PreK Field Trips

A1 loves her new school so much. They recently went on a couple of field trips, and I was able to go with her on one of them.


We went to the Santa Monica Aquarium to learn about marine life. The kids had a blast touching sea slugs and seaweed.They learned about keeping the environment clean so that they don't adversely affect the marine life.They practiced scientific learning by using all five senses (well, four senses, then they watched as one of the Aquarium workers "tasted" for them) to study a sea star (that's right, they're called sea stars, not star fish. I learned something on this field trip too!).Then we just happened to be on the Pier as a parade of 100 motorcyclists and old-fashioned police cars came past. The kids loved waving at all the noisy vehicles and having these huge, burly bikers wave happily at them in return.A great day at the Santa Monica Pier!


They also went to the Santa Ana Zoo, but I wasn't allowed to go on the field trip because I volunteered for the first one. I guess we parents have to take turns having fun with our kids! What a great school to take these preschoolers on great and educational field trips.

A2's Second Birthday

A2 turned 2 last month. He is growing up so fast. He's no longer a little baby, but a little boy now. He is obsessed with fishing lately. Everyday we go to the playground, where he finds a stick and pretends to fish in any hole that he can find. He pretends anything with a string is a fishing pole, especially a couple of the quiet toys I have for Church.


So we threw him a fishing birthday party. I made little party bags with fish name tags for each of the guests that they decorated.The kids then "fished" for candy to put in their newly decorated bags. Some kids used the poles, others thought the poles just got in the way of the candy.We then had pizza and cake. I think this might be one of the cutest cakes I've ever made. And it was simple enough that I didn't need any outside help (Jaime was especially grateful for that part).Was the cake delicious? Ask the birthday boy!(I will never get tired of pictures of my children with food all over their faces!)


This was the first birthday that A2 was excited for presents. He received some really good things from all of his friends, but his favorite present came from Grandma and Grandpa.Now he can keep up with A1 at the playground. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa.


Happy Birthday, A1. We love having you in our family. You make our lives so happy and filled with love.

When We Grow Up

As part of a recent school project, A1 had to decide what she wanted to be when she grew up. Her answer was the same as it has been every time we've asked: a doctor and a mommy (my mom is so proud of that answer). I think she'll be very good at both.Not to be outdone, A2 also wants to be a doctor. He's not so sure about the daddy thing, however. He'd much rather have his mommy take care of him than having to take care of someone else.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Hair Style #21

This is a great Halloween hairstyle. Rolled-up braids with spiky ends sticking out each side looks a lot like a spider. I spiked A1's hair into eight legs on each rolled-up braid and put in spider clips to really set off the spooky effect.

PreK at Elementary School

A1 started preschool at the local elementary school this fall. She is such a big girl now.
Here she is with her two teachers: Teacher Renee and Teacher Kim. They are amazing and the kids just love them.

A1 adores school. She comes home everyday with homework, which she insists must be done before anything else, including eating or going to Disneyland. And every time we finish her homework, she asks for more. A couple of times she has even suggested that we go to the store to buy her more homework! (Yes, my daughter is a nerd, but that runs in the family, so we won't discourage it.) I hope this attitude continues through the rest of her education.

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

A few weeks ago Los Angeles had extreme heat. It reached 113 degrees, which is the hottest it has been here since they started keeping records of temperature. So what did we do to weather the heat? We cranked up the AC and watched movies with all our best friends. I believe we had 22 people over at our apartment watching the newest Tinkerbell movie.Reviews:

Girls - "That was awesome!"
Boys - "This was fun, but I think next time we should watch Star Wars."

You can't please everyone.

This Post Brought To You By The Letter A

I did not intentionally give my children names that started with the same letter. It just so happened that the names we liked start with the same letter. However, it sure does make choosing which letter at California Adventure to use for our picture a lot easier.

Hair Style #20

We call this hairdo "Porcupine Head." Two criss-crossed braids with spiky ends. Fun and funky. It's one of A1's very favorites. We have to do her hair like this at least once a week.

front view (look how happy this hairdo makes her)

back view

Another Awesome Vacation - Day 3

Disneyland really took it out of us, so Day 3 was dedicated to relaxing. We slept in, then we went to the beach. This was the first time Casey had been to a beach on the West Coast and the first time that Carmen had been to a beach at all. Don't worry, we showed them the ropes.

We played in the waves......and Grandma showed the kids how to make a sand castle......and we buried ourselves in the sand......and we just plain old relaxed.(I think I have a picture of my dad sleeping at the beach for every time he has visited us in California. I may have to make a collage for him!)

We ate at a great burger joint and played a new card game that my parents recently found, Dominion. I have now asked for that game for Christmas because it's just that much fun to play.

Thanks, Alison and Casey and Carmen, for spending your first California vacation with us. I'm really glad I was here for the first visits to Disneyland and the beach. And thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for joining us on this vacation. It was magical.

And Grandpa is and always will be the girls favorite.

Another Awesome Vacation - Day 2

Day 2 was spent at the place where your dreams come true.
(You know, I don't think I have a single picture of my family where somebody isn't making some kind of silly face. This is the best shot we had.) Anyway, back to dreams - the kids focused on all their dreams, while the adults had so much fun watching their dreams.

