The BIG 6!

I can hardly believe that my (cough cough) baby girl is 6 years old!  The time has flown by so quickly.

Maili started kindergarten this year and is loving it!  She is in dual immersion Spanish/English.  Half of her day is completely in Spanish and the other half is in English.  She's doing really well in all areas and is loving her class and teacher.  She's learning lots of Spanish too!
It's fun to see Maili grow up and see the kinds of choices she's making.  She is very spirited and it's been great to see her start to overcome some of her impulsiveness and learn to cooperate and compromise.  She is becoming a really big help to me and I'm really enjoying being her mother. I've been thinking a lot about my first few days in the hospital with her and the baby I knew then compared to the girl I know now.  The circle of life is truly amazing.
For her birthday this year she chose a "Tangled" theme and she had about 7 friends over.

cupcakes for the girlies

decorating Rapunzel lanterns

my cute Haeli enjoying the big girls

pin the frying pan on Fylnn Rider

It was a little too easy...Everybody won!

lining up for a whack at the princess pinata of which I didn't get a picture of.

opening presents

lots of good loot!

rapunzel cake!  I was lucky she didn't want a super high tower

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

My man

Sept. 29th was Kevin's birthday.  If you know Kevin at all, he doesn't like a lot of hype. Which is hard for me on birthdays cause I really love all the attention!

what a good looking man I've got!

He doesn't even like frosting, just chocolate sauce.  Now that's easy!

 Kevin is the best friend/husband/father you could ever ask for!  I am often thinking how I've hit the jackpot with this guy!
He is so selfless and non-judgmental.  He loves me and his girls so much and would do and does do anything and everything for us.  He helps me so much which often leads to extreme exhaustion on his part.  He's so giving and kind, etc. etc.
I don't feel that I even have the words to tell all the good stuff about this guy!  
Oct. 6th was also the 10th anniversary of our first date!
When we first started dating, we clicked so quickly that we often commented on how it's only been 2 weeks instead of 2 months, etc.  so that lead us to celebrating anniversaries of our dating for about the first 4 or 5 months!  It seems that 10 years isn't all that long when if feels as if I've known him forever.
Love you babe!

My baby's two!

I can't believe that ASHLI is two years old!

What a joy she is to our family!  She is such a fun little thing.  She is still very small, she's about 21.5 pounds and still fits in 12 month clothes.  She's really funny and does all sorts of things to make all of us giggle.

She is the pickiest eater I've ever had....she only wants milk, pb and honey and snacks and treats. That's it!  It sure is a challenge to get her to eat healthy food!

She is my biggest climber!  Much earlier than her sisters, she climbs everything!  I mean everything!  She often makes me nervous with the things she'll go do!

She has been a later talker than her early speaking sisters, but she is the most babbling of them all. She carries on full 5 minute conversations with anyone....even on the phone with grandma.  She is speaking "big girl" words more and more and copying things we say, so I'm not as worried as I once was.

I've been wanting to try fondant animals!  So fun!

yum yum

We love you sweet girl!  We're so glad you're part of our family!

July!

July has always been my favorite month and yes it's cause my birthday is in it, but it's mostly cause it's FULL of so much fun!  I hardly got any pictures of my birthday, but here are some fun pics of the fun we've been having!

Maili is helping to flatten one of the hot air balloons at the Freedom Festival

Ashli decided that walking was a better route. 

The girls loved the rainbow balloons and the "July" balloons (red, white, and blue)

I love my little family

Here's the girls at the parade!

They absolutely love it...especially the "princesses" and the bands.

Our "street" had a first annual BBQ firework party!  It was a blast and I hope we can do it every year!

My friend Heather made this cake for my birthday!  So sweet!
Kevin made me one too, but I didn't get a picture before we ate it!

For good measure I had to throw in this picture of a little cake I made for my friend Megan

Haeli's b-day weekend!

Our sweet girl is 4 years old! I can hardly believe it!  She is the more calm one in the family, so attention doesn't usually come her way. I was excited to see her feel special!

Her original birthday!

On Saturday, she brought 3 friends with her to Jumping Jacks (they have blow up slides and jumping things) then back to our home for cupcakes and presents.

opening some presents from her little friends.

enjoying a doggie cupcake and ice cream

I had a good time making these little cupcakes.

Later on, we went as a family to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games

Loving the big car

She wanted a doggy cake. It was fun to make the little dog and paw prints!

Me and my sweetie

Happy Birthday sweet girl!  We love you so much and we're so happy you're part of our family!  Hope you had a great and special day!

FIVE!

5 years old!
 Is it possible?
I have a 5 year old daughter? How did this happen?
Today is Maili's birthday. She has been waiting for so long to be five. She often talks about how she's been 4 for way too long! :)

This cake was way over my head, but she really wanted it. It turned out okay, she loved it!

My happy girl loves everything princess

 I told her that this year she could pick just 3 friends and we went to Pirate Island! They had a blast!

My posing princess!

Yummy root beer and pizza!

Getting ready to blow out the candle!

Her cute little friends helped her unwrap her presents because of her broken arm.

Maili is a spunky girl to say the least. She loves to bounce, sing and DANCE!  She's great at pretend and I often get in trouble for calling her the wrong name of the day :)  She loves to be the oldest, which can lead to being a bit bossy, but most of the time she does a great job of playing with her little sisters. She loves friends and every time we go somewhere new, she comes to tell me she has made a new friend. 

She loves to learn and is a sponge. I have never known someone to pick up things so quickly. She hears a word on a t.v. show and starts using it right away. She has an amazing memory and a great sense of humor.

I love to listen to her come up with new ideas and find out what's in that little head of hers.

She loves to gather things up and put them in little bags or bins, which is kind of strange to me, but it's her,

The other day I came up the stairs to find her setting up all her "friends" to watch her in a show....stadium style!

She's very creative and I know she will be involved in a number of activities as she grows up. She loves to try new things. (except food) 

She is our "spirited" child, which has its pros and cons. She gets into trouble a lot at she has a fire inside that we're trying to tame without putting out. We love her spunk and are so glad she has so much personality.

She keeps us on our toes and couldn't imagine it any other way. 

We love you Smiley Maili and can't wait for another year to discover what else will come bursting out of you!