What Just Happened?

Birthday week is complete; family party last weekend, all day celebrations on her actual birthday (Wednesday) and yesterday we held a small party for some of Maria’s friends.  The rain was very kind to us and held off until we began serving dinner.  Everyone seemed to have a good time…it was great to meet some of Maria’s friends and their parents. 

A few pictures of the party as some pics of her playhouse. 

Sarah and I decided to again take Maria’s birthday off from work to have a family day together.  We began our day at Pump It Up in Lynnwood.  It’s one of those inflatable toy play arenas.  Since it was the middle of the week…it was pretty empty, maybe 5 kids other then Maria…which was great because it allowed Maria to be able to play on toys without being trampled.  I can’t imagine how that place is on weekends…probably not very fun for kids Maria’s size.  Maria was so brave…by the end of our session, she was doing the big slides all by herself…and LOVING it.

Next, we were on to Dim Sum for a little lunch before nap time.  We had recently read about a place in Mill Creek that was called the best Dim Sum in the Seattle area.  Hmmm.  Zen Garden is about 2 blocks from Sarah’s old apartment complex.  We’ve driven past it thousands of times…it’s a non-descript, boring building.  It never seemed to have crowds…so we never bothered checking it out.  Once we were inside, we were amazed.  First, the “backyard” of the restaurant was amazing…a well manicured garden with a sizable fish pond.  Second, and more importantly…some amazing Dim Sum.  Like places in Vancouver, they give you a menu (with pictures) and make the items up fresh for you.  This was great because when we arrived, we were the only ones there.  We went a little overboard in our ordering…but we wanted to give them a good test run.  Everything was great!

After returning home and napping…it was present time!  Maria has definitely figured out presents…and she LOVES them.  In addition to her slide and basketball hoop, we also got her a customized chair, a play house for the back yard and a tricycle.  We had already given her the slide and hoop…so when she woke up, she got to see her new chair for the first time…she loved it!  We haven’t given shown her the house or tricycle yet…mainly because it’s been so rainy outside.  I’m sure we’ll have both set up and ready to go before our next sunny day.  Maria also enjoyed opening the many nice cards and gifts that were sent from family…and even our neighbor. 

Finally, after cleaning the house up a bit…it was time to head out to meet Grandma and Grandpa for an early birthday dinner at Anthony’s Beach Cafe in Edmonds.  Maria loves it there because they have a large sandbox with lots of sand toys to play with.  Thankfully there was a brief sun break that kept Maria and Mom warm while playing before our food arrived.  Once the food was on the table, Maria enjoyed doing her usual rotation between everyone to check out the food they had.  To end the meal, a birthday sundae. 

Sadly…that was the end of our family birthday celebration together as I had to run down to SeaTac to catch a flight out to Boise for a couple days of work meetings.

Today is the final day of “Birthday Week” and we’re ending with a small gathering of some of Maria’s friends…should be fun.  I’m sure I’ll have more to post later.

To begin Maria’s birthday week, we held a small family party.  But before everyone came over, we decided to give Maria a few of her presents…a little early.

Yes, a basketball hoop and a slide!  Maria had so much fun with the hoop that cousin Alex had, we thought she’d enjoy having her own.  And every time Maria sees a slide, she wants to run to it…so we thought it might be better to have a small something in our backyard.  She almost didn’t know what to do with these new toys…I think she’s still trying to figure out the whole concept of gifts.

Anyways…back to our party, it was nothing fancy…my parents and Kristine & Jake were the only ones that were able to make it…but it was nice to have an afternoon to hang out and relax together.  Appetizers (a few cheeses, crackers, strawberries and a mushroom tart from Trader Joe’s) as well as wine, beer & soda started things off.  It was a nice day today so we all were outside which made Maria happy because she was then able to show off her new toys and her bubble gun to the family.

Dinner was grilled flat iron steak and chicken, both glazed in a teriyaki BBQ sauce, brown rice, steamed broccoli and pineapple spears…all of Maria’s favorites…actually, all of MY favorites too…that’s my girl!

For dessert Maria requested a chocolate cake with pink frosting…we asked her many times during the week what she wanted and she kept coming up with the same thing…so that’s what she got.  OF COURSE today she changed her mind and said she wanted yellow frosting…too late.  Amazingly, instead of going for the frosting like she usually does, she ate all the cake and left the pink butter cream alone.  Go figure…

Both Sarah and I are taking Wednesday, Maria’s actual birthday, off from work to have a family day.  It was a fun day last year so we thought we’d do it again and make it a tradition.  The weather reports are all over the place…from sunny to a chance of snow.  (Whaaa?)  We’ll see.  Ending with a few pictures of our day…

So it’s been awhile since I last posted a video.  It’s not that we haven’t been taking videos…it’s just that we haven’t been downloading the movies from our camera, editing them or uploading them.  It takes a little bit of work…but it’s pretty ridiculous how behind we are.  So here come the videos…in chronological order…enjoy.

Maria Vacuuming

Maria Playing Wii

Fun with Beep-Beep

Maria Waving

Dancing with Ella

Alex & Maria

Abby’s Sea Star Spin (AKA: Undeniable Proof that Sarah Loves Maria)

Bubble Gun

Drumming

A-B-C’s

Pudding

Now that the backlog is out of the way, it should be less intimidating to stay up to date.  Sure to have some more videos soon with Maria’s week of birthday celebrations; starting today with a family dinner party.  Should be fun.

Other then our crazy shopping run for Maria’s birthday…which was probably the best time I’ve EVER had shopping in my life…not too much to report. 

Had a couple pictures to share…thought they were cute.  The first of Maria looking very old & mature in her Rave Green, celebrating the Sounder’s victory today.  The second…well…she had some fun in her “princess diaper” by trying on Mom’s shoes.  Hilarious.  Happy Saturday!

Happy Easter to everyone!  After a wonderful family vacation, it was great to have a day to relax and hang out with family before going to work.  To celebrate Easter, we went to church with my dad and sister…and then after nap, we went to my parents house for Easter dinner. 

Due to the questionable weather, my Mom and Kristine decided to set up an Easter egg hunt for Maria in my parent’s basement instead of in the yard.  Maria wasn’t really sure what to do…but once she got applause for finding her first egg, she quickly got the hang of it.  Every time she found one, she’d hoist it up as if to show it off to everyone.  She was also VERY happy to find out that many of them had chocolate in them…her FAVORITE.  The problem was that after the hunt, she was trying to grab any egg shaped item she saw…and at Easter, some of the egg shaped items are not very “Maria-Proof”.

A few pictures from the hunt…

Yes…those are Elmo Easter Eggs…courtesy of Jake who went on an “Elmo Run”.  Thanks to our family for putting this on for our little one.