Summertime, and the livin' is easy....

Well, Like last post, I'm just going to go in the random order of the pictures, although I think this time they all actually came out in the order I want them to, so yeah for chronology!

Is it better to write on top, or on bottom? I think I like on bottom, so I'll go with that. First though, Nicole is not only 5 and 3/4, but she is also nearly a first grader! She did an amazing job in kindergarten and I am so proud of much she has learned and grown in this year. She can write phonetically, can read, knows at least 50 sight words, and has such a thirst for knowledge. She has loved learning the alphabet, numbers, counting, addition and subtraction, reading, about farm animals, the country, the flag...everything in the kindergarten curriculum. I love how Nicole will see any word and read it, she will add things with no reason. It's probably the same for every kindergartner, but this one is mine and she is so smart. Now if I can just get her to finish her work quickly and not be distracted by others. She has improved tremendously with that as well.

Going with writing below, this picture is of Nicole completing her first year of Daisy's. She got a pin that she can keep on her Girl Scout uniform as she grows. 

And here is an end of the year picture of her troop. Our troop has been so amazing, I love it. The girls are all pretty much all friends in class during the day, so Girl Scouts is like a giant play date. I love how all of us moms get a long well too. Some girls may be going to different schools next year, but I am so grateful that they still have the troop to keep in touch with their friends.

Nicole's teacher, Ms F had a final family night and these 2 pictures are from that. I've been able to help out a lot in the classroom and have seen how these kids have all grown. It may have been a big, 32 students, and rowdy class, but memorable.

Nicole, well all of the students, got a pillowcase with the handprint of the class on it with a cute poem. Nicole is holding her's here with her teacher. Ms F may be bending a bit, but not much. I remember at the beginning of the year when the kids were all so little, now they are all catching up on Ms F's height!

About 2 years ago I took Nicole to Touch a Truck, a fundraiser for children's cancer. It is great being able to go and see all the cars, and climb in them! Any type of car, truck, or equipment vehicle that is donated is open for the kids to climb, play, and honk if they want. This year they also had this creature, Robosaurus. Nicole was really excited about it, and loved watching it warm up, but once the show started she got a little afraid. She made it until just before the end, after lifting a car, eating, then tearing in half was complete. It was the walk towards the crowd and the explosion of confetti that did it for Nicole. She wanted out, but she still talks about Robosaurus.

I love letting Nicole dress herself. Sometimes she is much better at it than others. I see the outfits she chooses and can't help but think I might have chosen the same thing at that age. I never was a very fashionable dresser, but then again I never particularly cared until I was older. Nicole knows what modesty is and really, as long as it covers her, the fight just isn't worth it to me. What is really wrong with wearing pajama pants under a white dress with cleats on? 

This is one of the last days of kindergarten for Nicole. 

I have really gotten into going to the San Diego County Fair these last few years. This year has been no different. Nicole and I have enjoyed the fair, and will a few more times before the fair ends. Going to the fair is just such a fun experience for us to enjoy together. 

  

This year the fair theme is Game On, so they have all of these giant size games, like operation above. It was not only fun to play these games, but to see them.

Another summer must in San Diego, besides the fair, is the beach. Nicole has always been, and will always be a beach bum. This last time she asked me if I would teach her to surf. Well, I think I need to really learn how to do that myself, but I'm glad Nicole is interested in surfing.

Well, it's only the beginning of summer, but it will go fast. Nicole has so much planned before school starts, the most important being time with family. 

Spring Break!!

Since it's easier and I just want to get a post up, I'm going to go with however the pictures decided to come up. So, in random order.....

Nicole got 2 weeks for spring break. How fun! Well, for her at least. I had 2 weeks, due to a very pleasant surprise of Nicole's dad being out of town and him very nicely letting me have Nicole when he didn't have to (see, I can give credit where credit is due)...um, where was I? Yes, I needed to find fun stuff for Nicole and me to do for 2 weeks. Really it's not that difficult when I work from home. Nicole and I headed up to see cousins and family in Las Vegas; really, our usual plot. Since right now Las Vegas is a very nice temp and one can actually be outside without cooking alive, I thought it would be lots of fun to take Nicole to the ever famous Cactus Garden! Oh, and there happens to be a chocolate factory there too. Not only has this chocolate factory been a fun memory in my own childhood, but it's also been featured as one of the fun family things to do in Vegas, so yeah! Nicole was being camera shy, so I wasn't able to get her in front of the garden, but she was happy to take a photo of me. 

