TresChic to Go

a day to run errands. first byron's usual ones - bank ATM and the cleaners. #2 to the mall (uh-oh trouble). really to reserve the Princess & The Frog dvd at the disney store. if you preorder now for $24.99 - you get the dvd, blu-ray, digital copy for pc, 4 lithographs, $10 off coupon. not bad when the dvd alone is selling for $19.99. this movie came out on before xmas break in december, disney did not waste any time to release it. i'll have to come back and pick up on march 16th. so i send byron off to get ariana her m&m cookies, while i go into gymbo. on all the gymbo message boards, i heard theres a 99 cent sale going on last years stuff. newpark mall didnt have much - mostly for babies. my grand-nephew turns 1 on march 10th, altho i was betting he would be born on my bday. at least we share the same month. i got him every pair of shorts i could find in size 12-18, hope they fit by the time weather warms up in oregon. baby boy shorts originally run approx $20 each. of course i left the tags on, my g-baby gonna be the best dressed boy come springtime. funny i used to tell all my other nephews to repeat after me "who's the poorest auntie of them all? - auntie thelma !" it worked for awhile becuz i always told them that i was the only one that couldnt afford a mini-van. then they pointed out the porsche in the garage. we ate at red robin, where ariana is kinda hesistant to go there - she thinks the big red bird mascot will come to the table. we dont have a problem with her eating, its just that she's getting picky. so if i want her to eat, i usually feed her. now she's playing this game with me. i put food on the fork and look away, she'll feed herself and put it her mouth, then i have to be surprised to find out what happened to the food. hey if theres a game and she's eating - as long as it works. ariana is wearing gymbo tres chic. it started out with the jeans and a coordinating top. the weather is still crazy and her cold/cough is still there - i grabbed the quilted jacket. its a size 2T/3T and lookin a lil baby-ish on her to me, or maybe its what i paired it with.

Owl Hoo's

i was going through the drawers of gap tees, yes i have them seperated from gymbo. it says "Hoo's the Cutest?" we wore this around halloween and i figured we might as well wear it again. its a size 4, doubt if it will make it again this coming fall. jeans on the otherhand, no matter what brand are stacked on the closet shelf. one stack of gymbo, the other stack of old navy & gap. remember one time josh counted and said ariana has enough to wear a pair a day in a month. even tho thats true - there is no way i could put pants on her everyday, nor she wont let me. todays pair is gymbo from royal garden line, and curly bows from fall for monkey.

Puma Cheer

my gf started ariana out with puma track pieces, from there - we have built on it. wearing the tier skort with tee. plus the jacket, only to find out last weekend the black pants are too small. and if i'm gonna rid the pants, might as well sell with the jacket together. puma shoes dont fit either, the pink nike swish will have to do. ariana felt like she was a cheerleader - she started walking like one and had a cheer for every color in the rainbow. O-kay, ready, begin. first thing when i picked her up from preschool, she told me "my teacher liked my outfit." also that another girl liked it too and wants one for herself. she told the girl "its not gymboree, its puma. i don't know where the puma store is at." there is a puma store at valley fair mall, the outfit came from macys.

Kellys Kid Red

since we grew out of the kellys kid green dress, better try on the red blue-flower one and matching tights. i doubt if this will make it to wear in kinderG (sept). the gymbo happy rainbow rain clogs will do, especially since we get a break from the rain today. i had the chills last night and ariana put all her blanky towels on me to keep me warm - even one on my head. ariana got out her play doctor kit - i just laid on the couch for my appointment. i got a shot (ouch), she took my temperature and i had to slurp medicine (yuck). i was trying to be the model patient. funny when she checked my nose and reported to byron "dad, mom doesnt have mucus men like in the ook-ook commercial!" she wants to be a doctor and a mommy too when she grows up.

Corsica Day

yea we hit 70 degrees. we are out of the cold freezing temperatures and theres rain forecasted this weekend. taking advantage of this gorgeous climate we have. ariana is wearing gap corsica tunic dress with gap leggings. first time in months to wear sandals too - white strappy saltwaters (size 9). i am so ready for spring, even tho we havent had a chance to wear all of our fall/winter wardrobe. hoping some will fit her next year. then again, these are items that i bought on sale last year to wear now. what are my chances of ariana having a huge growth spurt over the summer?? ariana told me that it was really noisy at preschool today and covered her ears. the teacher said "kids, ariana is covering her ears, do you know what she is trying to tell you?" and one answered "be quiet!"

Overalls

gymbo from the bon voyage line, the nautical one. its a size kidgirl 4. when i dressed ariana, she said "are these my overalls?" on the back of the pockets are studded anchors. the red top is from gymbo holland days line.

