We gotta get outta this town

There are a lot of places to take kids in the summer that don't cost a thing. We have done Michael's craft days, gone to the park, gone swimming, visited the Jelly Belly factory...that's just the beginning.
But sometimes, you just gotta pack up the car, head out of town and spend a little bit of money. That's what I decided to do one day so we went to Fairytale Town in Sacramento. I didn't tell the girls where we were going, I just said we were going for a car ride. It was Amy's first trip to Fairytale Town and Diana's second. I realized not long after we arrived that Diana is a little bit old for that place. She was practically tackling the other kids who were climbing on the structures and going down slides. She loved it, but she's ready for something a little more age-appropriate. Amy, on the other hand, was in heaven. She loved chasing her sister around, going down slides much larger than those that we find at the parks and being outside.
It was fun to watch them discover a new place. And I was pleased that the snack bar inside Fairytale Town was extremely reasonably priced. Everything was less than $2 for the most part...way within my budget.

Here are some images from the trip. Diana first went to Fairytale Town with my mom years ago and she made Diana a photo album from it. I am going to do the same for Amy because Amy just loves looking at D's album. Now she can have her own.

Diana was such a good big sister, watching Amy as she climbed up the stairs on every slide to make sure she didn't fall.



Amy really did chase Diana around some times.



And they loved the hippopotamus water fountain!

With a huff and a puff

Birthdays are funny. We spend weeks planning for a party - sometimes when only family is invited - and the day goes by in a blur. That's kind of what happened with Amy's birthday. Invitations were sent out three weeks before her party via email because there was so much going on after Diana's birthday one month earlier. I think I did a pretty good job with her invite though and we got a good response. Both sides of the family were coming to her party which I was really happy about.
We woke up on Saturday morning and serenaded Amy with Happy Birthday. She loved it. She had been practicing holding up two fingers and by the time her birthday rolled around, she nailed it! We had French toast for breakfast and then opened presents, just the four of us. Diana and Amy made a mess of the living room with the wrapping, toys and clothes but they were happy so I wasn't one to complain. Shortly after that, it was time to get into party mode. I vacuumed, Matt took Diana to the store to get some food for the party and I baked cupcakes. Poor Amy was left in the living room to play. She was fine with it, but I felt bad. Poor birthday girl just got ditched on her special day.

That's OK. Later on, we had a lot of fun with family and friends.





Amy got a baby doll from Grandpa D. She loves her! She sleeps with her every night and more often then not, she is still in the crib in the morning and not on the floor because Amy threw her out in the middle of the night.



We trained Amy a long time ago to blow on her food when it's hot. She picked it up pretty fast but we never thought it would work like a charm on candles. Matt told Amy that her cupcake and candles were hot and to blow on them. She took a deep breath and swiftly blew both those little pink candles out. It was the highlight of the party for everyone there. And the birthday girl was very proud of herself too!

Where's MY summer camp?

Diana was at summer camp for the last two weeks. She participated in a sports camp, where there was a lot more going on than just sports - they went on a field trip to Scandia, went to the dollar movies and did arts and crafts every morning. Last week she had cooking camp, where they "cooked" sandwiches, tortillas, edible arrangements and other goodies. They also went on a field trip on the city bus to Fresh Choice and two of the days they went swimming. There was also a park right outside the site so they played there too.
What I want to know is...where is MY summer camp? I want to go away for a week, do arts and crafts, go swimming, cook, go to a movie and play sports. I also would love to play miniature golf since I haven't played that in probably three years.
I guess my house is a constant camp, but it sure doesn't feel like it. I supervise the arts and crafts, act as lifeguard during swimming (even though I don't know CPR -I know, that's bad) and cook the meals for other people.
My ideal camp would be me at a quiet location, sans children, with my Kindle, soaking up the sun and sleeping in until about 9 a.m. I want to eat what I want to eat when I want to eat it without a child saying "Can I have one?" This is all wishful thinking because these "camps" cost mucho dinero that I just don't have. I will have to improvise and have a makeshift camp during naptimes. I can sit in the backyard in my bikini, with my Kindle, soaking up the sun and sneak some snacks while the kids can't see me. As for the arts and crafts, I will have to make sure to take part in them, instead of just supervising. I will insist that my husband take me on a date to go play mini golf one of these days.
Camp might be spread out among several days, but I will get my chance too!

When I am strong, my kids are healthy

I am not what my husband likes to call a "mental midget." I like to think that I am mentally tough. It's that mental toughness that gets me through every day and helps me run a functional household.
Sure I am tired throughout the day. When you get up at 5 a.m. to exercise five days a week you are bound to get tired at some point. But there are little people running around that need attention, need to see sunlight and need to be entertained. There's also a house that needs to be cleaned, meals to cook and diapers that need to be changed. Plus, it's not healthy for me to be couped up in the house all day either. So I push through the tired.
When I want to just sit down and roam the internet for a job for 15 minutes, I glance over and my 2-year-old is making a mess of the living room. That can't happen so I get off the internet and have her help me clean up. When I would rather stay in the house all day then take the kids to the park, I can't. That's not fair to them. So, I lather them up with sunscreen and we head out. Do we walk, ride bikes or take the car? Most of the time we take the car, but let's walk today...or ride a bike. Sure, one might say that my kids are a little spoiled because I am giving in to their every need, but they are kids and it's summertime. This is their time to have some fun and not have any pressure on them. When Mommy and Daddy have jobs and we are on a tighter schedule, they have more limitations. Now, let's just have fun.
When I put the girls down for bed at night and I come downstairs and take a breath, it's nice. That's MY time. I finally get to relax, read a book, look for a job, watch television, bake something...do whatever I want to do.
It's not easy being mentally tough, but my kids are mentally healthy because of it!

