Who’s that girl???

Ashley gets her first official haircut at the age of 4!

Ashley got her first official haircut at the salon I go to.  She looks so much older!  She loved it and told me she wants to go back EVERY DAY!  When she first got there (Sam brought her because I got my haircut too and she came to get her haircut while my color was setting).  She actually started crying when it was her turn.  I think she saw the papers in my hair for my color and she thought she was getting the same.  When she figured out she wasn’t having that, she was fine and enjoyed the entire experience.  Her favorite, she told me, was the blow drying part.  She even had a shampoo!   Loved it all!  I’m a little biased, but I think she looks adorable!!

The first official cut! Enough to donate to Locks of Love! 11 inches in total.

She said this was her favorite picture, holding her hair.

The joys of the salon shampoo.

The turbin stayed on for 2 seconds, pretty much for this picture.

Is this having fun or what?

This was her favorite part!

Look how shiny and healthy that hair is!

A picture with her new stylist, Colleen - she likes to just say her name every so often now, it's hilarious!

Our photo shoot at home.

Always the funny poses!

And goofiness...

She's our little cutie pie!!

Joshua’s Birthday Party…A Little Early!

So it’s a little early but with my work schedule and all the other things going on, we thought it better to be early than late!  So we had Joshua’s birthday party today.  It was at a local “fun zone”!  He told me tonight when I put him to bed, “It wasn’t that fun mom, just kidding…it was AWESOME!”  He had a blast and was sweating by the end of the night.  We had friends from his pre-school and some from the neighborhood.  Hasn’t been in school long enough to have any kids from there yet…maybe next year.  They all had a great time.  Here are some pictures.  My baby is almost 6!!!  Unbelievable!!!

The Birthday Boy sliding down the slide...Ashley making sure it all goes well!

Here's the rowdy crew.

He picked this cake out...from "Ice Age 3-D". It was a pretty cool cake!

Blowing out his candle. You can do it!

More fun, I think that's what they called it!! They had a blast! Everyone's sleeping good tonight!

The Latest Activities

Today was a beautiful fall day, so what did we do…went apple picking of course.  We went to the same place we went last year for Joshua’s birthday party.  However, because this time it was on a weekend, it was a mad house there!  It was fun though and we got lots of apples.  The kids had a blast and ate A LOT of apples!  Happy Autumn everyone!!

On the wagon ride out to the apple orchards.

Ashley picking Fuji apple.

Joshua picking a Honeycrisp apple.

Ashley double fisted and Joshua about to enjoy another bite! What could be better?

Boys with boys...

Girls with girls...

I guess it’s that time…reality, I’m old!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Well, I’m still smiling in this picture but can’t believe how old I’m getting.  Can it be true that I’m actually 40 years old?  Well it’s actually not until tomorrow so I will have to still say I’m 39 as long as I can!!!  Technically my birthday is tomorrow but my birthday on all my records (except my birth certificate) says it’s the 15th.  Long story, when we came to America, my parents wrote my birthday as the 15th and so all my legal documents in the US say the 15th.  However, when my brother Qui and I found my birth certificate some years back, we found my birth certificate said it was the 14th.  So I usually celebrate it on the 15th, since I’ve done it for so long that way.  But it really is the 14th.  So confusing…should I be a little mad that my parents didn’t even realize the mistake…only when I’m turning 40 one day sooner than I do on my driver’s license!

Sam got me this beautiful yummy cake and he and the kids sang me happy birthday.  The kids both made me cards and we said we wouldn’t be giving gifts this year (we are saving for a big renovation), but Sam still got me a gift card to the salon I go to.  He can never follow the rules…but I love it!  All in all a good day!  I have a great family…it’s okay to be 40!

Ashley’s First Day at Pre-School

So Ashley had her first day at the Field Station.  She had been prepped by Joshua about how great it was there and how much painting she would be doing there.  She was a regular pro at it really.  She had been to the school so many times with Joshua.  She was excited.

We started the day with a good breakfast of eggs and toast with cream cheese.  She then got her clothes to wear.  The first day was red day.  So the kids all had to wear red.  The only one I could find was her old Disneyland one.  They warn you at this school to dress them down (because of all the painting and the hiking they do…the kids can get a little dirty).  She got to wear her new hiking boots (they light up too).

When she got to school she had to find her picture (that’s how they take attendance).  Then she had to find her name tag.  She went straight for an “A” name but it was Aubrey.  Oops, she tried again and found Ashley.  They she got to play upstairs and that was when Sam and I left.

When I picked her up she was so excited there was a girl who celebrated her birthday (she didn’t remember her name).  She painted using real apples as stamps in several shades of red.  The snack was cupcakes with pink frosting and red sprinkles.  She said for her day which will be Monday (they’re celebrating her birthday then), we are going to make leaf cookies and put green icing on with green sprinkles (it will be green day).  So that’s what’s in store for tomorrow.

