Cali or bust!

Lucky little Maci got Disneyland as a gift from my parents this year!  The pictures somehow got completely out of order, but...  Maci had a ton of fun!  After her Christmas program, Maci & I flew to California to meet my mom.  We spent the day at the happiest place in the world!

Driving the race cars!  We had fun bumping Nana!

In the fairy garden!  Maci loves all things princess and fairy so she was super excited in this part!

My beautiful girl!

Maci and the best Nana in the world! 

 We had such a good time with my mom on our girls' trip!  Thank you so much Mom & Dad and thank you Maci for once again allowing me to tag along on your awesome birthday trips! 

Christmas Recital

Maci had her final Christmas recital with her preschool.  She did so good, especially considering she had to be the 1st one to go out on the stage and be the 1st to talk!  I was so proud of her, she took such good care of the 2 little kids she had with her!  They all had to stand on the right marks and she made sure the babies stood exactly were they were suppose to!  At one point the little boy started crying, so she hugged him.  The whole crowd ooohhed and awed!  

My mom was in California, but her Papa and her Uncle BB came to watch her.  Her papa surprised her with a dozen roses!  I think it made her feel like a rock star!  I almost get teary eyed looking at these pictures, she looks so grown up and beautiful!

Holidays

Once again I realize that I have not posted in soo long... amazing how life just gets away from you. Anyway, we've been busy as usual lately so here's a little to catch us up!  Maci is OBsessed with babies these days.  I seriously feel like I'm watching a soap opera every day.  She has a million babies and they all have names and complete story lines.  Sometimes I feel a little bad when I listen to her discipline them, she says the same things I tell her, but I have to wonder if I'm always as grouchy as she is.  It's getting out of control... we have a 3 baby limit in the car (to avoid numerous trips with arms full downstairs) and they ALL have to be buckled in.  It's cute most of the time, but when we're in a hurry, I really wouldn't mind adopting a few of them out. 

These are two of Maci's "kids"

This picture just cracked me up so I had to put it on here.  Maci loves to do silly stuff and LOVES to have her pictures taken doing those silly things!  The other day she crawled into a nativity scene in a store and begged me to take a picture... everyone was just staring at us!

She also has discovered a very deep love for cupcakes, so she begs to make them all the time! Chloe has also developed a deep love for all the sprinkles that Maci drops!

Halloween ~

We got in the Halloween spirit by carving some pumpkins :) Maci loved doing the pokey thing.

The finished product!  The others were a flop, (I knocked holes in the pattern...) so this is all we had!

Maci showing off her fake nails!

My little princess.  I think I have her talked into a non-princess costume for next year...  I've already started working on her - it will take a year to convince her...

I just put this one on here because I thought it was funny.  Maci refused to have her picture taken with her Uncle BB so it's not a very good one, but I have to give some love to him every now and then since he actually loves his niece these days!  I feel like both the babies are growing up!  I can actually let them sit next to each other!

So that's it for my marathon post.  At least I'm up to Halloween... don't expect much for Thanksgiving because I forgot my camera once again...  Hope to post again soon!

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Maci's school had their annual field trip to the pumpkin patch.  Maci found her old beat up hat and jumped in the donkey for a ride!

She had a really good time and found the "perfect" pumpkin!  She has colored all over it and washed it a millions times since she brought it home!  Now it's found a home in her room (until I find the perfect time to throw that sucker out!) 

Go Dynamites!

Soccer is already almost over, but Maci has had a great time!  At the beginning of the season she was really aggressive, but after being hit a few times, she mellowed out quite a bit.  Now during the games she looks like a butterfly fluttering around the field, not really in any hurry to get to the ball!  She loves it though so I can't really get on to her... especially considering she's only 4!  It's amazing how quick all the kids learned so fast and have improved so much, including Maci!

I do need to thank a few people though... these pictures almost didn't happen for Maci, but thanks to her great Aunt Loni who picked her up and rushed her to practice, to my team mom partner Sara for fixing her hair and to Maci's teammate Cierra for letting Maci borrow her ball for pictures!  This was a crazy day!

