Happy Graduation Patrick

I'm sorry we can't be there Patrick but have a wonderful day! And a big, huge Congratulations from all of us!

A Graduation of our Own

Steve refuses to believe it, but I think we have graduated out of the highchair days in the Grace household. Lately, when I put Charlie in her highchair and Ryan sits at the counter, Charlie insists, "Do too, do too" until I let her sit at the counter too. I think she is doing relatively well sitting with her big sister but Steve is really agonizing over this milestone for two reasons (1) Charlie is now more mobile during mealtime if she chooses to be so a grown up has to be really close by, and (2) she makes even MORE of a mess which drives him CRAZY!

Shrek the Third

Yesterday, Steve and I picked Ryan up from pre-school and took her to the movies to see Shrek. This is Ryan's second trip to the movie theatre but daddy's first time to go with her. We ate lots of candy and even made it through about an hour of the movie. That's about twice as long as last time.

Ryan has perfected the, "Oo, a scary part" look. (Except that it wasn't intentional. I had asked her to smile and this is what I got!)

A proud Ryan with Shrek, Princess Fiona, and Donkey!

An Afternoon at the Park

I'm a little behind on the posts this week, sorry! These are some pictures from last Sunday when I took the girls to the park. It is unbelievable how big they are getting.

Ryan can swing to the third bar on the monkey bars! She is a little gymnast I think. We tried to make it one more bar to the fourth but she would run out of steam and fall everytime. No tears. She would just get right back up and start again.

Ryan doesn't need any help climbing the ladders either. This is a new obstacle hurdled for us too. She used to be so scared to climb and mommy would be scared too because she didn't realize that she needed BOTH hands to climb. Now, all fears are gone for both parties and she climbs like a monkey!

Charlie was very independent at the park. She would do things by herself and not need mommy right by her side (although mommy was never more than 2 feet away but pretended like I was "leaving her alone"). She likes to build in the sand and fill the slide up with sand. I'm sure future sliders will be thrilled with her handy work. (We cleaned it up, I promise)

Charlie is trying to figure out a way to get to the top where big sister Ryan is. She thinks she a "big girl" but not quite that big. Mommy still has to walk her to the top of the play equipment.

Paid Off

So, on May 1st I renewed my annual pass for Disneyland and had to buy Ryan one this year because she is three now. Although it is quite pricey, I figure that buying the annual pass is worth it since I only have to go 3 times in a year to "pay it off." I'm sure Disneyland thinks this may not happen and that they will make money on the deal. Well, today is May 17th and it today was our third trip to Disneyland THIS month!!! Woohoo, and we have 11 more months to go before we have to renew again.
Anyway, today we went with Carson and Michelle. (Tuesday we went with Cousin Katie and Aunt Nancy but I forgot the memory stick to my camera that day). We had a great time and worked out way thru the park in record time. 8 rides and lunch in less than 4 hours. Not bad. Here are some pics from our day...

The girls loved the carousel. Especially Carsie, she kept saying, "Horsie! Horsie!"

Thank goodness Michelle was there today. Ryan always wants to go on the tea cups but it makes me way too dizzy. So of course I sent the pregnant lady in to pitch hit. Nice move!

Today was Ryan's first go of the Autopia cars. She had so much fun and really and truly thought she was driving the car.

Another first was the Buzz Lightyear ride. Here are Carson and Michelle in line. Both girls loved to shoot the aliens with the laser guns.

Dress Rehearsal

Ryan's dance recital is in less than 2 weeks so Wednesday was a Dress Rehearsal. The first part of dance class they wore their normal clothes and did their normal routines. Nothing special here except... do you notice Ryan's hat???? She made it at school that day and insisted on wearing it because it looks just like Nonna's hat. Haha, so cute. Nonna wears a visor like this when she plays golf. Good memory Ry!

Now on the the fun part... Dress Rehearsal! Here are the little dancers getting all ready to sing "Me and My Teddy Bear." The dress needs a little altering. Oh my goodness, will my sewing machine see the light of day? I think it might... Watch out Martha Stewart, here I come!

