Crazy Hair Day

My kids love crazy hair day!

Maya's First Band Concert

Maya had her very first band concert last Friday, 12/14/12. 

Starting 5th grade this year meant she also got to choose an instrument and join band. She was very excited to play the flute. She has been playing the piano since she was 5 years old so she already understands how to read and follow music. Now it's a matter of applying that to the flute. There have been moments of frustration for her when the tone isn't a full clear tone, but she has done very well. She even had a solo in the concert and rocked it!!

So proud of you, Maya! 

Champion

 (Catching up little by little)

Last spring Maya played her first season of softball. She loved it! We got lucky - her coaches were amazing! Great girls on her team and even her best friend.  Wouldn't you know it - her team went undefeated for the whole season and won the championship game! What a way to start your softball experience. She played outfield behind first base most of the time (and had a few great plays in that position) and sometimes covered 3rd base. 

She was pretty good up to bat. With young pitchers she got walked a lot, but she was pretty good at getting a hit. 

If she got on base, her coaches were really great at signaling when to steal and getting her home, which is exactly what was happening in the picture below.

Here she is with her teammates waiting for the closing ceremonies and trophies.

Congrats, Big Blue Wrecking Crew!!!

First Day of School 2012

It's that time of year again. It seems to come faster and faster all the time. But this year is much happier compared to last year in the fact that we are all together as a family. So grateful to start this school year with my husband in the country. As a matter of fact, Matt got to be home in the morning on the first day of school.  So we all got ready together and rode bikes/jogged to school bright and early on a crisp, cool August morning - hence the coats. By the time we got to school it was already too warm for coats.

Luke learned to ride his bike sans training wheels this past summer (a big milestone in every kid's life) and is very excited to ride his bike to school like a big kid as often as we can.

Maya started 5th grade this year. This is the first year I requested a teacher for any of my kids and I'm so relieved that my request was granted. She has a fantastic teacher who will challenge this bright girl of mine. She is also so excited to have her best friend finally in her class. They've gone to school together since kindergarten (with 1 year apart during 3rd) and this year they finally get to spend together. Maya said her friend even sits right in front of her, but they don't talk. Don't want to get into trouble and ruin a good thing. It was so hilarious to see their reaction when we went to the school the day before to find out who their teachers were. They ran ahead, and so I listened as I walked knowing that if I heard screaming it was a good thing. If I heard nothing, then they weren't together and maybe Maya didn't get the teacher I wanted for her. (I felt so strongly about her NOT having a specific teacher that I even had dreams about it)

But all is right in the world of Maya.

My Luke started 2nd grade this year. The school put him in a combination 2nd/3rd grade class. I asked the office about this and they said I should be proud because it means the teachers who know Luke think he is strong enough of a student and independent enough to handle the combo class. Ok. But my main worry is, is Luke going to miss out on any of his curriculum because his teacher has to teach 2 of them. But I guess 2nd and 3rd grade learning has a lot of overlap. We'll see how it goes, but I am impressed with Luke's teacher so far (and it did put me at ease when I was told she has 4 boys of her own - if she raised 4 boys, she'll understand Luke and know how to handle him just fine). My other issue for Luke is his ears. He's been dealing with hearing loss all summer. We had an audiology appointment after the 2nd day of school and met with ENT on day 3. Looks like Luke will be getting tubes in his ears, again. This will hopefully happen by the end of September. I can't wait until he can hear us speak in regular volumes again.

Now, we can't leave out Seth. As you can see from the picture below, he was very excited to ride bikes to school as well. He was supposed to ride in the bike trailer, but Matt gave in and offered to ride slowly next to Seth while Seth rode his little spiderman bike the mile to the school.

 

Well - here goes the 2012-2013 school year!

The Big 1-0

Today is Mother's day. Ten years ago on Mother's day (which happened to be Matt's birthday - May 12), I went to the hospital to have Maya. What a fitting day to become a mother for the first time. We thought she was going to be a special birthday present for Matt, but she held on and was born a little after 7am the next morning - May 12, 2002. So she gets her own day. Today is her day.

10 years old

1 day old

So yesterday (on Matt's birthday) we threw Maya a party cuz, hey, 10 is a big mark.

So we had a Karaoke Rock Star party.

Supplies for getting "bling"-ed out and rock star ready

pre-party entertainment

Luke getting silly

Rock stars

Rock and Roll!

Getting ready to sing

Matt doing the "cha cha cha" dance as we sang to him. It was his actual birthday after all.

Yay for presents!

I can't even believe she's 10! Where does the time go? Maya is amazing. She is such a blessing in our lives. Some of her favorite things are: Piano and singing and dancing, playing sports (and showing up the boys), sewing and art, writing books, fashion shows with friends, and playing barbies. She has started doing some of her own cooking in the kitchen including making pancakes all by herself. She started wearing contacts about a month ago and loves it. She is so bright and does so well in school. She is her class representative for student counsel and has the highest reading level in her class. She loves to give hugs and to snuggle with her mom and dad. She's still a little shy, but gets along with almost anyone. She's quick to obey and help and loves her crazy brothers. She loves the gospel and as a family we are almost done reading through the entire book of mormon all together for the first time.

