The Pioneer Woman

I had this brilliant idea to take Maya with me to have my cookbook signed by the one and only Pioneer Woman. I have been reading her blog for years now and have cooked a ton of her recipes. She makes me laugh on a daily basis and I think if she lived here we would be best friends. Anyways, I knew she had a lot of people that followed her blog but what I did not realize is so many of them were here in my own home town. Maya and I arrived a tad early to the event expecting to be there maybe 15-20 minutes waiting in line or something. After seeing how packed 1st Place Books was, I knew this would not be the case. We ended up waiting 6 hours to meet our dear blogger friend. We didn't stay there the whole time. We went and had something to eat, ran some errands, ate some cookies, looked at books, made some new friends, etc. In the end it was totally worth it. It was a mother/daughter bonding experience I will never forget. Bless her heart though, Maya was a total trooper the WHOLE time!

If you havent already, check out her hilarious blog at www.thepioneerwoman.com

Eggs Eggs Everywhere!

We had an awesome Easter this year. Maya was thrilled about the fact that she got to hunt for eggs filled with candy. She had not 1, not 2, but 3 Easter Egg Hunts this year. Joss and I did a little mini Easter egg hunt around the house for the girls after their naps on Saturday and then we had 2 hunts on Easter Sunday. Here are the pics.....

My creative hiding techniques

Dad still had me beat though....he's a seasoned pro

Maya collecting her loot

I like the eggs in the shoes. Ha!

Maya thinks her bff Romy is SO funny

Maya ruined her pretty white Easter sweater so we had to resort to the hoodie and dress look.....you like it?

Dad and Papa helping the baby girl out

BTW, Maya picked out her own Easter basket this year. She's going to be a little soccer player :)

Her audience

Oh here we are for round 3 and Mom's house!

Me and my baby

Look at all those eggs. Even though this is her 3rd hunt she is not sick of it one bit!

Our family Easter 2010

Maya had so much fun collecting all those eggs that for the weeks that followed Easter, every time we went outside she would say "Mama, I gonna go find eggs."

Maya's 2 Year Checkup

We took Maya in to see Dr. Wu today. She is a big girl weighing in at 35lbs!!!! She is as healthy as can be. Here are a few fun facts about Maya:

• She doesn't like any sort of vegetables, the only thing I can get her to eat is sweet potato fries


• Her favorite color is pink. She has to wear something pink everyday whether that be pink socks, pink shoes, pink shirt or pink pants. I even painted her toes and fingers with pink nail polish...I'm telling you the girl is obsessed with pink.


• Her favorite movie right now is Princess and the Frog


• Her best friends are Preston, Naomi and Romy


• Her favorite thing to do is go over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and kick the soccer ball with Papa


• Her favorite books right now are her Princess book collection she got for her birthday


• Oh and she is already planning her next birthday party, she asks everyone "You wanna come to my berday?"


• She has only gone #2 once since we got her a big girl pody but we are not rushing it, we are just getting her familiar with it.


• She loves the park and going to feed the ducks. Whenever we ask her what she wants to do, this is usually the first thing she will say

My baby girl is growing up so fast which makes me a little sad, but I love how she amazes me everyday with all the new things she learns. She is so precious and the light of my life!

Arnies with the Family and the newest member of our family...meet French Fry

Sunday we had our annual family brunch with my Mom's side of the family. We had another awesome meal and a great time with the family. Mima came equipped with games and prizes of course. After Arnie's we headed to the beach to skip rocks, eat some ice cream and play in the sand. Since Sunday was Maya's official birthday, we did an extra special thing for her after lunch. We met up with Auntie Renee, Colton, Jerica and Emma at Build-a-bear. It was the first build-a-bear experience for Me, DJ and Maya. They are so great with kids and Maya had a great time on her birthday. She picked out the bear, picked out a heart for the bear, gave her bear a bath, picked out the clothes and gave the bear a name. Finding a name for Maya's sweet bear was the hardest part. After careful consideration she decided on "French Fry". It seemed to fit the bear perfect and we couldn't ask for a better name for Maya's new BFF. After all was said and done, Build a Bear sang Happy Birthday to our sweet girl.

DJ and Colton (they were missing the other member of their bromance Uncle Dave)

All the cousins with their ice cream. Please note, that Nae Nae is already to the cone and compared to how much Pres and Maya have. BTW they all started out with the same size ice cream scoop. Nae Nae may be small but the girl can eat some ice cream!

DJ with the girls

Bawa, Maya and Nae

I love that Maya and Nae are so opposites. One is petite, one is a little chunky, one has the dark hair dark eyes one is a little lighter in her coloring, one loves to throw sand and get dirty the other one freaks out if there is a speck of dirt anywhere on her body. Can you guess who is who?
Dang, that's one hot Bawa!

My Pregnant Sista's

Auntie Renee and Maya picking out an outfit


French Fry has got to have undies! Its just not ok when people don't wear undies!

The Birthday Girl!

Mama and Maya taking in the whole BB experience

Giving the Bear a bath

French Fry had to have some shades!

I'm telling you it was a family affair to pick the name for Maya's bear. Look how serious we all are! It was a big decision!

Still thinking.....

Maya wasn't too sure about the singing but it was the second day in a row with no nap so I think that played a part in her expression in these last two pictures.

Thank you so much to Mima for an GREAT brunch and Auntie Renee, Colton, Jerica and Emma for an awesome afternoon and helping us create a lasting memory. Our family (including French Fry) are so lucky to have you in our lives!

Maya is 2 YRS OLD!!!

But if you ask Maya how old she is she will reply " I four". My baby is growing up WAY too quickly. I think I am going to be saying this the rest of my life. I want her to stay little but she is getting a mind of her own and a new found independence.

We had an awesome celebration of Maya's birthday last Saturday. All of DJ's family was there along with a lot of our close friends. It was perfect! We all met up at Round Table Pizza and had pizza and salads together. The kids played and ran around while all of the rest of us mingled. After the food we had cake and Maya opened up all of her presents. She was SO good this year. She truly loved all of the gifts that she received and was so excited to open each and every one of them. She didn't seem overwhelmed at all and was a total angel child all day. After Round Table Stac, Megan, Mom and Dan came back to the house and we all chatted and played with Maya's new toys. It was a perfect day and I couldn't be happier with the way everything turned out. Here are some of the pics from the party....

I LOVE this picture! Everyone was singing Happy Birthday to her and she was the star of the show.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL! Mommy and Daddy love you so much! We are so blessed to have you!