Sisters...

These two little girls mean the world to me! They definitely test my patience on a daily basis, but they bring me SOOOO much joy and happiness. Elsie is always calling out for "aia" (just can't quite get the M sound with her name yet!) and they are playing and interacting more and more now. I love it. They always hold hands when we are driving in the car, it really is the sweetest thing. In fact now Elsie will get mad if Maia doesn't hold her hand. Watching them together makes me want to have a huge family. It's funny because when I was first pregnant with Elsie, I remember being so nervous to have two kids. I thought I wouldn't be able to handle it. I thought that maybe I would only want two kids. But if I only would have know how much fun it is to see them love each other and play together I would have had a totally different mindset! Now I'm excited to add another one to the family (whenever that is...NO I'm not pregnant now) and see what that new dimension brings us. ANyway, now I'm just rambling, so I'll get on with it. The other day Maia had to go to time-out for some reason. She was crying hysterically and then all of a sudden she stopped. So I peeked around the corner to see what was going on and this is what I saw...Elsie had gone over to the chair where Maia was sitting and was holding her hand. Isn't that the sweetest thing? And then she gave her a hug and stayed there, holding her hand the whole time Maia was in time-out. This isn't the first time something like this has happened either...they both watch out for each other and when one is sad and crying, the other will bring their blankie to them, or hug them, etc. I love it!

These last few pictures are totally random, but they were cute so I had to include them...Elsie tripped over the hose and face-planted it right into the flower bed. She came up looking like this and Maia and I got our laugh for the day!

Haircuts

Maia LOVES getting her hair cut. She looks forward to it for DAYS before we go and wonders why we aren't going right away! We make a little Mommy/Daughter date out of it and it is so much fun! Every time we have gone, I have meant to take my camera with me, but, of course, have forgotten. So I was so proud of myself when I not only remembered to bring it, but remembered to actually pull it out of my purse and use it!
Maia and cute Rachel...she does such a great job, we love her! If anyone is in need of a excellent hair stylist, you definitely need to go see Rach!

Friends

The other day I had the opportunity to watch some of my friends kiddos. It was so fun to watch the kids interact together. It was a little bit like having Maia as the big sister and then a set of triplets... (Lilly is just 6 months older than Elsie and Collin, who are only 1 day apart). So this is how I managed it...put Maia upstairs to babysit Lilly(come on, she's 3 already! She's totally responsible:)
and then set Elsie and Collin in front of the TV with Baby Signing Time on...
OK...really, I'm not THAT bad of a babysitter. We did do some fun things too...like go for wagon rides, play ball (a MUST with Collin!) and swim in the pool. Oh and chocolate chip cookies...my neighbor happened to mention "cookies" while we were outside playing and Lilly's ears perked right up and she kept yelling "COOKIES" until I finally gave in and brought out a package of cookies. But then guess who ended up eating the most...you got it...little Elsie girl. Here's how it went...Elsie finished first, then Maia, then Collin, then Lilly (who actually didn't even eat all of hers, but don't worry, Elsie found it and finished it off for her:)
This cutie is Collin...Maia loved him! She said to me "Boys are funny!" and "Collin is funny" and "I want a brother Collin." It was sweet. She is really determined that she is going to have a baby brother next.....we'll see....
I love this picture (below) because all the girls are just standing by with this look on their face like, "What is he doing?!" He was just loving the water and rolling around and splashing like crazy!

The Big Slide

Last week we had a little BBQ at some friend's house...they are in our ward and are such a neat family. Their two girls are in YW with me and I love them to death! They have this fun pool in their backyard and Maia was so excited to go there so we could go swimming. I was a little unsure about whether or not I should go...David was busy studying for his Board exam coming up and so I knew I would have both kids by myself in a BIG pool (none of this wading pool business!) But Maia was so excited so I decided that I would go and somehow make it work. Luckily, there were plenty of floaties to go around, as well as good friends who can substitute in place of Daddy. Maia wanted to go down the slide SOOO bad and Bron was nice enough to take her on a ride! She loved it and immediately wanted to go back for more. I love the play-by-play pictures that Megan took with her camera! What would that be like to be able to take a hundred pictures a second???

Pools and Splash Pads

Buffalo is so amazing when it comes to the outdoor recreation stuff it has. I love all of the wading pools around here and the best part is they are all FREE. So we definitely spend a lot of time there. Where else do you go when there is no air conditioning in your house and it's 90 degrees and super humid??

These girls love the water so much!

Nothing like a huge piece of watermelon to cool you off right?

