New Beginnings

Thursday, February 6, 2014

CALIFORNIA ~ Our Trip Home

This will be short and sweet, because the pictures will do most of the talking. Amaya and I flew to California for 5 or 6 days to visit our family that we haven't seen for over a year and a half. I cannot believe it had been that long since I had seen my family and since Amaya had seen her cousins, and grandparents, and aunts and uncles. I vow to never let that happen again.

CALIFORNIA was soooooo much fun. I spend Tuesday night with my Mama Sadie and Papa Jim. Mama Sadie literally cooked Thanksgiving and I got to eat all of m favorites, such as: Yams, black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, greens, hush puppies, etc. It was Delicious! My grandmother is amazingly sweet, and I was so happy that I got to spend valuable time with her, as well as my grandfather. It had been too long.

We arrived at my parents' house later that night and stayed up for a long time. Amaya was excited all day on the flights, had a ball with her cousin Madison at my grandparents' house and stayed up late once we got to my parents house. On Wednesday, Amaya and I went to lunch at Famous Dave's (at the Plant) with my sister Sandra. Then we took my nephew Kimani and Amaya to theeee biggest and best Chuck E. Cheese! Chuck E. showed up and ran around throwing tickets in the air. Let's just say every parent was on the floor scrounging up the tickets. Lots of fun.

Thursday I took Amaya to the park around the corner from my house that I used to play at, play basketball at, because it was such a beautiful day. The weather was beautiful, especially on our drive to Madera to see my brother and his family.

Friday and Saturday we spend in Madera (and Fresno). Madera was much closer than I thought and more beautiful weather. It's the valley, so it's always a lot warmer there than San Jose.

As you will see in the pictures, Amaya and her cousin Leila (who just had a birthday on January 27th turning 3 years old) instantly were theee best of friends. They were two peas in a pod and had no issues at all either days. It was all love and fun between those two. So I said this post would be short, well I lied. I had a lot more to say than I thought. lol. But while in Madera we went discount shopping at DD's discounts and Falala's (some thing like that). On Saturday, we drove into Fresno and went to Aerosports and jumped on trampoline's. Then we went to Boomers! and played arcade games. For dinner my mom and sister made Tamale Pie (Delicious! The food is always delicious if you haven't noticed) and we ate my Mom's Gumbo that she made for New Year's and froze for us. Spectacular!

Now on to the pictures::::: (These are in no particular order)

Playing dress up and running on the bed.

Cousin Love! They are all doing something, but it came out cute!!!

Amaya with her grandparents!

Amaya and her big cousin Kimani at Chuck E. Cheese...so much fun! I had so much fun visiting, talking with and watching my nephew play basketball.

Amaya and Madison at Mama Sadie's

Amaya with Nommie and Papa

Nommie helping Amaya with her new toy she got her

At Hayes Park (which is really called edenvale park? I think lol)

Amaya playing Piano at Mama Sadie's house

Auntie Bianca with her nieces. Amaya just couldn't help herself and decided on making a silly face

Auntie Jenny & Amaya laughing about Despicable Me 2

Winding down from playing dress up!

I could eat these cuties up. I am so blessed

Auntie Sandra and Amaya at Famous Dave's being silly and having fun

The Diva and the Gangsta. Can you guess which one is which? hahaha

Cheesing for the camera phone

Pose! Pose! Pose!

Stopped playing basketball for a quick photo op with my nephew JJ and niece Leila!!!

My cousin John John looking so handsome with Amaya and his daughter Madison

Uncle Kellen with Amaya and Leila

Jenny and Kellen = 2 beautiful people

Giving kisses + beautiful Cali weather called for a great weekend with these two cuties

Raise the roof; Go Leila

Me and my baby brother Eugene! Gene Gene the Dancing Machine

Nommie and Mimi

Amaya and Papa

The two princesses

Movie Time

Just me and my handsome, super athletic nephew. mark my words: WATCH OUT FOR NEHEMIAH TAYLOR!!

Nehemiah and Amaya

Nehemiah having fun playing games on the tablet

Nommie and JJ - he cooperated just enough to get a great picture with Nommie.

One of my favorites of the weekend! Just picture perfect! Love you two

Nommie doing Amaya's hair. Amaya was styling all week thanks to all of the clothes Nommie bought her and thanks to Nommie for doing her hair. :)

Sibling Love! Me with my older, wiser and talented brother and sister!

Sweet Leila

Taylor Women!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Happy Holidays

Whooo! How time flies. So, my first semester of graduate school is done-zo! I got a 4.0 gpa my first semester in graduate school. 1 semester down, 2 more to go. But more importantly, Christmas is here and we are so excited. Amaya is three and her level of excitement is FABULOUS! Amaya is so excited for Santa and she is definitely in the Christmas spirit. Here is a list of things we have done this holiday season:

1. Went to see the fabulous movie: FROZEN! We love that movie. Olaf was hysterical. We will definitely be buying it the day it comes out. We are Disney Fanatics!

2. I took Amaya to Santa's Village at Lincoln Park Golf Course. She was such a good little girl waiting in line to see Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, and was even more perfect when it was her turn to sit on Santa's lap and take a picture.

3. First Haircut - Amaya finally got her first haircut on Christmas Eve from my friend Jaclyn S., and she was perfect. Jaclyn said she was the best little kid she's done in a looong time. Amaya and I had been talking about it in the days leading up to her hair appointment, and she was pumped all morning on the morning of. She wasn't moving her head, she didn't cry. She was perfect. And most of all, she was so happy with the way her hair looked when it was all said and done!

