Aly's last day of preschool

Today was Aly's last day of preschool. She has spent the last two years at the same school, with the same teacher. Miss Gilinda has been her teacher and has really done a good job making Aly feel comfortable at school, away from Mommy, and with other children.

Aly dressed for the occasion and enjoyed wearing a dress for a change. In the picture on the right she is receiving her preschool certificate. Aly seems to be o.k. with not going to preschool anymore and she is looking forward to a new school year in Kindergarten and the big kids school. I was surprised at how well she took it knowing that it was her last day of school.

Aly's playdate and my little helper

This morning shortly after 8 a.m. I got a call from a local friend asking if we were still o.k. having Grace come over. I was happy to have Grace over as she is such a good little girl and it would be great for Aly to have time to play with a friend.

As soon as I hung up the phone I asked Aly for a favor. I said, "Aly can you clean up the front room while I finish on the treadmill so I can vacuum before your friend Grace comes over?" Aly was excited and immediately replied, "Sure Mom!"

Sure enough while I was doing the treadmill Aly was downstairs happily cleaning. No complaining, no negotiating, just happily cleaning. When I finished on the treadmill I came down stairs and to my surprise the entire front room was cleaned, she moved a chair and the two person picnic table out of the room, and had her little toy vacuum and was vacuuming the living room. I couldn't believe my eyes or ears for that matter. I was so proud and so happy. I couldn't believe what a helpful, big girl she was!

Weight loss Mondays

Unfortunately this Monday I weighed in 2 lbs heavier than last. Current weight: 130.8. I really attribute that to my period---water retention--and the fact that I was so busy last week I only had time for one treadmill a day burning an average of 280 calories each day. This is obviously not enough to make a difference especially with how much I was on the go. Oh well, I still feel great and my legs are really firming up. I see more muscle each week and it is making me happy! Besides I do feel great in clothes and if it weren't for the whole swimsuit thing I would be fine to just be on maintenance.

Our visit to the Calaveras County Fair

Today we went to the Calaveras County Fair. After such a busy week we have barely been home and hadn't had any opportunities to watch television. We left this morning shortly after 8 a.m. as it is close to a two hour drive. We got to the fair shortly after ten a.m. and at that point it was already 93 degrees. This fair doesn't have many shaded areas either so you can imagine how hot it was there.

We actually started off watching frog jumping contests but none of those photos turned out. Our next stop was this frog garden with lots of different frog statues to stand in front of for pictures. Aly really loved the dalmation frog on the right.

Here is KK's favorite frog! The next place we went was to the children's art exhibits. It was so fun to tour and see all the art other children made. Aly loved it and wanted her picture taken in front of her favorite art. This particular art piece she wants to do at home. They are skeletons made using q-tips.

This particular art exhibit was drawn by students I believe in fourth or fifth grade. They are frogs holding an icecream cone. Too cute!

Our next stop was going to be the rides at the fair. At noon we went down to the rides only to discover there would be a delay in opening them. Of course at the time we had no idea why? We thought it was just their lack of organization or that they were short staffed. We did notice that they were welding a kiddie ride. We took note of that because we weren't going to let the girls ride that one.

When we asked the staff when the rides would open they were very short and rude--maybe in an hour--we have no idea. It was blazing hot at this point nearing 100 degrees. We waited a half hour and asked again. Same reply. We decided to go up and ask for a refund. We were sent all over the fair talking to different people. It was quite annoying. Finaly after 1 p.m. we found the right place to try and get a refund. The office staff was very curt and just simply told us we are not giving refunds. You have to file this application with the state and they will determine if you are granted a refund or not--BTW the paperwork you use to file charges a $25 fee for applying for a refund! The lady told me I could call my credit card company and dispute the charge. They weren't budging. We would have to leave knowing we may never see that $30 worth of ride coupons we purchased.

When we got home I called my friend Annette to complain about not getting my money back. She let me know the shocking truth as to why the rides weren't open! To read more of this horrifying story click here. After learning of this tragedy I was so happy that our children didn't get the opportunity to ride their rides.

My cousin Sarah had her baby today!