 This gem was all she would give me though. Oh well, at least she smiled for the next picture.

In front of the sign. Ah, Ethel M. Chocolates. They have no preservatives and they don't use  baking soda. Eh, I don't know why that is a big deal, but they had it on a lot of their signs in the factory. Either way, very good chocolate!

The next few pictures aren't from spring break, but close. So, The Big Bang Theory is a funny show. In one episode all the guys are talking about how to get girls more interested in science and become scientists. Finally they convince Sheldon to give a suggestion and he, off the top of his head says that they key would be to get them while they are in high school or younger. The other guys found this to be a really excellent idea, and went with it for the remainder of the episode. Well, after seeing that episode I discovered that Nicole's school district was having a Fun with Physics day at the park right by us! How fortunate! It really was a lot of fun for the kids, and a fun way for them to see how science can be used.

The picture above and below are show the fun of dry ice, soap, and liquid nitrogen. The scientist was giving the kids "baths" with the bubbles. There were a lot of activities including pennies and water, paper airplanes and oobleck, along with other things. There is another picture from this activity later too.

Being in San Diego means that it gets really nice, and beach worthy fairly early in the year. We had a great day at my favorite beach. Nicole is such a beach bum, always has been. I love it too, just hanging out at the beach, reading a magazine and just laying around. Every now and then we get up and play in the surf. I hope to have a lot of beach days coming.

Ah, another Spring Break activity. Drive in with the cousins. Nicole loves her cousins, and these boys love her too. It's fun seeing how they work off of each other for ideas and play. If the boys aren't following Nicole, Nicole is following them.

Build a Bear is always a fun activity. I'd never been there as a group party though, so it was a lot of fun seeing the little Daisy Troop give love to their bears and wake up the hearts.

Of course all us moms had our phones out taking pictures. These girls are just great. I love Nicole's troop.

Um, I thought I got some of Nicole grooming her bear, but that's okay. After stuffing, the bears got a "bath" and then dressed in their little Daisy Tunics.

You can't see it, but yes, there is a spot for the troop number and yes, not only did the girls get a patch for build a bear, but the bear did too. Very cute. Oh, and you can't see it because the bears are all dressed, but they have little underbears (underwear) that has girl scout on it too. Oh my, now I'll have to get the Brownie sash as Nicole goes! Yikes, the buying never ends! Well, actually this was a great activity for the girls from their cookie sales. Great job girls!

Nicole had her very first field trip, and it was to a Dairy farm. Looking at a post from last summer, Nicole has already been to a farm, but these dairy cows were more friendly than the beef cows my uncles have. Below is Nicole's class.

And here is the goofy picture. Actually  I missed the group goofy picture, but Nicole made sure to tell me that I have to get a goofy picture. So goofy, silly kindergartners!

While Nicole and I, yes, I was able to chaperone, were on the field trip our cat Cafo had 5 babies. 2 are tuxedo and 3 are dark stripped. I am very glad to say that 2 have been asked for already. Yipee!! Nicole is having a lot of fun with the kittens, and Cafo is being a great sport about us holding her babies.

Just random picture here. Nicole was just being silly and requested the photo.

Ah, back to the Fun with Physics...bottle launcher! This was a lot of fun for the kids to see how far their bottle would fly. Nicole had so much fun, I really hope they do this again next year.

Well, lots has happened, but I know this post is already too long. Off we go to Open House at Nicole's school. Always fun stuff happening here.

Finally Back....

Yes, I know I haven't written in a long time. It's not that I've been busy, or exciting things haven't been going on, but rather that after being on the computer at home all day for work, I don't really think of how else I can be on the computer. That's why today the idea of doing a blog pot came to me. I had to go into the office.

Here are a few pictures of what's been going on with us Hodson girls since October.

