Happy 4th birthday Maya!!!!!

Our birthday early morning singing tradition continues. Maya, of course, was not in her bed but ours for her morning sing and wake.

First soccer game of the season and my girls are ready to go!!! Sadly---Delaney and Maya occasionally play on separate fields and this was one of those days. Randy took Delaney and I took Maya. Delaney scored her first goal at her game. Apparently, like tennis, this is another sport that at 6 Delaney is already better than me at. :)

Pre-game warm up.

Waiting to go in the game. Maya is different from Delaney at this age---she really wants to be on the field. Now she is not really into kicking the ball at this point but she is enthusiastic!!

The birthday girl!!!!

We surprised Maya with a new bed and nightstand for her birthday. I think she was more excited about the rearrangement of her room and that her stuff was still there. And the drawer on the nightstand was a big hit also.

Maya's big present was her new "big girl" bed. She had been in the toddler bed and since we moved Delaney at 4 we thought we should move Maya too. She still fit in the sweet toddler bed but we have to let our little girl grow up. I obsessed over the perfect bed and bedding and think I found it! This is a twin corner bed which is similar to a day bed in that is has the back where she can kick back and relax. Because Maya is obsessed with everything "rainbow hearts" I wanted to find rainbow heart bedding. This was extremely difficult because everything rainbow heart was really tacking and had zebra prints. Thank you IKEA for the world's most perfect rainbow heart duvet and throw pillows and it being super cheap at the same time.

This is Maya's snuggle chair. We ended up moving it out of the room due to less space with the bigger bed. This was a very hard thing for me to give up because until now, Maya sat on our laps for books before bed and then did a "snuggle" facing us on our laps to fall asleep and then we would put her in her bed. This was a precious moment each night and I didn't want it to go away---but again---have to let my baby grow up. :(

Loving her new bed. She was a little concerned that her room had been rearranged. Creature of habit.

It's rainbow heart birthday party time!!! Maya picked out this rainbow heart dress and I found the matching accessories. The party was at Tag It Art which is a fabulous art place in town. The kids get a certain piece to make and they do it step by step for them. It is basically mindless art, but fun too, which is my kind of art!!!

Delaney with her rainbow heart dress and also matching rainbow doodle-boppers.

Rainbow heart everything!!!! The staff at Tag It were great with the rainbow heart paper items and the rainbow heart on the easel was what all the kids were going to make. Maya was just beside herself. Funny story: there was a Gay Pride festival in Columbia this same day and the owner of Tag It asked me if there was a correlation. There wasn't---but how great!!! Maya is just showing her acceptance and love in a subtle way. I wonder if any parents are going to say anything later....hee hee hee.....

Randy reading to Sophia before the party.

Ready to make some art!!

Sophia

Isabella

Jake and Delaney. Jake was hitting on Delaney a bit during the party which was hilarious.

Benson and Liam

Emma Heyward

Sandy

Sophia

Lucy

Zeke

My girls being artsy.

It's cupcake, and a couple of sneezes, time.

Totally excited about her number four candle.

Yummy cupcakes!! Publix so got this one right. Their cupcakes are always delicious but they have messed up some of my orders in the past. I thought it was going to be cupcakes with every one a different color for the rainbow. They actually did rainbow icing on each cupcake. Delaney and I added candy hearts to each one. Rainbow heart cupcakes---see the theme??

Zeke's little brother Eli tears into his cupcake.

We had Dave and the kids over that afternoon for more birthday celebrations and more cupcakes!!!

An Olaf toy from Uncle Dave!

Maya got a tool workbench for her birthday from us and she was obviously thrilled. She had a little tool box before and LOVED doing work so we knew this would be a hit. Bubba joined in the fun with all of us.

The workers are ready!!

What a busy birthday!!!! Soccer, parties, more parties...and tons of fun with family and friends. I couldn't ask for a better four year old and I am honored to have her in my life. Hugs and kisses to my Maya Waya Presley Roberts----Happy happy Birthday to you!!!!!!

Snails, Soccer, and Almost Birthdays!!!

Some last moments in the baby pool/side before the swimming season is over. :(

Happy fairy.

Unhappy fairy.

Loving the daddy time.

And still unhappy.

Finding some ladybugs to put in the ladybug playground.

This happens every time the cousins come over. I capture it on film often.

Some Grammy snuggle time. I didn't capture when Monty actually jumped on to the pile too.

Oh---the frog saga. I really don't feel like writing it all here because it truly could make a good short story. One day I will write it. Story in a nutshell: two frogs were bought when Delaney was 2 for Valentine's present: Yeti and T2. Thinking they would last a couple of months, they lived in small box. Seeing about 6 months later they were real pets we upped the size of their home and got little aquarium. T2 died a couple of months ago and we got Betty, his replacement. Both frogs ended up dying shortly after that. I have since replaced Betty several times but not telling the girls that any of the Betty's (or Yeti) died. Apparently pet stores don't have frogs so you have to order them. Here is Delaney with Betty and little do the girls know but I had "Yeti" in the front seat because I didn't want to tell them I was replacing two. Didn't want their hearts broken. The pet store was very good about me sneaking the other one out without the girls knowing. This Betty died and had to get another replacement. When the last Betty died I decided enough was enough and took out the little frog body that night and saved it to show girls in morning. They were sad and decided to bury Betty that afternoon. We thought with older pets in the home it was best to go ahead and let them face a little pet death. We put Betty in a box and buried her in the back yard. The girls asked for a cross to mark the grave and I didn't have one so we marked the grave with a disco ball. RIP Betty (and Yeti and T2 and all the other little froggie friends). Yeti is currently hanging in strong but I think he is lonely without a friend. Haven't decided if we dare go the frog route again or try a compatible frog friend like a fish.

Delaney was the top Boosterthon participant for the first grade so she got to put a pie in the face of a Boosterthon person. They had it during the live morning show at school.

Minion dress with toy snail.

Toothless wonder with real snails.

Maya's birthday week celebration begins! She wasn't going to school the Friday before her birthday so she wore her cupcake birthday dress to school and I sent cupcakes so she could celebrate her birthday at school. Can't believe this baby is almost 4!!

Maya's first soccer practice. She looks the part but will she play??

She loved her practice!!! Unfortunately her team is older---almost all of them are in kindergarten. This is good in one way for Maya because it gives her good soccer role models but bad because they all are really almost two years older than her so socially it is a bit hard. The coach's daughter is in Maya's class which is how we got involved and she says she didn't know the ages either. Maya is happy in most situations though so she had a blast!!

Maya at her first soccer practice. She was so stinkin' cute!!!!

Again---the almost birthday girl wearing yet another birthday outfit. I didn't have to work today so we got a good day of hanging out together.

Blowing a kazoo which we got as favors for the big rainbow heart birthday party tomorrow!!!!