Juliana's Real Birthday

Happy Birthday to my dear sweet Juliana.  You have grown into quite an amazing little girl.  You continue to teach and inspire everyone who you meet.  May God keep you safe and healthy, and keep that light in you so strong.  We love you!

 We let Juliana choose where she wanted to go to dinner, because if you read the previous post the girl did not want a big party.  So she chose Chili's

In attendance at this fancy shin-dig were Aunt Linda, Mickey, Claudia, Ashley, Liv and us.  Here she is getting spoiled by everyone, AGAIN!

 She is really into babies these days so she was thrilled that both Ashley & Linda gave her babies this year.

Livi is Self Sufficient

Yup, you heard it correctly.  She is four and completely self sufficient.  She asked, "Can I make my own sandwich." To which I answered, "Why certainly!".  And she did it.  One open faced sandwich complete with turkey, mayo and cheese and cherry tomatoes on the side.  She even got herself a glass of water!  Watch out I may have her cook Thanksgiving dinner this year!

Juliana's Birthday - Babes Style

So, we aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.  It only took of 5 years of Juliana throwing up on her birthday to finally ask the question, "Do you want a birthday party with 50 plus people in attendance?"  Her answer was a very clear NO!  I asked her if she wanted birthday cake, to which she answered - YES! and then I asked if she wanted presents to which she answered - YES!  So, if you didn't get an invitation this year, it wasn't because you were left off the list.  It was because we were honoring what Juliana asked for, which was a low key party with just a few people, cake and gifts.  So since the El Paso Family was in town we decided to go Babe's Style.  Babe's is a Chicken Farm that serves the freshest and best chicken ever!  And if it's your birthday you get to put this disgusting old worn-by-a-million-people hat!

 And since Daddy's had just passed we decided he could also take a picture.

 And since Opi's had also just passed we thought. . . . . . well Opi didn't agree.

 And it wasn't Gabbi's birthday, I just figured since she was starting high school it would make a good black mail photo



 Then we headed home for the presents part

 Auntie Laura got her a cute new purse with lip gloss inside and crayons and a coloring book.

 And a cool Mickey Mouse shirt!  He never gets old!

 And Omi got her the cutest Hello Kitty jogging suit.

First Day of School 2012

This was a very exciting first day of school for us all.  For Olivia, although she would be at the same pre-school with the same teachers, all of her best friends had moved onto kindergarten.  As excited as she was to be with Ms. Stipes and Ms. Devore, she was a little sad to be without her best friend Faith, whom she'd been with since her very first day of baby daycare.

For Juliana, this was an entirely new chapter in her life.  Not only was she moving on from the Pre-school campus into a new huge elementary school, she would also be, for the first time in a mainstream kindergarten class all day.  In her years at pre-school she had spent most of the day in a special education class and only part in mainstream.  This definitely has it's benefits, the main one being smaller class size so she got more attention.  But as we "learned" Juliana and she continued to mature we discovered that more and more she "wants to do what the others are doing" (this is a button on her computer that she uses often).  We also realized that her "disability" is physical.  Her mind works!  So, together with the school we decided to let this little chick soar into general ed Kindergarten.  Let me tell you mom and dad were VERY nervous and excited.

Here are the kiddos on the first day of school.  And yes, Ashely is one of our kiddos too.  She was awesome.  She spent the night with us that night to help us in the morning and then spent part of the morning at school with Juliana to help get her acquainted with her new class.  Then Super Daddy tagged her out and he ended up spending the first week at school.  Got to love the Super Daddy! So she is in a class of about 20 kiddos with one teacher and one teacher aide dedicated to Juliana all day.  She is wonderful and quickly learning Juliana.  Looking forward to the awesome things to come this year!

 Day 2 - This is Evan.  He is Faith's (Olivia's bestie) little brother and he is in Olivia's class this year.  I think Olivia has loved having a pseudo-brother that she looks after in class.  They car pool together with Super Daddy.

 And here is Juliana on Day 2!  I'd say day one was a success judging by that smile.  For those of you that don't know I was lucky enough to be able to transfer to Juliana's school this year, which is exactly 2 houses from our house.  So we have had the best time walking to school everyday and sharing about 20 minutes before school starts in my room together.  And another plus, we are in the same hall, so I can peek in from time to time.  Not sure that is a plus for her but it is for me!

 

 This was the moring of Day 3.  I'd say school is wearing them out a bit.

 Here we are on Day 3 - Still smiling!

 Day 4!

 And Day 5 - I'm so glad she is loving it so much

 And here is Mommy and Juliana after the first week of school.  We were both whipped!

Roger's Birthday

Happy Birthday to an awesome husband, my best friend and the BEST DADDY in the whole wide world!  This year we asked Daddy what he wanted to do for his birthday and all he asked for was a good dinner with good friends.  Done and Done!

Dinner at The Ranch.  This was Roger's plate

And his special request birthday cake!  A lemon cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes.  I'm not a fan of lemon, but this cake is delicious!

 

 And here are the great friends!

 

 

 Fork out front

 Happy Birthday Roger - my partner in crime! and eating apparently

Loose Lips Sink Ships

So, not probably one of my better parenting moments, but I couldn't resist.  So Olivia have been talking at length about how some things are private between the two of us and not for everyone.  Nothing like super classified information.  I'm talking like, when she goes over for a play date with a friend and I say, "Be polite and don't ask for everything you see."  Then she goes to the play date and tells the host, "I sure would love some of those oreos (or whatever looks good to her) but my mommy said I'm not allowed to ask for anything."  You know things like that, that aren't supposed to be repeated.  So I jokingly told her that "Loose lips sink ships"  Of course she didn't understand.  But the next day, when she told another one of my little pearls of wisdom, I gently reminded her that she has loose lips.  The following ensued after that comment.

Weekend Time with Aunt Melissa

This weekend Auntie Melissa and family came to visit.  Partly to hand David over the keys to his Almost New PT Cruiser!  And partly just for good times.  Olivia LOVES Auntie Melissa since she is the ONLY person that will allow her to paint her nails!

 Not too bad for a four year old.

 Then it was grilled pizza night. Juliana's favorite!

And finally, to end the weekend David, Kayla and Harriet the Honda helped me move into my new classroom right up the street from our house!  Juliana and I will both officially be Lively Eagles!