How Cute Is She?

Today's Bella's first day at her new school. She was so excited and has been asking for the last week when school would be starting. Then she told me she couldn't sleep last night because she was so excited. I think her new pre-k program will be a really good fit for her and she's already told me how happy she is that her classroom is much bigger.

Here she is modeling the first day of school outfit I made for her before we headed out to school this afternoon. I showed her the pattern for the skirt and she gave her approval but wasn't at all happy with my fabric choice because it's not pink. Lucky for me, the skirt is super twirly, thus distracting her from the lack of pink.

Pinkalicious

Pinkalicious is the girls' favorite book. It's about a girl who loves pink so much and eats so many pink cupcakes, she turns pink. Bella's favorite part is when Pinkalicious says she cried pink tears because she was so beautiful:)

Anyway, as I was coloring my hair last week, Bella asked how old she had to be to color hers. I told her that I would try to remember to get her some temporary color next time I was in town. You can't imagine how excited she was to see pink! After I did her hair, she ran around the house singing a song about how pretty she was and how much she loved it. Three points for mommy!

Two Lucky Girls

In the last few weeks, the girls have been very lucky to get some generous gifts from their grandparents.

First, my mom took Bella back to school shopping and got her a whole new wardrobe to go with her new preschool (and some matching outfits for Tater too). She wore one of the new outfits to orientation yesterday and said she thought she looked like a princess. Thanks Grandma!

























Then, the girls got a really cool playhouse from Grandpa and Grandma Cindy. We had it delivered on Thursday and Steve spent all day today putting it together. He's almost finished, just needs to work on the doors and windows and put down the roofing material tomorrow. Both girls love their new cottage and spent quite a while tonight singing on the porch. After Papa finishes it tomorrow, I'm excited to get to work on furnishing and decorating the inside. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Cindy!

Let the Countdown Begin

Bella starts a new preschool next week after having the last two months off. We got along well for most of July but August has been a little rougher. I wasn't feeling well for the first half of the month and now, the togetherness is just wearing on me. I really think our personalities are just too similar to be together all the freakin time. So, I'm counting the days until she goes back on Wednesday.

She has orientation tomorrow where she'll get to meet her teachers and see her new classroom. I've already made her first day of pre-k outfit for her and she gave her stamp of approval which is hard to come by these days. She gets to take her own snack (yippee-I was consistently disappointed by the crap parents brought at her old school) so we went shopping for her first lunch box and a cool thermos.

I know she'll love school and make friends easily. She's been at the same school for the last two years but we decided to move her to a new preschool this year, partly because we thought she needed to get used to having a new teacher, friends, and classroom every year. Her old teacher is itchin' to have Matea in her class but I think I'll keep her at home for another year. I kinda like having her around.

Future Roller Derby Girls?

With the way they've been fighting lately, they totally could be.

The Ladies Love Luke

We had a playdate yesterday that I was more excited about than any other playdate we've ever had. I found my old college friend, Beth, on Facebook and learned she has a 17 month old son so I insisted that we get together immediately.

I hadn't seen Beth since my wedding 8 years ago but it felt like we'd been friends this whole time and we just picked up right where we left off. Her son, Luke, was so much fun and I think he and the girls interacted really well. He was really big on kissing and the girls were happy to play along. See how serious he looks as Matea makes a move? That's his standard pre-kiss facial expression. He was sweet, silly, and just overall a wonderful little boy and I hope we can see him again soon.

Beth seems like a wonderful mom who has faced so many obstacles with Luke's health but is raising a really amazing little boy.

Family Day

We spent yesterday in Morro Bay and Montana de Oro. Lots of fun and totally exhausting. Both girls were really into watching the seals in the bay and spotting jelly fish so I'm working on trying to plan a trip to the aquarium soon.

We're back

Back from a weekend in the valley. A bunch of relatives from Steve's mom's family were in town visiting so there was a mini renuion (and by mini, I mean like 40 people). The girls had a lot of fun playing with their cousins, swimming, and hanging out at Great Grandma's. We even got to see our old cat Maui who we shipped off to live at my Grandma's house two years ago before Matea was born. Bella still talks about Maui a lot so she was really excited to see her and Matea kept saying, "He likes me!".

And for those keeping up with my health issues the last few months, I have my "procedure" this Thursday and should have results next week. I had an appointment this morning with the Gastro Doc's nurse and she also felt that all signs point toward Crohn's disease.

We really are beach people now. I just can't handle the heat, makes me feel sick. Both girls complained about the heat this time (and it wasn't even 100 degrees!) and on the way home, Bella said, "I just think we need to visit Nana and Tata more often when it's not so hot."

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was our 8 year anniversary and Bella was really excited. She spent all afternoon making cards, I think Papa ended up with four different ones from her. Then she insisted on wearing some of my jewelry to go to the library in the morning because it was a "special day".

We took the girls to McLintock's for the first time to celebrate the big day. Don't need to do that again. I didn't think we'd need reservations at 5:15 on a Tuesday but after waiting an hour, I realized I was wrong. We finally got to our table and the girls were starving and very much on the verge of a melt down. Luckily, our food got there quickly and we were out of there in a mere 2 1/2 hours.

Pics from today

And since tomorrow is our 8 year anniversary, we all made cards for Papa...

Party Like a 2 Year Old

Matea's much anticipated "Elmo Booday" finally arrived this Saturday and I think it lived up to her expectations. She got to play with her cousins, eat ice cream cake, and test out her new gifts. She got some bears from Great-Grandma that she immediately fell in love with, a pink bike from Grandpa and Grandma Cindy that Bella's breaking in for her, some pink Crocs from Devin that she insisted on putting on right after opening, a trampoline from Grandma, and lots of cute clothes and just a few toys (a mommy's dream!).

I can confirm that she's acting like a 2 year old now. Bella has scratches on her face to prove it! And, she threw a book at me in the library this morning right in front of one of the employees. I'm going out of town this weekend on a scrapbooking retreat and I'm feeling like Friday won't get here soon enough.

Good Friends, Good Weekend

I'm stuck in the recliner, waiting out a migraine so I figured it's as good a time as any to get around to updating the blog.

These pics are from a few weekends ago when our friends, The Olson's, visited. Bella and Avery are almost exactly a year apart and Matea and Riley are just over a year apart. All of the girls got along really well even though Matea wasn't quite sure what to make of Riley. Matea's never really been around a mobile baby and seemed pretty put off by Riley's obsession with her pacifier. I think she was excited about a baby coming and getting to play mommy but Riley wasn't interested in that. She was more interested in Steve. Seriously, this baby girl loved him! She kept planting kisses on him and gazing at him from across the room. Very sweet - except to her daddy who wasn't getting nearly as much attention.

Jaron, Jenni, Avery, and Riley live in San Jose so we only get to see them a few times a year. We all wish they lived closer - if only Jaron was willing to take a 75% pay cut to work in this area.

Bella's been talking about Avery since they left and wants us to plan a trip to their house NOW. On their last day here, we all went to Morro Bay and then they headed home from there. Bella didn't realize they weren't following us back home and cried for quite a while when she realized Avery wasn't in the care behind us:(