Proud mommy :)

Just a quick bragging moment about my girl... I received this email from her teacher today:

Maci is such a sweetheart! Always eager to learn and attentive. She is nice to others and has lots of friends! She remembers everything from last year and her reading is really improving. She adds and subtracts very quickly!



Teresa

It makes me so happy that she loves school so much and is doing so well so I had to share it!

Soccer!

 Maci started soccer this week!  She looks so cute and grown up out on the field!  She is so excited and can't wait to go back!

She has her 1st game this Saturday, which should be hysterical because they only got one practice in before!  The original coach backed out at the last minute so we begged her uncle JP to step in and he accepted!  He should have his work cut out for him with eleven 4 year olds!  I'm so thankful that he volunteered to coach her team so that she could play, she's so lucky to have so many amazing people in her life!  I'll try to do better about posting pictures, especially now that she is involved in more things!

Part II

I was too lazy to rearrange photos on the last post since I'd already started writing, so I thought I'd take the lazy way out and just do one big post with pictures of a ton of things all at once!

This one just makes me laugh because she is always dressing up, but this little outfit takes that cake! 

 My cousins moved here from Nebraska and Maci and I have really enjoyed spending time with them.   Maci especially loves being goofy with her cousin Alissa!

Watching Kung Fo Panda in 3D and Maci loved it, but would not get the scared look off her face for a picure

So I thought I'd list some of the things keeping us busy over the summer (my excuse for not posting!)

Maci did another dance class this summer.  She loved it and for a few weeks she thought she wanted to keep doing it this fall... but she's since changed her mind!

Then she took swimming lessons which turned out to be her most favorite thing in the world!  We ended up extending her lessons for a few more sessions.  She's really bummed that they are over now.  These two cuties with her are her cousins Aubrie and Alissa.

She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to pose for pictures so I got some of her being goofy!  She looks so grown up in this one...

Maci and one of her favorite boys in the world - Brady!  We had the pleasure of keeping him for a few nights this summer and Maci loved every minute of it!  She cried when he had to go back with his mommy and daddy!  She just loves her little cousin so much!

Maci also kept busy with her Nana and Papa!  My dad has turned my daughter into a little dare devil.  She loves to go super fast on the 4 wheelers and also now loves riding them through the biggest mud puddles that they can find.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but they are both covered in mud!

I wouldn't let Maci in my car all muddy so her Nana sprayed her off with a hose!

She got to go on a little girls trip with just her Nana.  They rented a 2 seater bike and cruised all through town.  My mom said they had a blast.  She also got to swim in a lake and just hang with the best Nana in the world. 

I have so much more of our summer to post about, but I think my blog is going to crash with all this posting I'm doing tonight, so I better let it rest!  I will try hard to get more on here ASAP! 

Whoa - Easter was my last post?? WHAT?

Oops, so I just realized that my last post was around Easter... wow - how time flies. So I'm going to try to catch up on some random stuff, in no particular order!

First Maci started preschool again for her 3rd and final year. I don't know where the time has gone, it seems so crazy that she is 4 going on 5, when I still think of her as my baby! She was super excited to go back to school (and I have to admit that this mean mama was a little ready too... 2 months of having her at work every day was getting to be a little much for both of us)... so for as much as I was really looking forward to school starting - I sure was missing her on her first day.

My little "senior" :) She loves to pose. I asked her to put her arms to her side for a picture and she told me that she likes her pictures this way because she's cute that way! I guess she's right!

She also insisted on wearing her little princess crown headband! It's so funny how picky and insistent she is about certain clothes. I miss the days that I could just pick something cute out and she would wear it. I guess I should be thankful that she is strong willed?!

I was a little sad while taking this picture when I thought about it being her last 1st time at this school! She is really loving school again this year. I was worried since it's her 1st time of going all day, but she enjoys eating lunch with all her little friends and seems to really like staying all day. What a trooper I have! She even exchanged friendship bracelets with a boy!!! Whoa Nelly - she's 4... do we really already have to start all this boy crap? I guess so... I guess I shouldn't be surprised since she's been in love with Tristian since she was 1. SHE IS BOY CRAZY, but you gotta love her!