Eight Year Referral-versary

I can’t believe that it was eight years ago today when we saw the first picture of our sweet little cue ball cutie, Wan Chun Miao.  It’s difficult to believe how quickly the years have been passing, my goodness she’s a little young lady of nine already and so grown up!  It’s difficult to remember a time before Maisie was with us.  Our A-Maisie-ing Maisie Miao Miao is the best daughter we could have ever hoped for and the absolute love of our lives.    We love you sweet Maisie!

Halloween 2014

Maisie has never been much of a Halloween lover and trick-or-treating hasn’t held much appeal, but this year she decided that she wanted to go trick-or-treating with her friend Sarah and she actually wanted to dress up and match her.  So, presenting two of the most adorable little minions…Minion Sarah and fart-gun toting Minion Maisie!  The girls had fun going through Sarah’s neighborhood being escorted by Dr. Nefario (Sarah’s dad) and a banana (Sarah’s brother.)  Thanks for taking Maisie trick-or-treating, she had a blast!

Maisie turns 9!!!

How can my wee little Maisie Miao Miao be nine already???  Seriously the years are passing much too quickly for this Mama!  I will say though, I love the young lady my girl has become.  She is a sweet, kind-hearted, loving, fun, smart, talented, strong-willed and all-around fabulous kid and though she can sometimes drive me batty, I wouldn’t change one little thing about my A-Maisie-ing girl!  This year for her birthday party Maisie wanted a repeat of last year’s birthday, but instead of just having it just be a pajama party, she wanted to extend it to an actual sleepover.  

As the girls arrived, they happily played in the yard.

There was of course a bit of gymnastics.

And twirling around…and this was all before the sugar of cupcakes and candy! 

The girls roasted hotdogs over the fire pit for dinner and then it was time for “happy birthday cupcakes” as Maisie calls them.

Sugar!!!

Sarah really gets into eating her cupcake!

Next it was time to open presents!!

Everyone in the picture!!

Maisie opening the gift from Briana.

Another fun gift from Alyssa.

Hugging on Aspen for her gift!

More hugs, opening the gift from Sarah.    

And the biggest gift bag came from April!

More birthday hugs!

(photo by Lisa F) A little more time was spent running through the neighborhood with flashlights and then it was time to roast marshmallows, for one last sugar high of the night.

It got cold outside for the girls so they happily changed into their PJ’s.

Sarah gave Maisie matching pj’s!

Cute little twinnies!!

The girls laid out their sleeping bags on some mats and happily settled in to watch Despicable Me.  The movie ended just past midnight and though Briana left for the night, all the other girls were fast asleep within minutes of the movie ending.  We were surprised that even Maisie, who still only and happily sleeps in bed with us each night, was fast asleep too…well until 1:23 am when I thought I heard someone heading to the bathroom only to have Maisie jump into bed with me, gleefully giggling and excited to be in her “safe and comforting” place.  In the morning when we heard the girls stirring, Maisie returned to the family room to join her friends. 

Breakfast was another sugar fest, donuts requested by the birthday girl.

For the first time ever, Alyssa found a food served in my home to her liking!!  And yes, she did finish all ten of those donuts plus a few more she begged off the other girls.  Then she topped it all off with two cupcakes leftover from the previous night.  Soon after breakfast she was picked up by her dad to go to Church.  Hmm…not sure if her parents will ever allow her to come play at our home again!!

The party ended with the girls playing iSpy on the Wii.  

It was a fun 9th birthday and Maisie loved spending time with her friends and loved all the gifts.  Thanks everyone for coming to Maisie’s party and making her birthday so fun and special!

2014 GAA Mardi Gras Invitational

Yesterday, Maisie competed in her fourth meet of the season.

Sarah, Taylor & Maisie ready for the meet to begin.  The USA level 5 & 6 girls were in the same session so Maisie was delighted to hang with her friends.

Laura, Jema, Emma, Sydney, Alexis, Madison & Maisie.  NMGC’s USA level 6 team, ready to compete.

 

Overall Maisie had a good meet and other than her vault, (which I only caught her second vault on video and is right at the beginning of the video) she was pleased with her performance. 

Sarah’s dad took a picture of Sarah and Maisie loving on one another during awards.

Vault:  8.55 ~ 9th place, Bars: 9.15 ~ 2nd place, Beam:  9.3 ~ 3rd place, Floor:  9.4 ~ 4th place.  All-Around:  36.4 ~ 3rd place.  Maisie displaying her Level 6 All-around 3rd place trophy and teammate Sarah displaying her Level 5 All-around 2nd place trophy.  (For the eagle-eyed among you, the trophies have incorrect plates, showing AAU, not the correct USA level, so new plates are being sent)  Congratulations Maisie & Sarah and to all the NMGC girls!

After competition it was pizza time for the girls!  Two more meets, then state meet and the season will be finished.  Keep up the great work my A-Maisie-ing Maisie!!

2014 Atlanta Crown Invitational

Today Maisie competed in her very first optional meet as a USA level 6 gymnast.  This was a huge three-day meet with over 1400 gymnasts.  Maisie definitely was nervous but she still was my A-Maisie-ing girl!!

Maisie and her teammates, Laura, Jema, Alexis, Emma, Madison & Sydney, ready to compete.

