Miles Graduates from Preschool!

Miles is ready for kindergarten! His preschool program was amazing, and he is so excited to go to school next year. He is sad to leave his friends, who are all going to different schools next year, but he is already talking about his new school and the new friends he will make. He makes a new friend wherever he goes, and is such a sweet boy.

Last Day of Preschool

Miles and Ms. Chantelle - the BEST preschool teacher! 

Compare to Miles' First Day of Preschool

Claire - Owl of the Week

Claire was the Owl of the Week for her class - her teacher has everything owl themed this year. Here is her spotlight - some of her answers crack me up! I think we have made our kids like the old TV shows and cartoons - without cable to watch any new cartoons beside PBS shows, she chooses Wonder Woman as her favorite show and The Never Ending Story as her favorite movie (which she saw for the first time just before she was interviewed).

Here is the text a little bigger:

The Lovely Claire

Claire enjoys school, her favorite part is Fun Friday, and what’s not to like about that, I mean, “Fun” is part of the name!  She also enjoys Art because she really loves to paint.  When not in school she enjoys watching “Wonder Woman” on TV, and her favorite movie, “The Never Ending Story.” Claire’s favorite song is “Call Me, Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen.  While she may love that catchy tune, her favorite singer is Idina Menzel, probably better known as Elsa from the movie “Frozen.”  She loves playing with her Littlest Pet Shop toys, especially the monkey that twirls around and paints.  Those critters are the closest thing she has to a pet.  Claire is the oldest of three, she has a younger brother and a younger sister.  She has traveled the Disney circuit, visiting her Grandparents in CA and Disneyland (Dumbo is her favorite ride there) and heading to Florida to check out Disney World where she toured the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot (her favorite ride was the Test Track Ride).  Claire loves chinese food, especially Panda Express.  She is also a soccer fan, she plays on a soccer team called The Tiger Lilies.  Claire was spotted out on the soccer field this past weekend, her team played a great game!  

Thanks for being a part of our class, Claire!!!

Penelope Turns 2!!

How did this happen? My baby is two years old!

From this.... 

 

To this.... in the blink of an eye!

She is my little buddy - I miss her so much, miss all the kids, when I'm at work. When I am driving around with her on all our trips to school, work, soccer practice and games, etc. I just want to look at her little face in my rear view mirror the whole time. She is so expressive and sings and talks to herself all the time with the cutest little voice. But she has also found her volume button and can be very loud when she wants something. I guess you have to be with two older siblings competing for attention.

Penelope likes to have her feet tickled - it is the funniest thing. She will be in her seat in the car and she will say "tickle!!!!" with this voice of desperation, like it's the one thing in the world that she needs right then. So we reach our arms back at a terribly impossible angle and tickle her feet until our arms fall asleep. And then when we stop, she gets super mad... she doesn't seem to be that ticklish really, she laughs sometimes but mostly she just sits there while we tickle her feet. She used to calm down as a baby when we would rub her feet - guess she likes reflexology or something. :)

She loves the movie Frozen, like every other little girl in the world right now. She calls it "Let it Go" and loves listening to the songs on our phones. Every night at bedtime she requests Popcorn Popping and Itsy Bitsy Spider as her songs. I can sing other songs after those, but not before. This is a girl who knows what she wants.

She is finally talking a lot and is parroting most of our words now - but if you ask her to say something, she will not perform on demand. Ever.

Penelope loves stuffed animals and sleeps with no less than 8 of them at a time, and she especially loves her Woodstock, Lady and Snow White.

Her hair is still curly but will straighten out after a few nights of sleeping on it and when straight, it's probably down to the bottom of her shoulder blades. A lot of people ask me about her hair - if I curl it. Yeah right - I have exactly 90 seconds to get her hair done before she is off to the races. Whatever curl we have left is all natural.

What else? She love shoes, loves wearing everyone else's shoes, and she loves dogs! She will stop in her tracks anytime she sees a puppy but she takes a minute to warm up to new dogs. She also loves her brother and sister and calls Miles "Mize" and Claire "Care." She's close - needs to get those Ls in there.

Happy Birthday Sweet P!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sometimes I think my mom became a photographer because then she could control if she was in the picture or not. But every now and then we would sneak one in. I have this photo framed on my kitchen counter. This is exactly the type of photo I love being in with my kids. I am in it, but not the main focus. That's kind of how moms are, right?

So what can I learn about my mom from one single photo?

1. She sewed us matching dresses - so she was frugal (sewing used to be a way to save money, doesn't seem like that anymore), she wanted her girls to be cute and coordinated, and she was talented at sewing.

2. She has nice gams!

3. She took us on walks - Mom has always been active and loves the outdoors and often exercises outside. I think she keeps her job at an elementary school just so she can be outside most of the day.

4. My hair is braided with a clip - my hair was always done. Having met a woman in her late 20s who blames her lack of hygiene and hair care on a mom who never did her hair even as a young girl in school, I think this attention and care demonstrates love. It takes time and an incredible amount of patience to do TWO girls' hair every day, let alone more like other moms I know.

5. We lived out in the country - lots of trees and fresh air and not many neighbors. My parents moved to our little Northern California community so we could grow up in that kind of environment. The very same place I was so ready to leave and was way too mature for is now the type of place I wish I could live someday.

Happy Mother's Day Mom! Thank you for the photo and I love you!

New Parks, New Restaurants

We have been trying to find new places to hang out up here in North Las Vegas - we had so many favorite parks at our old house, and we almost always ran into someone we knew... I'm missing that. I feel so anonymous up here - sometimes it's nice to not worry about running into someone at Target or Costco while your hair is a mess, but we had quite the community down in the SW.... sigh.

We have started using google maps to show us a new park each time we go out, and we try not to get lost while we find a place to play. This park off of Aliante is awesome! I think it's called Aliante Discovery Park but we are calling it the dinosaur park. It has ponds with turtles and ducks, a splash pad, sand area complete with dinosaur bones and eggs, and a playground.

Now to find some new restaurants... we have Cafe Rio figured out, and we found a Thrifty ice cream store (childhood memories! Chocolate Malted Crunch is the best!) but not much else. Maybe this is a good time to stop eating out so much...

New House - One Month Later!

We have been in our new rental house for one month now - writing the second rent check to my sister in law Jonelle (this house had been sitting empty for several months so it was good timing for both of us I think) made me realize how fast time is flying by. Funny how each day that I'm driving to Claire and Miles' old school feels super slow, but the weeks zoom by.

We are living in North Las Vegas now, about 45 minutes from our old house if you take the 215 beltway all around the valley.

For the first time ever, I was able to make dinner while my kids played in the backyard. That doesn't sound like much, but after living in 1200 sf with 3 high-energy kids and no backyard , it was a moment of heaven to have some peace and quiet.

Cousin Genevieve stopped by to play - we have room for play dates! 

I haven't take photos of the house yet, but it's 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, 2 car garage, and a large backyard (Vegas standards) with a workshop/storage room in the backyard.

Flashback Thursdays - High School Days!

So - think we would have dated in high school? Matt says I would have had a huge crush on him! With those long flowing locks... maybe :) I'm number 33 in the group shots. And sorry for the picture of a picture on Matt's - these are straight from the wall at the Hiller's.