P.S. Oh yes, that is a BOY in her dance class. Your eyes were not playing a trick on you. Ironically, his name is Ryan too. Hmmm... and lately she has strangely become close to him. Closer than to any of the girls. Hmmm... we had better not tell dad! lol

Mommy and Daddy Go To School!

Ryan's preschool asked me if Steve could come in and talk about his business during "Community Service" month. Mommy graciously accepted for daddy knowing full well that mommy would do the teaching (yeh for mommy!!) and daddy would bring all the "goods." They let us set up shop in the fireside room instead of the individual classrooms because it would have been too tough to haul all the visual aids and props from room to room.

The objective of the lesson was to teach the students how fruit and vegetables get from crops to the consumer's home. To simplify the process we broke into 4 parts... the grower, the broker, the grocery store, and the customer. First, we talked about different kinds of fruit and vegetables and how some grow on a tree, some on a vine, and some underground. We let the students guess which one grew where from the display of fruit and veggies. They did really well. They did however call "potatoes""tomatoes" but hey "p" or "t" that's easy to mix up when you're three.

Then we had helpers come up and role play each of the four parts of the process. This is Rocco in the picture. He represents the grower.

Can you tell which one represents "the broker" (aka Steve)?

Ryan got to be the customer. Here she is exchanging her money for the strawberries that she is buying from the store.

Ryan had so much fun having her mommy and daddy at school with her being the "teachers." I would do it again in a heartbeat. I loved being there and hope they'll let me come again to help teach. I miss teaching.

Celebrating Mom

Yesterday, for Mother's Day we celebrated our moms with an afternoon or "grillin' out" and "chillin' out". Jeff flew in for the day. Nonna and Grandpa drove in from the desert. Gigi and Papa drove down. The kids were prepped with squirt guns. The guys picked up mommy's favorite Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. The grill was hot and the cocktails will cold. What could've been more perfect?

Ryan and Charlie's new house became the perfect fort for the squirt gun ambush. Even Steve took cover inside. No one, I mean no one, was safe once you walked outside. One foot out of the door and you instantly became a target.

Does anyone notice that Jeff's gun looks significantly smaller than Daddy's and Ryan's? Hmmm... strategic move BSG???

Charlie and Nonna tried to stay out of target range but were not able to stay dry either.


Jeff was in charge of the "grillin' out" portion of the Mother's Day feast. He did a mighty fine job on that tri-tip and veggies.


Steve and Steve Jr. were in charge of the clean up. Good work gentlemen!

We all really, really had a wonderful time. I know that I can speak for all three moms in attendance in saying that the men in our lives did an outstanding job taking care of us for Mother's Day. Thanks guys! Can't wait to do it again.

A Very "Buggy" Night

Tonight was Ryan's Open House at her preschool. Ryan's room was unbelievable! Even being a teacher who has had and been to many, many Open Houses, I was floored. Her teachers have been working so hard with the kids for the past couple of months in preparation for tonight's Open House. It truly shows too... Ryan comes home all the time to tell me more about what she has learned. Room 1 (Ryan's classroom) has been studying bugs. There were bugs everywhere. I couldn't believe all the craft projects they had made and were displayed for us to see. They had every picture book about bugs that you could imagine including my favorites The Hungry Caterpillar and 100 Hungry Ants. And in addition to the bugs, they have been studying the habitats of bugs. They each grew their own and grass and their own plant. There was even a life size picnic scene with ants and two huge beehives with bee facts. They had a bowl full of real silkworms that they watched live in their habitat too. I am more and more impressed with Ryan's school each time I visit. I could go on and on but I'll stop "buggin" (LOL). I'm sure "teacher talk" is a little boring. But boring or not, all this blabbing I'm doing about Ryan's school just shows how thankful we are that Ryan has gotten this opportunity. We feel very lucky to have her there and tonight's experience confirms that for us even more. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pictures (my new rechargeable batteries were charged, go figure!) but here are the few I captured.

See the cut outs of kids behind Ryan? Each child had their own and had dictated what kind of bug they would be and what they would do. Ryan said she would be a pink ladybug and fly to Cousin Katie's house to play.

