Teef's Great Escape/Amyra's Field Trip/Mia's Birthday Party - 5.23.14

Well today was an eventful day. It started out with Teef's Great Escape. That morning, after we had all showered, we heard the garage open and so Teef went downstairs to see daddy. Well a few minutes later, Lateef came up and asked "where's Teef?" Uhhh, I don't know, where is Teef Babe? Where is Teef? The age-old question. So we run downstairs and search. He isn't there. We look in the garage. He isn't there. We open the garage, and there he is, naked, ashy, on the drive way, and pointing at his poop (yes he just pooped not the driveway). WTF. Apparently, when Lateef got home, he didn't come inside. He went through the side door of the garage, and was cleaning up dog poop on the side of the house. Somewhere in that timeframe, Teef went outside looking for daddy and ended up out of the garage. Seriously, the fact that he wasn't hit by a car, or kidnapped, or just the fact that CPS wasn't called on us is amazing. Boys truly are different than girls!

After that exciting morning, the girls both had eye doctor appointments. Amyra is definitely doing well with her bifocals so the doctor is happy and Mya's eyes are perfect like her dad's. Then Amyra went on a field trip to the bowling alley to watch a movie about seasons. We went as a family and brought all the kids with us. That was slightly stressful. Afterwards, she went to Rancho San Rafael where I stopped by and dropped off her sandwich for lunch.

That evening, the excitement continued for Amyra as she went to Mia's house to celebrate her 7th birthday. They asked that instead of gifts, pajama's be brought to be donated to the local woman's shelter. Great idea. It was owl themed (night owl) and Amyra had such a great time. We will miss them when we move. 

Amyra and Mia at Rancho.

 Amyra's 1st grade class. 

Young Ram and Lateef

I found this gem while we were packing up some stuff in the house. Why are we dressed the same? Why am I so ugly? At least I was skinny. Those were the days. And now, 13 years later, we are fat. Haha.

Mya makes Preteam! - 5.17.14

So I know that all parents think their children are amazing and think their kids are destined for greatness. The thing is, I actually think I'm right when I think this. Mya has always been so athletically inclined and so when she was asked to try out for the pre-team at Gymnastics NV, I had no doubt she would make it. Her Gammie and Gampie came to watch her try out and she did such a great job. And of course, she totally made it. No question. And she just turned four. I'm so proud of this girl. Will she be an olympian? Maybe. I don't know if I want that lifestyle for her yet. But will she be able to use her gymnastics to get a scholarship to college? Most definitely. Whether it's in gymnastics, cheer leading, dance, or track, I know I won't have to pay for college for this sweet thing! Whoo Hoo!

Graduation Party - 5.16.14

We were invited to celebrate one of Lateef's Fraternity brother's graduation at the Harrah's and I was really excited to go. I mean free food and cake, who is going to say no? Also, I remember seeing Jalen when we first moved to Reno four years ago at a joint Delta/Kappa information session on campus. And now here he is graduating four years later. Pretty Cool. 

 Teef came along too and was just so cute. 

 I think he looks like me.

 Eww my face is fat. WTF.

Only 19 more years until we're doing this with Teef. So much time but not that far away. Maybe I can recreate these pictures at his college graduation. 

Myara Turns Four - 5.12.14

So the day of Mya's actual birthday is a mystery to me. I know I had my accounting final that night so I want to say it was very low key because I was probably studying. Did I bring anything to her school? I don't know. OMG. I hate this. I'm sure we went to Gammie's house that evening and had some cake at the very least. 

Anyway, this girl definitely keeps me on my toes. She is so clever and quick and fearless. Especially when it comes to anything athletic. But she is also sensitive and scared of zombies and other monsters (understandably). She listens so well and though she may not learn as quickly as Amyra, because of her focus and attention, I know she is just as smart. She has the most infectious smile and is the best poser and I really look forward to her giving me style advice when I am in my 40's. I love you boo!

The kids at the Children's Museum.

 Mya napping/cuddling with her brother.

