Last Day of Preschool

Sarah has had the best preschool experience these past few months at Hola Kids. She was always excited to go to school each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. And the situation couldn't have been better for me. We brought cupcakes for her last day. Sadly, the 45 minute/2 hour commute there and back (rush hour) prevents Sarah from continuing with her school.

When I walked in to pick her up I found her putting a puzzle together. After they completed it, Miss Adela pointed to the various insects and flowers. She pronounced the names of each one in Spanish and then have Sarah and a couple of other students repeat the Spanish name and then would move on to the next. A couple of times when Miss Adela pointed to an insect that they had already seen, Sarah would pipe up with the correct Spanish name. It was super sweet to watch and hear. She has just loved this school experience.


She loved her teachers. They will truly be missed as we move on to suburbia.

Miss Adela


Miss Dilcia



and Miss Nery. Oh How I adore Miss Nery. She was perfect for our Sarah. She was so welcoming and was full of compliments of our little girl. She channeled Sarah's enthusiasm and first-child determination (read: stubborn behavior) so Sarah could really learn.


Miss Nery greeted us each time and I felt completely happy with how Sarah was spending her afternoon twice a week. I dropped her off at 1 pm and went home to put William down for his nap. William always wanted to stay and play with the choo-choo trains or play at the adjacent park, but home we returned so he could sleep. He would usually sleep until I woke him up at 4:10 to go back for Sarah, who finished at 4:30. These 3 1/2 hours were such a blessing for me as I was able to work, pack, clean the house, take a nap, etc. Sarah made some precious friends and I heard all about her adventures with Kathryn, Mia, Joshua, Luke and Caitlin. Oh how we will miss you!

Getting Ready

I can't believe our big move is coming up so quickly. We pick up our UHaul on Saturday morning and we are officially moving from the city. We did one last "camp out" at our home in Walnut Creek so we could put another coat of red on our playroom walls and so I could spend today working on preparing the house for the move. Can I just say I'm soooooo glad we will not be camping out there anymore. Next time we sleep there, Roger and I will be in our own bed and the kids will be in their own beds. Ahh. Can't wait!

Just for a visual: I picked up Sarah from school and it was raining. We left San Francisco at 5:15 pm and it took until 6:30 to pick up Roger. (Sarah was fast asleep by 5:30.) We then took a detour to find some drive-thru dinner at Taco Bell and then continued on our way to Walnut Creek. The rain made the roads slower than usual during rush-hour traffic. We didn't arrive until 7:15. William had napped from 1:30 until 4:15 so he was just chilling in the car for almost 3 hours. As you can imagine, he was more than wound up when we got to the house. Sarah, on the other hand had no desire to wake up and so we took off her shoes, put on a diaper and laid her on one of the twin mattresses upstairs. She didn't wake up again until almost 6 a.m.

Rog and I got to work while William played contentedly. I unloaded most of the books we had taken on previous trips and filled 3 bookshelves while Roger unloaded another car-load of "stuff" into the house. We ended up with quite a few boxes to return to our apartment to reload with more "stuff." We are coming from a one-bedroom apartment. Why do we have so much stuff?

By 9 pm we were ready to start working on applying the second coat of paint on our walls. I changed William's diaper, put on his PJs and placed him in his pack-and-play. He went down so easily!

I joined Roger and was in charge of the edges while Roger used the roller. We were in quite the groove when we heard little footsteps coming down the stairs and running into the kitchen. I thought Sarah had woken up. Silly me. It was William. He had climbed out of his pack-n-play and had the biggest grin on his face when he saw us working. Ugh! We quickly finished up our project and I tried getting William to sleep. No dice. Even when Roger and I turned out all the lights and laid down in our own make-shift beds (Rog on another twin bed and William & me on the love sac) in the family room, William wasn't a bit tired. He kept crawling all over me until I told Roger to try putting him back in the pack-n-play. As soon as Roger was back in his bed, William came back down the stairs. Awesome. I finally nodded off to sleep while William played in the dark. I have no idea when he eventually went to sleep. The next thing I knew Sarah was coming down the stairs crying because she was scared. At least it was almost 6 a.m. and she got a good nights sleep.

Needless to say, William will not be moving to a toddler bed anytime soon and I am very, very grateful he doesn't know how to climb out of his crib.


I guess I should also take a moment to give a William update since he is now 25 months. He is becoming quite the chatterbox and parrot. He loves to say "Woook" and show me a letter. He then makes the letter's sound. It's adorable. William also loves to kick, kick, kick. If it's on the ground, chances are he's going to kick it. He's getting a little pickier with his eating habits. And if there are any "treats" in sight, he will put down whatever he is holding (or eating) and reach for it. I swear my kids would live off of milk and treats if I let them! William still readily gives hugs and kisses and usually is a great sleeper. It's been a life-saver having Sarah in afternoon preschool while William naps for 2 1/2 hours. I've been able to pack, clean and take a nap of my own on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's been heavenly.

