Practically Perfect In Every Way

Grandma and I took Zoe to see Mary Poppins in L.A. today. We had purchased the tickets last January, so we have been waiting a very long time! Mary Poppins has been my favorite movie since I was 5 years old. I've watched it hundreds of times, I know every line by heart, and use some of them on a daily basis with my kids.

The show was absolutely amazing. It had the original Broadway cast members and they were phenomenal. The scenes were stunning and the music was great. We enjoyed every minute of it!

(There was a beautiful Christmas tree in front of the theater)

(Waiting to go in)

(We started taking pictures in the theater, but got told that we had to put all cameras away...bummer!)

(Zoe came home with her souvenir t-shirt!)

What a fun day!

So thankful...

We had another wonderful, family filled Thanksgiving. Sonya and Martin came, along with Grandma, Grandpa, Poppe, Uncle Jeff and Jax. Zoe lead us in a beautiful and very thoughtful Grace before our big meal. Our menu consisted of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, steamed broccoli, cranberry sauce, salad, stuffing, and bread...yummy! We followed it up with a ton of desserts: pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, peanut butter and chocolate cream pie, and chocolate cookies.

Zoe was keeping herself busy this morning while waiting for everyone to get here...
Enjoying our meal...


I tried to simplify a bit this year, and it was a nice, relaxing day. We were truly blessed to be surrounded by our family today. We have so many blessings in our lives, and I am thankful for our health, our family, and our friends.

Merry Magic

A magical, holiday-filled day at Disneyland! Grandma and I took Zoe, Cooper and Jax to Disneyland today for some fun and fantasy. We knew it would be crowded, so we were prepared to alter our plans if needed. It turned out to be such a fun day with a few new experiences thrown in.

Zoe brought her autograph book so her and Grandma were on a mission to work on getting it filled. They stood in line to meet Tink and some of her friends, while I took the boys on Space Mountain.

The Princess and the Frog movie (which takes place in the city of New Orleans) is about to be released. Disney is busy doing big promotions and had a special parade and show with Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. We lucked into seeing the Showboat Jubilee and then later in the day happened to be standing in line for ice cream and caught the parade walking right by us. I must say, the music is pretty catchy and made me want a trip down to the bayou of New Orleans! Even the boys enjoyed it (they were really good sports today!)


Later we headed over to Santa's Reindeer Roundup. We had fun talking to Mrs. Claus, visiting with the reindeer, sitting with Santa, and playing reindeer games.

(I love Mrs. Claus...she is one sweet lady!)

(Zoe asked for a Waveboard)

(Cooper asked for a Pocket Rocket motorbike and a Lakers jersey)

Time for more rides and then watching the Holiday Parade along Mainstreet.
While doing a little shopping before leaving, we came across the Princess Tiana photo area, so once again we watched the parade come through and then got our autograph and photo. She had such a fun personality and took time with everyone. Even the boys joined in again and had their picture taken...too funny.


We did end up over at California Adventure Park for a little while too. Most of the big rides were pretty crowded, but the kids had fun and we had a late dinner in a surfing restaurant which they loved. It was long, 11 hour day at Disneyland, but it was one of our best!

Zoe's milestone...

I don't think I'm ready for my little girl to get older! Zoe woke up this morning and said she was ready to get her ears pierced. I was a bit surprised since we hadn't talked about it for months. She had actually asked about having them pierced about a year and a half ago when she turned 8. I told her that I thought she should wait a little while longer until she a was bit older and could really take care of them herself. So, when she turned 9, I thought she would be ready, but at that point she decided that she was too scared and wanted to wait. But for some reason, today was the day! She had a dream that she had done it and was very excited. I, on the other hand, wasn't. I thought maybe we should wait until Christmas, or even until her next birthday. Well, I was out-voted. We were heading down to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a few days which was the perfect opportunity for Zoe. Grandma has been waiting for this day for a long time. Any opportunity to buy Zoe some jewelry is great for Grandma!

So we all headed to Fashion Island to watch Zoe get her ears done. Once she sat in the chair, the tears started and she was very scared. I had to sign all of the forms, which was no easy task since my hands were shaking.
Then it was time to make the marks with the pen...
We checked to make sure the holes were even...
Here it goes (they had 2 ladies working, so they could do it simultaneously)...
All finished, still with tears, Grandpa trying to soothe her...
Beautiful...

Afterward, we walked around to look at the decorations and get a few more pictures...


It turned out to be a nice day and a great evening!

Honor Roll

This morning Zoe was awarded for being on the Honor Roll! To achieve this, she had to receive at least three 5's (92% and above) and two 4's (82% and above) on her report card. Not only did she do that, but she got ALL 5's on her report card. It is big accomplishment and I couldn't be more proud. Zoe has worked very hard this trimester, and Mrs. Atkinson had wonderful things to say about her in our parent conference.
Although they only do Honor Roll for the 4th and 5th graders, I am also extremely proud of Cooper. He also received ALL 5's on his report card. In fact, he scored 100% on every trimester assessment test. He has amazed me this trimester with his work habits, and how dedicated he is to doing well. Mrs. Falciano had great things to say about Cooper too!

They both deserve a nice break for the next week. We are looking forward to a slower pace and some down time!

New Moon Madness!!

The Twilight Saga continues! Number 2 in the series, New Moon, had its midnight premiere last night. Once again, we braved the crowds and the late night, and had a fun girls night out! Teri wasn't able to go this year, so Leslie joined Chessa, Jenny, and I. We were able to purchase tickets to the double feature, so after eating our dinner in line starting at 6:30, we got to watch Twilight at 9:00, followed by New Moon at midnight. I couldn't have been happier, and the second movie was way better than the first. Go Team Edward!!



Next up... June 10th, 2010 for Eclipse!! I can't wait girls!

Fall Beach Day

Zoe's Girl Scout troop is trying to focus on community service activities this year, so we all got up bright and early and headed to Cardiff Beach for a Beach Clean Up with the Surfrider Foundation. After we got our gloves and trash cans, we were ready to spend a couple hours picking up all the trash we could. It was pretty sad to see how much junk gets thrown out on the sand...especially all of the cigarette butts we had to pick up!

(Marissa, Zoe, Lacey, Madison, Jaeda, Emily, Hailey)

The girls did a great job and picked up several bags full of trash and recyclables.
Afterwards, we decided to grab some lunch at Pat & Oscars and then head to La Jolla to look at all the tidepools. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we saw lots of marine life. The kids loved running around and trying to find all of the different things.

(Walking down to the tide pools)

(My sweeties)

(Looking at the octopus that Matt discovered)

(Me and my girl)

(They loved climbing around the rocks)

(Once I showed Zoe how to stick her finger in the sea anemone, she was as obsessed as I was!)

(We had a fun family day)

(The waves were stunning)

It was such a nice Fall day to spend at the beach!

Football Party

Now we are officially done! Cooper had his party tonight and had one last fun evening with his teammates. Everyone got together for some pizza and soda to celebrate the end of the season. The coach presented each of the boys with a trophy with their names on it as well as a large football duffel bag with their names embroidered on it.

I'm so proud of my little guy. He worked harder in the last 3 months than he ever has before. He made a commitment and stuck to it. He never missed a practice or a game, and always gave everything he had. Way to go Coop!

Ice Skating 101

Zoe went to her friend Heather's birthday party today and they had a ton of fun. It was Zoe's first time ice skating and she had a blast. She took a few hard falls on her knee the first few times around, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly. Now she can't wait to go back!!

(Heather, Zoe, Kass, Taylor, Jaeda)