Anniversary Week

Peter took the week of for our 10 year anniversay.

Yes, you read that right, we have been married a whole decade.

Mexico was supposed to be our destination, but

a certain rat invasion/broken thumb/disability, aka life happened.

It turns out that not being in Mexico was probably for the best since they are

having a hurricane at the moment.

We decided that we wanted our bee bop to celebrate with us.

We also decided as long as she was tagging along the more the merrier.

Our first stop was beautiful Lake Tahoe.

Our good friends Meg and Jake joined us here.

The weather was great despite being WINDY!

We stayed at a VERY rustic house in a not so great neighborhood.

(Thank you for that Groupon)

but really it had everything we needed and was really clean.

 Here is my Bee Bop at the beach.

Notice her smile. She finally pulled out that tooth.

So I get to enjoy her gappy smile for a while.

I think it is just about the cutest thing ever!

We took lots of walks and enjoyed the scenery.

We also must have thought Tahoe needed a little liberty.

We practiced out statue of liberty pose A LOT.

Jake wore his hat over his shoulder much of the day.

He put lots of items in his hat and told us all how wonderful his

Statchel was.  I love Jake and his statchel.

We drove home flopped on the couch took a breather and then got up and packed up for camping. 

Meg and Jake joined us for this trip too

along with the Quicks.

The weather left A LOT to be desired.

It was windy and cold

but not even that was going to dampen our spirits.

We borrowed a RV camper from a friend.

Which made a perfect playhouse for the kids

and a much more enjoyable campinng experience.

Thank you to Sweet Sofia for looking and smiling for the camera.

 We had a little anniversary photo shoot.

I love this man.

He loves to take care of me.

He is thoughtful and kind.

He loves his family and would do anything for us.

He still thinks I'm beautiful even a decade

and a few more wrinkles later

I have no doubt he will think the same when I'm old

and even more wrinkly.

He is funny

and always, always makes his girls laugh.

He is getting more and more handsome with age.

I love his guns

(no not the kind you shoot)

I love that he takes risks with me,

for me.

He makes me feel special.

He cleans and cooks

He has dogs even though he doesn't love animals.

He picks up the poop.

He is the handiest person I know.

His daughter thinks he hung the moon.

When I ask for something his answer is always yes.

I am one lucky, lucky girl!

 Me and my friend Meg.

She is my partner in crime at work.

She is also my saving grace.

Teaching is a lonely art form.

Not having another adult in the room to share in the exhaustive craziness is sometimes really really trying.

Meg and I share a door between our rooms.

There is a little window in the door.

Sometimes I go to the window and make exasperated faces

sometimes I open the door and send a little person through cause

their teacher needs a little sanity break.

She is also one of my very dearest friends outside of work.

I am extremely lucky to call her my friend.

 Oh, she is also my running inspiration.

This girl is amazing!

 We went camping at Black Butte Lake.

It was truly beautiful.

 The littles had fun throwing rocks, swimming,

and playing at the pirate ship park.





Bridgeport

Yesterday I dragged my friends and my reluctant husband and daughter to Bridgeport.  We have discovered that if you put a movie in and drive on a twisty road the movie helps with car sickness so, Lily may be happy to go to the river next time, because no one got car sick!  This little spot was only 20 minutes from my childhood home but it is 1 hour and 15 minutes from our current home.  A bit of a drive but in my opinion it is worth every minute once your there. 

We started out with fun with water guns.

Perhaps next time we should bring them out when the adults are already hot.

 Lily got to bring two friends to the river.

The river is always better with your besties.

 The three Amigos.

 Beauties from The Land of Eternal Spring.

 My favorite picture of the day

those girls are very tiring!

Karate

Before this post really begins

do you see something missing?

These two front teeth have been loose for about

hmmmm............

for about a year.

I have an anti wiggler

her daddy said he'd give her 5 dollars to pull it.

Apparently money speaks

she went to bed and wiggled and twisted and pulled till it came out.

Now there is only one

I'm hoping she takes it out before the other one comes in

I'm looking forward to a certain toothless grin.

 So, now on to the karate.

Karate would not be my choice.

I'd have picked ballet or tap or any other

extracurricular activity that involved a sparkly tutu get up

and a recital.

But squishing my beautiful baby with sensitive skin

into one of those itchy get ups might just be my undoing.

My little girl loves Kung Fu Panda.

We own the first movie and have lots and lots of

Tivo~ed episodes of the cartoon.

She has also seen what we like to call karate girl.

(This would not have been mama's first choice in movie viewing

sometimes mama is over ruled by a certain daddy or grandparent

but I digress)

We've had lots of discussions about Jaden Smith's hair

and how some boys choose to have long hair

she knows full well that he is a boy

but well isn't the movie better if the heroine is a girl.

A Karate girl, at that!

Since we had a debacle last summer with gymnastics.

Lily hated it. I pushed

cause were not quitters,

and well it ended not so great.

So all of my suggestions for extracurricular have been a big fat

NO WAY!

When I mentioned karate she said yes mommy, oh yes!

She goes in smiling and comes out smiling

and has a big fat grin with each kick, bow, punch.

And who knew how much I would love karate.

It teaches the moves Lily is determined to master

but it also teaches responsibility, respect, self respect and a host of other wonderful things.

Before they start the class the parents are asked to stand

The students turn and look at us and say these words...

"I will develop myself in a positive manner, and avoid anything that will reduce my mental growth or physical health.

I will develop self discipline in order to bring out the best in myself and others.

I will use what I learn in class constructively and defensively, to help myself and others, and never to be abusive or offensive.

 We are dedicated, we are motivated and we are on a quest to be our best. "

In order to get her white belt Lily had to put her dishes in the sink, brush her teeth without being asked and go to bed with no complaints.  Master Joselin had me at dishes in the sink.

Below is my karate girl enjoy...........

 Watch out this is the game face!

First/Last day of Kinder

 Here we are on the very first day of Kindergarten.

I couldn't get a smile out of her.  She was so nervous.

She started to cry as Nonnie and I walked out the door.

I cried on my way to work

realizing I just left my baby in the hands of a complete stranger.

Kindergarten IS quite the adjustment for all involved.

 No problem getting a smile on the last day of Kindergarten.

I am so proud of my girl.

Things are not always easy for her,

but she is determined and tenacious.

I found I had to let a lot of things go.

Her teachers way was not my way and it was very hard, very hard!

Being a teacher is a blessing and a curse it seems.

The blessing is I know how to maneuver in the system.

Lily is now in speech which should help her immensely next year.

The curse is that I know some things are not fixable.

A teacher who lacks classroom management is not a fixable problem.

But, we made it out fairly unscathed so onward and upward is the way we'll be headed!

We celebrated our last day of school by picnicking at one of our favorite parks.

We also brought home a pretty fantastic balloon!

Ta~ Da here is my big First Grade Girl!!