Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Collin's special day

Each of the kids gets to pick one day a year to play hookie from school and choose what they want to do that day.
Collin picked his day right away and chose Amazing Jake's with Mommy and Daddy.
So Daddy took a couple of hours off of work and away we went.
We had such a good time playing games and driving cars and eating!!!
I love special days with the kids where it is all about them!!!









Thursday, September 16, 2010

Our Vegas trip

Tim and I had our second annual Vegas trip with our friends, Carrie and Scott.
We changed it up a bit this year and tried some resteraunts that were off the beaten path. WOW. The Italian restaurant, Batistas was amazing. A nice man walked around playing the accordian and singing to people.
The Tapas at Fireflies were awesome too.
We got a cabana for a day and relaxed and we danced the nights away at the clubs.
The kids stayed with Nana and Papa and enjoyed all the fun things they did as well as their little dog, Max.





Tuesday, September 14, 2010

a week in review

Kayla recorded a radio commercial. First time in a studio!


"Whopper Cake" was one of the books Collin recently checked out at the library.
It inspired him to make a whopper (huge) cake of his own. The kids made two different kinds of cake and layered them. So fun!



Nana got a doggie. He is a sweetie and his name is Max.


We hit the zoo with our friend Margaret and her kiddos. Lots of turtles out that day!



Kayla, Bailey and Collin had an art afternoon in Nana's casita.


I can't get enough of these cute cuddly girls.


Ridiculously cute!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

A day in the life of a Mom

*wake up to feed two hungry kids.
*have kids feed two hungry dogs
*ignore cat
*Email rsvp's to two birthday party invitations
*remove dog toy from second story hanging light fixture with a shower curtain rod
*pack up backpacks and lunches
*drop son at a playdate
*drop daughter at school
*drop Guess jeans at seamstress to be hemmed
*stop at grocery store for more deli meat and milk
*send 4th angry email to a teacher keeping up my end of an email argument
*complain to friend about the injustices of the world and the American Education system.
*complain to second friend about the injustices of the world and the American Education system (this time via text)
*work out on Elliptical
*take 15 minutes of zen time sitting in the pool
*spray tan myself for our Vegas trip
*read text response about the injustices of the world and the American Education System.
*Feel mollified
*Meet Mom for pedicure.... ahhhh
*run to Costco for vita-tops and milk. Damnit did I already get milk? Ooh simply gogurt is on sale!
*drop cold groceries at home
*pick up both kids from school, dealing with the awkward moment of seeing my email argument partner
*find out I have won argument. Mollified, justified, exhausted
*meet another friend for dinner.
*Complain about the injustices of the world and the American Education system
Good night

Monday, September 6, 2010

Parent Teacher conference... Kayla

It was great to meet with Mrs. W. She is so sweet and reminds me a lot of Collin's loving preschool teachers. She hugs the kids, encourages them and even talks to them on a friend level at times.
We learned that Kayla is lively, creative and talkative in class but very well behaved. Socially and emotionally she is well adjusted, which just goes to show that homeschooling a child does not necessarily hurt them socially. It depends on their personality to begin with.
She is still a bit more mature than the kids in her class... always has been a bit of an old soul. So apparently she had some frustrations when they were put in to groups to work on geology. She didn't like the arguing and interrupting going on.
But that's OK... it's a great lesson to work with all different types of kids.
That's life!
Science, reading and writing are all going well. In fact, just as Collin's teacher had commented, Mrs. W said Kayla has a wonderful writing talent.
Who would have thunk it that I would have these two great writers when I could barely tolerate working on writing with them because I hate handwriting myself and it pains me to watch a kid trying to do it.
The other thing I did not work on with Kayla is timed math tests.
I am impressed with how fast she's caught up but she still has to get a little faster.
So our goal is to practice timed math facts every day... maybe we'll have time now that her play has ended.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Parent Teacher conference... Collin