Prez Day

its a federal holiday - no mail, banks closed, no preschool, nor no college (josh is home). now try explaining why dad had to go to work today. uh, the airlines have to fly the airplanes everyday. ariana was quick to ask "dad was home yesterday. did the planes fly on valentines day?"
it was my kind of errands day - to the mall!! first up is GAP - 40% off entire purchase sale. its kinda hush-hush, no big posters and very little signs throughout the store where it seemed like that certain rack was only on sale. word spreaded last night on all my loops, so we were hoping it was true. the store wasnt crowded, but the lines were hecka long - only 2 people working the registers. ended up with outfits mostly from the global map line. had lunch at the mall, and buying m&m cookies nibblers from mrs.fields is on ariana's list. then to kohls to do a price adjustment. joshua bought his gf this cute coatdress on friday, i bought it back to apply a 30% coupon. they handed me the coupon back to use til tomorrow. ariana remembered this was the store where she wanted a dolly friend and i wouldnt buy it, the last time we were here was way before xmas. we checked and she was right, now ariana is loving me forever "oh thank you mommy". we have to introduce all her dollys to Serena. old navy to do a return only, just in and out. even though those items were a great deal during the baby sale last weekend, i'd rather return them to justify my purchases at gap. this is one of those days to change my blog title to what i bought. plus if i show you - you might think its a repeat when ariana actuallys wears it. so you'll have to wait and see. today she's wearing gap chelsea top with gymbo brown leggings, and our fav gap slip-on canvas (no socks required).

Happy Valentines Day

ariana has a little cold, so we're taking it easy. she helped dad make the coffee, get the sunday newspaper and do a donut run. dad promised her a valentines day donut - white icing with red/pink sprinkles. for dinner i made heart-shaped pasta cheese raviolli (costco). byron brought me home a bouquet of flowers on friday evening. boy did ariana let him have it for giving me a present BEFORE v-day. "forget that dad what you did" basically not to do it again next time. she also explained "if the flowers die before valentines day, then you have to get mommy new ones again". does she have my back, or what?? watched the olympics here and there, but set my dvr for Amazing Race.

Farewell Mimi & Gabe

after 3 years at travis, my air force nephew & family are going back to florida (boo hoo). mimi is ariana's closest cousin in age, just 16 days apart. its funny - cuz when gabe was born in florida, i wasnt able to spoil him and all my attention went to my other nephew justin. if you were born around the same time as joshua (1989), forget it! when johnjohn announced in january 2005 they were having a girl, i was so ready to spoil her since she was the next girl on the laureta side in 22 years. little did i know i was pregnant with ariana. we're gonna miss our shopping playdates and family/birthday celebrations. melanie is my gymbo guru, and we egg each other on about all the sales. we buy things from the same gymbo lines, but pick different items. which is good since mimi is a tad bigger, and we get her hand-me-downs. reminds me about the 4 boys (edward, joshua, lano, jonathan) who are 6 months apart accordingly. it worked out great when they were babies as we got edwards outgrowns. it all stopped when joshua was the biggest, then it went the other way around "it dont fit joshua anymores". one time we bought the 4 boys this same green sweatshirt (in different sizes). eventually they were all passed down to jonathan the youngest. it looked like he was wearing the green top for years. ariana knows mimi & gabe are moving to florida (by disneyworld). at first she was saying "they cant move or live there, its only for visitors". we wore a knot dress/top melanie got made for the girls on xmas, paired with matilda jane henry ruffles. my sister gave out a heart shape box of candy, which we can't open til sunday. the girls also got a teddy bear holding a rose, sometimes his name is "teddy", "rosie" or "teddy rosie".

Kuya's Home

joshua hasnt been home since MLK weekend. he wasnt able to go to the snow with us. in the car she realizes "uh oh somebody is missing". lately she has been saying "it sure is taking kuya a long time to come home". they talk on the phone every week. i told ariana that kuya is coming home. "kuya said next week", not realizing thats what he told her on the phone last week. i gave up explaining - bottom line he's home. with valentines day coming up, i pulled out a red striped top. i think its from gymbo holland days line.

Ballet

dad left us the car today, cant let a porsche sit forever. even tho we had the official breakfast this morning, ariana and i went on our donut date. its been awhile. they didnt have any sprinkled ones left, settled for a chocolate glaze. off to run errands - post office (sold another pair of gymbo shoes), old navy to do a return - only to come out buying more again than what i returned. the baby sale is still going on. byron always quotes me a lockhorn comic "if every thing is on sale, doesnt mean you have to buy it". true, but a girl cant pass up a good deal. costco run for milk & eggs, and of course ended up with a $100 tab. where else can you get 2 kingsize pillows for $12.99?? back home, only to get ready for ballet tonight. the girls did their usual stretches, ballet steps, and they pretty much got their butterfly routine down. the teacher introduced some jazzy dance steps. it was cute watching some of the girls shake their booty and wiggle their hips. ariana caught on pretty fast once she caught on to "copy" the teacher. the others - they were kinda shy. we wore the red mountain cabin sweater with jeans to run our errands. when i was getting her ready for ballet, she told me "hey we didnt take a picture". i said thats ok, we could take a picture of your ballet outfit, with our new shrug from old navy. $10 comes in pink or grey. ariana is wearing a 4T one, and i only paid 68 cents for it using the thankyou code online.
the dance studio is going to start a salsa aerobics class next monday night. at the same time, a loopie posted a Wii Fit for sale. you think my stars are lining up to tell me something? guess my sit-ups arent cutting it and ariana is getting too big to carry (34 lbs). remember i carried joshua probably til he was 8... hey, he's my Baby!! Survivor tonight - 20th season.

