Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Bella's 1st Day of School

Bella had her first day of school yesterday. It went well. She was happy to see her old classmate Charlie in her new class. She likes her teacher Mrs. Shannon. She liked playing with her pink play dough. And she didn't even bat an eye when I left her classroom after dropping her off. However, when I came to pick her up after school, she had wet her nap map and was not in a good mood. Apparently she had fallen into a deep sleep and was groggy at wake up. But when I read her daily take home folder, it said she had a fantastic day, so I'm chalking it up as a good day.



Monday, August 23, 2010

1st Day of Kindergarten

"I had an amazing day!" said Victoria when I picked her up from her first day of Kindergarten. After school we went for yogurt, and she told me all about her day- she met a bunch of girl friends (Isabella, Hailey, and some girl that looks like her old friend Kaitlyn), she did a tour of the school, she watched Magic School Bus during snack time, she liked recess, but didn't get to go outside because it was too hot, she calls her teacher Mrs. Byers, not "teacher" because she wouldn't want to be called "kid", she met both principals, and she loves music class where you get to play a game called "Busy Bee."

Victoria holds up a inside out cereal box that she decorated for her "book box" for the first day of school. She drew a bunch of unknown classmates with different hairstyles on it. Notice how the majority of them have red hair :)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

August Birthdays

We celebrated the August birthdays tonight by going out to the Olive Garden. Afterward we went back to Carol ad Dick's house and had chocolate pie.

Happy birthday to us!

Victoria wears her new purple outfit. She was so proud to give me this stuffed animal for my birthday. She bought it herself- I gave her some money and told her she had to go up to the cash register and pay for it herself. I think its a retro pink raccoon that plays a some type of tune that I can't place. Victoria told me that she bought it because I need to take a stuffed animal to bed too.


Victoria Day

Victoria and I celebrated a Mommy/Daughter Day today before she starts Kindergarten next week. I'm happy and sad about it- I know she's going to like it and do fine, but time has gone by so fast. I remember holding her in my arms right after coming home from the hospital and singing to her beautiful baby face the Enya song Wild Child. We would sway and I would bounce her up in the air to the beats. I miss that. So today I took just Victoria out on a date. I asked her what she wanted to do on the date. Her response was "pick flowers and splash in puddles." We never found a field of wild flowers, but we did find some puddles.


We went to the Allen Outlet Mall to do some shopping and we rode a couple of their kiddie vehicles- trolley, fire engine, & race car.

We did some school shopping and Victoria picked out a purple outfit for the first day of school.
Afterward we ate lunch at the food court. We had pizza. Victoria wanted a Cinnabun for desert- yum.
I painted her fingernails a sparkly purple to go with her outfit- fun!
We went to a ceramic painting place. Victoria loved it- she kept asking to come back tomorrow :) She painted a cupcake and a little red haired girl. I painted a princess plaque for her wall with her name on it. It took longer painting mine, so I let her paint another lady figure.

She drew the face on with pencil all by herself. I traced her lines with black paint.

What a great day! I love her so much and am going to miss her so much when she starts school.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Jeff and July Wed

Jeff Joseph Sadowski and July Marie Sanchez married on Saturday the 14th of August 2010. Victoria and Bella were the flower girl and ring bearer. Bella wore the same dress that July wore when she was a little girl. July's dress had been worn 5 other times. They were gorgeous! We met her family the night before for pizza in the park after the rehearsal. What a nice family!






Jeff and July bought everyone in their wedding party Converse shoes to wear for the reception. They each got to pick their own style. Bella chose hot pink high tops and Victoria chose lower ones that where all black with purple and silver stars on the tongue. My brother sported red ones in the style of his favorite show Dr. Who. July wore blue ones- I'm thinking along the lines of "something blue."

What an amazing wedding reception! The wedding party danced into the hall with a Mariachi band in toe. We did a traditional Wedding March where everyone participates to getting lined up, then split up, and then rearranged in a large dance. Bella was a dancing fool- she loved it! Victoria also liked dancing, but enjoyed pretending to sip champagne (apple cider) more with the grown ups.

The Lunn family left the party early, after the Dollar Dance with the Bride and Groom (about 8:30), because we traveled to Amarillo that night, then home the next day. But I'm sure the fun party continued on with more dancing. Jeff and July are having their honeymoon in Las Vegas- wish them luck:)

Santa Fe


My Uncle Steve, Aunt Lois, and Uncle Dave came in from Illinois. We traveled to Santa Fe by train to enjoy the sights and eat ice cream. While there we saw the famous spiral staircase that has no nails or screws at San Loretto church.


Christy

While in Albuquerque, I was able to meet my long lost friend Christy. I knew her during high school, when we would do plays together. She hasn't lost that spark- she's still inquisitive and warm hearted and ready to laugh. Our kids played together nicely.




Sandia Mountains

My parents took us up to the Sandia mountains using a bumpy old gravel road on the backside.

We hiked up the Man Cave trail.


The kids enjoyed climbing the rocks on the trail.

We had a picnic halfway up. Victoria found a stick and used it to conduct an opera.


When we made it to the top, we hiked another trail along the crest of the mountain. It had giant trees to climb.




Afterward, we went to the Tinkertown Museum. One man carved thousands of miniature doll like figures in various scenes- some even played music.

Meeting July

We had a BBQ at my parent's house in honor of meeting July. She brought her cute dog Lilly to play. Victoria and Bella loved running in the backyard with Lilly and even made a bed of hay for her. July and I discovered that we actually knew each other previously. I helped give a retreat to her class when I was in High School at the youth group with the Annunciation church. I remembered meeting her and some of her friends.



Afterward, Jeff and Paul showed us how their Tesla coil works- Jeff pretends to have a light savor. Jeff and July make a cute couple!



Bandelier National Park

We traveled to Bandelier to see the Indian ruins with my dad.

The Indians built their houses out of the soft rock in the cliffs.
Victoria and Bella enjoyed going into each and every house.


During the hike Bella fell down and skinned her knee. Victoria picked a flower and put it in Bella's hair- all better.

We took another hike to some steeper cliff houses. There were seven ladders all different sizes (some 30 feet long) that led up to the top house. Jer took Victoria first. I started to take Bella, but after the second ladder that tilted diagonally and Bella started to go faster then I could go, I chickened out and came back down with her. (I don't think I could catch her if she fell.) She screamed and cried all the way down- "I want to go up too!" So at the bottom, I took her to the creek to put her feet in the water, while we waited for Daddy and Victoria. We actually could see them through the trees of the creek bed coming down the ladders. (By the way, that is the second ladder.)


On the way home, we drove the back side of the mountains/volcano and saw the crater. It's all a lush green from the grass.

We also pulled the car off the side of the road and saw the Soda Falls, where Victoria and Bella did some more climbing.


Build A Bear

Lake Ray Roberts

Memorial Weekend 2009

Brothers Visit

Christmas '08

PA Vacation Slideshow