Kindergarten...

September 3, 2013

Maya started Kindergarten this fall.  Hard to believe she's 5 already!  We took her shopping the week before school and let her pick out her special 'First Day of School' outfit.  I've never taken her shopping for her own clothes before as we've always had so many outfits passed on to us.  She was really good about it and chose a nice purple top, some Jeggings & some white/silver/purple runners.  In fact, she was so good about shopping, that she ended up with 2 more tops, a pair of corduroy/leggings, some rain boots and a 2nd pair of runners.  I'm weak...

   

   

 

Her Montessori Classroom is PACKED with learning stuff...

   

   

 

        

Hair...

Progression shots of Mayas haircuts

Getting Longer (when Mommy had a say)...



   

2008 Newborn                   8 months old

18 months old - before 1st haircut             After 1st haircut                   

 

  

2010 spring                                    2010 fall

 

    

2011 spring                                2011 winter

 

 

Getting Shorter (when mommy no longer had a say)...

 

  

2012 spring                              2012 winter

 

 

 

  

2013 spring                             2013 summer      

 

2013 fall

(I actually think it suits her...)

Sli

 

things about maya...

Things she likes:
-Super heroes
-Boy stuff: haircuts, clothes, toys
-riding bicycles, swimming
-rice, pasta, bread
-CANDY!!!!
-computers

Things she doesn't like:
-most vegetables (especially the green ones)
-many fruits
-walking anywhere
-girl stuff
-princesses

Things she says:
-Oh, come on!
-No way!
-You gotta be kiddin me!

She is:
-animated
-emotional
-opinionated
-energetic
-affectionate
-silly
-not interested in 'typical' behaviors
-not only marches to her own drumbeat, she plays the drum too
-she knows what she wants/doesn't want and won't budge on that
-very well liked by her classmates

Pre-school Graduation...

June 15, 2013

Our little one graduated from pre-school this year.  It's unbelievable that she's starting Kindergarten this fall.  How time flies....

At the beginning of the year, Maya was 40" inches tall & weighed 32 lbs.  Now, 10 months later, she's 42" tall & 35lbs.  She's growing!

Glass Blowing 2...

May 4-5, 2013
I decided to progress my glass blowing knowledge with another weekend class.  It's been almost a whole year since my last class so I quickly found out how much I DIDN'T remember about glass blowing.  There were only 2 students in the class so, in theory, we should have a lot of blowing time.  However, it wasn't quite what I thought it would be. 

The other student in the class was actually a GB assistant from a shop in the British Virgin Islands so was fairly experienced.  He was in Vancouver for 1 week only and wanted to see how things are done here with new glass (they use only recycled glass there).  Unfortunately, the skills he had learned there were from a self-taught blower so the instructor spent much of her time trying to UN-teach his bad habits.  I did learn a few new things, and I did get some time with glass, but only managed to make a few (wonky) pieces.  I still want to spend more time working glass but I think I'll try to find a weekly class instead of a crammed, intensive weekend one.

Here are my wonky creations... In case you can't tell, they are: 1 paper-weight (John's special request), 1 small bowl, 1 plate, 1 starfish and 1 mutant mini starfish-ish....

Reading her birthday card...

This is Maya reading her 5th birthday card from Gramma & Grampa...

5th Birthday Party...

May 19, 2013

Maya's 5th birthday was a multi-stage event and she was quite specific on what the day would look like.  Gotta love a girl that knows what she wants!

First, she wanted breakfast in bed.  In particular, chocolate chip pancakes covered with peanut butter and jelly & cut in to pizza wedges with a side of apple juice.  There wasn't a lot of wiggle room in that menu but it was her birthday so we happily indulged her.

Next, she wanted to open some presents from our families.  The highlights were the light-up Spiderman shoes, the Trouble game, the remote control car, the Beyblades & the watch.

Later, she chose to have her birthday party at the Rocky Mountain Flatbread restaurant.  The kids get to make & eat their own pizzas so it was a task & a treat all at the same time.  Because she was turning 5, she got to invite 5 friends from pre-school in addition to our regular gang of 5 kids.  There was a LOT of activity happening with these excited kids.

For her birthday cake, she wanted ice cream this year instead of a cupcake-cake.   I couldn't get the Spiderman cake but she didn't seem to mind.  The kids got pizza & ice cream - hard to beat that! The adults got nibbles & wine.  Everyone was happy!

Later, our regular gang got together on their deck for dinner & to open the presents from the birthday party.  What a haul!  Some really cool stuff from our friends & they all had fun playing with everything.  It was a great day.....

                         

   

   

Boy cut...

May 11, 2013

My daughter is a she-boy.  She's a girl but, except for how she reacts to bugs, nothing else about her is girly.  She likes boy clothes, boy underwear, boy shoes, boy toys, and boy haircuts.  Nothing pink, sparkly or dainty for our kiddo.  Maya's hair was down to her shoulder-blades at one point but M kept telling me she didn't like it that long.  Trying hard not to project my perceived image of my daughter on to her, I thought it only fair that she gets to choose (within reason) of how she wants to look - her body, her choice.  She's almost 5 and already has a clear idea of what she likes, so why not let her be who she is?  So, after each haircut she had, she said 'Next time I want it shorter.  I want a boy cut'.  Assuming she either didn't really know what that meant or that she would cry if we cut off all of her hair in one go, I had it cut in stages.  Finally, I agreed to the boy cut so off we went...and her reaction?  She loves it!!!!!  She's been giddy and talking about her hair since it was cut.  She's even been practicing gelling it (like daddy) and spiking it up. 

Lesson learned?  It's her body & she knows how she wants to look so I need to trust her judgement.  Secretly, I hope the body piercing & tattoo trends have long passed before she gets to that age....

   

 

 

Kids say the darndest things...

July
Spent 10 minutes today conversing with my 5-year-old over the concept of 'infinity'. She's quite sharp! But, the conversation could have gone on... forever...

June
M: Mommy, you have so many slivers in your legs! They're so sharp. Do they hurt?
Me: (??!!?? what?) I guess I need to shave my legs again soon....

Sports...

February-March

Maya's almost 5 now so we feel that she's old enough to get in to some sports... that we like :-) 
So, more skating lessons and now skiing lessons have been added to the roster.  She may not be an instinctively natural athlete, but she's going to learn to be natural.  In the next couple of years, we hope to have her trained up enough to go out with us.  However, I've not skied since she came home so I guess I need to get my ski legs back too...

  

     Proud daddy in the background.         She wants to be a hockey player.                  

  

Ski-bunny                                    Pizza & French Fries          

 

 

Time with Erinn & Ryan...

February 2013

Ryan's restaurant closed post New Years so he came to stay with us for 6 weeks in January & February.  Erinn came back from her month long surfing vacation and stayed with us for the month of February.  So, we had all 3 kids here for a few weeks.  It was a tight fit so Ryan often got relegated to sleep on the couch... but he usually started there so it was a very short trip.

   

     Making a blanket fort                     2 ways to stretch out a back

  

                         Canuckleheads           Playing x-box while enjoying the cat bed

  

Cosy way to enjoy watching TV         Pirates in their ship        

   

           NOOOO!!!                                  I'm gonna knaw yer fingers

The whole fam-damily

January 2013

With our trip to Ontario at Christmas and having both Erinn & Ryan in town in January, we took advantage of the rare opportunity & had some pics taken of all of us.  It's been a while...