My cousin had her baby boy today. He weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20 inches long. How exciting for her to have her first child. I am so happy for her. Her sister Amy had her first daughter last November so it will be lots of fun for the two of them to raise their children and have them so close in age. I know Sarah's mom was so happy to welcome her second grandchild into the world and her Dad must have been so happy to finally have a boy in the family.

I can't wait to be able to make the trip to meet Davis. Congratulations Sarah!

Look what happened to our dog run!

Today there was a bit of gusty wind in the morning. For some reason that gusty wind must have effected this old oak tree. While we were sleeping the tree fell right down on our dog kennel. Good thing the dogs weren't in it!

The tree fell apart in two places. Half right down below the tree trunk and the other half right on our dog kennel. Poor hubby, as if he didn't have enough to do around here. Now we can't go away on any trips until it is fixed!

Check it out! Can you believe it? Now we don't have an indoor/outdoor dog run. We must come up with a new plan!

Mickey Mouse pancakes

Aly has really been into having pancakes for breakfast lately. So today I decided to make Mickey Mouse pancakes. When I was a little girl my Aunt Karen would always make them for us when we stayed with her. I loved it and thought they were the best pancakes ever. So now I have decided to try and make them for my daughters. Especially since we love Mickey Mouse so much!

Kindergarten Roundup

Today Aly had kindergarten roundup at the school she will be attending in the fall. I was really excited to go and she seemed to be too. We got a sitter for KK so we could enjoy the experience together uninterrupted. The paper we got in the mail told us we would be riding a school bus, visiting a kindergarten classroom, meeting the principal, and touring the campus.

When we got to the roundup and sat down to listen to the principal we found out that Aly would spend the day without Mommy. She would be riding the bus alone and going to a kindergarten classroom without me. I was mortified. I wasn't prepared for this. I didn't prepare her for this. I thought we would ride the bus together and be able to talk about it as it was happening. I was quite nervous when I found out we would be separated. I told her she would get to ride the bus like a big girl without Mommy. Luckily she has her frog with her and her friend Nathan. Aly and Nathan got on the bus together and sat in the same seat.

Aren't they so cute together holding hands as they board the bus? In the second picture Aly and Nathan are sitting in the back on the left. You pretty much can only see her green frog above the seat.

Here is Aly in a kindergarten classroom. She looked like she was having a good time doing art. She made a sunflower. Aly said her favorite part of the day was playing out on the playground for recess. She said she didn't like the bus and was very scared. Nathan told his mommy that Aly was very sad on the bus and cried. He tried to make funny faces to make her happy.

I think if I had known she would be by herself and prepared her it probably would have gone a little better.

Aly's field trip to the zoo

Aly had her field trip for preschool today to the zoo. Daddy took the day off from work and joined us. The first most important thing for Aly was to get there and find one of her friends to spend time with at the zoo. After a few minutes we managed to find one of the nicest girls in her class, Grace. Grace also lives within three minutes of our house so we are looking forward to some summer play dates with her. Her younger sister Abbey is only 6 months older than KK so it is a good fit for both girls.

The picture on the left is Aly looking at the giraffes. Check out her hair! So cute isn't it? The picture on the right is the four girls looking at the anteater. From left to right--Abbey, Grace, Aly, KK.

One of KK's favorite things to do is to stick her face through the cardboard pictures. Aly chose the spider.

The girls had a nice time hanging out. After the zoo we all went to McDonald's for lunch. Aly was thrilled to eat at McDonald's with a friend.

Mother's Day Fun

On Mother's Day hubby was ready to take the girls out to buy me a present. I told him that the best present he could give me was to give me the day off. What do you mean the day off was his response? I said I didn't want to do any cooking or cleaning. He said that would be great for him too as he would rather do that than drive down the hill and go shopping.




So we got to go out to a local restaurant for breakfast. The girls both behaved very well so it turned out to be a great experience. I dressed both of them in dresses and did their hair as you can see in the previous post.

Since I had the day off hubby made dinner as well. He and Aly made home made pizza. They made three different pizza's which was great for leftovers. The pizza was good and Aly enjoyed making it with Daddy.

Here is a cute picture of the both of them sleeping. Although KK was really the only one sleeping. Aly saw KK sleeping and told me she wanted to lay next to her and take a picture. I told her to pretend she was sleeping. What a great little actress!