Maya's Birthday (and today)

Well, it's safe to say that Maya had a very nice birthday! Her party isn't until this Sunday, so she still has that to look forward to, but our girl was quite happy with how yesterday went.

Our day had a bit of a false start at 2:30am, when a groggy Maya showed up in our bedroom asking if she could open her presents. Sadly (for her), it was not time yet. Not even close! And it was funny, because Maya NEVER leaves her room at night. I mean, I can probably count the number of times it has happened on one hand. Niko is an entirely different story. But Maya? She sleeps like a log.

So, after being told that it wasn't time, she asked if she could snuggle with us. Fine with me, since that never happens! She slept in our bed, snuggled between us, until about 6:45am. That was when Niko showed up, very impatient that we were all asleep and not opening presents. haha! Both kids were excited, to say the least!

So we went downstairs and she opened her gifts. She was so happy with each and every present she received, and has played with them all repeatedly! But my personal favorite was the Elsa dress (from the movie "Frozen") that my mom found a while back. She knew I'd been looking all over, with no luck. The dress has been sold out everywhere since December! But my mom just happened to walk into the store as they were putting out a brand new shipment of dresses (the first shipment they had received in months). And she grabbed the ONE dress that was Maya's size. She wasn't even 100% sure that it was the right dress, and had to ask at the register. But it very definitely was!!! And it is so, so pretty! Maya was very excited to do a mini photo shoot in our back yard later in the morning (holding the talking Olaf doll that Niko got for her):

Anyway... she spent the morning playing with every single thing she had gotten, and then another package arrived from Yiayia and Papou. More presents! More cards came in the mail, too, and she got a bunch of phone calls from family. So the birthday fun lasted all day, even when Niko was gone at kindergarten!

That afternoon, Niko had karate, so off we went. Maya got to play with her friends, so she was happy! From there, we went to dinner at the restaurant of her choice: Texas Roadhouse (affectionately called "Texy" by the birthday girl, for she loves it so...). Maya even climbed onto the saddle and was serenaded by the waitstaff! She made faces like this the entire time:

From looking at her, one might think that she wasn't enjoying it. But she totally was! And Gus took this one right afterward:

Once we were done, we headed home to sing and do the whole birthday cake. Maya (who had initially woken up at 2:30am) announced that she was tired, and promptly fell asleep in the car. Fortunately, she perked up at the mention of birthday cake:

She had just a tiny cake she picked out at the grocery store, since her party is on Sunday and she'll have homemade vanilla bean cupcakes then. It was the perfect size! She went to bed shortly after she ate her tiny slice, and then Gus and I got to listen to thunderstorms outside for the next few hours. It was pretty cool!

Fast forward to today... The weather was beautiful! Maya had preschool this morning, and I planned to clean the house. Instead, we picked up Niko's bike helmet and headed out to the rail trail! He was off and rolling from his very first try-- he's a pro, now! He even got to the point where he'd speed up, slam on the brakes, and intentionally skid on the sandy surface. Such a typical kid thing to do! He LOVES riding his bike. FINALLY!!

It was really nice to just walk along at a decent pace and enjoy the day. He'd ride ahead, then stop and wait for me or ride back to where I was. He really did do a great job!

When we got back to the house, I set about fixing Maya's leaky bike tire. Her bike has been out of commission for a while, because she needed a new tube on her front wheel. And I am far from a bike expert, and it took three times as long as it probably should have, but I did it!

So, after lunch, I got Niko on the bus and then ran some essential errands (no kitty litter = crisis). Then I planned to clean the house. But it was still so NICE outside, and Maya's bike was fixed... I really had no choice. We grabbed her bike and headed back to the trail.

Ahh, such a nice day! And while it threatened to rain, it never did. It was lovely.

This weekend is super busy, with activities galore, so stay tuned for lots and lots of pictures!