Well, I really should get back to packing. Just 3 more sleeps!

Sciences with Evan and Miles

We love the Academy of Sciences. Our pass expire the end of January and I hope to make it back a couple of more times before it does. The last few months every Tuesday has been Sciences morning. I would take Sarah and William for members only hour and stay a couple of hours before coming home for lunch and taking Sarah to preschool.

This time we invited Evan and Miles (And Stacy & Ellie) to come along. Although Stacy has had a pass, she didn't know about Explorer's Cove. Sarah and William had a blast showing Evan and Miles the coolest playroom in the city. They played puzzles:


Ran through the tree house and played under it:


said "Hello" to the turtle:


made towers for the dinosaurs:


We then had our snack in the atrium. Since it was December, they had fake snow (soap bubbles) blowing in the room. The kids loved it.


We saw the butterflies and birds in the rain forest and then played with the starfish and admired the fish in the aquarium.



All-in-all a super fun day at the aquarium. Definitely worth ignoring the packing that needs to be done ...

Disneyland at Christmas!

Again, I neglect my packing for a few minutes ... Here's the Disneyland update I know you've been dying to see.

Here we are at the entrance - how many photos are taken here each day, week, month, year???


On the train.


William stopped over in Toon Town while Sarah waited in line with me at the Princess Fantasy Faire. I tried to get Sarah to go with Daddy and William, but she was adamant that she wait for the princesses. William LOVED Toon Town - well, at least before the masses overtook it.


Meeting the Princesses. All of the princesses LOVED Sarah's dress (made by her ever-talented Aunt Valinda.





We were at the Fantasy Faire at the same time as the Royal Coronation. Loved it. William got up and danced with the princesses. (Sarah watched from the sidelines)


But don't worry, she was all for taking her picture on the throne and posing with her favorite princess.



This is how Roger and William passed the time while Sarah and I talked to the princesses.


After we had our princess fix, we headed to Toon Town to ride the roller coaster. Unfortunately, by this time Disneyland was pretty much at capacity. We had to wait 45 minutes for the rollercoaster. And sadly enough since I am pregnant I can't ride this ride. But the workers were nice enough to let Roger ride with Sarah and then let William do a quick trade off. They both LOVED it.



Then, our favorite King Arthur's Carousel. The kids got to go on it twice while Rog and I switched off waiting in line for Rapunzel.


William got a little sleepy at this point so we let him sleep it off in the stroller while we saw Snow White's wicked stepmother, Rapunzel, Mrs. Claus, and Pluto, had lunch in New Orleans Square, watched the Christmas Parade and met Tinkerbell & Terrance. (I know, he missed out on a lot, but really, we were all happier because he napped.)









By the way, Sarah LOVED watching the parade. She especially loved seeing the princesses dance with their counterparts. Prince Charming, Prince Phillip, the Beast ... oh how romantic!



He woke up just in time to meet Santa. Oh what a sight! Sarah quite calmly asked for a Tinkerbell toy while William screamed in Santa's other ear.



And a picture in front of the castle.


Just before leaving the park for a break, Roger took him on the Autopia ride. HE LOVED IT!


While Sarah and I took a nap at the hotel, William and Daddy went to CPK to get us dinner. (We were NOT doing another Disneyland line for food!) We took a couple of hours off from the park and as irony had it, William fell asleep again as we entered the park and watched the fireworks.


Sarah loved all the extra attention and the extra rides. Roger and I did the parent swap with Sarah on the Astrorbitor and Buzz Lightyear rides. She also got to go on Autopia again (we did a fast pass) and she braved the Matterhorn.

William woke up in time for the Storybook Canal, Casey Junior Train Ride, Dumbo, Teacups and Small World. Yes, the best time to do kids rides are from 10 pm until midnight. And for the record, the Teacups were hands down William's favorite ride.



All in all it was another successful Disneyland adventure. I may be able to convince myself that we will wait to go again until baby girl is almost 3, but I don't know if I'll be able to wait 3 years!

Dance take 2

Sarah participated in another dance class these past couple of months. Her teacher, Miss Angela, was just perfect for these girls. They had a blast dressing up in tu-tus and dancing around. Lots of fun memories.





Here's an excerpt from the performance.

Caroling

I joined my fellow Relief Society sisters for an hour and a half of caroling on a chartered cable car this week. We had a blast and definitely got into the Christmas spirit! I'm sure going to miss these girls.