Back to School

Olivia's first day....





at her desk, she picked up in front by the teacher-
notice this summer she got her ears pierced and a cute short hair cut


Malaki's first day- he has to take a big back pack for the change of clothes, not quite done with the potty training part.
Olivia started the first grade this school year and Malaki started pre-school. Olivia goes from 7-45 to 2-:45 and Malaki goes to two different pre-schools on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He goes from 9:30 to 12:30 with our co-op with friends and then from 1 to 2:30 he's in a preschool that is helping him with his speech. Tuesdays and Thursdays are very busy days in our house.

3 years of construction

Malaki turned 3 in August and I'm just now getting around to writing about it. He loves trucks, so we had a construction party! My primary colors were, yellow, green and orange.

3 things I love about Malaki...
1-the sparkle in his eye and he's always sweet but mischievous.
2-loves his family- is very good about sharing with sister (sometimes, most of the time).
3-He has worked very hard to be kind to everyone

Families are Forever

We were able to go to the Dallas Temple yesterday and seal our family for eternity. It was a great day, with great people and great memories were created.

Rainbow and Unicorn Friend Party

Ok... I have to toot my own horn. I've been seeing candy bars everywhere online and I've been dying to do one, so for Olivia's birthday when she asked for a Unicorn party and I turned it into a movie party... what's the best food for a movie? Candy and popcorn... my dream came true.
Menu:
jello popcorn
candy, lots of candy
water- made labels to match the theme
Super cute cake made by my friend Natalie
Unicorn horns (sugar cones dipped in white chocolate)
Rainbow cupcakes... just so I can make rainbows, it was harder then it looks and I'm glad that I had other cake.

Activities:
face painting
pin the horn on the unicorn
decorate your goodie box (rainbow take out boxes)
watched "The Last Unicorn"... a little more weird then I remembered but they watched it
Unicorn bottlecap necklaces

Teacher appreciation gifts....

I saw these and wanted to make them but it just wasn't working out and did you read that I was running around crazy....


so they ended up looking like these.... I'm happy with the result. I bought frames, had some cute scrapbook paper on hand and used my trusty Cricut (love this machine) and here you go... (I did two because Olivia's teacher has been out on maternity leave for the last 6 weeks. Very within my budget : )

How busy are you today?

Olivia turned 6 this week and with school ending also, made for a very busy week for me! Tuesday was her actual birthday and it started with her choice for breakfast and Tomas, Malaki and I had lunch with her at school, she thinks that only Sonic can be brought in, so that is what she requested. I later brought cupcakes to the classroom for her to share with her classmates. We also made little goodie bags for the kids and handed them out as they left the class. After school she opened family presents and she got a scooter. I had picked the Thursday (June 2nd) as her friend party because it was going to be an early day and I figured that kindergarten graduation and class party would be the last day, boy was I wrong... today turned into the busiest day ever! And of course, I was rushing around last minute for the party and making teacher appreciation gifts too boot!
6 things I love about Olivia....
1. Her smile
2. She has the greatest memory
3. She kind and loving to her brother (even when he's not)
4. She is a ray of sunshine
5. She loves animals and everyone... she always finds a friend
6. She loves to cuddle

Olivia and her class

Fun in School

Valentines Day

Zoo Trip w/ her buddy Jacob

Zoo Trip

Easter 2011

Getting ready for sports...

We live in Texas, do I need to say more?

Early Spring

All it takes is a few warm days for the trees to bloom around here and it only lasts for about 2 weeks. I thought the trees made for a pretty background, too bad the wind wasn't cooperating.**note Malaki's forehead, stitches #2

First Snow of 2011

Last Sunday it snowed during Church and of course this happened 2 days after I returned the snow pants that I bought on black Friday.

Christmas Food

I'm not one to brag about gifts but I will brag about food! Christmas Eve we went to the Angeli's and just us and them and a wonderful brisket dinner. I hosted Christmas brunch and I made, Monkey bread, french toast, egg strata and new for us this year, German pancakes. Then we went back to the Angeli's for dinner with Mark's side for traditional Christmas lasagna....so much great food and great company.



(cute advent calendar g-ma C sent to the kids and Olivia loved being in charge of it every day)

Christmas

Christmas 2010 was a great party, to end a great year. We had some bumps this year but the year ended with great blessings, the best being employment! Olivia is really enjoying school and comes home every day with something new she learned. One thing that we added to our traditions was that she learned that in Paris (per her) kids put their shoes out on Christmas Eve, so Santa was little confused when he got to our house but it looked cute and their shoes are so small.


The tree Christmas Eve, after the kids were in bed

My mantel, I loved looking at silhouette of the birth of Christ.

Empty shoes

Morning after

2010 wrap up

My camera doesn't get down loaded as often, so here are some lost photos of 2010.

Christmas Preview

This is what we've been doing today....

Teeth

This photo is for Aunt Jill, so she knows that we brush our teeth at our house. She'll be so proud!

Happy Halloween

This year for our ward's Trunk 'r Treat Olivia went as a peacock and Malaki as a lion (Zoo theme, get it). Olivia won a prize for her costume and was pretty excited but not as excited as she was for getting to wear eye shadow. Malaki proceeded to strip in the first 5 minutes there and thank goodness I remembered to put a onesie underneath. Tonight we are going to Lisa's for dinner to celebrate Troy's 18th birthday and just walk her neighborhood. Happy Halloween!

A mum for the mum

The south is full of traditions that we just didn't have in California and one that has caught my attention is the homecoming mum. What's a mum you ask, well let me tell you.
From Wikipedia: Mums: A tradition that has been in place for almost a century at many Southwestern American high schools, especially in Texas, homecoming dates exchange mums and garters on Homecoming Friday, to wear to school and then to the big game, while at some smaller schools students where them to the dance this is usually not the norm. These are very elaborate corsages (for the girls, usually pinned to clothing on the chest or shoulder) or garters (for the boys, worn on the arm) that consist of large flowers, they come in several sizes and shapes and the larger the better, (usually a white synthetic chrysanthemum) surrounded by a ribbon ruffle. Long ribbons, decorations and trinkets and bells are hung from the mum. These decorations are carefully chosen to indicate the students' class, homecoming date, activities, and interests, in addition to commemorating the homecoming event with decorations related to the school and the homecoming game. And in true Texas fashion, bigger is better....so what started as a joke, I made one for Lisa to wear to the Homecoming Football game. She loved it and I have to say that it was nothing compared to what we saw on the girls walking around. It's tradition to decorate with the person's interests/hobbies, so I made hers a #1 mom and decorated a ribbon for each of her kids. I think it wasn't so bad for my first mum. I'll know what to do when my kids are in High School. It was a great game and we got to see Troy sack the other team's quarterback!

An example of the more common sized mums but on the mild side....lots of lights, letters, boas and stuffed animals were seen.

School

I can't really say back to school because this year is Olivia's first year in an official school. She started Kindergarten and has a great teacher. Of course, I didn't allow us enough time to walk to school, so when we got there it was time to say good bye right away and I wasn't able to get a photo of her with her teacher but Tomas got a quick shot of her sitting at her desk. It was probably a good thing that we only had time for a quick goodbye because I think it was harder on me then her to say goodbye. On the way to school, I asked if she was nervous and she said no but her stomach felt like it was going to explode... oh my funny girl! She loves school and her only complaint is that they don't let her take her shoes off and she really would like to be buying lunch every day. She was a little sad that she didn't have any of her friends in her class but she knows some in different rooms and of course she has made friends quickly, especially with a little boy named Jacob. We hear about him a lot!


on our way to school!

no looking back now....

I love the "deer caught in the headlight" look...