At the Car Wash!!

Our cars were SOOOO dirty and hadn't seen a car wash in I don't know how long...
Last weekend Bill decided it would be fun to wash the cars at home with the kids "helping". I have to say that I thought it was a bad idea but he seemed to think it was going to be fun for all...
I am happy to admit I was WRONG!!
They had the BEST time and the cars even got really clean!!!

Kindergarten!

Bella started Kindergarten last week and what a wonderful start it was! She has been talking about this day for a long time and was beyond ready for the first day!
We started out with a yummy breakfast of waffles, eggs and fruit, got her dressed in a cute little dress, hair in french braids, GIANT backpack and lunch! She was set to go!

Bill, Charlie and I all took her to her first day and she is just like her mom and did not want to be late!!

On the first day there was an first day rally in the auditorium with the whole school and families. We found her teacher, Mrs. Dixon, talked to some of the other students and parents and tool our seats for the rally. The principal, Mrs. Imel, welcomed everyone to school and said she wanted to ask the students a question, one that maybe the older students, say 4th-6th grade, would probably be able to answer. She said"What is the best part about coming to school?" As soon as the question was asked Bella's hand shot up in the air "I KNOW!!!" My first reaction was to pull her hand down and sush her. I restrained myself and thought I better let her be who she is because I am not going to always be with her especially when she is at school.
So, with everyone in the room listening, Bella looked around and said "umm...ummm...the best part about going to school is making new friends!" My mouth dropped open and tears welled in my eyes...I was so proud of her! Mrs. Imel repeated to the room what Bella had said in case not everyone heard her and there was an "awwwww" in the room. Then Mrs. Imel said that was exactly the answer she was looking for. Bill and I looked at eachother and knew that she was more than ready to start school!
After the rally we watched her walk with her class to her room, gave our last hugs and kisses and watched our big 5 year old girl walk into her classroom for the first time...what a day!!!!

my sweet Charlie...

I love how affectionate Charlie is with me. He gives me lots of kisses and snuggles and I just love it!
The other morning Charlie said he wanted to give me some kisses. I went over to him and he gave me a bunch of kisses. After, Bill said it was his turn. He started kissing me and I could see Charlie watching us. Then he started kissing my neck. When he was done, Charlie said "I didn't do that"
What a sweetie!

Girly Time!

I started Girly Time with Bella when Charlie was a baby and she was feeling a little displaced. We take a bath, put on lotion, lipstick(chapstick) and paint our toe nails. Then we write in a shared journal have a snack and go to bed. It is wonderful! We both look forward to it very much.
Bella is starting school tomorrow and she keeps asking me to go to a salon to get her nails painted so I told we could before school started so we went on Saturday. It was so fun! Bella felt so grown-up and girly! I loved watching her little face while they were painting her nails. She was looking around at all the other ladies and I could tell she knew that this was pretty special and it was!

I forgot to bring my camera to the salon so here are a few pictures of the after.
When we were done she said "I can't wait to do that again. Can we go tomorrow?" Oh, I see lots of pedicures in our future!

These are Mr. Potato Head glasses...

The kids say they are grandma's with these on!

Family Game Night!

We LOVE to play board games as a family! Candyland, Bingo, Guess Who? and Diego 123 have been our favorites but after Bella got some new ones for her birthday we are branching out to Monopoly jr. Scrabble Jr. and Clue Jr.
Last night we played Monopoly Jr and had the best time! Bella got the concept right away and just loved that the board was an amusement park! We love going to the boardwalk here so we pretend that it is the Santa Cruz Boardwalk!

Charlie had a little more trouble understanding the concept and when anyone would land on his attraction and try to give him money he would cry and say he already had some money and didn't need anymore!!!

Can't wait for the next game night!

Sicky Day

Ever since we got back from our trip to the East Coast, Charlie hasn't been feeling very well. He had a terrible cough and finally we took him to the Dr. The Dr. said that he needed to go on antibiotics and may have pertussis. The Dr. said we needed to keep him away from kids for two days until the antibiotics kicked in so seclusion it was.

We actually had a lot of fun playing at home but by the end of the two days I was exhausted!

We colored, beaded, baked, played board games, rode scooters around the block, read books, took baths...

Here are some pics of some of our sicky fun!

Meeting Marcella

A few weeks ago we took a trip to the east coast to visit Bill's family and for his good friends wedding. One of the highlights of the trip was meeting my very first niece, Marcella (Ella)!
Bill had seen her a couple times but the kids or I hadn't met her yet and she is 6 months old!!

She is the sweetest little baby...she is so quiet, alert and smiley!!

Bella enjoyed singing and talking to her and playing with her toys. Charlie was not super interested at first but then warmed up and would talk to her and try to play with her. One day he went up to her and touched her ears and said"your ears are so tiny". In his little voice it sounded so cute!

The hardest part for our kids was being quiet when she was sleeping and not stepping on her when she was laying or sitting on the ground!

I LOVED holding her and talking to her and seeing her smile! What a sweet girl!

We miss you Ella! (and your mommy and daddy too)

Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car!!!

Bella's birthday present from Bill and I was tickets to go and see the Wiggles!
Bella has been a fan of The Wiggles since she was two and we have tried a few times to get to a show but it has never worked out. Since she was turning five this year and I knew that her love of the Wiggles would probably be fading soon we thought it was the perfect time to take her. Tickets were expensive so we could only afford to buy two and I was the lucky one that got to take her!!!
We gave her the tickets on her birthday, along with their new CD and a t-shirt to wear to the show. She was so excited and had every song on the Cd memorized in one day!
We were going to the show two weeks later and I was surprised as to how well she handled that...not being able to go right away.

The day of the show we got all ready, packed some snacks and off we went. We arrived early and were in our seats about 40 min before the show actually started...thank goodness for big buckets of popcorn!!

Once the show started she did not sit still the whole time! She was dancing and singing and I was having more fun watching her than the Wiggles themselves!!!

We had really great seats and were fortunate enough to sit on an aisle and at one point Sam came out into the audience and walked right by Bella and she gave him a high five!!! She talked about that for weeks and weeks!!!

What a day! I am so happy I was able to enjoy that special time with my special girl!

Bella's 5th Birthday Beach Party!

Bella chose to have her birthday party at the beach this year and Dora the Explorer was the theme!
I was soooo excited to find Dora the Explorer beach stuff at the dollar store which was so awesome!
Bella just had the best time...she loved playing with all of her friends. They played in the water, flew kites, made sand castles and ate snacks and cake! So much fun!