 This program in Nicole's school is all about being a Peacebuilder. They have this cute little song and everything. Well, monthly they have their school Peacebuilders. Back in Nov I believe (sorry, I don't recal off hand and if I look it up I probably wont come back to finish the post, so you get what you get I guess.) I, of course, was so proud of my little Nicole. <3 .="" a="" able="" also="" as="" aside="" because="" but="" camera="" close="" double="" excited="" for="" get="" go="" good="" her="" i="" it="" lucky="" me="" mom="" nicole="" notice="" on="" parents="" part.="" pictures="" planning="" praise="" pretty="" s="" school="" second="" set="" she="" so="" step="" super="" that="" the="" their="" there.="" there="" time="" to="" up="" was="" well.="" with="">

Seriously, isn't she just the most beautiful little girl in the world? Wow, to think in almost 10 years she can date. Yikes! Well, this picture is at the Railroad Museum/Harvey House in Barstow. For those into Railroads, it's a pretty neat museam.

Nicole and I were able to go to Disney on Ice. Thank you Dad for the help, you have no idea how much Nicole loved this! She was so upset when it ended she was crying. Nicole really didn't understand why the show couldn't go on for all of the princesses. It was great, well, not the crying, but how much Nicole enjoyed the show.

Nicole's school has a lot of special days. ABC parade, hat day, pajama day...This is a picture of how Nicole dressed for California Snow Day. Now, we live in San Diego. It was about 70 that day. But hey, California Snow Day was never suppose to involve actual snow! They had snowball fights with rolled up balls of newspaper, ice skating with paper plates on the carpets, and had hats, mittens, scarves, and anything else for snow. It was lots of fun for the kids.

Nicole has been in ballet for almost 18 months now. At the beginning of this year she advanced to the older girls class. Look at all these ballarinas!! They all look so great in, what, 3rd position?

Dr. Suess Day is another day Nicole's school does. Here's my Cat in the Hat with her favorite book. It was great seeing all of the kindergartners dressed as cat in the hat.

 And here is Nicole on Pajama day! Yeah, lots of "days" at school. I think it goes down dramatically in first grade, but I'll fins out for sure in 6 months I guess. It's fun seeing how excited Nicole gets for all of these days though.

Old Town San Diego is also fun. I don't remember the donkeys before, but off the picture to the right are 2 donkeys. Of course this fake donkey was better since you can ride and "steer" this one.

And to end this blog post here is Nicole version of Merry Christmas, Love Nicole. This is definately something I'm going to treasure forever.

I always have the intention on updating this thing weekly or something more frequently than every 6 months, but alas, I do most of my Nicole updates on Facebook. I know my invitations for this blog have gone out to many who love Nicole and are not on my facebook lists, so I really should keep this going strong. I should have more photos after Easter, and lots of time during confrence weekend, so here's hoping I get another post in within 30 days!!

Halloween

So really I'm catching up. I know it's been a while. It's easy to forget about doing this. Um, maybe I should make a note or something to remind me to post at least once a month.

Well, here are some Halloween pics I found of Nicole.

 Nicole wanted to be an angel and my house. She's a really cute angel too. She really liked the wand part of the costume. The halo required a little bit of work, well, bobby pins, to keep on her head. It kinda kept falling into her face.

The school Halloween Carnival was quite exciting. All of these rides were donated so there were a lot of rides. It was a mini carnival. One of the first rides we went on was the spin o bucket ride. Nicole was not being friendly about having her photo taken, at least by me. I think she's so cute when she scowls.

 We caught up with some of her friends and they had lots of fun going on the rides together. I had to sneak photos when she would pose for others. Little pill wouldn't pose for me, but of course she would for others.

We also were able to go to the ward Halloween Carnival. It fun, and I dressed up for this one. One of the nice things about buying a costume is I can wear it in future years when I don't want to dress up, but decide last minute to dress up.

Nicole spent actualy Halloween night with her dad, so we only did the trick or treating at the ward party. I'm really glad I was able to take her the ward party and school party. Oh, we also kept the tradition from last year up by spending the morning going to the Boo Parade. Yeah, Next year we should be closer to the front of the parade. We were at the end, and well, the people marching in the parade were really done by the time they got to us.