She loved it and can’t wait to go back.  Great first day of school!

A good breakfast this time!

Joshua with his new missing tooth grin!

Posing on our front steps before leaving for school.

Walking to the school with one of her classmates, Nick.

Finding her picture for attendance.

Finding her correct name tag.

In front of their calendar (for calendar time). She had a great time!

Look Who Lost His First Tooth?

He's oh-so proud of the first tooth lost!

A closer look, up close and personal.

So Joshua lost his first tooth.  Of course, because he knows I blog everything, there has to be a good story to tell about it, right?!

As you saw in the last post, on Ashley’s birthday, the tooth was getting really loose and wiggly.  So while I was in Arizona for work, I got an e-mail from Sam that said Joshua lost his tooth and he SWALLOWED it…

So he was eating lunch at school (his soft sandwich), when his friend Josh said, “Where’s your tooth, I think you lost it.”  I guess being the good student that he is, he raised his hand up in the cafeteria and the lunch lady came over to say, “You probably swallowed it.”  Not sure if there were tears or not but he said that’s how it happened.  He didn’t eat his lunch that day either.  When he saw Sam at the bus stop he told him and the kids on the bus all re-assured him the tooth fairy would come anyways.  But I guess to make sure, he and dad wrote a note to the tooth fairy saying I lost my tooth today but sorry, I swallowed it.  Of course the tooth fairy came and left him $5 for his missing tooth.  He was very excited about that.  It was funny all around!

When I talked to Ashley the next day, to see if she still recognized Joshua now that he was missing a tooth, she said, “Of course I do, Joshi’s body is still put together mom!”  Too funny!

She’s a 4 year old now…

It’s now official Ashley is 4 and Sam and I just can’t believe.  We had a little celebration with Grandma and Grandpa.  This girl is not spoiled or anything!!!

The kids with Grandma and Grandpa.

Another celebration, another cake and more candles to blow out!

She waited until today to open up her new American Girl Bitty Baby. She fittingly named her "Bitty" and is sleeping with her tonight (in her new cheerleading outfit!).

She got some really nice presents from the family and started playing with some immediately!

It's been "Ashley" weekend this weekend, but I wanted to include a picture of Joshua. Getting ready to lose his first tooth (can't see it but the lower right front tooth is really wobbly!). He's excited...wants money but won't let Dad near to help the tooth along.

Ashley’s First Official Birthday Party

So Ashley is turning 4, and announced she wanted a birthday party.  So this year we said she could have her first “friend” party.  Last year consisted of grandma, grandpa and us.  Oh yeah, and cupcakes with the neighborhood kids.  But this year she got to invite the girls at her daycare.  There were 3 guests and she had a blast!!

Enjoy the festivities…

Here's the birthday girl and her friends.

There was a jumpy...only girls allowed!

Cheezing for the camera, like always!

Of course there were crafts! They got to decorate their treat bags.

And make their crowns.

What a cute soon-to-be 4-year old with her Ariel crown.

There was also a game...put Cinderella in her castle (variation of pin the tail on the donkey). They loved it!

There was play time. The teeter totter was a favorite!

They feasted on pizza and watermellon. Ashley was a little too excited to eat much!

They decorated their cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles.

Yeah, I'm almost 4!!!

This was during the singing of happy birthday to her...she is such a cheeze ball! Let me tell ya, she loves the attention...can you tell?

Blowing out her candle.

Pinata time! We did the string one and let them all do it at the same time. It worked out well.

Candy free-for-all!

The boys magically appeared at this point...go figure! We had to hold them at bay until the girls got their stash.

Of course there were presents. It was so cute the one little girl said, "Ashley open mine. I got you a pink bag and when you open it there's gonna be play-do!" It was so funny!

More teeter-tottering...a little heavy on one side there!

When all the girls left, the neighborhood kids were so glad they could FINALLY come into our backyard! They were so excited to share in the "leftover" cupcakes! GOOFBALLS!

Ashley had a FANTASTIC first official friend birthday party! Someone got a good night sleep that night! Happy 4th Birthday Ashley!

Phi, Jae and Caleb Come to Visit

I can’t believe how often I have blogged, I guess it just means I have a lot of pictures and have been doing a lot of stuff…which we definitely have.

So this weekend my cousin Phi, her husband Jae and their baby came to visit.  We met them in Chicago and had brunch at the Cheesecake Factory.  Brunch usually means breakfast food for me, but we have not been to the Cheesecake Factory in forever and I’m not sure when I will get to go there again.  So it was quite a dilemma deciding which to eat:  breakfast (which I love) or shrimp scampi (which I especially love at the Cheesecake Factory)…Yes, I know I have a problem (with food)!  And remember it was only about 10:30 am…well, I ended up eating shrimp scampi and it was delicious and I was so happy I chose it!  Weird to eat it so early in the day, but OH-SO-GOOD!  Like I said, I have a problem!