Diana's rookie year

One of Diana's many summer activities includes t-ball. She's never played baseball a day in her life and we have barely played catch with the girl in her six years of existence. When we have played catch, it's been with a basketball. Certainly nothing as small as a baseball. But her friend from track season was playing so we decided to give it a shot.
Diana is not the best player on the team, but she's not the worst either. She has a smile on her face the entire time she's out there and that's all that matters to me. She's in the senior division which means that the games are not that hard to watch from a talent standpoint (most of the kids should be playing Little League or Bobby Sox).

Here's Diana at opening ceremonies last Friday.



Here she is warming up before her first game on Saturday morning.



Diana getting some batting advice from her coach. Yes, she is wearing a skirt. I tried to tell her that she needed to wear shorts, but "Daddy said it's OK because it's sporty!" was the reply I got. Matt suggested that we needed to get her some baseball pants and I said heck no! I especially was against that idea when I saw one of the girls on Diana's team wearing baseball pants and they were super baggy in the crotch area (enough room for a cup!). Those things are not made for girls. Gramma V suggested waiting to see if Diana requested baseball pants after the first game. I said "Mom, my daughter is wearing a skirt. Do you think she's gonna request baseball pants?" Enough said.



She reached base a couple of times. I love this photo because the first baseman is totally checking her out! :)



And here is Diana's No. 1 fan, watching her from behind the fence. Amy wanted to be out there so bad!



She now has two games a week until the week before school starts. It's going to be a busy month for us because she's in camp this week again. She's also taking gymnastics one day a week. Hold on for the ride!

My backyardigan

It doesn't matter what the temperature is outside, my girls always want to play outside. I am fine with that. Let's get the sunscreen out and head outdoors! With Diana at camp during the day for a couple weeks, Amy and I have been playing outside more often. It's nice that the temperatures haven't reached triple digits too many days so far this summer so she can actually play in the sun and I don't have to move her backyard toys to the shade.
I texted Matt a picture of Amy playing with the water table one day when it was a little hot and he replied "I can't believe she wants to be outside." She's a kid...what kid doesn't want to play outdoors!

One Friday, I decided to test Amy's artistic abilities outside of crayons. I got out the tempura paint, pinned up a piece of poster paper onto the fence and let her have at it. Now remember, Amy has never painted a day in her life. And she doesn't like to be messy (hmmm, I wonder where she got that from?). I brought the camera outside and knew that it was going to be a Kodak moment.

Here's Amy's adventures with the water table on a very hot June day.



She loves her ducky.



That's a smile worth a million bucks!



Here's Amy's awesome artwork (I got the smock - a two-pack - at Ikea. The only good purchase I have ever made at that store).



Amy checking out her messy hands.



Sometimes we get a little on our faces, but it's OK.

An overrated skill

It was decided a while back at Amy's 2-year preemie checkup that she would start speech therapy. I am not one to argue with the doctors but I did tell them that I didn't think it was necessary. They insisted, saying that it couldn't hurt. OK, I said, still showing my displeasure.
Diana was a late talker, Matt was a late talker and they are both fine to the best of my knowledge.
Fast forward to about three weeks ago when Amy had her initial assessment. She passed with flying colors in all the developmental stages. She only struggled in the verbalization test...obviously.
Today, she had her first assessment with her speech therapist. It wasn't an actual appointment because she still has to get approved by a board to get speech therapy. The therapist was impressed with Amy's development and her intelligence. She even taught us some sign language - something that I have always been a little against. Amy knows how to sign "More cookies please." It's funny though because Amy knows how to say "please" so she does the sign for "more cookies" and then says please.
The therapist was here for 45 minutes and conducted a couple tests. Amy loves the test part. The therapist brought a picture book to warm Amy up to her and she was into it as I chatted with the therapist. Once she brought out the cards to test her abilities though, Amy perked up and got down to business. She correctly identified several objects in the book, impressing the therapist tremendously. It was fun.
We won't hear from the therapist about our next appointment for a couple weeks because she has to file a report and then it is presented to the board at their site who then recommends or denies Amy speech therapy. The therapist doesn't think Amy will be denied. In the meantime, she gave us some activities to practice with Amy. We have to make sure she's looking at our mouth when we are talking to her and there are some letters we should practice with more than others because they are easier for a beginning talker to use.
It's all so intense. When she's ready to talk, she'll talk. She communicates very well. We know what she wants and she knows what we are saying. She's a very smart girl and I am not worried about her at all. Being a preemie has not hindered her development one bit - outside of this whole talking thing.

A bittersweet day

Diana's sixth birthday also was her last day of kindergarten. So, it was a happy day for sure, but sad that kindergarten is already over and she's on to first grade. Where has time gone? I saw a picture of her the other day on her first day of school and look at pictures of her now and she's grown into such a young lady in such a few short months.
Diana is a confident, smart, fun girl who we adore. She's a great big sister who loves her family. She has a bright future ahead of her and had a great kindergarten year. She's in Spanish Immersion and her teacher had nothing but great things to say about her. We were very proud of her final Kindergarten report card. She's more than ready for first grade and we are already doing some extra work this summer to make sure she is ahead of the game.

Here are some images from her last day of school. The three kindergartens had a family picnic in the kindergarten field with families invited. Amy and I joined the group and then we went to Fenton's afterward with some of D's friends for ice cream!








Diana's birthday party was the day after school. She had it at the community pool with some of her classmates and friends. Everyone had a great time. Diana has a great group of friends at school...she is very lucky, but she's also a very good friend to everyone in her class.