 Haha. This was just funny to me. 

 She is so stylish and loves to wear dresses. 

 There's that smile I LOVE!

Mother's Day 2014

So you know what stinks? I have no memory of Mother's Day and what we did. Dang it. I know we had just gotten back from Vegas early that morning so I'm sure we were tired. But did we go to my mom's house? Did we go out to dinner? Hmmm. I do know that the "offer" on the house was kind of my mom's day present. Lame. Haha. But I guess Lateef didn't get anything this year for his birthday or Father's Day either. We used the house to get out of all gift giving for 2014. I can't wait for 2015!

Trip to Vegas - 5.8.14 to 5.10.14

So there is this school in Vegas that is AMAZING. The girls' cousins Jenna and Jillian went there and I always heard great things about it from their mom. When I had called to ask if they had a PK program, I was informed that not only did they have one, but they were also interviewing for typical peers this particular weekend in May. I of course took it as a sign that we had to go to Vegas and not only have Mya interview for the school, but maybe look at houses in the process. I figured if she was accepted, then we would definitely move to Vegas earlier than the summer of 2015 and maybe even get out there this fall. 

Anyway, Lateef's folks also happened to be moving back to Vegas that weekend from Maryland (Papa D's kidney problems were getting worse and it was time to come home), and we thought it would be fun to look for houses, so we made a family trip to Vegas! 

Vegas - Day One - 5.8.14

Friday morning was Mya's interview at the school so I took her there bright and early and of course she passed with flying colors. They said she did wonderful and so now we just wait. After the interview, we took the kids to the park to blow off some steam.  

Kids at the park.

Always posing.

They are so cute!

Then Lateef and I met with our Vegas real estate agent Ennis, to start looking at houses. Whoohoo! I love looking at houses. We decided to take Amyra with us too because she wanted to come. Though she had a nice time with us by herself, she was over it by the fourth house we went to. 
Anyway, I've realized that Lateef and I are very spontaneous. We act fast and worry about the details later. So of course, we saw a house that we loved and decided to put an offer on it that weekend! What are we doing? We still have a house to sell in Vegas! Let's just say that we are crazy but we have put our faith in Him and know that if it is supposed to happen, it will. Now the pressure is on to sell the house in Reno!

Mya's 4th Birthday Party - 5.9.14

We figured that since we were in Vegas, why not have an impromptu 4th birthday party for my special princess. We decided to have it at this play center that was similar to the Coconut Bowl in Reno. What I liked about it is that it was booked only for our party, so unlike the Coconut Bowl and the screaming throngs of hundreds of other kids, I only had to worry about my kids colliding with their friends and family. 

The annoying thing about the party was that EVERYONE showed up late (except for Kelley). The party started at 5:30 and I even told everyone to be there at 5pm. But, most people showed up closer to 6:15 and so they only got time to play for about 45 minutes :( Boo. At least my children had fun so I can't complain too much. 

We had a great crowd and got to see some friends we hadn't seen in a while. Dr. Wells (My OB doc that delivered the girls in Vegas) and his daughters Orlaina (she is just 2 weeks older than Amyra) and her sister Nahla were there, Trudy and her Reeses pieces came (they were late but it was because they were looking for a missing wallet - I just appreciated that they still drove all the way out to this side of town after all the chaos), Kelley and her kids were there, and of course all of the cousins (Cefia, Ceriah, Joey, Jenna and Jillian) showed up eventually along with their parents.

Food was pizza and cake was of course Costco. I don't know what I would do if Costco went out of business! 

Mya my sweet girl.

 Jumping in the ball pit. 

 Family time in the ball pit. 

 Sitting on her birthday chair.

 Some of the many guests. 

 Panoramic view.

 I was proud of Teef for holding his own out in the play area. Here he is eating with his cousin Joey.

 I'm so happy he has some male cousins to play with out here. 

 Mya enjoying pizza? I think she likes it. 

 Present time! Notice Teef in the following pics. He was the only one aware that daddy was taking pictures. 

