Noah's trip to the dentist

Noah just LOVES going to the dentist. He gets so excited, jumps in the chair, and opens his mouth wide. Okay, maybe not. But, he is just so darn cute sitting in his chair I had to take a picture! Plus, you can see he had headphones on because he was watching Disney's Cars movie while they were cleaning his teeth! Can it get any better than that?

End of Season Party!

So, Sophie had her last softball game of the season and I forgot to bring my camera to take pictures of the game. The next best thing was for me to take a couple of pictures with my phone at the pizza party afterward (hey, I'm doing the best I can okay?)! Anyway, Sophie had such a great season and loved getting to play ball with all of her friends. They loved the pizza party and had a lot of fun signing each others softballs and getting their cool medal! We can't wait for next year!

Congratulations Dr. Palaroan!!!

My sister, Michelle, graduated this past weekend. We made the trip up in the snow and spent the weekend with lots of family and friends. It was a wonderful day full of emotion as I watched my parents beaming with pride and my sister finally able to sit back and enjoy such a momentous occasion. Michelle, I hope you know just how proud we are of you. Your persistence, motivation, and dedication are such an inspiration. I know you will continue to make a difference in the lives of others and I am so proud to have you as a sister and an amazing aunt to my children. Congratulations!!!

Moving on to First Grade

I can't believe I have already shifted from worrying about Kindergarten to now worrying about 1st grade! Sophie is nearing the end of her first year in school and it truly has been such a wonderful one. Her teacher asked all the parents to write a letter to their child, documenting their accomplishment and wishes for 1st grade. I tried my best to sum up her first year without getting too emotional.....I'm happy to share this wonderful milestone:

Dear Sophie,


We are beaming with pride when we think about your amazing year as a kindergartener! We knew from the very beginning that you would flourish and make wonderful new friends, show excitement about learning, and love your kindergarten teacher! We talked for so long about what it would be like in kindergarten and how special it would be. You were most excited about learning how to read. This was the one skill you couldn't wait to master and when we picked you up from school on that very first day, one of the first things you said was, "You said I was going to learn how to read and I didn't!" Well, look at you now! We can only hope you continue to have the same love and enthusiasm for learning as you move forward in school.


As the school year was underway, we quickly learned how much you truly care about friendship. You are a loyal, sweet, and kind friend to others. We are so proud of the way you have made connections with your classmates and the excitement you show when sharing your fun experiences with each of them. Sometimes you asked how to deal with certain situations and we had great talks about what it means to be a friend. You have shown us, in such a short amount of time, just how lucky your friends are to have you. As you move on to 1st grade, we hope you continue to nurture these wonderful friendships and develop even more as you meet new classmates.


First grade is going to be a very special year for you, just like kindergarten has been! We already love how you can't stop talking about what it's going to be like! You have a countdown for the end of this school year, beginning of next school year, and your birthday in September! We keep trying to remind you that there are a whole lot of days in between that are waiting for you to enjoy and experience. If there's one thing Daddy and I wish for you as you enter first grade, it is for you to just enjoy being a first grader. It is such a meaningful year filled with lots of new firsts that we don't want you to have to worry about what comes next. As always, we will be there to cheer you on, guide you, and love you. Great job, Sophie! We are all so proud of you!


Love,
Daddy, Mommy, and Noah

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy birthday Tim! He turns the big double 3 today and we wish him the very best today! We love you so much and are so lucky to have such a loving, funny, and dedicated husband and daddy! As Sophie always says, "You are the best Daddy ever!" I couldn't agree more. Have a fabulous day; you deserve it.

Race to Nowhere

I thought I'd dust off my soapbox for today and share a little of the world I work in. We see the very scary statistics of our kids today and wonder how they are ever going to make it in this world. I'm certain they said the very same thing about our generation when I was a teenager. However, there is the other extreme of our students, where what matters most has nothing to do with happiness, but test scores, grades, and nothing less than perfection....because anything less than perfection will doom their future and chances of being successful.....happiness is about pursuing the best college, the best job, the best of everything. The sad part is the pursuit never ends....and this race to nowhere engulfs any chance they have at happiness. I will be attending a screening of this documentary, Race to Nowhere, in a couple of weeks. I hope to learn how I can make some changes as an educator and as a parent to my own children. Check out this trailer and learn about the very real other side of adolescence......

Race to Nowhere trailer

Like Father, Like Son

Can I just say there is a very good chance this little guy is going to make me laugh even 10x harder than his Daddy does? This kid has his father's sense of humor and I can't tell you how hard he makes it for me to be serious and stern with him when he's misbehaving. Seriously, the kid's workin' me with his charm and wit already and he's only 3.

Mother's Day!

I had a fabulous Mother's Day today! My father-in-law is in town and he treated all of us to a delicious lunch, the kids gave me wonderful handmade gifts, and I was able to sneak out and spend the afternoon wine tasting with a dear friend. I will never take for granted how lucky I am to have an amazing family. Thank you!

STAR of the week!

Sophie was STAR of the week last week and was soooo excited about being able to finally bring her favorite things to school to share with her classmates. She chose 5 very special items: her sheep stuffed animal, her favorite card game...Go Fish...which she loves to play with Grammy, a picture from her favorite vacation to Disneyland, her favorite book, and a little panda stuffed animal from her trip to the San Diego Zoo. She was also line leader ALL week and a special helper to Mrs. Gossett. All in all, it was a great week for her and she loved every moment of it!

The star of the week gets to take this stuffed bear named Buba home. He is a special friend to the class and they get to journal about all their adventures with Buba. The class is always excited to hear about the cool things Buba gets to do with his star of the week!

Showing her excitement about being star of the week. She just can't hide it.

Tranquilizer

(Let's just pretend it hasn't been 3 weeks since I've blogged and move on, okay? Okay.)

I am so glad the warmer weather is finally here (knock on wood)! Even though Tim and I are dying from allergies this season and can't pop the meds fast enough, we are still enjoying it and loving the near flip-flop weather. I know the allergies have thrown Tim for a loop because it's something he simply isn't used to. The other day, he IM'ed me at work and asked what he should take to relieve his symptoms. Apparently, I didn't answer him quick enough and in his desperation he decided to take the first thing he saw that he thought would save his life give him some relief. Of course, his medicine of choice happened to be a drug that would knock him into a coma. So, I came home from work finding the little inmates running the prison while Daddy is knocked out on the recliner. Fabulous. He proceeded to sleepwalk up into our bedroom and pretty much call it done for the rest of the night. Thankfully, I had a semi-good attitude and went along with my afternoon with the kids and got them out of the house to enjoy the nice afternoon. Upon returning around 7:15 p.m., the garage door startled Daddy during his beauty sleep and he awoke from the anesthesia......but don't you worry, he returned to bed an hour later. He was so out of it, it was pretty hilarious. Come to think of it, it probably would have been a good time for me to at least get some good shopping out of it ("What? You TOLD me to go out and buy a new wardrobe, don't you remember?").