she was. All the other girls barely made it off the beam, or didn't even try the jump. So we are so proud of Mayah. Here's a video of her beam routine:



When she received her medal, she was smiling from ear to ear and said she didn't want to take it off--ever. Her next competition is March 7-8 in Central Nebraska (Grand Island), so we'll do a road trip that weekend to support her.

Cancun, Mexico!

We had a blast in Cancun. We went with Clint's whole family and stayed over New Year's for 8 days. You can see from our pictures that it was quite an experience. Lots of lounging at the pool outside our villa (which overlooked the beach) building sand castles, shopping (aka bartering), eating out, and just having fun. Mayah got to swim with dolphins, and we snorkeled in underground rivers. We have a million more pics, which we will post on our smugmug site soon. It was another great chance to get away from Nebraska during this terrible winter and enjoy the sun! Can't wait to go back!!!