Yesterday was our parent teacher conference with Collin's kindergarten teacher.
We loved hearing how our second born wild and crazy guy was doing in kindergarten.
We were excited to learn that Collin is at the final stages of writing that is expected in kindergarten.
They were asked to draw a picture of their favorite snacks. Collin drew a bag of Trail Mix and underneath he wrote, "Tral Mics"
Which is actually really good!
So his "individual prescription" as they call it is already having him moving on to writing sentences with complete thoughts. Go Collin!
He is reading well and recognizes all the sight words required to move in to the reading program early. Collin can't wait to show his teacher what kinds of books he can already read!
And he has a love of counting and numbers.
Most of all, we were happy to learn that the teacher considers him a very passionate and excited learner and that he is almost perfectly behaved in class.
Almost because he interrupts. :) That is something he has to work on. He has a lot to say a LOT of the time but we're glad he is confident and excited!
All in all, a great conference to confirm what we already knew.
Collin is one smart cookie! And a great kid most importantly. We can't wait to see all the "character counts badges" he has earned!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Foster family

Yay! It has finally happened! I am fostering someone.
Babies, puppies or kittens... I would have been happy with any but Tim limited it to kittens. :) That's OK. We love kittens in this house!
Here our are babies: Hunter, Patch and Nonnie in that order


Each kid was able to name a kitten and the one left I got to name. For the first time in my life I couldn't come up with anything! So Kayla suggested I name her "Anonymous" which I thought was a bit long, so we went with Nonnie for short.
The kittens have been loads of fun... and loads of work!
Collin is having some pretty strong allergic reactions to them. So strange since he doesn't react to JuneBug and tested negative for pet allergies. But this always happens to him when he is around multiple cats or kittens.
So we'll see how it goes. If he doesn't get better our fosterees might have to go to another home for the remainder of their pre-adoption time but for now... fun!


Saturday, August 21, 2010

News!

Some exciting things happened on Thursday and Friday:

*Collin had his first playdate with a new kindergarten friend. They had a blast!
I'm so glad that he has wonderful friends in his class.

*Kayla got her first report card (the school does them every three weeks- LOVE that!)
They grade with percentages on these report cards (the four major report cards are different) but basically she got all A's and one B. It was neat to look at her scores and see them go up each week. She adjusted FAST from homeschool to school!

*Kayla auditioned for a "Milk" commercial radio spot and GOT the part!
She records soon and it is great pay for her and great for her resume! Go Kayla!

Week in review

A lazy Sunday


She's lucky she's so pretty because she sure isn't very nice to me.


Where JuneBug looks over her kingdom from


"Please stop putting bows in my hair"


Collin went to the optometrist because his vision was a little blurry. They found that he has astigmatism in his left eye which they will watch for a year before they decide on glasses. In the meantime, we have learned that he has "a protanomoly" (he is red/green colorblind) He learned his colors long ago and always names them correctly so it doesn't make a LOT of sense to me, but I am slowly learning what all of this means. Coll stayed home from kindergarten that day since he had to wear dark glasses after his eye dilation.



Collin has cutting edge fashion sense. Don't be jealous.

Monday, August 16, 2010

lizards, lizards everywhere

Spiders, cockroaches, mice, termites and even scorpions... you name it, a friend or a family member has dealt with it. It's always a bit traumatic to deal with these unwanted houseguests.
But I am not your stereotypical housewife who stands on a chair and shrieks when coming across one. In fact, I remember a winter in CO when we were dealing with mice in the house. I didn't scream when I came across one.
In fact I would trap them and keep them in an aquarium with food and water until it was "warm enough" to let them safely go in a field.
That was until we started finding them in our silverware drawers and kitchen cupboards. Then I had to sign the furry little guys' death warrant with a local exterminating company.

But I am officially and quickly becoming the stereotypical shrieking housewife with our LIZARD infestation. Tiny cream colored lizards with striped tails. Cute and fun to see when you find them outside. Quite the opposite as I find them inside the house, in various stages of life, death and sometimes (thanks to the cat) digestion.
The first one was found by Collin in the master bathroom when he screamed and said, "Mommy something just ran really fast behind the trashcan."
Ewww.... what ran fast??? A lizard, we discover. That's odd. How the heck did he get in here? After a botched rescue and release attempt, we laid his tiny body in the front yard.

