Sally's First Field Trip

Last week, Sophie and I accompanied Sally on her very first field trip with Happy Apple Preschool to the brand new Sea Life Aquarium at the AZ Mills Mall. I'm so glad that we finally have a decent aquarium in AZ. It was lots of fun, and educational of course! :)

A friendly Ray. 

Sally loved it but she was a very cautious observer and wouldn't touch the glass or even get near it. The face above was the face that she had through most of the experience. So funny. 

If you click on the photo above you may be able to get a glimpse of my reflection in the mirrors at the end of the tunnel. This tunnel went through the largest aquarium so you could see fish swimming above, below, and all around you. The tank also had sharks and Sally would not stay inside to look around- she ran as fast as she could to get to the other side. What do you think family? Is she her mother's daughter, or what?!

This jelly fish is about actual size- depending on the size of your monitor. They had a really cool octopus too but it was just way too dark and the picture didn't turn out. They requested no flash because a lot of flashing could bother the fish. 

Artemis Fowl's Eoin Colfer

One of the ways that I've been able to connect with Shule is through literature- we both love to read so it's one of my life's missions to find books that we can both read and discuss together (this is actually true of all my kids- aren't books great!?). One of Shule's favorites is the Artemis Fowl series so I was thrilled to hear that my favorite bookstore was going to host the author for a book signing and "Artemis Rocks Show." It was a great way to spend some one on one time with Shule and if you've enjoyed the books and Eoin Colfer is coming to your neighborhood, I would totally recommend going to the show. He was very entertaining- almost like a stand up comedy routine at parts- and its always fun to hear how authors come up with characters and ideas and such. 

Here is Colfer interviewing "Artemis" (sorry for the poor quality- "no flash photography")

We were in the "A" book signing group- which was awesome- we were about sixth in line. While we were waiting I was trying to convince Shule that he really wanted his picture with the author, but he kept refusing- he wouldn't even take a bribe. I finally agreed to leave him alone and settle for a picture of him standing across from the author when he signed his book. But I was thrilled when Mr. Colfer told Shule to come stand next to him for a picture- I don't even care that Shule is making his usual teenage "I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this-this-is-so-embarassing" kind of face :) 

First Day of School 2010

This is totally old news, seeing as how next week will be the end of the first quarter, but the pictures are super cute nonetheless.

Shazer was able to fulfill his lifelong dream of riding his bike to school (another reason we love our new house). Just pretend that it wasn't trash collection day.

It wasn't Shule's dream to walk to school (or have his picture taken) but it was super nice for me since I was driving him and his friend, Maguire, the three miles to and from school every day last year. School started later in Tucson so my parents were visiting and my dad was able to walk Shule the couple blocks to school. Thanks Dad!He gets there fine on his own now :) 

Sally started Happy Apple Preschool this year- an LDS lady runs the highly recommended preschool from her home. Sally goes on Mon, Wed, & Fri for two and a half hours and she LOVES it. Here she is at Meet the Teacher with her friend Courtney. 

Here she is on her first day of preschool. This was actually taken after school because I forgot to take it before, so you don't have the naive/eager smile but the happy/knowledgeable and probably somewhat relieved smile instead :)

Princess Party- Warning: There was a lot of pink used in the making of this party!

All the pretty princesses.

This is the first time we've had a friend party for the girls and we decided to really do it right for our little princesses. We've never had an all-girl party before either and I was amazed at how different it was from the all-boy parties that we've had in the past. All of the girls were so well mannered and polite. There was no running around craziness. They all listened to the instructions we gave and dutifully carried out the tasks we had planned for them. Even our two little crazies acted so refined. I guess it's true that the way you're dressed effects how you act. Sophie cracked me up by curtsying to some of the girls as we welcomed them in (She must have been paying attention when I was teaching Sally how to curtsy for her Alice in Wonderland pictures).

When the girls first arrived they were given paper tiara cut outs to color and decorate. (We should have tested these out first because we would have realized that they weren't long enough to wrap around the girls' heads- we ended up using ribbon to make up the difference)

 Here's one of the only pictures of the helpers. My cousin, Jenny, (who is living with my parents right now in Tucson) came for the weekend with Brittany and my parents for the party and to see the kids in the Primary Program on Sunday (Shazer had a little talk and a solo and Sally had memorized her one line so well- too bad she's such a little thing you couldn't even see any part of her as she stood beneath the microphone to deliver it). Jenny was super helpful in getting things ready for the party, cleaning and setting up, and then fixing most of the food. Thanks so much cousin! Brittany and Shazer helped serve the girls their little heart shaped sandwiches, butterfly shaped crackers, and pink lemonade. Mom made the awesome Sleeping Beauty backdrop- her talents are always so helpful! We took pictures of each of the girls in front of the backdrop and included copies in the thank-you notes. Dad helped fill the piñata- he actually did too good a job by alternating lollipops and packing it so tight that once the hatch opened the candy still wouldn't fall out- but nothing a good shake couldn't take care of ;) And Jon was the one behind the camera this time so that I could run the program. He also helped with lots of setting up and any little extras. 

I loved how carefully Sally colored in the design on her tiara- there were only two other girls that were so careful :)

Sophie wasn't terribly interested in coloring the tiara or playing the games but she enjoyed the food and the ambiance :)

 Princess Bingo with pink and purple M&Ms!The girls loved this game that I made up with pictures of Disney princesses I'd downloaded from the internet. We played enough rounds so that everyone had a chance to win at least once and none of them seemed to tire of it. I did have two other activities that we ended up scrapping because we were running low on time. One was Kiss the Frog Prince (like Pin the Tail on the Donkey) and the other was musical chairs with Disney princess music. We did play some of the music to just let them all dance to for a few minutes after they'd been sitting for a while. 

 The piñata was a pull string kind which was perfect for this group- had it been our boys they would have been disappointed they didn't get to hit it. But this way it was very civil and the girls could even save the piñata to decorate their room. 

 Presents! Pretty much all of the little girls who were invited were Sally's friends from preschool or primary so they brought gifts for her and then all the family gifts were for Sophie to open- together they really made out like bandits. It's cool that both like the same things now and are playing really well together. 

 For some reason, this is the best shot we got of them with their "cake." I think it might have been overwhelming. 

I had planned to make cupcakes the morning of the party but as I was out picking up some last minute groceries I saw these cupcakes all ready with princess heart rings on top- too perfect!