Sleeping Beauty

Here are a couple photos we took of Avery and Sleeping Beauty on one of our recent trips to Disneyland. We happened to run into the princess right as we were leaving the park. :)

Avery lost her first Tooth

Avery officially lost her first tooth! It had been loose for awhile now and she was ecstatic when it finally came out. It was really loose one morning, so I pushed on it a few times and it popped out onto the floor. Such a cute, tiny little thing. She was so excited to put it under her pillow to see what the Tooth Fairy would bring her. The next morning she found a nice new dollar bill and put it in her piggy bank. :)

Kindergarten Awards Ceremony

School has been out for a couple weeks now and Avery and Callum seem to have more energy than normal! We are looking forward to this summer and have lots of things planned to keep them busy!

Callum just finished his first year of preschool and had a great year! He had a great teacher, made lots of new friends, and learned all of his letters in sign language! He is excited to be starting his new preschool in August, as am I. It is 3 min. from our house and the days and times will work great with Avery's schedule. It looks like it will be another great school. Plus, we won't have to scramble around the house in the mornings and be out of the house by 7:30 anymore....Yay! :)

Avery had a great year in kindergarten this year and made so many new friends. I can't believe how much she has grown in the past year! She just had her kindergarten awards ceremony at school about a week before. She received a Reading medal, Titan's Ten award (10 or more book reports), excellent attendance award, and Principal's award. We are soooo proud of her and took her to dinner at her favorite restaurant, Island's (also Callum's favorite), and for ice cream afterwards. I am hoping next year will be just as great when she starts first grade!

Temescal Valley Watermelon Festival

A Devotion to help others

So I recently came into contact with Heather Von St. James, a courageous mother, wife, and survivor of mesothelioma cancer. I had previously written about her story and was asked to share it on my blog. I admire her personally because of her constant strength, courage, and devotion to help others. Her mission is to get her story out and to give hope to as many people as she can. I'm very happy to share her story with you again and would love for you to take a few minutes to watch her video. Thank you to Heather for sharing her awesome story and thanks for watching! :)


www.mesothelioma.com/heather

Avery's Dolphin

Mrs. Rangel's class was assigned a sea creature project this week! Avery had chosen to do a report on dolphins, design a 3D model of it, and present it to the class. Here is the final work of art. She (we) molded the dolphin out of clay and painted it. We put lots of glitter for the water to make it sparkle. We would've liked to make it a bit bigger but figured she wouldn't be able to carry it because of the weight. She told me she wanted to keep it up in her window afterwards and how it reminds her of Seaworld!

Strawberry Season at the Farm

Avery and Callum had fun hand picking their own strawberries at the Temecula Strawberry Farm today. We always enjoyed visiting the farm when we lived in Murrieta, and thought it would be nice to come back and stock up on some big red juicy strawberries. Mmmmmm.....

The Fashionable Lizard

So I walked into Avery's room earlier this evening and this is what I saw laying in the corner of her floor. Callum's toy Lizard is now a Mrs. toy Lizard and a very fashionable one too. Seems she decided to dress him up in one of Barbie's pretty pink dresses. I think this is the first time I've ever seen a lizard wearing a dress!

Visit from the Easter Bunny

Callum's preschool had a visit from the Easter bunny yesterday. A fun Easter egg hunt, yummy food, candy, and smiles! Twas a great day at school!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

                         
                    Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! Love, Avery

How to Catch a Leprechaun

One of Avery's school projects this week was to build a trap to try and catch a leprechaun. She had decided to leave a shiny pot of gold for him in order to lure him in. So when the leprechaun walks up to the gold, the stick falls and down comes the top of the box, trapping the little green guy inside. Then we'll just have to figure out what to do with him when we catch him!

Happy Birthday Callum

Happy Birthday to my little guy who turned the BIG 4 last week! Wow, is he really 4 already?! He had a great day with family and friends and had lots of fun opening presents. Philip and I got him a really neat bike for his birthday, which he fell in love with on the spot and has been wanting to ride it every second of every day, lol. He's got it down pretty good and has NO fear.

I can't believe how quickly the year has gone by, seems like he just turned 3 yesterday. I love the little person he is becoming and I love his mellow and sweet personality. I love how he makes up his own little words and always says the funniest things, but in such a serious manner. I love how he always comes up to to me and says "Mommy, I love you." I love how he's so inquisitive and wants to know EVERYTHING all the time. I love how he wants to help me do everything and how he's becoming so independent. I love how he makes me laugh and puts a smile on my face everyday. Callum, I hope you had a great 4th birthday and I just absolutely love you to pieces. ~XO

Here is Callum taking his new bike out for a ride

Daddy Daughter Masquerade

Avery and her dad were invited to attend her school's annual Daddy Daughter Masquerade last night. They had fun getting all dressed up for the event and had a blast together with the other little girls and their dads. Avery had her face painted with a blue mask that matched her dress, as did all her little friends. This event was so special for them and I know they are looking forward to many many more.

