"Love You..."

Everyday since Maia was born, I have always looked her in the face, many times holding her cheeks and face at me and said "I Love You Maia."  She has been saying so many words and even trying to say multiple words together.  But not "I love you"?!

Tonight while snuggling on the couch before bed she Graber my cheeks, looked at me, and said babbles that sounded like "Love You", then kissed me!

She is a handful most days but it's these sweet moments I will always remember most!

Hiding And Sleeping With Toys...

While Garrison hides where the toys normally go...

Rosalia sleeps with the toys around her! 

"No"...

Silly Girl...

Bellybutton...

Some kids have favored blankets, dolls, stuffed animals, baby toys that they hold to self sooth.  Although Maia favors her small rattle dolly, she is always holding her bellybutton.  She finds ways to always reach it no matter what we dress her in.  She sleeps holding it.  She walks around holding it.  She watches cartoons holding it.  You get the point.  I tried taking pictures of her and almost every picture she was holding her bellybutton.  Silly girl!

 

Free Tickets...

For leaving feedback at Legoland, they sent us free tickets to go back.  They were offered to us after I informed them of their annoying height restrictions.  With only 2 adults and 3 kids under the height restrictions we had to parent swap nearly every ride.  It took up so much of our day so their solution was to have us back with hopes the kids will grow tall enough for us to ride all the rides together!  Not sure that will happen, so our solution...bring Papa and Grandma with us!  

First Homework Assignment...

For his first homework assignment, Garrison had to cut and paste pictures of things that started with the letter "G".  He did awesome with a little help from Rosalia!

Best Buddy...

While getting ready for bed Garrison told me I'm his best buddy.  I asked if daddy was his best buddy too.  He replied "No he's not my best buddy I only have you for my best buddy but shhh don't tell daddy it's a secret for just me and you k?!"

I remember not too long ago, Dillon being this little, lovable, cute, and cuddly.  Now I can't even get a hug never mind a kiss on the cheek!  

It's crazy how fast the years go by and how much faster the kids grow older.  I know Dillon loves me but I do miss the daily reminders.  So I will soak up every little cute and lovable comment Garrison says to me!  

Maia Giving A Little Payback...

One day these two will laugh at this!  Maia might be tiny but she holds her own!

Time To Fix Teeth...

Today is appt 1 of 3 for Garrison.  He needs some major work done on most of his teeth.  He has been ok with the idea of going to the dentist but actually traveling here wasn't so easy.  He cried for 30 straight minutes on the drive over before I bribed him with a small dusty the airplane toy!  I walked him back but as soon as the Dentist kicked me out he cried and cried.  An hour later,  he came out with tons of prizes and a smile.  Well and a packet of gauze rolls to keep him from biting and grinding his teeth.  He did great.  Now we are hoping he will cooperate for his next two upcoming visits.

Preschool Work To Be Proud Of

Poor Garrison.  We gave him a nice strong boy name but a long, hard name to spell.  He's doing a great job considering!

First Day Of School 2013-2014

Liliana is entering 7th grade and way too cool for pictures so this is the only one I got of her.

Dillon is entering 4th grade and didn't want to take pictures... like usual!

 Ava was very excited to see her friends in 2nd grade this year!

 Here is a group shot, which Garrison showed how much he was NOT excited to start preschol

 Good big sister Ava, bribed him with a pack of gummies she had packed in her lunch.  The bribery worked and he turned for a picture!

 Then Dillon and Ava jumped out of the group picture for me to snap this shot real quick!

 Ava gave Garrison the cutest little pep talk about all the fun he will have at school as they walked into the school yard.

Ava was spotted by several friends and off she went.

But not before giving Garrison a big hug!

Then as we passed Dillon's line area, a friend shielded him from one last picture before heading into class.

Surprising me, Garrison stood in line and followed his classmates into school with NO TEARS!

 

Meet The Teacher...

Today's the day, every year the kids can't wait to find out who their teacher will be.  (As a parent, I am equally as anxious if I didn't make a request ahead of time) 

First up was Garrison... This year he starts preschool.  We decided to send him to the same school as Ava and Dillon for a few reasons
1) Easy schedule for drop off and pick up
2) Allows him to feel comfortable knowing Ava and Dillon are at the same school
and
3) It is a great program which Dillon went through when he was his age. 
The program is your typical preschool program but with 1 main difference.  It's an integrated program that has a ratio of 70% special needs (which categorizes pretty much any learning delay out there) to 30% tuition based children.  The focus is to have tuition based children help their classmates by example.  It's a great program and all children attending have such growth by years end.
Garrison's teacher this year is Mrs. Lasswell.  She has been teaching the program at our school since it opened in 2007.  Garrison shocked us tonight.  He was real hesitant to enter the classroom.  Once in the room, he wanted nothing to do with meeting the teacher.  Luckily, she had a plate of cookies out so a bit of bribery was used to take this picture!

 

After meeting Garrison's teacher it was time for Ava.  We knew the name right away.  She used to teach kindergarten but made the change to 2nd grade this year.  Mrs. Fierro had a very cute yellow and black bumblebee decorated classroom.  Ava happily smiled for a quick picture and off we went to meet the 3rd teacher of the evening.

The final classroom was Dillon's 4th grade class.  Mrs. Duke's was also a familiar face but none of us has had her as a teacher until this year!  She has a great reputation (all the teachers at our school do though!) so we are excited to see what this year brings.  Dillon didn't want to take this picture but I reminded him until 7th grade, he's stuck taking the normal back to school pictures! 

Legoland 2013...

Another trip to LEGOLAND...
We received an email a couple months ago from Uncle David in Italy.  He wanted us to travel out to California and meet up with them while they were back in the states visiting.  His suggestion was we could spend the day together at Legoland.  We were game, so I looked into hotels and got everything all figured out.  It would be a short trip but well worth it to visit with them. 
We left Friday morning and arrived late afternoon in Carlsbad.  Uncle had plans to meet with some friends so we didn't end up seeing them until late evening.  In the meantime, we enjoyed the accommodations at the Legoland Hotel.  It was so very neat.  Our room was like a giant pirate themed Lego.  There was a scavenger hunt to complete in order to open the treasure chest inside our room which contained mini figures and chocolate gold coins.  They had a Lego build contest which the older 4 kids participated in.  We enjoyed a very tasty buffet meal in the Brick Restaurant which was decorated with more Legos.  The entire lobby area was filled with Legos for the kids to build with.   Later in the evening Uncle, Auntie, and Lorenzo met us at the hotel and picked up their tickets (we had pre-purchased them to make the morning go quicker plus we had some coupons which got us some great deals).  Before we knew it, 2 hours had passed and it was almost 10pm.  Knowing it was going to be a long day at the park and then long drive back home we said our good byes and headed to bed.  Uncle, Auntie, and Lorenzo aren't morning people.  So we ended up at the park for a couple hours before they arrived.  It worked out nicely because the little kids got plenty of time in the "little kid areas".  We all met up and began a very long but fun day.  We went on so many rides.  The first ride we went on wasn't the smartest ride we could have gone on... Pirate's Reef.  It is your normal flume except...you get DRENCHED.  I'm talking every sq inch of you and your clothing dripping wet.  We didn't have our bathing suits on so there was some moaning and groaning that occurred before all was calmed by a change of clothes.  Us Arizonans aren't used to the cold of southern California!  We took so many pictures and made so many fun memories.  The park didn't close until 8pm and we didn't leave until almost 9pm.  Once the night was over, we said our goodbyes and began our long 6 hour drive home.  It was another short visit with Uncle, Auntie, and Lorenzo but so much fun.  Hopefully in the near future they will visit with us again but longer!!