The Past and the present

I have a friend named, Joy.

We've been friends since we were 8 and we lived across the street from each other. I even remember when she moved in because I was so excited about having a girl my age across the street.

We went to elementary school together & middle school.

We chose separate high schools but stayed friends.

Freshman year of college we were roommates at NAU. But only for 1/2 the year because I liked to spend my time at parties & she was studying and being a responsible human being unlike yours truly.

We both moved home after that year.

We both went to PVCC.

We both transferred to ASU West and graduated.

Then we both got engaged.

We got married one month apart.

We both honeymooned in Hawaii.

We both got pregnant 2 years later.

And, again a few years after that.

Hmmmm this is either sounding really cute or really strange. I think its kind of cute :)

And now Kali and Jack are in Kindergarten at the same school.

And every Friday I get to watch Julianne & now she and Kai are becomming great friends.

Our past led to this cute present:

coloring together
watching Sleeping Beauty while having a picnic
and playing ice cream shop

Kai even hugged Julianne so much that I had to tell him to stop. If you know Kai then you know what a big deal he is because he never gives a hug on his own without being forced.

I love that they are friends.

And I love that I have Joy.

Arizona Museum of Natural History

Bandz

Kali has caught on to the latest trend "Bandz".

They are basically the same bracelets I used to wear when I was her age but they are modeled into shapes like a princess crown, castle, dog, cat, car, you get the picture...

and so I had to show her how I used to twist mine together to made an even cooler bracelet.

Kali figured out how to do it and she was so proud of herself.

She went to school the next day and showed her friend how to do it.

Look at this sassy lady!

She just loves kindergarten.

Today is her first whole day until 2:30pm.

and this is how Kai and Mommy feel about it.

We're going to miss our sassy girl.

Now I have to get back to watching Hercules with my little Hercules :)

First days of school

The first day of school before we left

Daddy even got to come with us
it was a half day and we got to stay the whole time with her

Time to line up!

Having her first lunch at school with friends.

Today was her first day going all by herself. Tear drop.

All ready to go and having breakfast. Look at those big blue eyes....as I am typing this I am missing her so much.

at the school

time to line up

Kali and her little friend got picked to be the door holders, how exciting :)

Then I had to give her a kiss and say goodbye.

I love her and I am so proud of what a good, sweet, kind, strong and sassy girl she is and I know she is going to be a great kindergartner :)

Back to School Feast & Fashion!

Last night Kali modeled some of her new school clothes for us

Kai was getting bored and acting like a crazy person!
and we had our first annual Back to School feast (I read on Nie's blog that her family does this and I love it)
We had fresh cherries, chicken picatta & red potato and dill salad (from the Barefoot Contessa at Home Cookbook) and artichoke with butter (Kali's special request)

Hooray for learning :)

Par-tay!

We had an end of summer/ going to Kindergarten party for the kiddos this week & it was SO FUN! A lot of work but a lot of fun. For some reason I thought it would be so fun and easy to make Pepperoni Pizza, Pizza Margherita & BBQ Chicken Pizzas. It was fun & yummy but NOT easy. The kids had a great time playing in the water, playing carnival games, throwing water balloons and jumping in the bouncer and on the trampoline.

Oh and eating LOTS of cupcakes & popcorn :)

The sad thing is that the pics I took before the party are a hundred times better than at the party. My camera is a piece of poo. But here are the few that are not totally blurry.

This one is very blurry and I thought the black and white helps but maybe not. I don't care....I love this pic because it's me with my fabulous cousin Rosemary & her hubby and Peepers.

You just can't beat hanging out with good friends & cousins!

Sick kids & curtains *revised

This weekend I went to the fabric store.

I love fabric stores.

L-O-V-E.

Which is probably why every time I go I end up changing the curtains in some room of the house.

This time I did Kali's ...with my mom's help they turned out really cute.

My sewing machine took a dump.

It keeps "bird nesting" you know where the top is a perfect straight line and underneath the fabric is a giant clump of thread.

Here are Kali's new curtains & the CUTEST desk chair that my mom remodeled out of an old yucky wicker chair.

And with Kali's old curtains I made her a skirt! She said she wanted a long poofy skirt that could touch the ground. (How fraulein Maria of me huu?...you know, like the Sound of Music)

and here are Kai's curtains with black out fabric on the back because his room is SO bright.
Thankfully I had my mom to help because that stuff is SO hard to work with.

Kali went to a birthday party this weekend...Kai had to stay home since he has a cold.

...Kali got the same cold the next day :(
So my mom bought them these to cheer them up!
This is just one of about 20 pictures Kali has taken of them.
Good old Woody & Jessie :)

2 weeks left of summer

School starts in two weeks.

Tear drop.

As you may know...I HATE summer in Phoenix.

But I am sooooo sad about my sweet Kali going to Kindergarten that I want it to last forever.

Stupid AZ and their all day Kindergarten!

So we are going to be making the most of our last 2 weeks of summer.

Today we are brushing up on shapes with flashcards, play dough & Popsicle sticks.

Kali went school shopping with my mom & I last week. Let's face it, this girl needs more clothes like she need a hole in the head but it was soooo fun! I almost got teary eyed when she was picking out school supplies.
By the way Kai got this sword in exchange for his "baba" (pacifier) and he has not used it since--holla!!!!

back to Kali's school clothes....she loves Hello Kitty as much as her mommy :)

We spent the last two days at Kali's school helping my friend Joy (a teacher there) set up her classroom--soooo fun! Joy even fed us Barro's pizza one day and Flamingo Palace the other. My two favorite foods!!

Lucky us!

We also went to the Phx Public Library downtown in the "city" as the kids call it.

They made wishes in the fountain.

Rode on the "Willy Wonka" elevator....it is all glass just like the one in the movie. Oh and don't mind Kai, he wears his super cape & sword everywhere we go.

we had fun reading books & looking at the cool stuff they have there.

I sure am going to miss this gal while she is at school.

and I know Kai will too.