The next week I was picking up dressup clothes when one scurried from underneath an item. I screamed. It was startling. I was able to catch and release this one.
Not five minutes later did I find another one in the playroom... sitting in a bowl.
He was easy to release too.

I told Tim that I'm pretty sure we have a lizard problem but since no one knows what to do with indoor lizard populations we left well enough alone.

The lizard torso found in a pile of kitty vomit was really convincing to my fragile psyche that we had to do something.

But still no one seemed concerned.

But walking downstairs in the middle of the night to find JuneBug picking up with her paws a little dead lizard and throwing it joyfully in to the air like confetti really put me over the edge. I would really and truly like to find a way to keep the lizards out. If only they knew what was lurking inside our house, waiting for another victim to sacrifice to the kitty gods. Why else does she toss her victims skyward?




RIP little buddy. May your corpse be a warning to all lizard kind.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Pictures from the week

I had to get a picture of the sign on Kayla's dressing room door at the theater.


Collin had a great time at a back to school puppy themed party.


Kayla has learned to braid hair and likes to practice on me almost every night. :)


Poor Abby had another seizure... this time in the middle of our kitchen. Kids are just so sweet... this is how I found Abby. The kids had covered her up right after.


Abby won't play with the kitty but she sure is starting to cuddle with her.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

What we did while Kayla was at rehearsal

Rehearsals were every night and on Saturday mornings.
We had a lot of help from the grandparents, neighbors and friends during this time.
And we really appreciated it!!
But there were times when Tim traveled that Collin and I were left to fill our time and figure out what to do with ourselves while Kayla was at the theater.
So...

We had a superhero playdate


We had a cupcake decorating playdate


We played in the fountains outside of Hale Theater


We had a movie night, swim nights and a couple of dates, but when all else failed...
I even put him to bed at the theater under the seats. Hey, a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do!

San Diego

I was lucky to get to head to San Diego for an engagement shoot.
I asked my friend Brandi to join me and we made it a girls weekend.
WooHoo!! We hit the Marble Room for a great dinner and the gaslamp district for some drinks and karaoke. We had a blast!
Next day was hanging out on the beach taking pictures and then the engagement shoot on the beach. What a GREAT day that was. We finished it by eating at The Fish Market.
Here a a couple of fun pictures from the weekend and you can see the beach engagement session at: http://robind.smugmug.com/Weddings/MichaelLaura-engagement

For fun and practice


Ahhh.... sitting in the sand by the ocean...


This is our "what were we thinking, that we were shooting a commercial for toothpaste?" shot

Monday, July 26, 2010

First day of school!

WOW... I can't believe it has already come and gone.. the first day of school!
The charter school where the kids attend is on a modified year-round schedule.
This works wonderfully in AZ because the kids go back to school in July when it's really too hot to be doing much anyway. Then they have long breaks in October, December and March. This allows families to have lots of time to enjoy the beautiful weather here as well as travel to places like Disneyland when most everyone else is in school. :) We love that!
Kayla loves her 3rd/4th grade combo class and the fact that you get a teacher for two years in a row. The class sizes are small and the learning approach is neat. Learning is application based, collaborative and investigative. The kids talk and work together to figure things out. The only "no talking" time is during tests.
Kayla loves her teacher, Mrs. W.
Collin loves kindergarten although it goes by quickly at just 2 1/2 hours.
But I get to have him home with me another year so I can't complain.
Mrs. B is super sweet. She gave each of the kids a bag of treats the first day with a note describing what each object represented, such as a Hersheys Hug to remind them that she will give them a hug any time they need one and an eraser to remind them that it's OK to make mistakes in her classroom.
Collin has two buddies from preschool in his class so that was pretty nice.
All in all a good first day and a great first week.
Here are some pix: