Maria's 4th- Tangled Birthday Party (Warning Picture Overload)

This little sweetheart is my pride and joy. Maria is 110% all girl. High heels, lip gloss, fancy dresses and anything pink floats her boat. She is a ballerina, a singer and loves to entertain. She can stand up in a crowd and sing her heart out. She is confident. She is kind. She is polite. She is tender. She is super duper smart and catches on very quickly. She loves her family. She asks me every single night if she can rub my belly and say good night to baby Elijah. She knows her scripture stories. She is grand at playing the piano. She is positive and always cheering for everyone. She is beautiful. She is everything to me.

We were finally able to celebrate her birthday from February and I must say, I loved the great weather we had. It hailed 2 days later. In May. Thank you Nevada. And a huge thanks to Mom and Dad who helped out getting the odds and ends of the party, Maria's gorgeous Birthday dress, all the pizza, and Wild Water passes for her gift!!! And Aunty Ramya for taking ALL these wonderful wonderful pictures.  Seriously, she did such a great job, hence why I had to post so many. 

 Our gathering activity was mosaics. In the movie Tangled, Rapunzel had a moment where she realized who she was by looking at a mosaic of the royal family.

Next was build the tower game.... my friend Ang had used it at a party and I think it's fantastic!

We did a version of musical chairs sans chairs, and with flowers. Who would get the flower of life? Fortunately, the kids in the mush pot were titled guardians of the flowers and so everyone was kept happy. I always feel like it's important for the children to have fun and realize that winning is nice, but not everything. I think being a great sport is way more important and I was proud of all the kids and their excellent manners.

Next came the Tangled wrap. The toilet paper acting as our hair.

Joe getting the pinata ready. And the kids getting ready for the Snuggly Duckling race.

These are rain gutters and water squirters. The kids raced the ducks to the end.

 

I just enjoyed this picture of me because it looked like I was passionately singing an Enrique Iglesias' song. One day I'll make a poster of it and give to Ryan Fernandez.

After the Snuggly Duckling race the kids of course had to squirt someone. I'm just glad they chose Joe and not each other. We also had a hunt for apples for Maximus game to wrap it up before food.

Food included: Pizza, Salad, Fruit salad, jello cups (like the water with the boat scene where they watched the lanterns)- the oranges were the boats. And of course cupcakes, cake and ice cream. My cake was not fantastic this year, but I did get every single picture of the characters Maria wanted for the cupcakes.

Pinata time yielded in Maria smashing her finger with the bat.

And of course we were way too spoiled by our families and friends in the gift department. It was an absolute lovely time!! Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!

** I'll add the party favors later!

UNR Low Rider Show

This is Joe's friend Mike. He has an amazing story, but I don't know it. All I know is that his life was hard and then he found Jesus through a church that raps about it and now life is good.

It was Joe and I's 9th anniversary and because he had to work, we decided to come down and enjoy the festivities for Cinco de Mayo. The only problem was it was the day before finals and there weren't that many students there.

Unfortunately, this picture is us smelling something illegal. There was a group of a couple gang members, but they left. 

We were there for quite awhile. Mike's church was putting on a show and it was fascinating. There was lots of rapping about Jesus and being saved. There was even a skit about being saved. There was dancing and praising and an overall very happy and loving feeling. Many people got up to bear testimony of how their lives had turned from drugs and partying to a lasting happiness found in the Savior. It was all really rather touching.

Swan Lake Bird Observatory in Lemmon Valley

Ah Nevada...  Bright blue skies, lots of dirt and a little green.

Unfortunately, it was fenced off with barbed wire and we only saw 2 birds from a distance. Plus the wind was crazy so we just headed to a nearby park for a little bit.

Swan Lake was a bust.... but we still had an enjoyable time.

As a side note Christina had her first cavity. The dentist said her teeth are so close together it'd be pretty hard to avoid. They were really pushing for her to use the laughing gas, but I knew she could do it without. They gave her a little bit and said they wouldn't charge me, but that was beside the point. I hated seeing her with this crazy mask covering her small face. She didn't even flinch when they poked her with the needle and was a total trooper. Way laid back and fine... just like I said she'd be. Sheesh.

Take Your Child to Work Day: Maria's Turn!!

Joe works at the Joe. Their theme is, "Get it at the Joe." It's the student center for UNR.

Joe helps people succeed in college. Maria got to spend a couple hours with Daddy and was just thrilled!!

They toured campus.... 

 In fashion and style, via golf cart.....

And because Daddy knows Maria so well, they went to go see if there was cheerleading practice... There wasn't, but it was still fun to go on the big field. They ended the day with Port of Subs and Maria was in heaven!!! 

Kahurangi Dance Troop

It was like being in Hawaii, but not. An excellent performance at our local library proved to be a very fun and exciting time for the ladies.

While the black undies on the men were a little much, we managed to not get too distracted and learned quite a bit. It was really loud, lots of whooping and hollering, lots of fun. Supposedly they perform all around the world- Dubai, London and now Gerlach, NV.

Scheel's Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt

I love Scheel's. It's all about community and doing things to help families have fun. I love going to their activities and this one was especially well done.

They had us walking all over the place, gave us tokens to play sports games....

Maria still hasn't figured out how to pedal. I'm wondering if I should be worried.

And of course they gave us eggs filled with fun and simple treasures. Would definitely go again. Even though there were probably 200 people there, you couldn't even tell because it was so well organized. We also got free tokens to ride the Ferris Wheel! And yes, we are wearing costumes for an egg hunt.