A1's biggest dream right now is to be a fairy or a princess or, if possible, a fairy princess. So we let the girls wear princess dresses for an hour or so while we stood in line. I have never seen two happier girls! A2, on the other hand, couldn't care less about princesses. He loves trains and animals. So we fulfilled his dream by becoming animals on the circus train. (See what I mean about the silly faces?)Carmen wants to be able to drive, so off we went to Autopia.And A1 had to ride with Grandpa, of course. He's her favorite.Grandma's dream is to be as worshipped as Grandpa is by the grandkids. While we couldn't quite fulfill that dream (at least in quantity - A1 and Carmen simply love Grandpa too much), we did make up for it. A2 loves Grandma and prefers her over Grandpa.
It is my dream to not throw up at Disneyland. I'm proud to say that I have fulfilled that dream every time we go. But to do so has deprived A1 and A2 the opportunity to ride the Tea Cups. So Grandma took them with her so they wouldn't be deprived any longer.
Now that they've had a taste of the Tea Cups, they beg to go on that ride whenever we are at Disneyland. I may no longer be able to live my dream of not throwing up. Thanks a lot, Grandma!

It got quite hot while we were there, so the adults cooled off with a ride on Splash Mountain. Don't they look much cooler now?We had so much fun at Disneyland on Day 2. We got there at opening (8am) and stayed until closing (midnight). The kids were really tired, but we fulfilled Casey's and Carmen's dreams of going to Disneyland and riding all the rides.

And, of course, we had to get souvenirs

Another Awesome Vacation - Day 1

If you look back at posts from the past, I have invited all of you to visit us in California, as it is one of the greatest places to visit! My sister and her husband and their little girl finally saved up enough money and vacation days from work to come visit us. They dragged my parents along with them so that we could really turn it into a family outing.

They could only stay for three days before getting back to the daily grind, so we stuffed as much vacationing as possible into those three days. Day 1 consisted of California Adventure and meeting as many characters as possible at Disneyland.

California Adventure was perfect for our first day, as we could get to everything there without killing ourselves on a day when the parks closed early.

The kids loved being together, and A1 and A2 couldn't wait to show Cousin Carmen all the best things about the Happiest Place on Earth. We went on all the rides, with the kids going on the Bug's Land rides at least three times each. It was exhausting, so the kids forced Grandpa to take a rest with them (or was it the other way around?). These three love their Grandpa more than anything in the world.
While the adults took turns riding all the "big-kid" rides (the California Screaming roller coaster is the best roller coaster EVER!!!), the kids played in Bear Country. It's like a gigantic playground with ropes to climb, slides to go down, and lots of areas to explore. Their favorite was the slides - they would slide down then giggle and run madly to do it again, all the while with me trailing behind begging them to wait for me. This is the closest I could get to taking a picture of them standing still. They couldn't stop their fun for a lousy photo!
We also met lots and lots of characters, 12 to be exact: Woody and Jessie, Tiana, Ariel, Belle, Pooh and Eeyore, Pluto, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and Silvermist and Tinkerbell. Alison (my sister) made the cutest personalized autograph books for the girls, and they had a blast asking the characters to sign their books. This will truly be a great memory keepsake. Thanks, Alison!

Just one picture of meeting the characters:

Did we have fun? Oh, yes, we did! Time to go home and rest up for Day 2.

Spooky Times at Disneyland

Disneyland decorates for all the major holidays. Their decorations for Halloween were fantastic.
Not only do they decorate the streets, they also decorate some of the rides. I love what they did to Space Mountain (ghosts and spooky images flashing past as you ride at high speeds through the dark), but the kids really loved what they did to the Haunted Mansion. It's their new favorite ride now that it's dressed up as Nightmare Before Christmas.I hope you were able to get into the Halloween spirit as well as Disneyland did.Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year. Our friends Bentley and Gaige invited us to be a Peter Pan theme with them, which we gladly accepted. A1 was Tinkerbell, A2 was Smee, Bentley was Peter Pan, and Gaige was Captain Hook. They were absolutely adorable in their costumes!
We had three parties to attend the weekend of Halloween. As the parents were highly encouraged to dress up for a couple of the parties, I decided to join in the theme as well. I was the second star to the right (and straight on until morning).We also did Trunk or Treating at the Church. It was fun, but exhausting. The kids needed a rest from carrying around all their bags of loot. They decided to lighten the load by eating some of their candy before the adults could say no.
I hope you had a happy Halloween!

Hair Style #19

I love this hairstyle. It's another that would be perfect for Valentine's Day. Set aside lots of time for this one (it took me 45 minutes): Part out a heart shape around the back of her head and put that hair into a rubber band to hold it out of the way. Part out another heart (using the first as a "template") around the first heart. French braid each side of the larger heart (taking hair from only one side to keep the braid in a heart shape), then do the same to the smaller heart. Gather all hair at the bottom of the two hearts and finish with a messy bun or - as I did - with a bunch of little braids. A1 thought she was so pretty with these hearts.

top view

back view (with lots of little braids)