She's my girl and I'm so excited for all the girl things we'll get to do together.

Big Blue Wrecking Crew - Maya's first game

Maya and her best friend Emi on picture day.
Playing their first softball season together.

Maya is in 4th grade and I've finally got her signed up for her first softball team. Most of the other girls have been playing for a few years. It frustrates Maya a little when she watches the other girls do things and she doesn't just immediately pick it up, but she is holding her own.

I do have to brag a little with this post. She played her first game this past Saturday. Her team, "Big Blue Wrecking Crew", won 11-2. Maya was up to bat twice. The whole team was up to bat at least twice. Maya was the only girl to get a hit both times! On her first hit she made it to first and got an RBI (runner batted in), meaning a girl on third ran to home plate on Maya's hit. Maya ended up stealing home herself that time around the bases. She got another hit her second time up and made it to first again. But later got tagged out at another base. It was a great first game for her. Her best friend Emi also got a hit and stole a few bases herself. I'm glad they're learning this together. I know the games probably won't all be like this, but I'm so glad she had a good time. Her coaches are fantastic with her and really doing a great job of helping her to learn. Now if I could only get my boys to stay put so I could actually watch the entire game...

City Spelling Bee

Back on February 8th, Maya participated in the Vacaville City Spelling Bee. She earned her spot there by being one of the final 3 students in her school spelling bee. She is in 4th grade which makes her one of the youngest considering spellers from 4th, 5th, and 6th and compete together. She along with two 6th graders represented Cambridge Elementary School. 

Receiving her participation trophy

The Bee was held at the local movie theatre complex. She made it passed the first round. On the second round she was eliminated with the word "croquet". She new how to spell it, but her nerves got the best of her. she ended up spelling it c-r-o-q-u-....a-y. The girl before her merely had to spell "pickle". Oh well. It was a fun experience and a girls night for her and I. We celebrated with In-n-Out for dinner after and some Coldstone for dessert before picking up her brothers and heading home. 

I sure am proud of this girl of mine. She is pretty amazing!

Crazy Hair Day

This post is a little behind, but hey - that's how I roll these days.

Every year the schools have a red ribbon week where the kids all pledge to be drug free. This year they had a rock concert assembly that the kids all loved. They have assigned days for the kids to dress up; ie, twin day, wear red day, wear your favorite team jersey day. They always have a crazy hair day. So here are my kids on crazy hair day. Maya went for about 6 pony tails along with a bunch of barretts and luke went for a mohawk. Enjoy!

Halloween 2011 (Home)

Maya's pumkpin is on the left and Luke's is on the right. Both are their own designs (and Maya cut hers all by herself too)

Pumpkin guts!!

Halloween made a comeback this year in the Wilde household (though a big piece of the fun was missing - wish you were here to see all the cuteness, honey). Last year Halloween was on Sunday and so the kids didn't trick-or-treat (but they had a lot of fun handing out candy). This year they hit 2 different ward Halloween parties and got to go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood to their heart's content (or until their candy bucket was full to the brim - Maya).

This year was Seth's first Halloween that he actually participated in. He's 2-1/2 now and pretty dang cute. He was a dinosaur. It was actually a costume that I made for Luke when he was 2 but he wouldn't wear it. So I was very happy that Seth loved his costume. I pulled it out on Friday afternoon to make sure it would fit and Seth was as happy as could be. He especially loved his tail. It was funny watching him try to reach behind himself to grab it. No chasing it like a dog though. Once he had the costume on he was ready to go. He actually walked out our front door (2 in the afternoon) all by himself declaring that he was going to a party. No concept of time yet.

My little witch, Iron Man, and Dinosaur

Tonight is Halloween. We went with some of our friends that live right here on our street. Seth was so funny. After each house he was so excited about the candy that he would come running to me shouting "Mommy! I got treat!" in his cute little high-pitched voice. That happy little voice tugs on my heart strings like nothing else. Unfortunately at the first house he was a little too excited and running a little too fast and totally wiped out face first on the driveway. But I turned it around by not even mentioning the fall (the big cries were starting) and just excitedly asked "what did you get? Show me!" He instantly forgot that he fell and proudly showed me his bucket. It is so fun watching the first-time excitement of a little kid on a holiday. He loved walking with the other kids and seeing the decorations. And he was so polite at all the houses wishing everyone happy halloween and saying thank you. We tried to get lots of pictures for Matt. That was the only thing missing this evening. So here are our halloween pictures (the ones that seth didn't delete off my ipod at least - that wasn't so cute of him)

Happy Halloween!

(Thanks Marlina for taking pictures!)