What happened to summer??

The last time I posted it was JUNE and now it is mid/late July and the summer is going by so quickly! I love summer! I love hanging out, having fun, going away, and keeping busy and being lazy all at the same time! We are always on the run and I love it!

Sammie started swim lessons and is enjoying it. She is doing better each time. When I took her swimming at my mom's pool, the first half hour she spent saying "Mommy, don't let go of me" and the next half hour was "Mommy, don't touch me!" She basically taught herself to swim and is now very comfortable in the water. She is working on the mechanics of swimming now. (floating, kicking, arm circles and face in the water) She is going to jump off of the high dive on the last day of class. She did it last year too!

July 4th we had a family BBQ and then went to the neighbor's house to visit and watch fireworks.

Sammie's preschool went on a field trip to the park and I was able to join them too. We had a fun day. We ate lunch there and the kids played. Guess what was her favorite thing to play on??

I cleaned and organized my scrappy stuff and although I have a LONG way to go to be done, it felt so great to make a little progress on it. :) Here are some recent pages I did. Oh and by the way, I WON the challenge on Kristin's blog. I am so excited! YEA! Thanks Kristin!

We got together with Jen and Julia and went to Tanaka farms for the watermelon tours. It was a fun trip. We rode on a tractor pulled wagon and tasted some fruits and vegetables. ( onions, corn, beans, carrots, tomatoes, watermelon). The girls each got to pick a watermelon to take home. YUMMY!

I love this pic!! Nice melons!

I got to see Duran Duran at the fair. It was so exciting! What a great concert. I used to love them back in the 80's... eeeekkk time sure flies!! They still look the same and I loved watching them play and of course, singing along!

We have been to Disneyland a few times. Sammie loves to ride Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and the Matterhorn. We drove the Autopia cars which was fun.

We stopped to buy tickets for the circus and the animals were out front. It was really cool to see them just hanging out before the show even opened. We spent the most time at the horses and we loved this one. It is a Norwegian Fijord. ( no, I didn't know that until Sammie asked the attendant) What a beautiful animal. He has a cropped white mane with a black stripe down the center. There were several other horses there too. We also got to see the elephants, tigers and zebra.


We went to the circus on Friday night. It was a good show. Very expensive but fun to watch.

My parents were in town so we all went.

So that's my recent update of what we've been doing. I am trying to enjoy each day. Of course i have a huge list of projects to do while I'm off and I am slowly starting on that, but I always manage to find something else to do instead. ugggghh

Scrappy Fun and Happy Birthday Naomi

Here are some pages I made for scrappy challenges. This one is for a pagemaps sketch challenge on Kristin's blog.




I had fun doing this page too. This is also a pagemaps sketch challenge sponsored by Becky Fleck and My Little Shoebox, one of my favorite scrappy product lines.


There is also a new challenge on the Scrap It Forward blog. Come and play along!
Oh, and today is my doggie's birthday! Happy Birthday Naomi!


I have been super busy, enjoying my summer. Be back soon with a recap!

Blue Ribbon!

Sammie participated in the Yorba Linda Country Riders Horse Show on Sunday. She got a blue ribbon and was so proud! She rode Western in the lead line class on Snort. Snort is a Palomino horse who belongs to the daughter of a girl I teach with. Her name is Ashley. They had a blast doing the show together. Sammie is definitely hooked and was on cloud 9 all weekend. She clipped the ribbon to her clothes and didn't want to take it off. She loves horses and loves riding and it is a wonderful thing for her. We are very proud of her.

I think this is my favorite pic of the day!

Here is a picture of the "Pony Princess Party tent"!!

Here is a little peek inside to see the pony tea party.

After they have their tea, ( I mean Sprite and broccoli) all of the ponies lay down to go to sleep.

Here is a recent picture drawn by Sammie. It is her riding Joey, the horse she rides in her lessons. He is eating hay and that black bag next to him is the bag that holds his brushes.

Sammie had her Open House at the preschool. It was awesome!! Her teachers, Mrs. LynnMarie and Mrs. Vivi, did an amazing job. There was so much to see and Sammie was so proud of her work. It was great to see the progress she made from September until now. She couldn't even write her name or draw very well and now she has a much better understanding of letters and number concepts. She is definitely ready for kindergarten!!

