Grades Are In

Annabelle's first "report card" came home in her homework folder on Friday. She made mostly A's with a couple B's. I was elated, Justin wasn't happy with the B's (of course, since he's a perfectionist). Kindergarten is going well and seems to move at break neck speed. Annabelle likes school and hasn't protested going as of yet. The early morning drop off is a little too early for us some days but we're getting used to it. We leave the house around seven every morning and Annabelle has been telling people she goes to school at night since it's still dark outside when we leave the house!

We're gearing up for Halloween and will hopefully get the fall decorations out this weekend. We have our Halloween costumes ready. We always love how busy our neighborhood gets on Halloween.

Little brother continues to grow and we are excited about his arrival, well, at least I am, Annabelle has her moments where she doesn't want a brother at all. He has been extra active the past couple weeks which makes us worry that he's going to be a hyperactive baby! I go in for glucose testing tomorrow - yuck, not looking forward to that.

And Time Flies

Rainbow with no Rain

Our New Tree

It seems like this school year is just flying by. Annabelle is adjusting well to Kindergarten. She likes her school, has made some new friends and is generally happy! Here are a few funny things that she's told me about Kindergarten:
She has a "friend" named David who has been trying to kiss her, I asked if he was trying to kiss her on the cheek and she said "no,  on the LIPS"...I decided this was a good time to explain to her that little boys have cooties.
She also said that David asked her what the "spots" are on her face, she told him they are freckles. I guess David hasn't seen to many little white girls with freckles :)
She is in the "Ohio State" group - her class is sectioned off into groups according to their learning level, she is in the highest group.
Annabelle isn't 100% thrilled about getting a little brother, she still insists that she wants a little sister. I tell her it's a great thing she's getting a brother because she won't have to share her Barbies with him.

We got a new tree in the backyard over the weekend. Hopefully it will give the yard some much needed shade. The tree is a Laurel de la India and is supposed to grow rapidly. We sure hope it does! Stella and Annabelle have already been enjoying the tree.

Oh brother!

In January Amazing Annabelle will be a big sister!

Kindergarten!

New Snazzy Alarm Clock

Stella's wondering what the heck is going on!

Reading "Twas the Night Before Kindergarten"

My Baby looking all "official"

Goofy girl acting like she's cooking

Another goofy pose, she insisted I take a picture of this : )

My baby started Kindergarten this week. I can't believe she's already in "big girl" school. She was super excited to start school, we even bought a snazzy new Hello Kitty alarm clock - Daddy had to drive to 3 different Target stores to find it in stock (what a good Daddy!). When the alarm went off on the first day of school I had to get up and turn it off, Annabelle was still sound asleep! I think she can sleep through anything. The school day starts super early - we have to be there by 7:30 and dismissal isn't until 3:45 - that makes for a very long day for little kids but it's all part of going to a college prep school and we were lucky to get in! We've had homework every night and Annabelle's teacher is super nice! We're looking forward to an awesome school year!

Summer is Here!

I've been REALLY lazy lately and haven't posted anything to the blog, facebook or actually anything in a long time. I can't believe summer is already here!

What you've missed:
•Annabelle graduated from the UTPA preschool! It was sad to say goodbye to everyone but we are happy to be moving on to Kindergarten. I definitely won't miss the preschool :)
•We rescued a puppy! Her name is Stella, she is a chihuahua/terrier and she very sweet (she has some fear issues but we're working on them)
•Justin started teaching summer school again, he will be done the first week in July and we're looking forward to some vacation time.
•Annabelle attended Kindergarten registration, she tested perfectly at Kindergarten level, we ordered her school uniforms, got more information on her school and found out she needed yet another TB test. So far we really like the school (the campus is beautiful) and she is super excited about the school year starting. We can't wait for Kindergarten orientation in August!
•We got a new roof! Finally! Hail damage in May stirred things up around here, we now have a new roof (a 2 day job that turned into a 12 day job) and we're waiting for news on our new fence and a/c repairs.

Our New Roof

Meet Stella

Preschool Graduation - Dancing to Hound Dog

Catching Butterflies

Stella is Famous - She was the Easter Seals Dog!

Annabelle & Teacher Joyce

Graduated!

• We've been spending our summer days with friends in their pool. Saturday nights watching movies in the park. And just hanging out at home being lazy!

Easter 2012

We hunted some eggs

Posed for the camera

Got an awesome new tutu from Aunt Lisa

Collected some farm fresh eggs

Dyed some eggs (one even came out black!)

Enjoyed the cake batter just a little bit too much!

And decorated our traditional bunny cake - mmmmm....it was delicious!

We had a really nice Easter!

And Annabelle is STILL sleeping in the shark tent. Tomorrow the tent moves to her bedroom like it or not :)

Annabelle has been sleeping in a shark-shaped tent in our living room for the past couple nights. She loves getting into it at bed time and playing her leappad and turning on her flashlight, she sleeps in that darn thing the ENTIRE night without getting up once & trying to get in our bed. I think the shark tent is a brilliant idea! Maybe we can just get rid of her bunk beds to make room for a separate home office for Justin? BRILLIANT!!

Preschool graduation is just around the corner. I had no idea there would be an entire ceremony complete with cap, gowns & tassel, guest speaker, dancing & singing, invitations. That one took me by surprise. So, I ordered a cap and tassel for Annabelle (we decided to forgo the gown since the preschool offered to let everyone borrow one and I could just imagine another graduation gown hanging in my closet collecting dust). Graduation photos are this week & I have been diligently working on Annabelle's "dance costume" for graduation which, for some odd reason, is a 50's poodle skirt? Not sure why the graduation dance involves the 50's since these preschoolers have no idea what the heck a poodle skirt is, I guess I need to rent the movie "Grease" and let her watch it?

The Easter egg hunts are getting ready to begin. There will be one at the library tomorrow, at Annabelle's preschool the next day and I'm sure there will be lots this weekend - just not sure if we will participate in any of the local public hunts since I know they will be a mess. Annabelle has still been practicing hunting eggs in our backyard, she's going to run circles around the other egg hunters!