Maia playing with her new friend, Ciella. Maia has been needing friends so badly since so many of her friends moved away this summer, and all the rest are gone vacationing or something. She just craves friendship, seriously. When we were at the wading pool one day, we saw a girl wearing the exact same swimsuit as she was. She was determined that they were going to be best friends. She kept telling me that she wanted to play with her so I told her to go and ask her. She said "will you help me?" So I went with her to introduce her to this girl. The girls name was Teagan and she was 4 so we were off to a good start right? But she turned out to be kind of a brat and only wanted to play with her "best friend Regan" that was with her. Maia kept chasing her around and Teagan would run off and say "Nan-na-nan-na na na" or however you say it. Maia thought it was a game though and kept going. I was heartbroken but Maia was un-phased and thought they were great friends, so I guess that's all that matters right? Then that girl left and Maia wanted to make a new friend, so we had to scope out the pool area and try to pick a new friend for her. But she got better towards the end (we had to make about 4 friends that day because everyone kept leaving) she would actually go up to the girl who she wanted to play with and say "Hi I'm Maia, do you want to play?" So I was proud of her!
Maia gets so excited when we get to play with Ciella!

Fourth of July

We had such a fun 4th of July weekend...and I know it is so past the point that no one cares about looking at these...but I need to be better about blogging and documenting with words and pictures the things we do. So here ya go! We had a yummy brunch on Saturday at the Shaheen's house..(thanks Megan for the pictures:)

The girls in their 4th of July outfits...
Then on Sunday, our sweet landlord, Tammy, had us over for a big BBQ bash...there was a TON of great food, a bounce house that Maia LOVED, a golf cart that David(and the kids) loved, and awesome fireworks that we all loved!

This picture is a PERFECT Tammy picture. It just fits her perfectly, there's no other way to put it! She is always running around making sure everyone has what they need, food, drinks, towels, whatever! We love her so much!
There was a little kiddie pool there that we weren't prepared for...well Elsie is so drawn to the water and wouldn't give up on trying to get in. It was so funny how she would do it...she would turn around and "reverse" into the pool. She is such a funny girl.
Maia is at that age where she likes to pull funny faces and thinks she is hilarious. Hopefully it won't last long....

I love these pictures (below...and thanks again Megan:) The golf cart was definitely a big hit!

This girl LOVES popsicles so much. She can down one super fast and doesn't even get cold headaches. Crazy thing!
And the bounce house where Maia spent the majority of the party..

Girls Trip 2010

This past weekend I got to go spend 4 wonderful days with my mom and sisters in San Diego...I can't even begin to tell you how much fun it was. Even traveling there was delightful because I had no kids. Just me and the latest David Baldacci book. The whole trip was relaxing and enjoyable and just flat out FUN. There are no better relationships than those you have with your family I think. We laughed so much together we were sobbing and almost peeing our pants on more than one occasion. It was so much fun. Anyway, I flew out early Thursday morning and returned late Monday night so David had a good 5 days with just the girls. They had a great time together and I think David managed pretty well. He did write me a sweet note while I was gone and part of it said "I have come to realize with you being gone that a man is supposed to be working and doing man things and a woman is supposed to be nurturing and loving to the kids ALL day long. And then Dad just comes home after work and eats and plays with the kids...I like that role." Then he said he was overwhelmed and tired without me. It's good to feel loved and needed:) ANyway, here are a few pictures from our trip...I was waiting to post these because I need to get some pictures from my sis but she hasn't emailed them yet (hint hint) so these will have to do for now...

We actually stayed about an hour outside of San Diego in a little mountain town called Julian. It was this cute, quaint town and was very quiet and peaceful. This is the view from near the cabin.
The first day we were there, we went running on a trail around the lake that was supposed to be a 3. 5 mile loop. Well we definitely must have taken a few detours because 2 hours later we were just barely reaching the road to go up to our cabin. It was some dirty terrain we got ourselves into and our feet and legs showed it! Doesn't it look like hair growing on our legs? Sick!
The cabin had a hot tub on the back deck, so we definitely took advantage of that at night!
We did a session in the San Diego Temple...(Cheyenne, my mom, me, cute pregnant Sienna)
Spent time relaxing at the beach....We did brave the water for swimming on another day, but didn't last long because my sister saw a sting ray! Yikes!
Shopped in Julian at the little boutique shops...
Ate yummy food at different local restaurants...
Shopped around in Seaport Village...
Learned cute new hair-dos from my sister Sienna...

More shopping in La Jolla Village...
This was after church...we stopped at the lake for a bit...sorry about the angle...you can only do so much when you are setting a self timer!
I guess that's about it! We had the greatest time! It was good to come home to my little family here but a very rejuvenating and well deserved vacation for me!