 Nevermind. Starting on the next picture, look at Teef. 

 Haha, I love both his and my face. 

 I wonder what we were talking about. 

 Who knows? 

 My sweet princess after her special day. 

Though people were janky and late, it didn't ruin my boo's day. Oh how I love her. 

Last Day In Vegas - 5.10.14

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend much time with Mama and Papa D at the house because Papa D was really sick. The good thing is that he arrived in Vegas just in time to go to the hospital and start his first dialysis treatment. Wow what a difference it made to his health. That Saturday, we were able to visit him at the hospital and Mya got to catch up on some sleep.

We also got the news that our offer was accepted! Whoa! So we took all the kids to see the new place and they were very excited about it. We decided however to keep the whole thing a secret and not tell anyone. Lateef and I have this superstition that whenever we tell people (specifically Lateef's family) about our future big plans, they never come to fruition. So we decided to be safe and not tell anyone about the house. Once the papers were all signed and the deed done, we would consider it but not until then. It was definitely a hard secret to keep!

Overall it was a great trip Vegas!

Mother's Day Tea - 5.7.14

Of course I didn't get any pictures but I was invited to Amyra's class for a Mother's Day tea. I was late though and poor Amyra was crying because she didn't think I was going to show up. My sweet sensitive girl. Anyway, she read a poem while she sat on my lap as we sat in front of the class. In her poem she said that I was the only organized person in the family (true for now) and that I was really good at making money. I'm glad she thinks I make money. I'm good at managing it at least. It's times like this that I appreciate not working formally. I wouldn't trade this for the world.

Teef's Buddy - 5.4.14

We went to my mom's house for dinner and she invited a family that had a little boy who was about 4 months younger than Teef. Though Teef looked like a beast compared to Mervin (I love his name), they played so nicely together. It was like his first random little friend. They spent about 10 minutes passing a book back and forth to each other. I'm just glad Teef didn't try to beat him. 

Logan's 2nd Birthday - 5.3.14

We had the "pleasure" of taking all the kids to Yuko's new house to celebrate Logan turning 2! Yuko is just so classy and their house was beautiful. The food was home-made Sri Lankan food and the kids got to play with Logan's cool toys upstairs. Their were also high stress moments when one of the kids knocked down a wine glass on the floor, etc. Sheesh. Honestly, taking kids to others' houses is always high stress for me but five kids - and I was about to have a heart attack. Overall, we made it through the evening but boy was I glad to be home!

Uncle with his nieces. 

 My sweet little man.

 The kids and I with Ryan and TaReon on the side. 

 Yuko, Logan and Vimal. Do you see that wall in the background. Vimal did that himself! He laid wood laminate on the walls and it looked so good! He even did the electricity so they could have cool lighting. 

Aunty Femia Visits! - 5.1.14 to 5.5.14

Aunty Femia came to visit us with the girls for a few days and the kids had a blast. She even left the girls with us while she went on a three-day trip. Let me just say, watching 5 young kids was very interesting and very crazy at times. I don't know how Mama D does it when we offload all these kids on her. Let me just say it made me respect her much more in that respect and it also made me not want to knowingly ever do that to anyone ever again.

That being said, the kids spent a lot of time at the park playing and Amyra was such a great helper. She would sleep with the younger two at times and even tried to get Ceriah to sleep when she woke up in the middle of the night. Such a great helper. 

We had one bit of chaos when someone wanted to see our house randomly and we only had an hour to tidy up and get out of the house. This with crying children every where. CHAOS. I guess these are what memories are made of? 

When you're with daddy, you will most likely be outside at the park. 

 Cefia

 Ceriah.

Park Dos.

I love 'panoramic' pics sometimes. 

Lateef decided to remove Teef's carseat for some reason. This is what we found underneath. Amazing and horrible. 

 The girls especially love Ceriah. Probably because she's a little girl the same age as Teef.

Overall, we love having our cousins here and it just reaffirmed our decision to want to go back to Vegas so the kids could grow up with their cousins.