First Day of School 2012

August 20, 2012 - The first day of school!
Joshua is in second grade in Mrs. Jones' class.  Sarah had her and he was in her room for Chinese last year.  He was also able to go into her class the last month or so of school last year to get reading books as he "tested out of the first grade reading bins".  He was pretty proud of that (Sarah had gotten to do it as well) and he feesl like Mrs Jones' room is exactly where he should be.  I left him looking at rocks with a magnifying glass, completely content, before the bell even rang!
 

 

Sarah was very excited last night and this morning!  She is ready for fourth grade and new challenges.  She got really nervous at school though and I'm glad the bell rang, or she might have fallen apart!  We met her teacher, Ms Larson and Sarah went in and looked for her desk.  There were no names on the desk and she didn't know what to do.  The teacher was busy greeting other parents, so I just told her it would be fine, the teacher would tell her what to do.  I could tell that made her super nervous.  She is like me, she likes a plan, she likes rules and she likes to follow them!  When the bell rang, she went running back to her classroom and I sure hope it is a good day for her!
 

Elizabeth was super sad this morning! I tried to make it better and we did a little shopping to plan for her birthday party. I know she is going to miss Sissy and Joshua a lot over the next few weeks!

1st Annual Swimming and Shave Ice Party!

When we first moved here, I felt A LOT of pressure to have a swimming party!  A lot of our friends knew the family we bought the house from and I think they are more out-going/ party type people.  It has taken me a LONG time to be comfortable with the pool and even longer to be comfortable with other people's kids in the pool!  Now that Donald has his shave ice machine and the kids are all swimming pretty good, I was ready!  I'm so glad we did it!  We had a blast!  We invited some church friends and some work friends and we had a really nice mix of people!  There were a few families that couldn't make it, but we still had a nice turn out!  We were celebrating the end of summer vacation since school starts tomorrow!

Neda and her littlest one - Shaheen.

Our trust-worthy life guard, Aislin!

Deborah and Shelly share a laugh.

Elizabeth and Matthew sat and ate chips together for a VERY LONG time! 

Sweet Willow and Ella!

Matthew, Macky and Emily waiting in line for shave ice.

Sarah enjoying her cold treat.

Jean and Spencer found a nice shady spot where they were occasionally splashed, which I'm guessing felt really nice!

Macky and his shave ice.

Matthew and Kiana.

Nathan - he is in Elizabeth's new swim class too!

Cute Petersen family

One of Neda's boys - I can't tell who underwater with goggles on!

Charlie - who knew he was such a good swimmer?

Beautiful Maddie

I let Katie play with the camera for a bit - I think she had fun!

Joshua and Ryan - can't you see them still doing this in 10 years?

Same with these pretty girls.  Don't they look like teenagers already?

And Lizzie and me.  Donald spent a lot of time behind the shave ice machine, but it was a huge hit.  Most kids had two or three helpings, which was great since it was so hot out!

Sheila's 38th Birthday

When Donald asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year, I told him a trip to San Francisco.  He had a long weekend that included my birthday, so it was perfect.  Well, almost perfect.  Apparently there was some big outdoor art and music festival that weekend and all of the hotel rooms were booked or outrageously priced!  So my weekend in the city turned into a day in the city.  We decided that we would visit the California Academy of Sciences. 
 

Right when you get inside, they have this dinosaur skeleton.  Elizabeth was terrified!  If we got close to it moving from one part of the museum to another, she would get scared and have to be picked up! 

 

A highlight of the museum was the "living roof".  I know it looks like the place where the Tele- tubbies live, but really it is the dome for the planetarium and for the living rain forest.  I really loved it up on the roof, it just seemed peaceful up there!
 

 

 

 

I think my favorite part was the rain forest exhibit.  It is three floors of rain forest plants and has butterflies and macaws flying in there.  Well, the macaws just sat on a stick, but there were a lot of butterflies, which we all love!

This is down in the aquarium.  I'm not a big aquarium fan, but the kids love it.  They are all just fish to me. 

When we left the museum, we were driving around and Donald asked me if there was anything else I wanted to see.  I told him I have always wanted to see the houses that they show at the beginning of the show Full House and other movies.  We did a quick on line search and had the address. They are called the Painted Lady Houses.   We drove by and I got this picture.  I would have loved to get out and walk around, but Elizabeth had fallen asleep and there was no place to park!  I think it is a pretty nice picture from inside the van while Donald was driving!

We also drove down Lombard St and we drove around the Presido.  There is a Disney museum there that Donald wants to visit on a future trip!

After our driving around, we headed to Union Square for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory!  We haven't been there since we were at Disneyland with the Johnson family.  It was delicious, plus it was on the 8th floor of Macy's, which was super fun for the kids.  We walked around and went in a few stores and then it was time for the drive home.  I'm hoping our next trip can be a little longer, but it was still a fun birthday trip!

 

I love this picture of Donald carrying Elizabeth as she points to all the things she sees around Union Square. I bet it is overwhelming for her to see those big buildings!

The next day was my actual birthday.  Donald and the kids had some little gifts for me and made me feel special all day.  I got to have lunch with a couple of friends, then invited Cindy and her family over for dinner.  Both our families have been busy and it had been weeks since we saw each other.  They helped sing happy birthday to me and had ice cream cake!

 

 

 

Elizabeth's Big Night Out

I wish I had a picture of just Elizabeth and Grandma, but we were so stunned, no one thought to take a picture!  Vickie had taken the kids to the library to buy books from the book sale and when she dropped them back at my mom's, she came in to visit.  When it was time for me to start getting ready for the reunion and as Vickie got up to leave, Elizabeth decided she wanted to go with her.  None of us thought she really would.  I was already worried about my mom putting her to bed, but she is used to sleeping there and she would have Sarah with her.  I think Vickie was surprised too and she told Elizabeth that if she went home with her, she would have to spend the night.  In response to this, Lizzie went down the hall and got her nightgown and her blanket!  At this point, I let Donald handle it, thinking she would never actually go.  I came back out and he was putting the car seat in his mom's van.  Liz looked a little nervous, but was still adamant that she wanted to go.  And she did!  We thought she would get some dinner and decide she wanted to go back to Grandma Doris' house, where at least she had Sarah, if not Momma.  She didn't!  Donald called at 9:30 to check on her and they were just finishing a movie!  We were stunned.  I guess when it came time to get into bed, she said no to Clayton's bed, which is a twin, in the center of the room and she is afraid of falling off.  She told grandma she wanted to sleep in the flowered bed, which is the bigger guest bed.  Vickie had a bunch of stuff on it from her recent trip, but she cleared it all off for her.  She said that Liz went to bed fine and that she heard her talking to herself a little bit, but then went right to sleep.  I couldn't believe it when we got back to my mom's and there was no Lizzie!  The two big kids have never spent the night away and haven't expressed a desire to either.  Elizabeth is just such a different personality!  Donald went and got her the next morning and both Liz and Grandma said they had a good time!  I have a feeling she will want to repeat this special time with grandma and I think grandma will like that a lot!  Thanks Vickie, for giving Elizabeth that special time with you.  I hope she will remember it as she grows!
Man, she isn't even going to look back on her first day of kindergarten, is she?  That is still 3 years away!