Maya recently turned SIX on October 4th!!

I’m kind of in denial about it…

What I’m NOT in denial about is the fact that I am constantly in awe of the little person she is becoming, and I am BEYOND proud that she is not only my flesh and blood, but SO thankful that I get to hang out with her on the daily, and that she choses to hang out with ME!!

So, Maya, just know… You are beyond loved.

And this year…

You still ABSOLUTELY know what you want and cannot be swayed.  A common comment from teachers, yet they always say it with a smile on their face vs a look of concern. 🙂

You LOVE to sing.  Anytime.  Anywhere.  I finally put you in two separate weeklong singing/performance camps this summer, and low and behold you had a solo!!  Not once but twice!!  Yet, you kept it a SECRET, so we were totally surprised come performance time at the end of the camp!!  Good thing your mama always has her camera and phone ready!!

You are still hands down one of the funniest human beings I know.  Always ready with a joke, and an attempt to make people laugh!  The fact that YOU laugh hysterically is your fail safe! 😉

You LOVE dogs.  Anywhere we go, you want to stop and ask “Can I pet your dog?!!”  You are SO good with them.  You know to hold out your hand for them to sniff, and then your second question always is “Do you have any treats for them?!”  Even without treats, all dogs love you.  I constantly hear “Oh, they usually don’t like kids!”  But they always love you.  You’ve even talked about wanting to start a dog walking business when you get older!

Tonight (as luck might have it, to be fresh in my mind!!) as I was making dinner with you standing next to me on your stool, you said.

“We are a lucky family.”  I agreed, but then asked what you meant by that, and you said.

“Well, we have healthy food that tastes good (I was making a salad, which you love).  And we have a really nice home.  And, we’re just lucky!”

The fact that you just pop those things out randomly?  I wish I wrote more of those things down!!  But…I couldn’t agree with you more, Peanut!  And I couldn’t be luckier to have YOU as a daughter!!!

LOVE YOU!!!

I really wanted to surprise Maya with balloons when she got out of school, and a few other little gifts from the dollar store to add to the few things we had gotten her.

As an fyi, if you have a dollar store near you-most cities do (they have different names)!!  They have mylar balloons for $1!  Even ones with sayings!  I was SHOCKED once when I went to get a last minute gift/balloon at just HOW EXPENSIVE balloons can be, so I vowed to go to the dollar store after that!  Oh, and one of her favorite gifts?  A plastic microphone that really echo’s her voice when she sings!!!  For those in the Seattle area…yay Dollar Tree!!

All that said…

Things have been a little rough this past month, with Maya starting kindergarten, and my workload starting to increase.  She’s not been her usual happy go lucky self.  Especially at school and with the new kids she’s met.  And to say that I’ve been an overthinking/overstressing hot mess about that is a pretty big understatement…

Thankfully, I’ve had a few really good talks with her teacher (who I love!), and what I’ve discovered is that I need to just step back and let Maya be Maya.  She truly has a better head on her shoulders than I do, and the way she looks at life, is WAY beyond her years.  I literally learn from HER every single day.

Right after this next image, she saw a woman sitting on a bench by herself.  Granted she had headphones on and probably just wanted to chill.

Maya said… “Can I go say ‘hi’ to her?   She looks like she’s kind of left out…”

Oddly enough, I actually took a video of it, NOT knowing that was what she was going to do.  I mainly had wanted to get a video of her running with the balloons.  But THAT is her.  SO freaking kind and sweet.
Ok, note to self.  Balloons are NOT the best prop!  They always seem like a good idea, but getting them in the frame and YOU?  Not so much. Unless they randomly get blown towards you.  Thank you wind! Yeah…balloons, cropped out, because…I’d rather have US! Then…as we were leaving a woman came by with her dog (immediate magnet for Maya!) and a camera.  She said she was there to practice taking pictures of her dog, and asked what we were doing.  We told her we were taking pics for Maya’s birthday.

Then Maya asked if she wanted to take pictures of her!  hahaha.  Of course she won’t “pose” for me, but a stranger?  She was ON!

I was DYING!  Are you kidding me??! These next two….LOVE!

On me…

Haha.  Her face!  But honestly, I’m so impressed with her balance!  In clogs, no less!!