Tori's Preschool Program!

You know what the most awesome thing about my job is?  That I get to take my kids with me!  I love that I work part time, that I work with children, and that when they are preschool age, MY children come with me!    Although it can sometimes be a little inconvenient to gather supplies at the speed of a three year old, I LOVE having Tori there with me.  I honestly have no idea how I will handle it when she goes off to Big Kid School without me.  And as Kittie Franz has said, 

"Remember, you are not managing an inconvenience.  You are raising a human being."

I'll have to remember to remember that more.  Like when she's throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the Supply Room upstairs.  Or in the middle of me being video taped while I teach.  That's fun.  But 99% of the time, having Victoria with me at The Children's School is a delight.  A delight.  Here she is as we return some supplies after class one day:

At the end of April, I held a little End-Of-Year Program for my Preschool Class!  It's pretty low-key, but they love it and I love being able to acknowledge their hard work!

 Matt was able to come and work the cameras so that Tori wasn't neglected while I led the class.

 Skinna-Marinky-Dinky-Dink!

 We also sang a song from Signing Time with Alex and Leah

 Every Star is Different!

 I made a diploma for the children who are moving on to Kindergarten, and if they are coming back then I made a certificate for each of them!  They loved it and I think it was a fun little keepsake!

Can't believe year one of Preschool is over for her!  I wish I could hit the pause button.

  Love you, Tori Grace!

Mud City!

Last week, my nieces and nephew slept over for some Summertime fun!  The next day, they went out to jump on the trampoline.  I looked out about ten minutes later and they were ALL under the tramp, playing in the sand.  Sadly, my first reaction to this type of question is often: "This is going to be such a mess.  I don't have time for this right now." but I didn't have a ton going on and figured it would be fun!  Who says Sand and Water Play should end when children grow out of early childhood?  These children are 12, 11, 10, 8, 7 and then my sweet 4 year old Victoria.  So... when they asked if they could use the water hose, I said, "Sure!".  And do you know what followed?

4 HOURS of argument free play!  4. HOURS.!  

They worked and carved and built and planned and molded and shaped and collaborated.  The teacher in me was thrilled with their creativity and ingenuity.  The Mommy in me was thankful for the peaceful lack of quarreling. 

Sure, I had to give Tori 2 baths, Spray the big kids off with the hose, shower everyone and sweep my floor 4 times, But....

I think it was worth it! 

They were SO proud of themselves and had SO much fun.  They created an entire city of tunnels, towers, buildings, rivers and bridges.  Pretty incredible.  Every kid needs some muddy memories!

Father's Day 2012

This is a post for the man I love. For the man who is the Father of my three precious angels.  The man who gave me this perfect boy! 

Isaac

 This post is for the man who gripped my arms and looked me in the eye when I could not breathe because our daughter was coming too fast.  The man who called 911 and held my legs when she was almost born on the bathroom floor.  He's the man who gave me this perfect bundle of pink drama!  

Daphne

 And this post is for the man who stroked my brow, who worked as my eyes and ears and told me how beautiful Victoria was as they pulled her from my belly.  The man who held my hand when the epidural stopped working and who held our new baby until I could breathe through the pain.  The man who gave me this tiny little she-version of him!

Victoria

I cannot tell you how much I love him: my partner in parenthood; the rock of calm to my ocean of drama.  He is the. most. amazing. father.  Each year, I watch him grown into a better man, a better father, surprising me once again.  I am so grateful for the father he is to our babies.  They would be a bored, sad lot if they had only me around!  Matt is the fun parent; the clever parent, the doctor, the mender of broken toys and torn clothes.  He loves them in a way that is so different from my love, yet just as strong and just as crucial.  They adore him because no matter how great I may be at cuddles and empathy, Daddy makes them laugh.  

