Family Pictures!

Yesterday morning we finally were able to have Annie come over and take our family photos! We really wanted to do family photos each year similar to the one she took three years ago in front of our house, but haven't been able to do so in past years. So, we all got up and dressed up and I curled both girls' hair using a curling iron borrowed from my friend Thelma, which worked amazingly well! Both girls wore colorful flower dresses that I found at Crazy 8 and had a bit of orange that matched my dress. I completely fell in love with my dress from Ann Taylor and was lucky enough to wait until it went on sale to buy it. CK wore his usual tan slacks and blue shirt and blazer which is what he wears for work and looks most natural on him. Plus, the girls' dresses had blue in them too so we all fit together well.

Annie started with the family photos in front of our house and even Buddy cooperated! She was able to capture some adorable pictures and I really don't know how she does it! Everyone is looking, smiling and our arms and legs are where they should be! After family photos, she took a few of CK and the girls and then me and the girls and then switched to just the girls. The girls changed dresses into matching silver flower dresses and we moved into the backyard where the girls posed together and individually. That shoot didn't go quiet as well as earlier and the girls, especially Olivia, were done.

We went inside and Annie was drinking a class of water when she realized that she really wanted to use the small chair that was mine as a kid for photos of each girl. At this point, Olivia was out of her dress and changing into play clothes. Sofia was still in her dress but on the couch reading Percy Jackson. I convinced the girls to do just one more quick shoot with Annie and they could have a bowl of ice cream! Terrible bribery but it worked. Olivia got back into her dress and we took my little chair and headed over to the vacant lot across the street. I couldn't image how Annie could possibly find a good setting there, but she certainly did! She set the chair up near a tree and took pictures of Olivia first while Sofia played. She captured some absolutely precious pictures of Olivia! She looks like an angel! Sofia went next and was also done taking photos. Annie captured some great pictures of her as well.

We returned to the house and Annie headed home. She has such a gift, it's amazing! The girls changed into play clothes and they each got a bowl of vanilla ice cream. That afternoon we headed to the park for a few hours with Antonio so the girls could run off some steam.

Our family picture!

Olivia

Sofia

America the Beautiful Video

Click on the link below to watch Sofia and her classmates sing "America the Beautiful."

America the Beautiful 9/25/2015

This Land is Your Land Video

Click on the link below to watch Sofia and her classmates sing "This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land."

This Land is Your Land 9/25/2015

Sofia's 3rd Grade Patriotic Program

Last night, Sofia and the entire 3rd grade held their Patriotic Program in the school cafeteria. The kids sang, the following songs:
The Star-Spangled Banner, There Are Many Flags, America the Beautiful, Yankee Doodle Dandy, This Land Is Your Land, America, All-American Me and You, and You're a Grand Old Flag. Sofia actually came home at the end of the school year in June with the lyrics for all the songs so she could practice over the summer. She actually did practice occasionally and seemed to know the words and tunes already. Once school started back up at the end of August, it was clear that Sofia and her classmates were practicing a lot since Sofia would return from school and "practice" singing to us in Olivia's bedroom. She even had me print out a photo of an American flag and she taped it to the wall of Olivia's room. She spent several weeks after school singing to us and Olivia picked up the lyrics and would sing along with her. It was very cute!

Finally, it was the night of the program and Sofia put on her blue and white twirl skirt and a pinkish-red shirt, since all the kids were asked to wear red, white and blue. I actually had a hard time finding a real "red" shirt so we went with the closest colored shirt she already had. She really looked adorable and was so excited to sing in the program. Unfortunately, CK was traveling and couldn't attend the program, so I was sure to take a lot of pictures and videos. The kids did a great job and the show went perfectly! The kids even sounded great singing together and Sofia really was into it. After the show, Sofia was super excited to be involved in the program.

Sofia and Olivia outside of the school before the program started

Love this picture!

Sofia's principal, Mrs. Shimmick, introducing the 3rd graders

Sofia is all ready to start!

All the 3rd graders are ready to go!

The singing begins

Our Outstanding Owl

This week, Olivia's first full week of school at Noah's Ark, she was named "Outstanding Owl" since her birthday is closest to the start of school. She was asked to make a board about her, including photos or drawings of her family and things she liked to do and eat. I was also responsible for bringing in the snacks for all three days and could bring a special treat for one of those days to celebrate her birthday with her class.

