2 cute things

Wanted to post these two things before I forget them. We had a ward activity a week ago. A yummy dinner/field day at the stake park. Aly, our wonderful friend and babysitter, was there with her family. Gabrielle wanted to walk down to where they were sitting and say hi. She absolutely loves Alyson and Chuck and Mack (Max), Annie and Sofie. Anyway, Aly told me a bit later that Gabrielle went up to her and said, "Alyson, my momma told me tell you I need cake!" Guess she'd been a little spoiled with cake for her birthday and figured she should have it every day... but alas there was no cake in sight. :) But before you feel too bad for the little rascal, I'll mention that she got a snowcone and one or two creamies.

One other super cute thing... Gabby (or Bielle as she is called) and Sofie have become very close. In fact about a week ago, Aly was holding Sofie and said to Sofie, "You're my best friend." Sofie replied, "Sorry Mama, Bielle my best friend." Too cute! I love that my kids are so happy and so well taken care of while I'm at work. We have been so blessed and are so grateful!

First Day of School

For Ella, the first day was yesterday...with parents required to attend as an orientation. And today was the first day where parents dropped kids off and left them. For Michelle, today was the first day. Both girls were so excited. In fact, on Tuesday, Michelle asked our babysitter, Aly, all day long how much longer until I got home from work, because she said, "I need to go home and go to bed early so I can get up for school tomorrow." Too cute! They both had great days, love their teachers, and were so thrilled that we made teacher survival kits for their teachers again. Ella's teachers are Mrs. Pereira (English) and Miss Hair (Spanish). Michelle also had Mrs. Pereira. Michelle's teachers are Mrs. Butler (English) and Mrs. Jensen (Spanish). Mrs. Jensen is new and I don't know either of these teachers, but I'm confident that they will be great. Michelle seemed especially happy to have cubbies. We love their school. One fun thing this year is that one of my closest friends, Brenda, has a daughter in Ella's kindergarten class. So Ella has her friend Aelora with her. And Ella did great today. I was afraid she would cling to me or cry but she gave me a hug and said goodbye and lined up and went inside with her class with no problems.

Back to School Haircuts

Michelle had been asking me for a haircut for a few weeks. I love her long hair and felt a little reluctant so I told her to think about it and if she really wanted her hair cut we would do it. So last Saturday was the day and she was sure she wanted it cut. Ella decided that morning that she wanted her hair cut as well. Since she often cries and doesn't want her hair brushed I was more than happy to cut her hair, no thinking or wait time involved. :) So we headed off to get hair cuts, snapping a few (very silly) before pictures prior to leaving. I thought I took after pictures but really I was getting ready for Gabby's party and never did. So here's a quick preview...with better after pictures to come soon!

The Birthday Party

Gabby's birthday party was a week ago. We had family and a few close friends come for her party. We had a barbecue, let the kids play on the trampoline and zipline and swingset. Then we had presents, cake and ice cream and did a pinata. I think Gabrielle had a fabulous time, and she has loved all of her gifts. She is in love with zhu-zhu pets right now and has spent so much time with her zhu-zhu pet police station and car.



My favorite part was definitely the cake. She had this shy, bemused look on her face as we sang to her. Then she bit right into the corner of the cake, getting frosting all over her face. She even had frosting on her eyelashes. Wish I had my other lens on my camera then, because it just didn't show up with this one (and I was too lazy to run in and get it.) Anyway, here she is:




Oh and I can't forget pictures of the pinata.

Terrific Twos

I actually really like my kids being two. (Three seems to be another story!) And now, Gabrielle is two. Happy Birthday sweet baby girl! :)

I'm back to work, so we just did cake and ice cream after dinner. But my sweet babysitter put the cutest sign up in their window wishing her a Happy Birthday. (Thanks Aly and Annie!) Anyway, I bought a darling little ladybug cake. I told Gabby we were going to sing to her and she began to sing "Happy Birfday, chacha cha" She wanted us to be sure and sing the "Chachacha" version. :) So of course we did. Then she happily enjoyed her cake...

Too cute!

Two cute stories about my darling daughter, Gabrielle. First, lately if I say "I love you" to her, she responds, "Noooo, I looove yooou." We go back and forth saying this several times. The funniest part about this is I don't know where she picked it up, because she is the one who started it. :)

A couple of nights ago, Gabrielle woke up about 10:30 at night. She almost always sleeps through the night and 10:30 seemed a very odd time to wake up. I went in and said, "It's time to go night-night." She said, "No, water in ear. Water in ear." (She had a sippy cup of water to help her fall asleep and apparently some had spilled in her ear.) Then she continued, "Get towel." I wiped her ear with a blanket. Then she moved down to a dry spot in her bed, and said, "Thank you, mama. Night-night." She curled up, ready for sleep. It really impressed me. I'm sure we've held many other conversations before, but for her to be able to communicate so clearly what was bothering her, especially so late at night, really seemed impressive. And oh, so cute! I just love that sweet baby girl! (Who I guess really isn't a baby anymore!! Where have the past two years gone.... Time really needs to slow down.)

Parkview Teachers...

are the best...Yes! Yes! Yes!

One of our friends that used to teach with us is currently visiting from Mexico. So we had to do a little get together so we could see her. We had a little get together at my house with some of the teachers (past and present) from Parkview. It was a lot of fun. I work with such great people...they are one of the biggest reasons I don't want to change schools. Here are photos of some of these great people: