Camps

Maya has been attending morning camps at her school over the last several weeks and today was the final day.  Last week was "Trash to Treasure" camp and she learned all about recycling and using trash to create and make things. Wow did she come home with all sorts of "treasures." The last day they made a town out of cardboard and boxes. She made the multi colored animal hospital and the orange hotel for the town. I think there was also a school, church, playground, trees, etc.

 Here they are with their two teachers. Such a fun and creative week for the kiddos! Maya said this was her favorite camp. My guess is she liked that it was small with only 4 kids and she LOVES the two teachers. They are both great! 

Maya received a "most creative" trash to treasure award and I think Cora may have been more excited about it!

This week it was "princess camp."  Each day a different princess was there; Ariel, Rapunzel, Snow White, and Belle. One of the teachers at BCS has a princess business on the side and dresses up for parties and events. She is a great impersonator of all these different princesses. She also taught the girls about manners, good behavior, being loving and kind and that they are all true princesses and God is the King. Today Belle was at camp and we took a quick picture with her.

Juliana's Graduation

The first weekend in June we were in Michigan to celebrate the high school graduation of Juliana Johanna! How is this even possible? I feel like I was just graduating high school! We are so proud of her and thankful that we could be there to celebrate this milestone in her life.

Juliana had a "sweet celebration" on Saturday night and served all sweets. How fun is that? I can't tell you how excited the girls were. I don't think they've ever seen so much candy, cookies, treats, and cake in one place! I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of all the different sweets tables.

Her cake had one of her graduation pictures on it. So pretty!

Here's a picture of the 4 girls

Juliana and all her cousins. The 3 boys (Caleb, Levi & Malachi) are on the Dykstra side of the family.
All the firstborns Juliana, Caleb & Maya have red hair...how cool is that?

Such a fun weekend to celebrate with Juliana and we are excited she is headed to Trinity Christian College in the Fall. Maya has already said she can't wait to go visit Juliana and have a sleep over at college with her. We're glad it's only 2 hours away and look forward to many visits there over the next several years.

Father's Day

We had a pretty low key Father's day around here today. But hopefully this guy knows how much he is loved and appreciated! He truly is the most patient person and certainly deals with a lot of crazy around here!

Hugs from Cora 

Lovin' from Maya

Maya also made Daddy a fun Father's day gift and she could hardly wait to give it to him. She's had it hidden in her closet since the last day of school.

We had a nice day together and ended it by walking to get some ice cream! So so thankful for the blessing this Daddy is to our family!

And we hope Snazzy and Grandpa Sikkema had a great day too! We are so thankful for the wonderful Fathers & Grandfathers they are too!

Drama Camp

The first week of summer started out with Maya attending Drama Camp. Daddy thinks we have enough drama in our house and didn't understand why we signed up for this camp. But Maya had a fun week and it's been good to get into a little bit different summer routine around here.

Here are the kids that were in the camp with her. The first day was a "super hero" theme. 

Here they all are in their capes and masks.

 Maya flying past the building

Maya said they took turns "directing" and "acting out parts" of different plays.  One day they acted out a treasure hunt. And I think they ended each day with some fun games acting out being different animals

Peeking out behind the stage curtain

She had a great time and now we are on to STEM (science - technology - engineering - math) camp. Daddy is much more excited about this camp!

S I X!

We've had quite the birthday week around here! It started out last weekend when we were in Michigan for Juliana's graduation celebration. (more on that to come in the near future) We were able to celebrate a little bit with the Michigan crew on Friday night. Grandma made a cake for Maya and it was delicious!

Maya - 6

I can not believe Maya is 6 years old! So crazy how the years go by so fast!

G & G got Maya the much requested doll that she's been asking for. She was thrilled and has been playing with "Kelly Ann" since. She thinks it's pretty neat the doll has red hair and freckles just like she does. 

This week we were going to have a few friends over for a little birthday party / playdate.  And well...it kind of fell a part. I felt bad for Maya but summer is so hard because people are coming and going on vacations, visiting families, etc. Anyway we ended up having two days of play dates with friends and hopefully we'll have all of the friends over another time this summer when they are around. And one of these years we will have a actual real birthday party with all her friends from school. I just need to psych myself up for it.

Tuesday Maya's friend Madelyn came over.  The one thing Maya was so looking forward to do with her friends was the Slip n Slide. She had it in her head that's what she wanted to do to celebrate her birthday. Well Tuesday it was SIXTY ONE degrees out. It was freezing here! But the girls were determined and wanted to do it. I was out there in jeans and a sweatshirt. But the cold didn't seem to bother these two. So crazy! And yes they had matching swim suits - how fun is that?

Maya wanted "Dolphin" cake for her birthday. Where do all these requests and ideas come from? Well we decided having "blue" cupcakes would have to do this year. So here the girls are decorating their cupcakes.

Wednesday Maya's friend Taylor came over. They've been doing a drama camp together all week so she just hopped in the car and came home with us for the afternoon. So fun! It was a little nicer on Wednesday and I think it was around 70.  At least the sun was out.

Blue cupcakes again...

On Thursday her actual birthday it was a bit anti-climatic. She of course wanted to open presents right away when she woke up but Daddy was already at work so I said she needed to wait until dinner time. She wasn't so happy about that. I did let her open the gift that was from Cora. We met Daddy at Osgood's a burger place that Maya likes for dinner and of course she wanted to hurry and get home to open gifts.

She was very excited for this pet vet set from the Texas crew! Maya has been all about veterinarian stuff lately so this little kit is very fun!

Gigi and Snazzy got her some accessories for "Kelly" her doll. Maya is also obsessed with medical things...like broken legs, sprained ankles, knee braces, crutches, wheel chairs. (Her other main request for her birthday was a set of actual crutches. What? Who asks for that for a birthday? I guess my girl does!)

Anyway how fun to get crutches and a little wheel chair for her doll! She was so excited!

She needed a new bike helmet and also needs a bigger bike but we are working on that part.

SIX - can't believe it!

One of my friends asks her kids the same questions on their birthday ever year and I think that is a fun idea!

Maya Renae at 6:
What do you want to be when you grow up? - Veterinarian  
What was the best thing about being 5? - Going to kindergarten
What is your favorite subject in school? - Math
What is your least favorite subject in school? -  Gym 
What is something you are thankful for?  - My family
Why do you love Jesus? Because he made my family
What are you good at? - Doing Math
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Playing at the park and going on the monkey bars
What is your favoite thing to do inside? - Playing veterinarian 
What is your favorite color? - Teal
What is your favorite food? - Homemade mac n cheese with chicken
What is your favorite thing to drink? - Chocolate milk
What is your favorite dessert? - Brownies 

Last Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe the school year is over! It went by so fast!

Here was Maya way back in August when she started Kindergarten. She looks so young.

And here she was today

Maya had a great year in Kindergarten and we are so proud of her. She's grown in so many areas and I think it looks like she is ready for first grade in a few months!

She loved her teacher this year and loved going to school each day. Lets hope that continues.  

Maya with Mrs. Patch. 

Cora liked going in to school to drop her sister off too. I think she liked getting hugs from all of Maya's classmates.You can see she's distracted looking at Maya's friend who is getting ready to tickle her. 

I realized I never took a picture by the BCS sign at the beginning of the year so I thought we'd better take one today! I guess our tradition will now be to take one at the end of the year instead of the beginning of the year.  We are so thankful for such a great school and are already looking forward to the 2016-2017 school year!