4. We went to Christmas In the Park at Lincoln Park. *Proceeds go to the Lions Club. Although Amaya was not acting very excited during this festivity (we were really tired after baking cookies for Santa and playing with Jaclyn and Deja), Amaya always points out christmas lights on every house we pass when we are in the car. :)

5. Lastly, we went to the UND v. NDSU women's basketball game and Amaya was approached and asked to go to the middle of court during the game and do the chicken dance with some other little kids. And she said YES! She was nervous, but when it was her time to shine...she did. She got a buffalo wild wings hat and crown. And it was in front of over 1,000 people. We were so proud. :)

Amaya's first hair cut/trim

With her newest Hello Kitty earrings :)

Pre-Cut

Laughing at Deja

Getting braided up. She did so good with Jaclyn. She didn't move her head, she didn't cry. She was perfect!

Amaya got a certificate, a candy cane, and a blowpop; she was an even happier girl after her haircut

After her haircut. Daddy was worried about her hair getting cut too short, but we was very pleased.

Just because.

At Santa's Village making crafts and waiting for Santa.

Sitting on Santa's lap, being a big girl. She told Santa that she wanted "Little Mermaid" for Christmas.

Amaya with family friend Maya. Alma is somewhere snapping pictures.

Before her Chicken Dance performance

quickly getting nervous. lol. But she was a champ.

Zoned in on the game. by the way, UND pulled out the victory!

Baking and creating Santa's cookies!!!

As you can see, I did the first cookie. But Amaya did the rest. Amaya and Deja had tons of fun playing, running around, jumping off couches, playing stylist and dress up.

Then me, Amaya, Jaclyn, and Deja went to Christmas In The Park to see the lights!

Finished product. The cookies were delish. I had...I mean Santa loved the cookies.!

One of Amaya's many gifts she received from Santa. A cardboard house to color in. We can all fit in there. She just loves it. She is really loving taking her Playskool camera and using the projection in there. Her excitement lights up our home and I am loving the 3 year-old stage for sure!!!

Next, is the Kidkraft dollhouse. I just knew I had to get this for Amaya when I saw it. And it has lived up to the hype.

Lastly, our Christmas tree. It's crooked, but real!

We had such a great Christmas. Amaya is now 3.5 years old and such a joy. Eric and I love her to the moon and back. She keeps us on our toes, she is smart and witty like her Dad, and hilariously silly like her Mom (Me!) I just hope she looks back on our memories and is blessed, thankful, and remembers the Happiness that filled her heart and ours!

From our family to yours: HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Birthday Party Etiquette! (link)

http://www.birthdayinabox.com/party-ideas/childrens-party-etiquette.html

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Ideas Ideas 4 Amaya's 2014 Birthday

I know that Amaya's 4th birthday is not until May 27th, 2014 but I have learned a lot about myself and I NEED to start planning early. I always have so many ideas in my mind about how awesome I want Amaya's Birthday to be and these past 3 birthdays there have been some obstacles in our way that I feel have gotten in our way of giving her the best birthday that we can. So I vow, for her 4th birthday and on, that I will plan plan plan and start early. So with that said here are some of my ideas for her 4th birthday:

I like celebrating birthdays on the day of, if possible, or as close to the birthdate as possible. So I am planning to have her party Memorial Day weekend. May 24th which is my birthday or the 25th which is a Sunday.

Locations:

1. Choice Health & Fitness for a swimming party with possible themes of Spongebob (Bikini Bottom Luau) or Rio (rio 2 will be out in theaters next April and she might be so in love with the movie that we'll just use that as the theme for the party.

Things to consider: stomachache and cramps since kids and adults alike will eat and then go swimming. So what to serve and what time to have the party. There are 3 time slots. But I do like that Sunday is an option because it will not be as packed as a Saturday.

2. Red River Valley Gymnastics

More expensive but such a great, more intimate experience and lots of room to run and many things for all ages.

That is all I have for now. They are both close to home which is a plus.

Themes:

1. As i stated above, Spongebob - lots of ideas available.

2. Rio

3. Superheroes (one or all) - Amaya loves superheroes, what can I say? :)

4. Doc Mcstuffins

So, if anyone has any ideas or comments I am open to suggestions!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Oh its been too long....but we're back just in time for some Hall-O-Ween Fun!

The past 3 months have been crazeee! I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Social Work from the University of North Dakota and 3 very short weeks later I started an OVER Full-time Master of Social Work program at UND. Amaya is back at the lovely Brenda's Childcare (home daycare) and she is having a blast with all of her old friends. And the same kids are still there, which is great, as well as younger siblings of those same kids. It's such a family atmosphere there. So Eric and I are just as happy for that fact. Thirdly, Eric started working at Amazon at the end of August! He is back in the swing of full-time work. He's making it look easy, let me tell you. My internship was full-time and only lasted 3 months and I was dying. I learned that I was not as flexible and not as good at multi-tasking as I thought I was. Lesson Learned!

GOOD NEWS ALERT! I was offered a position at Community Violence Information Center (CVIC) in Downtown Grand Forks as a Kids First Child Visitation Specialist (part-time). I accepted BUT I hope that whatever my work schedule is, since I will have to work in the evening, Amaya will be taken care of.

Alrighty, now on to Hall-O-Ween! So I was extra proactive this year with house decorations, more proactive than years past. I am just feeling really good about the holidays this year and I am getting better at trying things that I am always thinking up in my head. I have never been very creative but Pinterest is helping and HGTV is always fun to watch and get ideas.

Amaya and I went to the annual YMCA halloween night this past sunday and she had lots of fun. And two weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch, so she has had her fair share of Haunted Houses. The one at the patch was super scary and she started crying right at the end, we thought she was going to make it but it got all of us pretty good. The haunted house at the Y! was a piece of cake compared to the one at the patch and she left saying "I didn't cry at all Mommy". :) Now the best part of the blog...The Pictures!!!! Check them out and see how we celebrated halloween and check out Amaya in her costume! She picked it out all on her own.