I'll check out some other photos I have and see about making another post. This time of year Nicole and I are able to see family much more often than in the beginning of the year. Nicole is growing so fast it's nice to be able to share that with family.

Alphabet Parade, Firefighters and Seaport Village

Being in kindergarten means lots of work with letters. Nicole had daily homework to help her with the letters and at the end all of the kids were able to make a hat and do the alphabet parade. I think they tried to give each child the letter of their name, so Nicole got N. It was a lot of fun watching all of the kids show off thier hats. You can't see it, but Nicole put "night" "nickle" "narwal" and "nest" on her hat. Yes, she knows what a narwal is and what it looks like. The animal love definately comes from her dad. Also, look at her! My baby is 5 and getting so big! She may be one of the youngest in her class, but she's holding her own.

  For our Saturday fun I wanted to take Nicole to Seaport Village, a San Diego must. And what better way to go there than on the trolly? Nicole had mentioned before when we had to go over the tracks that she wanted to go on the trolly, so I figured it's a win win, with gas prices at near $5 a gal, may as well just pay $5 for the trolly and not worry about the gas. Nicole and I made an a deal that she could pick out one thing and I would buy it on our way out. She picked this walking wooden duck thing that she now calls Kasha. To me, the funny part is that my sister had a dog named Kasha, or maybe Akasha. Anyway, it was a Star Wars character. Um, I guess Nicole and the auther of Star Wars had the same sense for names.

The other thing we did yesterday was go to the fire station. I'd been seeing the sign for a while about their open house. The firefighters, besides most looking entirely too young, were all very nice. When we showed up they were doing a demostration on how they use the jaws of life to get someone out of a car. Nicole was interested in that, until she saw the coolest playhouse ever!! And I just realized that I didn't get a picture of it. Oh well. Basically it was a two story house that looked like a tree on the outside. For a buck I could enter a raffle to win it!! But I don't think my apt manager would like me keeping it in the 2nd parking spot.

Now I'll end with the photos of Nicole getting all dressed up like a firefighter. I think it was a perfect fit, but Nicole insisted it was too big. Perfect fit to be cute.

Labor Day

You are in San Diego, and it's Labor Day. What do you do? Why, go to the beach of course!! The thing about the beach is that you have to know that the morning brings the possibility of marine layer, which is overcast and makes the beach less than warm, espeically with the Pacific cold ocean. Also, being Labor Day there is a larger than normal amount of people at the beach. Both of these brought me some concern.

I decided to go to the beach early in the morning, 9 am, to avoid some of the traffic and public. Well, it was gorgeous!! There was no marine layer, which usually lasts until around 11 or 12, and things were not yet packed yet at the beach. We got our parking and a spot on the beach with no trouble at all. And we had the sun!! Ever gone to the beach at 9 am? If so, you would know how fantastic it is to have the sun and no marine layer!!! Seriously, it's a big deal.

Nicole just loves the beach. Playing in the sand, running away from the waves, playing with the beach toys...and making sand angles.

 See, didn't it turn out nice? She also had me make her a mermaid tail with the sand, but I didn't get a picture of that this time.

 After several hours at the beach we finally left when the crowds were really getting big. That was around noon. When we left there was police directing traffic, the lot we had parked in had been closed off from new traffic at some point. It was a great morning. We played in the ocean; played in the sand; layed out on the beach. It was a great day.

After leaving the beach it just felt right to have a burger. Also, since it was Labor Day a hamburger is practically a necessity, so Nicole and I went to In-n-Out. Nicole was still a little cold from the ocean, so it was a good thing we had her blankie.

 Nicole just has all sorts of fun with food. As the picture below shows, she decided she didn't want the meat, just the bun. Not sure why, but she always brings surprises to how she eats. Oh, and french fries, well, why can't they be makeup?

After all that time in the sun and sand what else are you to do? We don't have a pool, but, we do have a bath tub. We began a new thing I love, which is bath tub pool. Not revolutionary or anything, but it's a great excuse to get Nicole into the water to get some of that sand off of her.

It was a great Labor Day, and we had lots of fun. Nicole finished it off by going to her Dad's and I had a BBQ with the neighbors.