 A few weeks ago, we got Matt a video game for Father's Day, but we still wanted to make this day special.    Now, the traditional approach is breakfast in bed.  But, Matt doesn't like waking up OR breakfast, so we thought we better steer clear of that route.  We let him sleep in a little extra, and gave him some time to wake up before we bombarded him.  And when I say "gave him some time", I mean, scolded him for coming out of the bedroom before we were ready and sent him back to bed until we could present hi with our treasures! (That's nice, right?) So, he went back to bed and worked on his Sunday School lesson until we came in with his Candy Gram!

 Victoria had a hard time holding her card still, so here are some pics so you can see what it says!

 We tried to use candy that we knew he would like (with the exception of the almond joy- that's for me.  It's my gratuity.)

 I think he liked it!

 Then we gave him a bag with a few of his favorite treats, snacks, odds and ends!  

Matthew, I love you so!  Thank you for being such a wonderful father. You provide for us and care for us.  Thank you for taking them on dates and playing with them and for being my partner, my equal, my friend in this journey.  God has given me such a gift in you.  Our children are better people because they have you as their Dad. Happy Father's Day!

The Really Pink, Really Pretty, Really Princessy Birthday Party!

Sometimes... just sometimes, I get carried away.  It's one of the reasons that I only let my kids do friend birthday parties every other year.  Once I start, I can't seem to stop.  I got a little over the top with Daphne's  6th Birthday, when she wanted a Hawaiian Luau. So, when Victoria told me she wanted a Pink Princess Party, I got a little... well... carried away.  Perhaps it is that Victoria is my youngest child.  Perhaps it is that I have seen how quickly Daphne grew to be "too Cool" for Princesses.  Perhaps it is that when I put those two facts together, I realized that this could very well be my last chance to throw a Princess Bash!  

We wanted Princessy invitations, but couldn't find anything that we liked.  So... we made our own!  I think they turned out super cute and they were free!  We just used the good ol' Old English Font in Word and went with the "Hear Ye, Hear Ye" format.  I let the kids decorate them with Tori's Princess Stamps and rolled them up like scrolls. Tori LOVED them, and it wasn't too much work.

And then, the day of,  we decorated from Morning 'till the party started.  See those cute pom pom balls hanging from the ceiling?  I made those!!  Little ole' Craft Impaired Laura!  Sorry-- I'm just a teensy bit proud.  The kids said that their Art teacher has them hanging all over her classroom, so maybe that means I can be classified as Artistic?  Who cares, I think they are adorable!  Here is Princess Victoria waiting for her guests to arrive!

La Mesa:

In order to facilitate Princess Play, we brought all the Princess Toys up from the downstairs Play Room!  Disney Castle, Princess Figurines, Princess Polly Pockets,  Princess Barbies, Doll House...

If you look at the TV screen, you can see the handiwork of my amazing hubby!  I had spent all week trying to create a Pandora Station of Disney Princess Music to have playing in the background at the party.  But, I fear that Pandora will never understand me.  I spent all day Wednesday having the kids help me "thumbs-up and thumbs-down"  certain songs, thinking by now it understood that we wanted to hear various Disney Princess Songs.  And then it would start playing Adele.  Yes, I like Adele.  But not on this station.  Ugh.  So Daphne made a list of all the Princess Songs we wanted and Matt downloaded them onto the PS3 and created a slide show of pictures of Tori to watch while we listened.  It was SO perfect!  I wasn't sure if we would have any Moms stay, but this was perfect for the ones who were there for a little bit!

Have I mentioned how much I hate that red stripe?

And of course, in addition to all that fun, we had extra Princess Dresses from our Dress Up Trunk!  (I got this idea when a Mom RSVPD and let me know that her sweet little girl had no more Princess Dresses because her brothers and some neighbor boys had gone downstairs and cut. them. all. up. last week!  Can you believe that?!  Isaac would still be locked in his room, I think.  Anyway, we wanted to have some extras for her and thought some of them might just like to play dress up and switch around.  This turned out to be a GREAT idea!  The girls loved it-  and some who came in their own Princess Dresses switched around a bit.