See the flowers behind Ryan? Each child planted their own grass and have been watering it, keeping it in the sunlight, and watching it grow.

Can you find all the cute bug crafts in this picture? The grasshopper? The snail? The ladybug?

And more craft projects on the tree in this picture? The dragonflies? The butterflies? The beehive?

Princess Aurora and Snow White

Yesterday at Disneyland we bought Ryan a new princess outfit complete with crown and magic wand because she has outgrown her Snow White outfit and soooo loves to play dress up. She has put on this outfit a total of 4 separate times in the last 24 hours. Here are our most precious princesses all set for the Royal Ball...

Please notice the princess shoes on Charlie. Ryan has them on too under her gown. Thank you Ginny for our collection of princess shoes (having those on hand saved me a grossly overpriced single pair for $26 in the princess shop at Disneyland, pheewwww!) And also notice that Ryan insisted that we get a magic wand for her baby sister too. She is so sweet to Charlotte (as she calls her regularly now). And one more thing... Ryan said that she wants to wear this costume for Halloween. I'm sure she'll change her mind but seriously, doesn't she know that her mommy LOVES to be a little more hands-on for their Halloween costumes???? I guess that would make my life a little easier though, huh? We'll see.

Alice in Disneyland

Ryan and I had a special day together at Disneyland today. If you haven't been to Disneyland in awhile, there seems to be a million little girls dressed up as their favorite princesses running around. We go to Disneyland alot, and up to this point, I haven't given into what seemed to be an itchy, uncomfortable trend. But yes, as you may have guessed, today I gave in. I let Ryan wear her Alice in Wonderland costume to Disneyland. And now, simply stated... I get it. I get why so many mommies deal with falling off tiaras, dragging, dirty princess gowns, tattered magic wands. I get it because every other princess-clad mommy and daddy (and staffers of course) actually called her Alice today. They are all in on it. It's like this little unknown, underground "Disneyland Princess Club". They would wave and say things like, "Alice, you look so beautiful today" or "Where is the White Rabbit, Alice?" and even one, "Can I have your autograph Alice?" And Ryan believed every bit of it! She grinned ear to ear every time. She would wave and say hello back to her "fans". She would get so proud. So on top of the world. EVERY time it happened, every time, it was the best moment of the day. And maybe some of the best mommy moments to date. Here are some pictures of our day...

Ryan and Mommy in line for the "Alice in Wonderland" ride. Needless to say, her "celebrity-ness" really escalated during this ride.

This is at the princess storytelling time. Ryan's new friend, Citra, offered to let her share her carpet. That was really nice of her. (P.S. Notice Citra's outfit...understated for sure, but definitely sporting some princess attire)

And when that storytelling got cancelled at the last minute, mommy improvised with a cookie decorating activity to ease the sadness. I think it worked:)

Singing and dancing with the princesses. (I noticed that Ryan did alot of shuffle-kicks and toe-points. Dance class is really paying off. Heehee)

We met Aladdin today. As you can tell Ryan is still a little nervous around men. (This makes Steve a very proud papa indeed!)

Being one of the most famous girls in Disneyland can definitely make you tired.
Nigh-Nigh Alice!

"No Boys Allowed!"

That is what I picture the sign saying outside the girls' new "clubhouse" when they get older. I'm absolutely certain Steve would gladly make this his first self-made wood and tools project. Haha! Anyway, as you can see, the girls got yet another toy to add to the growing collection we have here in the Grace household. You know daddy had a field day with this one because it takes up so, so much room. But hey, look at the evidence though in the pictures? Do they not entirely LOVE this toy? Will this toy not provide hours of entertainment for them? Steve was easily persuaded when he saw them out with the biggest smiles ever (and sponges in hand, to boot).

~~~
First, they insisted on cleaning the house. (By far, Daddy's favorite part to watch)

Then, they had to enjoy their afternoon snack inside the house. (P.S. Charlie got her shirt soaked so we had to take it off. We don't usually let her run around without her shirt. haha.)

Finally, they insisted on having dinner inside the house too.

Seriously, being able to literally hose down after dinner is sooo much easier than cleaning the kitchen, and the floor, and the highchair, etc., etc., etc.