 Here is Avery and Daddy before the dance!

This is Avery after the dance with her face painted...ooooh! :)

Funny Quote

Callum and I were driving in the car earlier and I said to him, "Callum, you got mommy sick. :( " He responds with, " I know, I didn't want it."  What a sweet little boy, sharing his colds with mommy, lol.

Valentine's Box

So Callum gave me a special Valentine's Day box today at school. His teacher told me I cannot open it and to read the note attached. The note said it was a special present and couldn't be opened, not even on Valentine's Day. The box is filled with his love and I am to hold onto it whenever I'm feeling happy or sad and to know he is always thinking of me. I thought it was very sweet, but Callum didn't seem to be digging this whole not opening the box thing. He wanted me to open it so bad and I told him I wasn't supposed to because it was filled with his love and it would escape if we opened the box. He wasn't buying it for a minute and just responded with, "Mommy, it doesn't have legs and it can't fly away", (duh). Okay, so I don't blame him for not buying it, but I still refused to open the box anyway. I can't put anything past this little smartie pants, lol.

Callum's Grey Tooth

So my little guy recently took a fall off the chair and hit his front right tooth pretty hard. He ended up cutting the gum and his lip around the tooth. We didn't think too much of it since he's done this MANY times before, until I was recently giving him a bath and noticed it. He was looking up and smiling at me and I noticed his tooth looked grey where he fell, and it suddenly dawned on me that he probably did the same the same thing his daddy did when he was a little boy. He hit it so hard, it basically killed the nerve to the tooth and it was turning a nice shade of grey. I've been told that there's nothing I can do and to just let the tooth fall out naturally. We have an appt with the dentist next week so we'll wait and see what they say. Luckily it doesn't hurt him, so that's good. I'm just envisioning his little grey tooth on all his pictures for the next 2 or 3 years. Oh well, I know, he's a boy and this stuff happens all the time, right? Get over it, it's just the beginning. He's more like his daddy then he'll ever know, lol. Phil says it gives him character. I'm not going to worry about it, so not worth it, lol. ;)

Book Report

This is Avery's very first Book Report that she did for class. She's really been enjoy her reading and has been getting better and better everyday. Her teacher requires every kindergartner 15-20 min of storytime every night, which I think makes such a huge difference. She is now advancing on learning her 1st grade sight words in school and doing great. Her teacher says, if she does 10 book reports by the beginning of May, she will get a Titan's Ten Book Report certificate. She's already done two and has eight more to go. I think this would be such a great sense of achievement for her, and gives her something to work for.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I know Martin Luther King Jr. day has passed and I'm about two weeks late posting this, but I had to post it anyway. This was Avery's project that she brought home from school and I have to say, I was amazed, or impressed to say the least. I think it's great the things they are teaching the kids at such an early age. Did I mention how much I loved her school?! :)

Pearl

So my parents adopted a new cat last week and the kids and I have been waiting all week to go see her. We finally got a chance to meet her and I must say, she is the most friggin adorable cat EVER. She's such a loving little, white bundle of fur and her name is Pearl. She is part persian and has somewhat of a flat little face and big blue eyes. She is such a sweetheart and we love her (yes, I know she's not ours, but we still love her). The best part is, she doesn't scratch or bite and she's a total lap cat (the best kind).  I told my mom if it didn't work out for whatever reason, we'd be more than happy to take her in...lol! Pretty sure that's not gonna happen, but thought I'd try anyway. Here are some photos of sweet Pearl.

Avery's Gingerbread House

 This is Avery's Gingerbread house that she made at school last week. What a delicious masterpiece it was! Very decorative and it smelled great. I caught Avery and Callum trying to eat it, so we had to hide it up somewhere nice and high where they couldn't get to it. Unfortunately, today was the day we had to say goodbye to this yummy display, as it was starting to fall apart. :)

Callum's Christmas Performance

Callum's preschool put on a Christmas performance for all the parents yesterday. Each of the classes went up and sang two songs. Here is a clip of one of the songs. Callum is in the middle with the striped shirt. :)

Fresh Beat Band Concert

 

 

Avery and I recently got the opportunity to go to the Fresh Beat Band concert. Her best friend Skylar and her mom invited us to go since they had extra tickets. This was one of Avery's first concerts and she had a blast. She's watched The Fresh Beat Band on TV ever since she was a baby, and it's always been one of her favorite shows, so she was so excited to go see them in person. Of course I had to get lots of pictures and video so I could show my little guy too, since he is also a big Fresh Beat Band fan.