Growing up...

Look at those sweet girls... Allison and G are just one day apart, and we have pictures of them just days old together. Now here they are at 4 heading to their first day of gymnastics!

It didn't even occur to me until we were in the car that perhaps Natalie would like to join, too. Even though the class is for 3 and 4 year olds, the coach said Natalie was doing great and able to follow directions, and therefore could join the class with her sister!

I'm so happy they are in the class together!

All the girls had so much fun! I am so excited... this is the first thing I have ever enrolled the girls in!
The coaches at Precision are incredible. I know the girls are not only learning coordination, building muscles, and having fun, but also learning to take directions from an adult other than mommy or daddy. They can't wait to go back! Yeh for gymnastics!

This is why...

...we have a dog!

End of Summer Celebration

The weather: Overcast, chilly morning warming up to a beautiful 79 degrees
The calendar: Still summer for one more week
Conclusion: Have an end of summer celebration to enjoy the fall weather, (while it lasts), and to say goodbye to summer!

We began the morning outside... after a cup of coffee, we hit the garden and did some nice weeding and harvesting. Goodbye summer veggies! The girls helped Daniel cut up all the basil, and tomorrow we will be making pesto!

Daniel and Allison played some cards in the afternoon, while Natalie napped and I relaxed.
Next came the set-up... Allison helped Daniel put up the tent, while I prepared the meat for dinner!

Did I mention our tent is HUGE? The girls had a great time playing in the tent this afternoon.
Daniel decided to use the charcoal grill, and we ate our meal "al fresco." (Allison taught us that means outside... a word she learned from her favorite, "Fancy Nancy."



Next came the homemade ice cream. I can't believe this is the first time this summer that we did this! The girls decided on pink chocolate chip vanilla ice cream with sprinkles.




Next came the s'mores. (Please excuse the naked girl!) Two desserts in one night; yes, they were very happy! Allison commented, "This is a bad night for a campout with diabetes." You're telling me, kiddo! Luckily I treated myself to some sugar-free, low fat ice cream! It did the trick... almost!

Library Day!

Now that Fall is (almost) here, we're back to doing some preschool days. Of course, we will be missing our T as he is now in Kindergarten. And, we won't be quite as consistent due to busy schedules. But, we will give it a go, none-the-less!

Today was library day. Mrs. H brought over canvas bags and blank iron-on sheets for us to make them!
The girls picked out their own pictures. Unfortunately, we printed them on the wrong side of the iron-on paper, so we had to skip that part.

So, we went straight to decorating them. These pictures show the kids starting off...D and Natalie wanted to paint theirs, while Allison opted to color hers with markers. The final products were pretty impressive!

I have to laugh when I think of how easily preschoolers are entertained. If we had been painting/ coloring on a piece of paper as we do every day, they would have been done in 2 seconds. Give them a canvas bag, and suddenly they take their time, use more colors, and get into it with lots of details! Sometimes it's just a matter of changing up one little thing.

Once the decorating was complete, we learned about authors and illustrators, and headed to the library for our own story time. The girls had 2 books in mind... something form the "Fancy Nancy" series, and something from the "Miss Bindergarten" series. (D, of course, just wanted a firefighter book!) I told Allison the last name of the Bindergarten author, and she immediately found a Bindergarten book. I was so impressed!! Yeh for library day!

Another Mini-Vacation

We just got back from another mini-vacation to San Diego! We have Sea World annual passes, so we decided to do another time share presentation and get Legoland day passes, Knott's Berry Farm day passes, a Temecula wine tour, and a free overnight. Well, the salesman told us the girls had to be over 3, and when we said Natalie was a few months shy, but potty-trained, he said that was fine. Today they said it was not fine... but they would give us all that great stuff just for coming. So, we didn't have to go on their tour, listen to their spiel, then say no. What a deal! Trying not to act excited, we hopped in the car with big smiles, headed to the beach instead, and had a great time!



Here's a prego picture just for you, Ronnie!



Here we are on the deck of our hotel... we were right on a lake!


Allison decided to practice her photography. Daniel had no idea I was behind him :)

Love Thy Neighbor!

We have the BEST neighbors... seriously! Besides letting us live in their pool all summer, bringing us cookies, helping with our dog, and sometimes mowing the lawn, they're just awesome people! So, tonight my girls were asleep by 6:30pm. (Seriously! It's one of those lucky, rare days!) By 7:30pm, I had already cleaned the kitchen, watched a recorded tv show, and talked to my husband on the phone! I was just thinking, "Gosh, I'd love dessert," but sadly I am on a diet the rest of my pregnancy for GD, and can't have any. Then my neighbor calls, and drops off crystal light (something other than water to help my sweet tooth!), Michael's and JoAn's coupons (I think they know me well!), and a Halloween magazine from BHG. Can't wait to cozy up in bed with it! But, first I'm going to watch last night's "Design Star." What a great night! Thank you, God, for wonderful neighbors! I'll let you know what fun things I find to do for Halloween!

Scripture Memory Box

Look what Allison painted! I thought she did a BEAUTIFUL job... I love her choice of colors! And, she did it completely on her own with no help from me! She picked out the heart from a clearance section at JoAnn's for a quarter. It says "Planted with love," (intended for a garden, I suppose!) But, very appropriate for this box, as well.

So, what is this box, you ask? It is for her memory verses. She has recently been coming home from Sunday School with memory verses, and we've actually studied them together. I was starting to forget some of the older ones, so I needed to do this as much for me as for her!

We also have an awesome kids cd that goes through scriptures from A to Z. Because of that cd, even Natalie had about 5 verses memorized! Gotta love music :) If you're interested, it's called
26
Alphabet
Bible verse
Chorus songs
by Thingamakid

Check it out!

My First Sewing Project

So, here it is... I'm not sure what to call it, other than an "emergency kit." It's the first thing I've ever sewn. (Thanks for my lesson, Sarah! What do you think?) This is the back side:

And, here is the inside:And, here is the inside all filled up! It includes kleenex, sanitizer, wipes, hair clips, a comb, baby powder (good for getting sandy feet clean!), bandaids and neosporin, an extra toothbrush, chapstick, emergency money, and sunscreen. (whew!)

And, here it is all tied up. Can't wait to do more sewing projects.

Disneyland!

We just got back from a couple wonderful, (and exhausting), days at Disneyland. We decided to go all out and splurge on this trip, which was kind of fun, and very unusual. First, we stayed at the Grand Californian, which has bunk beds for the kids! We spent the first day at the pool, where Allison swam with Daniel, and Natalie went down the waterslide about 50 times.

A big treat: The girls actually napped in their bunkbeds, so we stayed up to watch Fantasmic and the firework show! Super cool!



We did dinner at the Blue Bayou; (Pirates of the Caribean). Another treat!


Everything... including the carousel looks so cool at night!
Breakfast was one of the best times. We ate at the Grand Californian's Storyteller's Cafe. (We had lunch there the day before and saw Stevie Wonder!) It has a buffet character breakfast, and hardly anyone was there. So, we were able to have lots of time with each of the characters, and the girls LOVED it! They got to march around and play while eating... what kid wouldn't?

This trip also marked a milestone for Allison. She crossed over to some of the grown-up rides, including the rapids and Soarin' over California. I guess she grew-up a lot this summer! Overall, we had a blast. I'll leave you with a little video. (Mostly for grandma!)