Saturday, April 27, 2013

April

Bella's Kindergarten class performed the songs Mr. Sun & Warm, Warm Weather.
Here's one of her songs, sorry it's sideways, I'm still learning to use my cell phone's recorder. But at least you can hear her outstanding voice.
Bella's friends Peighton and Veda
Victoria still enjoys gymnastics. She's gotten better at her splits and kickback bridge.
Bella likes to do flips on the trampoline- BUT ONLY if adults are present.
Enjoying a Rough Rider game.
Bella had a class field trip to Safety Town. She was chosen to come up in front of the class and answer a question, if she got it right then her class would get to ride the cars first. And she did! The whole class cheered.
I honestly think Bella is going to be a safe driver. She stopped at all the red lights, drove in the right lane and practiced perfect safety, unlike the majority of the kids I saw- it was a mad house!
Bella's best friend and soccer mate Kate
Mrs. Carson's Cool Kids class of 2013
For Earth Day Bella enjoyed climbing trees and Victoria made Dirt (chocolate pudding mixed with whipped cream, crushed Oreos on top with gummy worms crawling out) for her Girl Scout Snacks. She topped them with a spoon that had a flower that looked like the planet Earth tapped to it- cut out by her after we printed them off the computer. 
I think this will be Bella's last year of soccer. She still enjoys it, but only for the first 10 minutes of the game and only enjoys playing the fun games like Shark at practice, otherwise she complains nonstop about having to run so much.
Bella cheers her team on with a homemade sign we made last year.
And what does Victoria do during Bella's game. She likes to climb trees, catch butterflies, read books, and draw flower pictures.
The team photo.
I love cleaning the house only to go to the bathroom, with cleaning supplies in hand, open the door, and find this. I'm told that they were playing schoolhouse. cleaning/putting things away is a never ending job.
Victoria showed Bella how to make her own Trapper Keeper.
Bluebonnet Pictures at Zion Cemetery

The girls saw a butterfly and started to chase it around. I wasn't as concerned with them stepping on bluebonnets (they were being careful- until the end), this year was a horrible year for bluebonnets. There was only about a third of them compared to last year. The yellow flowers were pretty though.
It was at this point that Bella had to go to the restroom. Victoria was on the top of the hill, she came leaping down as fast as she could- I sure hope we didn't hurt anything, but in the words of Annie-when you gotta go, you gotta go :)
I'm here for you Bella!
Bella was so grateful to Victoria for hurrying that she shared her strawberry Sonic shake.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Somewhere around Easter...

I forgot about all the events that I record with my cell phone camera, so I thought I'd share a few so that I can hopefully remember when I'm old and grey. They happened sometime around Easter.
Bella has been having horrible tantrums lately and complaining about everything. I kind of remember this phase with Victoria, but still sometimes your patience gets tested. Does anyone remember the poem- I knew a little girl who had a little curl, and when she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid. By the way, taking a picture of the tantrum actually does shorten the duration of it (a future tip I must remember.)
Climbing trees at the park with our friends Nico and Marlee on a beautiful March day.
Victoria tries on her First Communion dress and falls in love with it. She kept looking at herself in the mirror and saying, "Mommy, I look so pretty." It is a full length white dress. I told her she probably won't wear one of these again until she is married. 
On the Saturday before Easter, we went to the Dallas Museum of Art. I was happy to introduce the kids to some of the works that they had been studying in school like Mondrian's linear paintings or Monet's use of brushstrokes that they've been watching me use at home. We enjoyed it for about an hour before the kids got bored and kept asking to be held or go to the restroom or go play outside, so we ventured to the kid's area where they got to build an animal out of different materials. Bella built an elephant and Victoria built a Weiner dog. 
As we were walking out of the museum we noticed a large crowd gathered a block away and went to investigate. There was a giant outdoor playground, splash pad, and live music with food trucks type of event taking place. We let the kids play for a while, then went to a restaurant that Jer has been wanting to try called the Magic Time Machine.
We got a table all to ourselves in the Tiki room. Thank goodness for the very low lighting, because it hid all the grime. I remember this place being the "it" place when I was a kid, and it looked like they didn't clean it since then. But the girls had a blast!
Bella ordered some fancy green volcano drink; when they brought it to us it was smoking. Later we were able to get balloon swords and I even got a balloon Weiner dog- to be friends with Victoria's museum dog :)
 
 My neighborhood ladies get together once a month for a Girls Night Out. This month we went to a painting place, where everyone choose what they wanted to paint, and they let us do our own thing. I choose a very Italian piece that I could display with my décor. I think it turned out good, but I still need to tweak it a bit, when I get a chance.
 I found out about a really neat project called Hope Park. They tore up the old Frisco Commons wooden park and are replacing it with a newer (hopefully longer lasting) wooden park that will be handicap accessible. I volunteered to help build it one Saturday morning. Although I put myself down as an "unskilled" volunteer, they saw my potential and quickly moved me to a "skilled" volunteer- Ha! I am proud to say that I can now operate a circular saw, and numerous power drills and tools. I was able to build 2 poles that are going into the ground (translation- no one will be able to see them :) for the choo choo train of the park.
Here is my crew- Julia, Emily, and Charlin- Team Girl Power! They are pointing to the train on the park map that we help build.
I went to eat lunch with Bella and Victoria. Bella asks me almost every day to eat with her; so I try to at least once a week. It's funny because when I get there, she doesn't even notice me, but I guess she's just happy that I'm there and she gets to invite a friend to eat with us. Bella invited one of her best friends Veda who she plays with at recess. Veda is also Victoria's little buddy in the school's reading program. Victoria invited her long time friend Layla. Victoria has really become quite the girlie girl- she can now talk your ear off :) I was surprised when I ate lunch with her and she entertained the whole table (including other adults and kids) with her comedic stories. 
Jer and I went to our first black tie event- Cure for National Juvenile Diabetes gala- JDRF. Jer bought a tux and I bought a tea length black dress. It was a lot of fun. We bid on a couple of packages and actually won one-a night stay in San Antonio (maybe we can go to the River Walk sometime soon.) The girls were happy to get babysat by the neighbor's girl Casey who they love putting make up and doing each others hair. They also liked it when she read a chapter of their nightly book- Little House on the Prairie to them. 
Victoria was happy to preform a musical with her class about the history of Rock and Roll. Her class dressed in beach attire and sang the Beach Boy song Surfing USA. Grandma Carol and Grandpa Dick were able to come and watch too.
I love my Easter Lilies that Jer got for me. I had never had them before and didn't think they were ever going to open, then one day- POW- gorgeous!
When my Kindergarten Faith Formation class returned from Easter vacation I was happy to do a watercolor lesson with them. We painted over a taped cross and wrote the words- Jesus is alive! Their pieces turned out beautiful.

Build A Bear

Lake Ray Roberts

Memorial Weekend 2009

Brothers Visit

Christmas '08

PA Vacation Slideshow