That’s my A-Maisie-ing Maisie warming up on bars.

 

A very good start to her meet season. Maisie medaled on three events and all-around. Vault:  8.425 ~ 6th, Bars:  8.4 ~ 3rd, Beam:  8.8 ~ 9th, Floor:  9.375 ~ 1st (tied).  All-around:  35.0 ~ 6th place.

Congrats to the North Metro level 6 girls, 3rd place team!

Seven year referral-versary

Seven years ago today we saw the first picture of our sweet little cue ball cutie, Wan Chun Miao.  Our Maisie Miao Miao is the best daughter we could have ever hoped for and the love of our lives.  We love you sweet Maisie!

No real celebrating today as Maisie and I have both came down with colds and she has a good case of laryngitis starting.  Maisie did though get a nice massage this morning with Tony to work out all her sore and tired muscles, followed by all the chicken soup and popsicles she could eat.  Hopefully tomorrow we will both be feeling better.

It’s Great to be Eight!!

So here we are again, another birthday for my sweet little Maisie Miao Miao.  And once again I’m feeling that the years are passing too  quickly, I mean seriously, where have they gone?  Each year I say the same thing, that it seems like just a short time ago when we saw her cue ball cutie face for the first time and she was just a scared little 14 month old being placed in our arms.  Each year I also say that I can’t believe how grown up and mature she looks though it’s the same sweet face from when we first laid eyes on her. 

Maisie is my sweet, kind, hard working, generous, smart, sassy, beautiful, caring, talented, athletic and loving girl.  She is excelling in and loving fourth grade and she still loves being at her gym and is having a fabulous time training for her upcoming USA level 6 season.  Each and every day I feel so lucky that Maisie’s my daughter and I adore watching her grow into the person she is and can only imagine the adult she’ll become.  Though I wish I could slow down time and keep her my wee little baby girl forever, I look forward to each new day with my girl, seeing all that she is, does and accomplishes.  She is my A-Maisie-ing Maisie Miao Miao.

This year for her birthday Maisie asked to have some of her favorite girls over for a pajama, candy eating, sit around the fire pit & roast hot dogs and marshmallows, chalk, play together, gymnastics, decorate cupcakes, hang around like-big-girls party.  So that’s exactly what she got. 

Happy Birthday my sweet little Maisie Miao Miao, I love you more and more each and every day and each and every year.

Maisie, ready to celebrate with her friends.  (Thanks to Lisa for this and most of the pics in this post)

Briana was very excited for the party to begin!

A little chatting and lots of candy eating, a great way to begin an evening.

Some games on the lawn.

Handstands.

And headstands.

Let the hotdog roasting begin.

Yep, making the girls cook their own dinner!

Watching to make the perfect roast dog.

Yummy!  Cooking your own food makes girls hungry.

A few hotdogs were dropped followed by a good number more which were “accidentally” dropped once they found out that they would be fed to the fish.

Working off some of their dinner with more games on the lawn.

Friends with chalk on the driveway.

Fun and easy playtime on a gorgeous evening.

April, Briana, Taylor, Maisie, Aspen, Alyssa & Sarah.

Then it was time for dessert!

The girls at this party had to work.  Not only did they have to cook their own dinner but they had to frost and decorate their own cup cake!

Going for the sugar!

Ready to enjoy their creations.

YUM!!  Worth the wait and the work!

After the cupcake decorating and eating the girls all grabbed flashlights and ran around the neighborhood playing hide-&-seek.  Well until they needed more sugar…

More work for the girls as they had to roast their own giant marshmallows.

Some preferred them barely cooked, others burned and some just wanted to roast but not eat them.  Thankfully the adults sacrificed themselves and ate the roasted cast-offs.

The girls did actually slow down long enough to settle into their blankets and watch a movie.

But Briana was the only one who stuck it out and watched to the end of the movie as the other girls ran off with their flashlights to play hide-&-seek through the neighborhood again.

It wasn’t just for the girls, the adults enjoyed the evening too.  Sitting around the fire pit on the deck, drinking, eating and relaxing.  A fun night for all.

At 10PM it was time to hand out goodie bags and say good night to her friends.  It was exactly the party that Maisie had wanted but she was tired and ready for bed!  Thanks everyone for making Maisie’s birthday party so much fun!

I have to share these cute pictures of Maisie at her gym. 

Coach Johnny holding five-year-old Maisie by her legs after he plucked her from the pit at her birthday party.

Coach Johnny, three years to the day, holding eight-year-old Maisie, who by the way is wearing the exact same leotard.  Looks like they’ve both grown and put on muscle!!

I still can’t believe that my girl is really eight but here’s photographic evidence showing my sweet little Maisie on her birthday through the years.

 2012 ~ Maisie 7 years old.

2011~ Maisie 6 years old.

2010 ~ Maisie 5 years old.

2009 ~ Maisie 4 years old.

2008 ~ Maisie 3 years old.

2007 ~ Maisie 2 years old.

2006 ~ Our second picture of our sweet little Maisie Miao Miao.  Waving to us and waiting for us to come and get her.

2006 ~ Our first picture of our cue ball cutie.  (she’s probably about 7 months old)