A Daisy Girl Scout

A friend of mine, who has a daughter Maya's age convinced me to join her in leading a daisy girl scout troop.  I was a little hesitant due to the time commitment, but we are almost through the first year and it has been a complete blast.  We just registered to take it on another year!  Maya has really, really enjoyed it and she has really grown a lot since starting.  I really think it is helping her become more confident in herself and she is making some great friends along the way.  Here are some of the recent activities:

Horse farm:  we got to go visit and horse farm and learn how to take care of them.  The girls got to brush and groom a horse, lead a horse around the circle and ride one.  Laurel got to join on this outing and we all had such a great time.

Maya and Zoe - they took turns leading and riding.

Laurel's turn!

Facepainting - of course, they chose to get the same thing so they were matching.

Maya earned her pet badge!

Our little Daisy troop (and a couple horses).

The girls did amazing at selling cookies and reached their goal.  As a reward they chose to go to Build-A-Bear.

Maya washing and brushing her new Elsa bear.

The girls and their prizes!

We did an Amazing Race outing with the troop.  The girls teamed up and had to answer clues and do challenges in order to move on to the next station.  They learned all about supporting and protecting the salmon in our local streams and rivers.  Such a fun experience.

Maya, Sage and Zoe

Matching seeds to the type of plant they will grow

We visited a fire station for a tour to learn about "Respecting Authority".  They gave us a tour, talked about fire safety and let the girls climb into the fire truck.  This was another one that Laurel got to join.

The girls sold a ton of cookies this year and they all did such a great job!  They set a goal and tracked the cookies they sold in order to reach that goal. They worked hard to learn about money and how to make change.  Here are pictures from some of the booth sales we did.  This was one area where it became very clear that Maya was growing confidence.  Initially she had no interest in asking people leaving the store if they wanted to buy cookies, but once she watched the other girls doing it she jumped right in.  I was so impressed with her!

A Mothers Day Hike

The weather was gorgeous on mothers day and we decided to venture out for a hike.  We didn't have our act together in time to head to the mountains, but there is a local one that is perfect for the girls - right around 2.5 miles round trip so they are both able to make it the whole way without help.  Even Laurel who usually begins to complain that her legs are tired 5 minutes in!  There were lots of little critters to check out and a nice river to sit by for a breather.  The girls spent some time having stick and leaf boat races, building rock structures and checking out the small fish.  It was a great day!

Twins!

M: Mommy, we are twins. We have the same dress, leggings, socks, shoes and pony tails.

L: And we both have eyelashes!!!

Laurel's Birthday

The celebrating began with a special birthday girl crown at school.

Then the lucky girl had two separate birthday parties.  The first was a really fun art party with some of her friends and cousins.  Based on Laurel's love of sea life, the instructors created a fantastic art project for them to create.  Such a fun day!

Notice the tongue - that is how you can tell she is in full concentration mode

A plate full of cookies for the kid who doesn't like cake - and a goofy look she makes when she is trying not to be embarrassed by all the attention.

A group of little artists and their creations!

Then we had the family over to celebrate both Laurel's birthday and Easter.  It was a great afternoon filled with:

Lightsaber wars, Laurel's newest obsession - 

 An Easter Egg hunt -

 Bubbles (and a bouncy house) - 

A picnic dinner (excuse the blurry pics, my phone doesn't work well indoors) -

 And birthday ice cream sundaes -

Four!!!

It is hard to believe that my spunky little girl is already four years old!  She has made life SO fun and always keeps us guessing.  It has been such an experience to watch her personality grow and to realize how completely different she is than me.  Maya is so similar to me that I can usually figure out what she is thinking... Laurel, not so much.  It can be a bit challenging, but I am really learning to love the different perspectives.

Some of my favorite things about four year old Laurel:

- Her energy.  If she is going anywhere, she tends to run there.  She doesn't do well just sitting still and is known to pace around a room in circles.  Until she is tired.  Then it is like someone turned a switch and she refuses to take another step and wants to be carried.  That has made for some fun adventures (can you sense the sarcasm?).

- Our morning snuggles.  Laurel is an early riser and almost every morning she makes her way into our room, usually between 6:30 and 6:45.  Rey is typically at the gym so she climbs into bed with me and we spend some time together snuggling, checking out the weather forecast and chatting about the day to come.  It is probably my favorite time of the day.

- Her sense of humor.  She is constantly making us laugh with her make-believe play, her jokes and her stories.

- How thoughtful she is.  Her valentines day card for us said,  I love you because: - you pray for me at night time! - you read books to me! - you give me hugs and kisses! - you take me to do fun things! She really thinks through what she wants to say.

- She still loves her art, although has a streak of perfectionism that can sometimes make it challenging to complete a project.  We are working on understanding that not everything has be exactly perfect and it is a good thing when everything does things a little differently.

- She has quite the little temper and I have learned that sometimes it is best to give her a little time and space in order to work it out herself.

The Pink Lion Cubs

I finally got my act together and signed Maya up for a soccer team, we missed sign ups in the fall but managed to make it into the spring session.  The spring session is great for her to check out her skills and decide if soccer is a sport she enjoys as it is more relaxed; no score keeping, less rules and flexible practices.  We had our first game on Sunday and despite having not yet attended a practice (the first one was rained out) she did great!  A little hesitant at first, but by the end she was quite the little player.  Her team is the Pink Lion Cubs and she did not stop talking about it the rest of the afternoon - so far she seems hooked!

This little one spent most of the game on the playground.  Notice the shin guards? Someone was more than a little jealous of her big sister so I decided it was money well spent to grab her a pair as well.  She wore them around most of the day so her "legs were protected".  

A Princess

The theme for Laurel's class was Fairy Tales and to wrap it all up they got to dress up as a fairly tale character.  Laurel picked a princess.  She picked out the glittery dress and all the accessories she could find (which are typically not allowed at school so she was thrilled!).  And, in true Laurel style she finished it off with her rain boots.  I love that she still has her own sense of style and has no interest in conforming to what others might be considered the "correct way"!