yay!!

Do you see that rediculous smile on my face?? Well thats because yesterday was my first bike ride in nearly 4 years. Pedja and Maya were on the jogging stroller and I got to ride my awesome red sparkly beach cruiser. I was sooooo happy

indoor camping

Auntie Cha-Cha got Maya this awesome princess tent for her birthday last year, and we finally put it up. She spends so much time in here with her yo gabba gabba crew. She just doesn't understand why none of us can join her in there.

jogging stroller

Pedja has been looking for a jogging stroller for as long as I can remember, and last weekend we scored with this one. Maya LOVES it. Ive started going on walks with her every morning now. He will handle the jogging part.

Art Zone

Yesterday was Maya's last day of pre-school at Art Zone. She still doesn't know this yet, because it will break her heart, but it just wasn't the right fit. She LOVED every second which is what counts. We will be looking into the YWCA in Santa Monica, which is where we were supposed to go, until we came across Art Zone. Her lunch was grilled tofu, raspberries, seaweed, cashews cucumber and water. Of course she chose her outfit.

stop the cuteness!

Here we are at one of Mayas (and my) favorite restaurants, Veggie Grill waiting patiently for dinner

sunny day walk

boooooooooo

I know you're wondering wtf happened to Mayas arms right? Sadly when she is upset, sometimes she bites herself. I've spoken to her doctor about it, and she said some kids do that, others bang their heads against the wall etc. so its not abnormal. It definitely comes and goes in phases, and she has started up again. This is the worst it's ever been so I had to document. She was SUPER tired because she didn't nap that day, and her dad had her on a "break" so she went nuts. I finally stepped in and bear hugged her almost like a hog tie so she couldn't hurt herself anymore. It makes me so sad when she does this to herself. The marks lasted for quite a few days too.

little lady

maya is such a girly girl-nail polish lipgloss and finally braceletts!! We have seen plenty in stores, but they are always too big. We finally found some that fit and she is THRILLED! And bonus- they are pink!

On they way back from my moms house we stopped by Bass Pro Shop, which is Luka's most favorite place. I just love these fish benches.

Namaste

Maya Kelli and I hung out yesterday. I met Kelli on my life changing trip to India.

cheeeeeeesssseeeee

Maya comes behind me all the time and says "lets take a picture like this" Im so happy she loves the camera

le artist

Luka really has to be the coolest older brother. If they are playing with blocks, or play dough or legos, all Maya has to say is "luka can you make a ______" and seriously people within 5 minutes its done. I think she asked for a pyramid or something. The other day I came out of the shower, and luka had made the very hungry caterpillar, the very busy spider, and a rose out of playdough. And y'all know i take 30 seconds to get ready. Amazing

breakfast of champions

I made pancakes Luka made them cute

hamming it up

I just put all the photos from our camera on my computer, and these must be really old because one of my birthday gifts was Pedja growing a full beard. I know it sounds funny, but I LOVE facial hair and have been asking him for 10 years to grow one. I finally got my wish. He shaved the beard pretty quickly, but left the stash for a bit.

ole part 2

One of many big fun group dinners, hanging in the pool, Maya and the big girls, Maya and grama, Maya and auntie Andrea aka Mrs Sinon

ole part 1

I know I said I wasnt going to dwell on the past and what I havent been blogging about, but Andrea and Ben's wedding in Mexico was tooooooo amazing not to write about. Here are a few photos. Pedja spent his birthday at one of the Mayan ruins, Maya learned how to swim, here is the blurry happy Mr and Mrs Sinon, and FINALLY after almost 3 years, a decent semi family photo

boys trip

Since sadly Luka didn't

get to join us in Mexico, Pedja took him camping and fishing soon after we returned. This was the only picture they returned with.

Maya got a cool new shirt from her friend Farrin

daddys girl

lil photographer

Ever since our summer trip to Mexico for my sisters wedding, Maya has been into taking pictures

Everyone there let her play around with their cameras, and by the end, she was pretty decent, but still cutting off heads. She got this shot after 6 tries.

pre-school week 3

An update from school yesterday. I decided to try and leave Maya at school, since separation is the goal, and it didn't go so well. She was hysterical as I left of course. I went to the post office, and texted a mom after 15 minutes and she said Maya was fine so I didn't need to come right back. I had just parked at the pharmacy, and i got a text to come back. Door to door I was gone 30 minutes. The teacher thought maybe it was a bit too long. I am very proud of Maya. We will try again little by little.

Pre-school

Here is Maya SO excited to go to pre-school. She chose her outfit of course. Here is the lunch we decided on. Humus and rice cake, cucumber, apple (no skin) and cashews.

I lined up all the pillows

somethings fishy

On the way home from my moms house we stop

ped by Lukas most favorite place EVER, Bass Pro Shop

tutu

flying baby!

bike

Pedja

takes Maya out for bike rides a few times a week. She loves it

letters

Maya and I practice spelling every day with these letter tiles. Lately we have been going around the house and choosing items to spell. Here are her favorite yo gabba gabba friends. We put all the letters on the floor facing up,

and I call them out one at a time. She finds the right one and lays them out from left to right.

pedicure time

Maya gave her dads aching feet a red pedicure. Sadly I dont have the proper remover as its non-toxic kids piggy paint, so hes stuck with it for a while.

cheeeeeeeese

She said"lets take a

picture like this" and grabbed me.

collages

Mayas newest hobby is collaging. This thrills me to no end because ever since jr high I have been a major collager. Here are her first ones. We ran out of magazines in our house, so I posted a sign in our building asking for magazine donations and so far we have gotten about 10. She flips through the magazines and chooses the images she likes. I cut them out, then using a glue stick, she rubs the glue and puts on the image. Im quite proud.

well hello. remember me?

There is no point even attempting to make up for or review whats been going on here in the 6.5 months since my last post (shame shame tisk tisk). So I will just start with whats happening currently. Luka is now a freshman in high school and made the varsity swim team. I can not believe what a handsome young man he is turning out to be. He is already over 6 feet tall too. Maya is now in pre-school one day a week and LOVES it. It is an art based school that specializes in gentle separation (from me) which is what we need since she still has a meltdown every time I leave the room. They have a "water room" which is AH MAY ZING. She spent almost her entire first day in there and then ended up with a cold because she was barefoot and wet while they had the AC going, so last week I had her skip it. I think she will tomorrow as well. Shes finally not stuffy and Id like to keep it that way. Pedja and I are still working a ton and trying to manage a hormonal teenager and crazy toddler without killing one another. The one thing I would like to catch you up on is that we took a semi family vacation in July for my sisters wedding in Mexico. Im calling it a semi family vacation because less than 24 hours before we were on our way to LAX, we realized Luka's passport had expired last June. Big problem since it was A) a Sunday and B) it was a Serbian passport. He ended up staying with nana and grampa Stu and DIDNT WANT TO COME HOME because he had such GREAT time. Phew.