New pools, hysterical Maya moments, and au revoir a la paci

A little pool time. Tried to capture how beautiful our new pool is. We got a new liner and it is basically a new pool and just looks awesome. The water looks crystal clear and the liner is nice and squishy on your feet.

Maya got a kick out of me swatting a bug and shouting. I just kept going with it and she just laughed hysterically which caused me to laugh hysterically.

Maya drops it down low and does a little bootie dance.

**Very exciting news. We have been struggling with Delaney giving up her night pacifier. She had been using it for naps and nighttime and we had been telling her when she turned three she needed to give it up. She was agreeing and we mailed one pacifier to a child in the hospital. She was left with one pacifier and we kept saying she needed to get rid of it. We got nervous about getting rid of it and kept stalling on it. Meanwhile---Delaney kept chewing on her last remaining pacifier like it was a cow chewing on cud. Each night she would chew on it until the end of the pacifier came off and it was left as a little stub. She would continue trying to suck on it for a few nights but she kept saying it was "yucky" and would put it in her mouth and then immediately take it out. On June 22---Delaney stopped asking for it and hasn't needed it anymore. Hooray!!! It remains in her room because I gladly hand it to her when she remembers it but then she looks at it and says "yucky". Our little headstrong child just had to get rid of it her own way. I am very proud of her---she's so grown up. Sniff.

Happy 85th Birthday Nana!!!!

Maya skips the whole spoon thing and just goes for the peas with her hands.

Maya has a little meal before heading out to Nana's 85th Birthday party. It was at Cellar on Greene in a little room just for us.

The girls wore their new matching dresses from Grammy for the occasion. They looked so beautiful.

Maya and Matt were hilarious all night. She just kept flirting with him and he was just mesmerized by her. He loves my children...even though he would NEVER admit it.

Maya loves now to "drink" water from a glass--which consists of her making funny noises into the cup and getting water all over her.

**I am so sorry I have no pics of Nana and the rest of the fam from the evening. Someone, I am not mentioning names but her initials are D. R.--decided to be a total pill all night at the restaurant. She had not had a nap that day and was super tired and just showed out the entire time we were there. Thankfully the fam all had a wonderful time but I was left dealing with a cranky child who just wouldn't chill. I somehow also managed to have a decent evening with delicious food but I definitely didn't get to take pics. Nana had a wonderful evening and that is what matters.

Happy Father's Day!

The day before Father's Day I got Maya all cutesied up in a new dress and headband from her Grammy.

Not really sure about this one. I mean the child in general. Dinner time wearing a crown.

On Father's Day Dave brought over Morgan and we took her and our girls to EdVenture Children's Museum.

Davis showed off his muscles before he left.

The two older girls were so excited about their day. Morgan had swiped a headband from Delaney's dress up area before the big adventure.

Delaney and Morgan do the news at EdVenture. I think this could be a good career for the doodlebug.

Maya--who is already the happiest baby in the world--becomes even happier when she has little puffs or cheerios to eat. Check out that smile.

Miranda had arrived in town and she came with the fam to celebrate Father's Day. The two puzzle masters worked their way through several puzzles.

Maya was worn out from the fam and passed out on the floor on a blanket basically in the middle of the action.

A little bug on a rug.

We had taken the high chairs and booster seat out of the chairs so people could sit and Delaney just hopped right into Maya's high chair.

Hair Cut Princess Day

Maya sportin' some princess frills.

Today I took Delaney out to get her haircut and dressed her up fancy and little Maya too. Delaney's dress came from Grammy who ordered it special from Zulily. It is a fabulous homemade dress that has a tiara and diamonds on it and says "Its all about me". The dress was supposed to be for her birthday princess party but slow 'ol Zulily didn't send it in time. It was worth every penny though because Delaney LOVES it and wants to wear it almost every day.

The balloon came from the haircut place and Delaney decided to take it for a spin on her bike. Delaney has just gotten good at riding her bike and I hate that she really doesn't have anywhere to ride it. She rides it around the pool which 1) isn't the safest and 2) doesn't really give her anything to do but go around in a circle. If you have been to our house you know we have a very steep driveway and then our house is on a hill so there really isn't anywhere good for her to ride it. One critera for our next house is somewhere for our sweet girls to ride their bikes.

Delaney sings the prayer before a meal that she does at daycare. The fancy dress and bike inside give it a special touch.

Beauties and Ballerinas

Dead roach imitation courtesy of Olive

Bathing beauty in her little mushroom pool in her super cute bikini

Maya tries out Delaney's little bike.

We signed up Delaney to take ballet/tap classes at her daycare. A local dance company comes to the daycare and gives small classes to the kids. This idea is so great because I love that Delaney can have a dance class because I know it would be so hard for us to get her there during the week. She has been beside herself thinking about starting the class and has been wearing her leotards and ballet shoes and tap shoes. On the morning of her first day, she was extremely excited but then had a meltdown when I wanted to take her picture to capture the moment.

At school and all smiles. Little cutie pie with her leotard. D's friend Callie--her mom Cheryl e-mailed me and said that her husband had dropped off Callie at school right when the girls were lining up to go to dance. She said that Callie was having a bad day and crying. Delaney reached out her hand and Callie grabbed it and they never looked back. That little story brought tears to my eyes. Picturing all of the little girls all lined up in their leotards and shoes and so excited to dance is just the cutest thing ever.

My two girls. Little Maya loves to fall asleep on me at night. She definitely won't let others take her while I am around which is flattering...but sometimes exhausting. She flirts with people and laughs while I am holding her but then nuzzles into my neck and grabs on hard like a little monkey.

Delaney has been doing a cute thing lately. She loves loves loves to have books read to her at night but little did we know she is memorizing them. We knew she had an amazing memory for song lyrics because she knows every song she has ever heard. They have these Princesses at Target that sing about 3-4 lines of their song (ex: Ariel sings "Part of Your World"). Delaney knows the Ariel song--every word---and she has NEVER seen that movie. And we don't go to Target that often. I am amazed by her all of the time. Anyway---she is now memorizing books. Randy and I will sit on the couch at night and we can hear her through the monitor reciting the entire "Go Dog Go", "Goldilocks", or many other favorites. It just cracks us up.

Tag It Art Party

Daycare sponsored a party at this awesome place near our house called Tag It. They have classes for kids of lots of different ages and they have a specific art project that they work on in an hour. The project for the party was to paint a monkey in the garden for father's day. Lots of Delaney's friends from her class were there.

Delaney did incredibly well doing her art project. She doesn't have a lot of patience at home when we do these things but she sat and followed all directions and basically did awesome. Here she is painting the blue background for her picture.

After the art the kids enjoyed some pizza.

During the art class Maya hung out with Will's little brother Andrew.

Maya getting a little close with Andrew.

Delaney enjoyed her cupcake after the pizza.

The kids got their faces painted by their teachers after they ate. Delaney requested a cupcake. Of course she did.

Delaney shows off her artistic skills and serious side while Randy has an oopsie moment with the camera.









Maya thinks it is a race and has to close those doors as fast as possible.