Outdoor Decor!  Isaac and Daphne were SO sweet to help me with the decorating.  Matt was at work, so I certainly needed it.  Daphne was really enthusiastic about it and Isaac: not-so-much, but they were both great!  Victoria, on the other hand, was supremely whiny from a week of late nights and not enough naps, so I was praying she would get a good nap in that day before the party began at 4.  God was good to us-  she took a little hour long nap and recharged her "Nice"  Batteries just in time!  Whew!

Our false ceiling!  We did this by taking $1 table cloths, cutting them in half lengthwise and draping them.  So. Cute.  Really easy, dramatic effect.

And FINALLY, the Princesses arrived!  From the left, we have Kara, Tayli, Elise, Daphne and Cousin Penny (out for her first party!),  Victoria ( I have no idea why she is turned sideways), Sophee, Savannah and Middy!  Cuteness!

Princess Penelope!  Can I just say how cute and precious Tori is?  When I asked who she wanted to invite to her birthday party, she said, "Well, Nanny.  And Penny."  So I tried to explain that she got to celebrate her birthday with Nanny and Penny on Sunday.  "So which friends would you like to invite?  Maybe Kara?"  And Tori replied, "Well, Yes.  And Nanny."  After every name we came up with she said, "and Nanny."  She also mentioned Penny about three more times.  It was pretty dang sweet.  Matt's Mom just had to stop by the party, which was so great of her.    She also really wanted to invite her cousins Samantha and Jillian from Texas, but I think it was a little too far!

The food!  Can you tell that those little cakes are flowers?  I borrowed this special cake pan from Matt's sister, Raegan, and made these darling little cakes!  The pink cakes turned out a little orange, but we were ok with it!

Our first activity was Cake Decorating!  Each girl got two flower cakes and got to frost them with their choice of Pink, White or Purple Icing.  We also had lots of sprinkles!

Next, we got to dip strawberries in chocolate... Yum!  I haven't had a chocolate dipped strawberry in forever, I only had time to eat one, but it was heavenly!

Princess Tori on her throne~

In the middle of all the decorating, there was a spill.  Like someone (not me!-  are you impressed)  who shall remain nameless spilled TWO QUARTS of pink lemonade on the floor.  So Matt and I had to take a long break to clean that up, while Matt's Mom helped little princesses wash off their frosting covered faces and find the potty.  We were so grateful that she was there!
After we got that all cleaned up, we headed outside for cake and presents!

Victoria had been scoping out the cakes at Costco for months.  Literally.  Every time we would go to Costco, she would tell me that she needs to check the cakes so she can pick one for her birthday.  Every time it was a different cake!  When the day finally came to choose, the Princess design was the winner.

Most of the girls were so full from our activities that they didn't eat much birthday cake.  Which is unfortunate since that cake is supposed to feed 40 and we only had about a dozen. ( Isaac has been eating birthday cake for the past week.)

Tori was SO excited to open presents!

I was trying really hard to make sure she told everyone thank you, but I often didn't even have to remind her.      A lot of the girls got tired of watching and headed over to the trampoline.  In this pic, Tori is yelling at Sophee to stop so she can tell her thank you.  Kinda cute!

Everybody jumped on the tramp while we waited for Moms to return.

And then everybody got to take home a treat bag with a feather boa, a tiara, a necklace, a wand, and a bag of jelly beans and gummy bears (Tori's choices).

By the time everyone went home, My house was an explosion of pink, feathers, glitter, frosting, chocolate, dolls and dress ups!  Matt's sister, Raegan and my friend Tiffany were so sweet to stay for a bit and help clean up the kitchen.  It was a disaster!  But Victoria had such a good time!  She was smiling so much and was thrilled to have all of her friends and all of her favorite things all at the same time.  

Tori, I'm so glad we got to do this together.  Yesterday, on Pinterest,  I saw this quote, "Pardon the mess, the children are making memories!"  My hope is that this day was a day of memories for you!     You are such a precious girl.  I am so amazed that God gave YOU to me! And do you know what?  You are a Princess. You are the Daughter of a Heavenly King.  You are the most wonderful, reasonable, delightful and trusting girl.  God has made such a fantastic creature in you. He wants so much for you to return to Him.   I remember the day you were born and I am so very, very grateful that I get to be your Mom and walk through this journey with you.  I wish I could hit the pause button and keep you 4 years old forever.  You are my little shadow, my constant companion, my shopping buddy and my funny girl.  I love you, Victoria Grace with the Beautiful Face!  Forever and Ever.  

