A Special Day Calls For Me To Come Out Of Blogging Retirement

*Saturday morning we were eating breakfast before Scott left to go golfing. He asked me the question he always asks me before he golfs. "What am I going to shoot today?" It's been a tradition around our house that I give him my prediction before he leaves. Sometimes I am right. Sometimes I am close. Sometimes I am pleasantly surpised. And occasionally we have to hit the driving range :). It's a fun tradition.

*Well, last summer I decided it's about time Scott hits a hole-in-one. I planted that seed in his head that he is due. It's time. I tried to 'law-of-attract' that for him. I first mentioned it when we were back for our annual visit to S.D., thus Scott's annual tourney at Dakota Dunes with some of his closest buddies, his brother and his dad. I thought that would be extra special if it could happen then. Nope, not yet. Occasionally since then I will tell Scott today is the day in addition to making my total score prediction. Well, I did add that "today was the day" on Sat. I didn't necessarily believe it. I say it all the time, knowing that eventually it would happen, but who knows when.

*Well, turns out I was finally right.

*Scott arrived home on Saturday with nothing seeming out of the ordinary. He casually held out his score card for me to see. He usually just tells me what he shot, but I didn't think anything of it. I looked at his score and I was excited to see he had a fabulous round. He shot a 73. I was happy for him and said something congratulatory. But he told me to take another look. Now I knew something was up. I scanned the rest of the card and immediately saw the 1 with 2 circles around it. It stood out like a beacon on a foggy night.

*We proceeded to do a bit of celebration. Hugs, high-fives, laughter, some fist pumps, some hoots and hollars. It was like the Packers just won the Super Bowl (law-of-attraction please work again). It was a fun moment I will always remember. Scott will always remember that moment in addition to "the moment."

*THE MOMENT: It was hole #17, 195 yards, at Club West. He hit a 5-iron. He hit it well and the ball appeared to be "right at it." Which means right at the pin for those of you who don't golf. He thought it could go in and conversation among his golf buddies ensued regarding this exciting possiblility. The ball landed directly in front of the pin and rolled right in. Celebration ensues. One of Scott's golf buddies, Mike, took pictures with his phone and emailed them to Scott to capture the event. See below. Then after the round of course they followed tradition and celebrated with a few rounds of cocktails. That was the best bar tab Scott's ever picked up in his life!

*CONGRATULATIONS SCOTT! I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU! I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOUR NEXT HOLE-IN-ONE! ;)

Busy Little Amaya

It has been a month since I have blogged. [Are you really surprised? ;-) You must have realized I am a monthly blogger by now. :-)] So just what has our little princess been up to lately? Check out the pics and captions to see.

Helping dad with household duties like changing the furnace filters.
Morning lattes with friends.

Date nights with her boyfriend. He likes to take her for rides on his "motorcycle."

He even lets her drive sometimes.

Spending time at the neighborhood waterpark, one of her happy places.

Splash down. The water kind of camouflages Amaya and Ariel.

"This is the life."

Time for the red slide.

"Weee."

Now that is a look of joy and happiness.

Quality daddy time.

Priceless.

Swimming. Even when she is in shallow water where she can touch, she usually opts to swim. Note in the picture above in front of the little boys there is a pink hue and a brown hue just under the surface of the water. Yup....that's Amaya swimming.

Here is a better view of what she looks look when under the water.

She loves swimming soooo much, it just dawned on me that perhaps that is why she loves Ariel so. Perhaps she aspires to be a mermaid. She looks like one here.

Our little swimmer.

Dancing.

Making friends.

Practicing her moves.

Looking cute and being sweet....most of the time ;-).

Playing dolls.

Playing My Little Pony.

Playing kitchen.

Being silly. Brooklyn is like why is she picking up her necklace with her toes.

Taking friends for rides in her jeep. This is Brooklyn's first time riding with Amaya. She's not too sure about Amaya's driving.

Brooklyn's enjoying the drive a little more now.

