The End of PRE for My NayNay!

After a great year of co-op preschooling, graduation arrived (this was in June, I'm just a little behind)!! The kids were all wonderful and NayNay has really missed seeing them. All summer long he has asked where each of his preschool friends are.

For graduation each mom provided a fun element. We had awards, treats, playing at the park, fun hats, and ...these amazing cupcakes! Each child had their own MONSTER cupcake and if you look right over NayNay's shoulder you'll see a plate of APPLE cupcakes for each teacher.

I really enjoyed co-op teaching in the preschool and would definitely do it again. It was so great to have a break most the time but also have an opportunity to see first hand how my own child was doing. I guess now I'll just have to volunteer in his kindergarten class to see him!

Summer Gardening

This year a friend convinced/showed me how easy it is to garden, starting small. She gave me three pots, suggested three easy to grow items, and my garden was born! The kids helped with the plants, helped with the water, helped the the picking, and best of all, helped with the eating. Our broccoli gave us one good harvest, the peas a good two months of constant picking, and the squash came on so fast, I lost most the harvest. It was great and I can't wait to try more and different kinds!!

A day out at the zoo.

A good family friend, Kelley, took us to a wonderful zoo near our home. It was so great because it showcased the animals that are natural to our region. We got to ride a train around and see the animals right up close. We saw:

A bear (this one was enclosed),

some buffalo,
an elk (it is an elk, right?),
and lots more! Kelly, who loves the outdoors, showed us a plant that has leaves that grow like a butterfly! FeFe loved it!!
This was the view from the train at the highest spot in the zoo! What a wonderful day for a fun zoo trip!

In preparation for...Hawaii!!

Since we are going to Hawaii this fall, we thought it best that the kids have some water exposure. The kids LOVED their lessons and were sad when they ended. One of their favorite things was zipper - airplane - rocket, which FeFe is demonstrating below (check out that form!!).

NayNay learned to do all kinds of strokes and by the end of 6 weeks was doing all of them without help of any kind!! What a fast learner!
They loved jumping in, almost too much!! Kinda scary for a mommy!

But most of all they loved free-time. Hawaii, here we come!

For the love of BLANKET!

As long as she has her blanket, she can sleep anywhere!!

~Who let the leprechan in?~

Can anyone guess what day in March this happened on? The kids woke up to find that their oatmeal and milk had turned green!! What a surprise!

Did it stop raining?

Flash back to February. This is what I find in my home. "Mom, can we go outside?" Boredom sets in. There are only so many ways you can play tea party or make your transformers fight.

Then a nice day comes and we head for the park! It's been so long since we've been outside or seen the sun that it's a little bright on the eyes. Next time we'll have to remember sunglasses.

We finally made it! Now we need to get four months of crazy out because it's going to be that long before we get another nice day again.

Party like it's 1993?

In recognition of Curtice's 35th birthday (we didn't celebrate his 30th due to the arrival of Bug into our lives!) I threw him a totally awesome 90's bash!! I thought for sure he would know what was going on but he had no idea! Yep, I'm sneaky!! This is him arriving home from work to find a house full of people!

**Notice his lunch bag in his hand.

As part of the party, everyone was SUPPOSE to dress up in 90's grunge. To my surprise, no one got the memo -- either that or all our friends are lamo (yeah you heard me, you're all lamos!!).
We had all Curtice's favorite things from the 90's! Movie: Dumb and Dumber; Video Game: Contra on an old school Nintendo; Food: chips, more chips with dip, meat balls, mountain dew, and cheese cake. This was what FeFe looked like when she realized she couldn't have any cheesecake because of nuts.
It was a totally tubular party that rocked all night! Thank you to everyone who made the surprise and the night a blast!! And happy 35th birthday Hottie! I love you even though you're old!

A First for FeFe!

At the beginning of the year we went to a good friend of ours to cut FeFe's hair!! FeFe did a great job sitting still for her first hair cut EVER (yeah, you heard me, she's three and she's never had her hair cut before). As conservative as I am, we just did a trim. Maybe next time we'll chop it. What do you think?

December 2009

The Christmas holiday this year was busy but casual...just like we like it!! No fancy foods or formal parties. Just good friends/family and great food!! We loved it. Between all the crazy running around (shopping, teaching preschool, decorating and then undecorating) we were able to go see Christmas lights at Bellevue Botanical Gardens with some friends. The lights were lots of fun and the company was great!!

Later, NayNay made his rendition of the Nativity scene. There's baby Jesus in the manger, Mary and Joseph standing next to him, the shepherds behind Jesus (the small short ones), and the three wise men off to the side. He made this all by himself, we just came in and found it!
Due to how casual Christmas was this year, we have no visual documentation to prove that it happened. Just credit card statements!

When all was said and done, the scouts did their annual collection of Christmas trees fundraiser. Lucky for NayNay, Curtice was involved so he got to go see what happens to all those collected trees!

It was VERY warm and the ash falling out of the sky looked like snow. It was lots of fun! It was a great way to end a good year!!

I'm Back!

So now tax season is over and my nights aren't nearly so crazy, I'll start posting again!! Glad to be back!

FeFe's Birthday!

Fefe had a great birthday this year. It was pretty low key, consisting of her playgroup and a few other close friends but that made it just perfect for her. She wanted a tinkerbell theme so we did her hair up (like at halloween). Each girl was given a fairy skirt and wand and the boys got swords and eyepatches (for Captain Hook, of course!). They colored Peter Pan pictures, chased each other around the house, decorated then ate heart shaped cupcakes, and ended with the Tinkerbell movie!!

This was the spoils of a great day!! Lucky FeFe!!

A few days later Fefe got all dressed up for her first date with daddy. They went to a wonderful production of The Nutcracker. Fefe was so excited. They got there pretty early and got in their seats. She sat quietly through the first half watching closely and clapping at all the right places. Then intermission came. They grabbed a snack and returned to their seats. Fefe was past her nap and her ability to sit still so she finally yelled out "I want to take a nap!". She did wonderful considering her age and the length of the show!!

At the end, through a family friend, they were able to go see Princess Clara!! Needless to say, Fefe talked about being a sugarplum fairy for weeks! Happy Birthday, Princess!