Happy 4th Birthday, Tori!

I love when you get to celebrate some one's birthday for a whole week!  Victoria's birthday ended up being celebrated all week long, which made it all the more fun!  Of course, it was a little much that every day she would say things like, "I get to sit here 'cause I'm the birthday girl."  or "I get to choose lunch because I'm the birthday girl."  Isaac and Daphne were actually quite accommodating. For the first 6 days.  After that, it got a little dicey.

Anyhoo, we started the week off with a special birthday dinner at Nanny and Papa's!  Victoria wanted "hot dogs and carrots and ranch and cucumbers and ranch and celery and ranch and strawberries and a pink cake!"  You might think she was rather redundant with the Ranch talk, but that's about how it goes when she eats dipping vegetables.  They are really more of a vehicle to allow the ingestion of Ranch.  She does eat ALL the veggies, too.  So, I'm OK with it!  

Nanny and Papa got her the traditional Birthday Cake from Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop in Salt Lake City!  They make a mean cake!  (And they know it!)  She got lots of pink flowers and the writing in pink-  it was beautiful!

 I love, LOVE, LOVE when she smiles so big that I can count her teeth!

 She wanted to take a picture like this.  

 Opening Presents!

 Auntie Raegan and Auntie Paige got her some Littlest Pet Shops and a little House/Slide thing for them.  All the kids played with it for hours the next morning!

 And for the main event, Nanny and Papa (mostly)  and Matt and I ( a little )went in for Tori and Daphne's birthdays and got a BRAND NEW TRAMPOLINE!!!

 I wish you could have seen Victoria's face!  She was SO excited!  When I asked her to smile by it, this is what I got!

 And for a special Birthday treat, Tori got to finish the day off with a bath in Nanny's tub!  Back in the day, Isaac and Daphne got to take a bath in Nanny's tub every Sunday with their cousins.  It got to be quite a chore and those kids got too big, so that idea sort of fell by the wayside.   But Tori and Penny and Daphne sure had a blast together!!

 On Wednesday, June 6th, at 8:44 am, Victoria turned FOUR!  Here she is at the exact minute she turned 4!

 For dinner, she wanted Chick Fil A, which was convenient since it was Family Night and they had free Kids Meals, Balloons and the Cow hanging around!  He was actually kind of creepy.  He kept coming over to our table and just staring at us. He did go and get me a refill once, though!

 After our yummy dinner, we did a little shopping and came home so Tori could open her other two small gifts from Matt and me.  She had seen this gift bag in the Wrapping Paper Box.  (which is kept in the "Messy Room" downstairs, as the kids have so lovingly labeled it).  Anyway, for the last two months , she has been asking if she would get a present in that bag.  I think the bag was almost as exciting as the gift!

 Back in February, I got this Rainbow Fairy Dress for my niece, Jillian, and Tori wanted it so much!  So, fast-forward four months and I found the same one for Tori!

 She had to put it on right away!  Then she got to open another little item she had been wanting for a while.  (It's a Playdough Cake Makin' Station)

 A Few Shots modeling her new Fairy  Princess Dress:

 And the next morning, all three of them spent a good two hours making play-dough cakes!  They had so much fun.  I have to be completely honest, I'm not super great about letting my kids do messy art stuff at home.  Are you shocked?  I know.  It's really sad.  It's so much easier to do with them in my classroom where the carpet and floor are not mine.  (Usually I let them use home-made playdough at home.  It's one thing that I actually encourage them to do a lot)  However, it had been quite a while since we had used play-dough at all, so they were super excited!

After two hours, it was time to start cleaning the house and getting ready for Tori's Pink Princess Birthday Party!!  You don't want to miss that. You won't even believe the pink.