For her poster, I printed off pictures of her and Sofia with her Grandma and Grandpa during our trip in August, a photo of them with their Great Grandma, a photo of them with their cousins, photos of Olivia swimming and playing with My Little Pony and other little animals, a photo of Buddy, a picture with Aunt and Uncle from our July visit to Santa Fe, a family photo of the four of us and Buddy, and a picture of her and Sofia together. It's so rare that I get prints made anymore so it was fun to actually hold photos that we've taken. I also took the opportunity to print extras and send them to Grandma and Grandpa, Great Grandma and Aunt and Uncle. After we had the photos organized, I asked Olivia a few questions about her favorites:

Color: Pink and Purple
Food: Carrots, Salmon and Chicken
Dessert: Vanilla Ice Cream
Book/s: Can you Catch a Mermaid and Goodnight Mermaid
TV Show: My Little Pony
Things to do: Play with My Little Pony toys, swim, read books, gymnastics, play with my sister, pretend to be a mermaid, make and eat cookies.

Olivia also had a bag that she could add a few favorite things to so she could share with her class. She put her stuffed dog toy, both of her favorite books and a few My Little Pony toys in it and headed off to school. I told Mrs. Michelle that Olivia would likely not share her photos and favorites by herself since she's pretty shy until she knows people for a while. Mrs. Michelle said she'd be happy to walk Olivia through it or talk about everything on her own, if needed. When I picked her up from school on Monday, Mrs. Michelle said Olivia had done a great job sharing with her class! She must already feel pretty comfortable with her classmates.

For the special treat, I made the mermaid tail cupcakes I'd originally planned to make for Olivia's birthday party that we decided not to throw. They were delicious and really turned out cute. I brought them in for Thursday's class so the kids could enjoy them before the start of their weekend. So far, Olivia seems very happy in her new school which is fantastic!

Olivia with her sign

The All About Me sign

Her favorites

Mermaid tail cupcakes. Yum!

First Day of 4-Year Old Preschool!

Olivia had her first day of 4-year old preschool at Noah's Ark on Tuesday morning. Olivia and I took Sofia to school and returned to the house where she played with her My Little Pony figures while still in her pajamas. After awhile, I made her a cheese omelet and got her dressed and told her it was time for school. She immediately started saying "NOOOOOO" sadly. She didn't enjoy her previous preschool year at Spanish Schoolhouse, unfortunately. So, I explained to her it was a new school and her friend Hannah would be there. I also told her it would all be in English and there wouldn't be any Spanish songs or having to learn everything in Spanish. As much as we wish she loved learning another language, it clearly wasn't her spot. She seemed to like that explanation and we headed to the car with her backpack and lunch box. Of course, we first went out front for a few "first day of school" pictures!

We arrived at Noah's Ark and headed to Olivia's Owl class and her teachers, Mrs. Michelle and Mrs. Jane. I went to the "Meet the Teacher" night the week before and am really excited by Olivia's teachers and class. Her main teacher, Mrs. Michelle, has a lot of energy and just seems like a happy and fun lady. Nearly all of Olivia's classmates were already getting settled while Olivia put her lunch box and backpack away. After that, she immediately sat down and started coloring on her coloring page. I tried to get her to look up and smile so I could take a picture, but she stayed pretty serious and somber. She wasn't sad though and gave me a hug and kiss.

After school, she was completely passed out on her sleep mat. The kids rest or relax on their sleep mat for the last 30 minutes. She apparently fell fast asleep and was even hard for me to wake up. She put on her backpack and lunch box, said goodbye to her teachers, and we headed to the car. Once she was fully awake, she told me about her day and how there were raccoon tracks throughout the school and they had to look for the raccoon but it disappeared back into the book. It was so cute to see how excited she was too! During the day they made a raccoon mask out of paper and colored a few raccoon pages. It was so sweet. She said that she had fun and played with her friend Hannah, another Hannah and Ava. I realized that Ava is a little girl who she's played with before at the gym child center, so she already knew her too. She really seemed like she had a great day.

She will be going to school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and seemed to really enjoy her first week! I love that it starts at 9:30am and is only 5 minutes away from our house. Olivia gets to play by herself for a while after we drop Sofia off and then eats a leisurely breakfast before we head to school. Also, as much as I love having a uniform for school, I think Olivia prefers not having a uniform and enjoyed picking out her outfit each morning. It was such a pleasure to drop her off each morning with her looking forward to going and pick her up after school having enjoyed the day! I love that she, Hannah, Ava and Hannah play together too and hope she gets some good little friends! We look forward to seeing how the year goes for her!

First day of 4-year old preschool

She picked out her outfit!

Putting on her backpack

There she goes...

She found something to explore....

Putting her lunchbox away with Mrs. Jane

She immediately started coloring

The look I got....very serious!

Olivia in her classroom