After brunch we all HAD to go to the American Girl store.  We had promised Ashley we would go there so she could pick something out for her birthday.  It was quite a dilemma – for Ashley this time – SO many dolls and SO many outfits, which to choose???  We kept her in the bitty baby area since she’s still little.  We decided to choose one of the bitty twins because they have hair compared to the 2 that she has at home with no hair.  She picked baby #4G (black hair with bangs and pigtails – a perfect match for Ash!).  She also got to pick an outfit for her and guess which one she picked…the cheerleading outfit of course!  We didn’t browse too much because Jae was leaving to go do something with Fantasy Football.  So we walked him out, took some pictures of course and then we were off to Navy Pier.

We had to take a bus.  Difficult to travel any other way in the city.  We could have walked but it would have been a hike with 3 kids and it was a bit chilly out – 68 degrees the high, in August it’s crazy!  The kids loved the bus!  We got down to Navy Pier and checked the little Wii booth they had out there.  You could try out the system for free.  They had several games and Joshua played some sword fighting game.  Then we went and walked around inside.  We saw some kid shows (they were kind of weird!) but the kids were interested.  Then we went outside to enjoy the sun and people watching.  Of course we had to get some caramel corn from Garrets and some home-made sweet potato chips from this store there.  We just hung out and it was actually very nice – in the sun!

We decided to go back to this park that the kids had spotted when we first parked our car.  So we went back using a free trolley that runs from Navy Pier and we had to walk a short ways to the park.  Joshua went straight for the jungle gym at the park and Ashley went for the sand area.  They had a blast.  Phi took Caleb to the baby swings (she said it was his first time) and he LOVED it!  Until he started falling asleep in the swing…it was funny!   So we decided to head back since it was a school night and let Phi go put Caleb down in the hotel.

It was great seeing them.  Caleb has grown so much since I last saw him in March.  So cute and fun!  The kids loved trying to make him laugh and just had a great time with him and Phi!  We wish they lived closer!  Great day all around.

Ashley in front of the cheerleading outfit we bought for her new bitty baby.

Had to get a group shot before Jae left.

On the bus heading to Navy Pier.

Caleb enjoyed the ride!

It was fun for all!

The girls and Caleb hung out while Joshua and Sam tried out the Wii.

Joshua doing the sword game. They gave us all lei's because it was the Wii Resort!

Joshua and Ashley finishing up the chain of kids sculpture.

Happy, following the shows we watched at Navy Pier.

Can you see us up there by the big Navy Pier sign?

Phi and the kids - what a beautiful day!

Caleb LOVED his first swing ride!

I got to get a picture with him too. He warmed up to my by the end of the day - even got to hold him for a bit.

Mommy and Caleb - so cute!

Ashley felt like quite the big girl, pushing "Baby Caleb" as she called him the whole time.

We seem to hit a park wherever we go these days. They love them!

Caleb really liked Sam too. He giggled with him. Sam got him to smile and wave to him too!

They were communicating through hand motions here. It was rather cute!

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Well, the excitement has been building (for Sam especially).  Sam’s nephew Eric is a senior in high school this year and the starting quarterback of his team.  Did I forget to tell you Sam loves football (as does his whole family)?  It’s a good thing I like it too!  Last year Sam and Joshua saw most of, if not all of Eric’s home games.  I caught as many as I could as did Ashley.  It gets pretty cold towards the end of the season.

Well, this Friday was their first game of the season so we went up to see him play.  The kids love it too.  Could be all the snacks they get to eat (and usually seeing grandma and grandpa is an added bonus too)!  It was a great game.  Eric did a great job and they won 49 – 0!

Then today, Ashley got to where her official cheerleading uniform that our neighbor gave us (both of the neighbor girls are cheerleaders for Pop Warner), and they got to go to our neighbor’s Pop Warner football game.  She was adorable!!

We had a real Football-kind-of-weekend this weekend!  I love it!

If you look closely you can see they are sitting by the brick we bought as a fund raiser for the high school footbal stadium.

At the game! Grandpa in the background.

Joshua proud to wear the new shirt Uncle Ter and Aunt Karen bought for him! Go Lancers! Grandma and Uncle Dan were there too!

Right after the game, congratulating Eric on the great game he had!

Posing in her "official" cheerleading uniform - thanks to grandpa for the GB Packer gold pom poms he got at the game! Matched our colors perfectly!

Action shot of her doing her cheer - "GO TROJANS!"