Sneaking into mom and dad's bed. Amaya had a nightmare a couple weeks back in which she said an astronaut flew over our house and then came in her bedroom window, after which he bit her in the face (as recounted to me) or bit her tongue (as recounted to Scott). After said nightmare, she was scared to sleep in her room by herself. We started to leave her door open at night with the hall light on and that seemed to solve the problem...for a couple weeks anyhow. This week she was back to being scared despite the door open and hall light on. She'd ask me to sleep on her floor. She'd come out 3 or 4 times every night seeking reassurance before finally giving in to her sleepiness. Then one night this week she only came out for reassurance once....so we thought. She just found another way to feel secure. Mommy and daddy's bed. When we headed up to bed after the news, this is what we found in our bed. Little stinker. Now that's thinking. Note the time on the clock.

Playing t-ball and soccer. Haven't taken any pics of soccer....oops.

Holding babies. This is Amaya's first time holding a baby. Her newest little friend Maxdyn (Jaxon's baby sister). Amaya was enthralled and seemed to absolutely love it.

"Look at me mom, I am holding Maxdyn."

"Uh, this isn't fun anymore. She's crying."

"I love pacifiers. This is fun again."

"Oh, she is soooo sweet. This is so fun." Future babysitter? Probably. Future NICU nurse? Perhaps. Future mommy? I'll bet on that. :-)

Toddler love.

Amaya 3 Year Photos

Easter, Animals, and Friends

I have not been very good about taking pictures lately. I've reverted back to my old ways and just don't usually think of it in the midst of whatever activity we are partaking in. For example, on Easter, looking back there were some great photo ops that I missed. Amaya went to Sunday school with her boyfriend Jaxon. They had so much fun and even ended up being dressed in matching outfits. It would have been cute to have a picture of them that day. And, their daddy's were dressed alike by chance, too. I would have liked to have a picture of that even more. :-) Then after church there was an Easter egg hunt. Again no pics. Didn't take pics of dying Easter eggs either, but they were yummy. I need to get better about taking pics again! I did have a light bulb moment and thought I should snap a couple pics as Amaya checked out what the Easter bunny brought her. So we do have a couple pics from Easter. See below.

Thank goodness most of my friends are good about taking pics, which reminds me to grab my camera and snap a few myself. Here are some pics from "Meet the Creatures", which Mae and I took "the girls" to last Tues.

Amaya's buddie Brooklyn, sweet little Alexis, and their mommy Mae.

Amaya feeding the guinea pigs (above and below).

Amaya petting a rabbit I think.

Stolen pic #1 from Mae's blog. She had a better angle and got both Amaya and Brooklyn in the photo.

Stolen pic #2. This "creature" (see pic above and below) was a padagonian cavy that roamed the room saying hello at will.

Stolen pic #3. The cavy again and a brave little girl in an orange dress.

Stolen pics #4 and 5. Brooklyn, Will, Amaya, and Ellie having a snack in the middle of playing HARD! Amaya was exhausted after this playdate last Wed. She took a loooong nap AND went to bed early that night. Got to love that! :-)

FUNNY STORY: Amaya had so much fun with "her friends" last Wednesday that she talked about it all Thurs. We had plans to meet her buds Will and Brooklyn and their mommies for lunch on Friday, but daddy ended up surprising us by getting home from golf 2 hours early. So, since we don't get him home on a weekday very often, we took a raincheck on lunch with our friends and went shopping and to lunch with daddy. I didn't think I had told Amaya that we were meeting Anjee, Mae, and kids for lunch, but I must have. Because as we sat down at Oregano's, Amaya looked around and said "where's my friends, where's Brooklyn and Will?" Oops. When I told her they weren't coming she was not happy. So I told a little white lie to pacify her. I said that Mae called and said Brooklyn was sick, so we'll have to do lunch another time. And being the great friend that she is she said, "Mae and the baby can come." She really does care about Brooklyn. She just wasn't thinking. :-) Scott and I found this so funny.

I took Amaya to get her 3 year pics a couple weeks back. I will post a few later this week. Out of time for now. Happy Monday everyone.