Miss Student of the Week!

Here she is:  MISS KINDERGARTEN STUDENT OF THE WEEK!  Paprika has been looking forward to this week ALL year.  She was supposed to be SOTW last week, but seeing as how it was also DWTS Finale week, we were able to push it back a week so we could all be there to support her.

The picture above is all of us outside her classroom moments before her first presentation.  She told me she was feeling a little nervous. 

On Monday, she gave a presentation to the class all about her life.  She worked hard on her board (with a little help from yours truly - haha).  She covered her babyhood, siblings, grandparents, parents, extended family, pets, friends, Disneyland, swimming, piano, art, the beach, butterflies - it was all there!  She did a fantastic job - we were so proud of her!





On Tuesday, she brought a big bag of all her favorite things to show the class.  She brought her piano medal, her Charlotte doll, Teddy bear, a few drawings, her diary, letters from her pen pals, and her special yellow blankie.  She did fantastic showing her items to the class and answering questions.

On Wednesday, she read a book to her class.  Since she read a Little House book, she brought her special Charlotte doll.  She read so clearly and true - and made sure to show everyone the illustrations in the book.  I could not have done a better job myself!  :-)





Today she presented her Student Interview and got a "Buzznote" from her class- basically a letter with positive things about her from each of her classmates!

What a fun week it has been!

Last week, the kids in her kindergarten class were all supposed to dress up as their favorite scientist.  Paprika wanted to dress up as Sally Ride, the astronaut.  Here she is!  Notice the "no-nonsense" hairbows- haha - she didn't think Sally Ride would have worn princess or flower hairbows.  ;-)







And here is a little story Paprika wrote for her class.  So cute!












Happy Weekend! 

The End!

Happy Days!

It's been an exquisite week full of happy days.  Last weekend we went to Paula's and went swimming - so much fun!  I have pics on my real camera but have not had a chance to upload them yet (story of my life!)  Instead, these are all cell phone pics from this past week - which upload like magic to the computer!  Easy peasy! 

I never tire of watching Violet sleep.  I wonder if one day she'll think it's weird that I took seventy billion pictures of her sleeping?  Wish I could bottle it up - and even seventy billion pictures can't do that!  But I'll keep trying!  ;-)




Mr. M and I have been clearing out the clutter!  It's been a huge effort on both our parts to do all the little things around the house we've wanted to do for months but haven't had time.  He's built a new computer that he pieced together himself.  We've sorted through the garage and have said goodbye to MOUNTAINS of things.

We've donated almost all of our baby items.  From the baby bathtub, the bouncy seat, the exersaucer, to the bumbo...just everything.  It's been super bittersweet to see all of those baby things go - but it was time.  We took down the crib in our bedroom and I felt a little sad for a moment.

But then I looked at the floorspace we gained and I did a little jig.  ;-)

These girls are growing up, and it's time to make room for new things - new seasons:























We spent a lot of time this week volunteering at Paprika's school - she still has a month until school is out!  She is STUDENT OF THE WEEK this week at school - it's a big deal, and one she's been excited about since last September! 





Painting by Ginger.  She got the paints out herself and painted this all on her own.  So proud of my 3 year old artiste!



Daisy got a bath.  We tried to shear her ourselves, but it didn't work - probably because her hair is so thick she'd dulled the blades the last half dozen times we used the clippers on her!  She still looks pretty cute shaggy, though!



Midnight snack for Ginger!



Paprika working on memorizing her pieces for her piano recital coming up in June!




Violet is ALWAYS HAPPY.  Seriously, this is her signature look:




And this one, too!




The End!

We Are Still Us...

Mr. M finished his work on Dancing With The Stars on Tuesday night- and it is SO GREAT having him home!

This past season, he was gone quite a lot.  The girls take the time when Mr. M is working overnight to have slumber parties in our bedroom - so more than a few nights, I woke up to this sweet scene.  When Daddy's away, the girls will play!  Haha!  ;-)





We have been going to the beach often this past week.  It's almost (not quite) summer here.  The tourists come out in force for summer - which means I stay away from the beach then...too crowded and nowhere to park! 

This week has been sweet, though.  Paula's daughter, Christina, is home from college - so Mr. M and I have had real-honest-to-goodness DATE NIGHTS!  Say what?!  It's been awesome. 





The girls love Christina - so it's a Win/Win/Win!  And I love that Paula (Christina's Mom) is right nearby, too - I think my cortisol levels have gone down 1000% this week.  Mr. M is home AND we have a regular babysitter?  Am I dreaming???  If so, please don't wake me up!  Ha!