Her teachers made a video of all the kids throughout the year and we each got a copy of it. What a treasure to have her entire preschool year on a DVD. I was able to help in her classroom this year and see some of the things they did but to see a weekly review of her preschool year and her friends and all the fun events is priceless! Thank you Mrs. LynnMarie and Mrs. Vivi for your hard work and dedication to the kids in room 3.

In other news, we raised Painted Lady Butterflies and they all hatched. We let them go and be free. Sammie enjoyed learning about life cycle and watching the tiny caterpillars hatch into butterflies.

We also saw this movie. It was very good. A little bit sad in some parts but a nice story and very cute. We really liked it and would recommend it.

I am so happy it is June. It is always so busy winding down the school year and packing up my classroom. I have been sick for a week now with a cold and then sinus infection, and am finally on the mend. I had a class play, 2 field trips, report cards, which really sucked the life out of me. I still have to pack up and move my classroom and finish off the school year. I am excited though, I will be teaching KINDERGARTEN next year. YIPPEE! It is my favorite grade.

Well, I'm off to rest up a bit. I am so excited about summer vacation starting next week. It will be a fun and busy summer. Be back soon.

Helping a friend

Sammie's preschool friend, Brooke, and 2 of her siblings have been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. This is a horrible genetic disease of the lungs and it is life-shortening. I just heard of this news and am saddened by it. Paulette, the mother, is particpating in a walk this weekend to help find a cure for CF. Here is the link if you would like to help support her in her efforts. They have 5 children ( 2 sets of twins) and 3 of the 5 kids have CF, 1 child in each set of births. We met in dance class 2 years ago and they were in preschool together last year. I can't even imagine how she can deal with this devastating situation.

http://www.cff.org/great_strides/dsp_donationPage.cfm?registeringwalkid=5833&idUser=318218

Happy Memorial Day!

Thank you to all of our brave soldiers who have fought for our country to protect our freedom! We honor you on this day.
Here is my favorite "Uncle Sam"!
Just checking in with a weekend recap. We went to Las Vegas for the weekend and had a fun time. The weather was great, we had fun hanging with my parents, and I came home $600 richer!!! YAHOO! I won playing poker on my favorite machines .05 deuces. They are a lot of fun but can also be evil!! The funniest part is that Sammie found a pony playset she wanted and begged me to get it. I told her if I won I would get it for her. When we were walking through the casino after dinner, I asked her which machine I should play from the bank of the deuce machines. She pointed to the "one" and I said okay. I went back to play that machine and sure enough, it hit within the first few minutes of me playing it. It was quite exciting. I took a few pics with my cell phone but I am not sure how to upload it to the computer yet so I guess you'll have to imagine it. :) She got her horsey toy and was just as happy as I was for winning!

We went to the pool everyday and the first day we were there Samantha taught herself how to swim. It was just the way she does everything. ON HER TERMS!! The first half hour in the pool was "mommy, don't let go of me" and the second half hour was "mommy don't touch me!".. LOL! She still has some work to do, but she gets the basic idea of how to paddle, kick and put her face in the water. I think after some swim lessons this summer she'll be great!!! It has been since last year that she was in the pool and so she needs a "refresher".. no pun intended!! Ha ha ha!

Teeth and Teacups!!

Sammie had a wiggly tooth until yesterday, no MORE! She woke up and put her hand under her mouth and pushed it with her tongue and poof, it fell out right into her hand. She was so excited. She had to tell everyone she encountered, including Mickey Mouse at Disneyland. ( we went there yesterday for fun, no, not because she lost her tooth. ) She put it under her pillow last night and got a golden dollar from the tooth fairy. We made a tooth fariy book and wrote her a letter. Sammie named the tooth fairy "Alyssa" and said that she is the special fairy that comes to her house. Everyone gets a different fairy but Alyssa will be the fairy who visits again. She sprinkled pixie dust on Sammie's pillow, her bed, nightstand and even the window ledge where she came into Sammie's room.

Here she is with her new smile. She looks so different!! Gosh, it seems like she just got those teeth, hard to believe she is losing them already!

She also finished her princess dance class and they celebrated with a tea party. It was adorable. The table was set with real china teapots and cups. The girls had apple juice and frosted cookies. It was really special. After we headed to Disneyland for the afternoon. It was a fun day.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mommies out there! I hope you enjoyed your special day! I had a nice weekend. :)

I am so happy to be a mommy! Thanks to Sammie for giving me the best job I have ever had!