We so rarely get a date night (maybe once every few months when Grandma Pat or my Dad/Nancy come to visit) - so we've been feeling like a couple of teenagers having the freedom to go on a date night twice in one week.  Stop the madness! 






It's amazing how much I cherish these date nights - I do love our kids so much.  But we have felt so much freedom in the simple acts of walking on the beach at sunset and grabbing a bite to eat just the two of us.  It's a sweet reminder that we are still us.




Last Sunday (when Mr. M was still working), Christina came over and babysat the littlest girls so I could take Paprika to a special ballet performance of The Wizard of Oz. 




Ginger wanted to stay home, and there was NO WAY I was taking Violet!  Haha.  Paprika had been asking for months to go (she saw a flyer at her piano studio back in March).

Here she is in front of the stage:




Even though it was just a local performance, you would have thought I'd taken her to the Royal Ballet.  We got there early for a good seat - and we scored front row, center!

Paprika was so excited that she didn't have to crane her neck to see over a beehive hairdo (like she did back at The Nutcracker in December).  Haha!

She brought her Dorothy doll to the show, and she was so excited for every part of the performance.  If you're going to the theater, Paprika is just about the best person to go with...and she's been this way since she was two years old!




The cast was comprised of mostly local high schoolers - and they were fantastic!  We were so impressed with every aspect of the production - it was like going to a professional show for a fraction of the price!



Studying the program at Intermission:




The show had THREE Glindas - they danced in unison! 



Dorothy is visited by butterflies - so cute!



Of course, Paprika had to wear her Wizard of Oz themed hair bows!  Here she is with the Wicked Witch of the West on one side:



And Dorothy with Toto on the other side!  Ha!





In other news, Toddler Violet is busy deconstructing our house.  :-)  She likes to unload and load the dishwasher several times each day - whether or not the dishes are dirty or clean!  Haha!




Just a cute one of Ginger when she first wakes up:



And more of Ginger's flowers.  She always makes sure there are fresh flowers in EVERY room of the house- and so this is what I found in the girls' bathroom the other day.  So sweet!




And just a few scenes from around town.  In honor of my little brother (whose last name is Becker) - I took this pic on the day of his high school graduation this week!




Drinks, conversation, and an ocean view - does it get any better?!




Happy Memorial Day weekend! 






The End!

Disney Part 2!

More pictures from our magical day at the Magic Kingdom!  :-)

These pictures were taken at Corey and David's Vow Renewal Reception:



You can see that they had two surprise and honored guests.  ;-) 

The kids got a picture with Mickey and Minnie...well, most of the kids anyway!




Toddler Violet was IN LOVE with Mickey and Minnie.  She danced with them, hugged them, kissed them, high-fived them...and was in general thrilled to see them.  It was pretty darn cute.

Ginger was so well behaved, and truly a DOLL all day.  Truly.  But when we asked her if she wanted to meet Mickey and Minnie, she wanted NONE of that...thank you very much.

She was very happy to sit and color at the table while the other kids played with Mickey and Minnie.  Ginger had a great time - and was incredibly well behaved - I did not want to push it and I wanted to respect her wishes.  As you can see, she was very focused.  ;-) 




And very detailed in her coloring!




Anyway - having Mickey and Minnie visit was really cute.  The kids thought this was very funny:




Cory and David's family - they have two boys - one Paprika's age and one a few months older than Ginger:



Me and my little Mouseketeer!




Mickey hanging out with the kids:




After the reception, we rode some rides.  First up was the Carousel - always a fave with our family (no line!):





I was feeling a little bit ready to go home at this point - ha - can you tell?  Little did I know I'd be there for five more hours!  ;-)



At one point, we split up because Paprika wanted to ride Pirates of the Carribean, and Ginger wanted to ride It's A Small World.  So - Mr. M took these pics on the camera while I was off with Paprika.



He even rode the Teacups with them - which is his LEAST favorite ride (because of the spinning).   Usually I do this ride with the kids - so for him to brave it...well, that's LOVE. :-)





All in all, a magical day at Disneyland.  We were so honored to be invited by Corey and David to take part in their special day!

I have more pics from my camera to post from the past month or so. Now that Dancing With The Stars is on hiatus and Mr. M is HOME for more than two seconds/day - I have a little time to do things like download my pictures.  Hooray!!!!