Valentine Cards

i had bought valentine cards last week. they were 2-for-1 at rite aid. a box of tinkerbell fairies and princess & the frog. this morning when i said "do you know what today is? its your preschool valentines day party." i realized omg we need to do the cards! luckily the kids just had to write their own name who they are from, ARIANA is only 6 letters, and 15 kids are in her class. i remember we had to do 30, write the names on the envelopes and stuff them. guess they dont do envelopes anymores, you fold them in half and seal with a sticker. some even comes with a pencil or candy. the kids decorated their gift bags (ariana drew as many pink hearts & stars), and decorated their placement made with their handprints shaped like a heart. sat on the "magic carpet" circle rug, they went around one-by-one passing out their cards dropping them in the bags. ariana was explaining to dad how the whole thing worked - she said all the kids were "mailmans". going thru her loot she was surprised by the spiderman or dinosaur theme cards "i dont need these, i'm a girl". wonder how the boys felt about the tinkerbells ones she passed out. the skies are clear (no rain), the air is still chilly and some snow on the hills the other night. not really the best time to wear a dress, and we have 5 red ones to pick from. settled on this argyle vest set from h&m, and a new pair of jeans from oldnavy. kinda dressed her like a boy today - but a cute preppy one at that.

Autumn Garden

i think this is my favorite gap dress/tunic from autumn garden 2008. too bad the print is like silk-screened, therefore leaving the colors fade with wash-wear. paired with matilda jane oatmeal leggings. we went to the airport to pick up my brother. he gave ariana coins from new zealand and sydney, perfect for play money in her cash registers.

Monday Play

ariana is wearing gap playwear - brown stripes with brown leggings. both are size 3T. played, washed ariana hair, dressed her, fed her (breakfast & lunch), played - next thing you know it its time for preschool 3:15. most of my 2 hours to kill was spent at the post office, and stopped off at moms. i'm selling some of ariana's size 2T wardrobe to fellow gymbo loopies. 8 packages went out, and now i have money burning in my paypal account to buy from loopies that have a daughter one year older than nana. its a vicious cycle. not only is this blog a fashion show, some loopies watch it to put dibbs on the outfits when ariana grows out of them. some i keep for sentimental reasons, some i pass down since i have 3 nieces younger (mimi, briel, baby audrey).
byron came home from work and set me off (no i'm not pms'ing). "you guys are home all day and didnt do a thing". grant it dinner wasnt ready and the living room still looks like a daycare center, but i did as much as i could. i let him have it. #1 theres a plastic bag blown onto the backyard lawn. byron saw it there this weekend cuz he pulled up the blinds. but did he take a minute to open the sliding glass door and pick it up? NO. #2 the tarp cover on the sandbox is filled with water from the rain. i am constantly telling them to empty it. byron said joshua did it last time... uh, josh hasnt been home for 3 weeks now and its been raining eversince. #3 the last time i did a load of whites (laundry) i usually fold and put everything away except byron's white tshirts. most of the time i leave them in a stack on the living room floor or couch. do you know he will go in the living room every morning for one. well this time, i layed the stack on our bed. its been there for a week, and not once did he think "hmmm let me fold these and put them away". wishful thinking. he's lucky i dont leave them in the dryer where he has to go out in the cold garage every morning just to get one tshirt out. and #4... ok you get the point.

Superbowl Sunday

Go COLTS!! Go SAINTS!! we don't own a football jersey. i could easily put together a blue/white or black/gold outfit, but not really into the superbowl this year. the pink adidas tracksuit is from costco (size4) was the closest sportiest thing in her closet, worn with nike shoes. ariana made me put on my nikes too, as we went jogging around the neighborhood. ran to the court behind our street, and to the court in front. the halftime show with "the WHO" wasnt all that, we snuck out to old navy for the baby sale. i was listening to the game in the car coming home where the saints made a touchdown. by the time i came into the house (5 minutes left in the game) - the saints had the ball again. next thing you know it - Drew is going to disneyworld.

Disney Volunteer

give a day, get a disney day. if you ask ariana what she did today - she'll tell you "i volunteered to go to disney. " this year disney's promotion is doing its part to encourage volunteerism across the country - to help out the community and charities. you donate your time, and in turn - a free admission ticket to disneyland or disneyworld to go any day of your choice. last year you had to go on your actual birthday to get in free. we signed up with the LOV league of volunteers in newark. our task was to take weeks of food donations - count, sort, stock on shelves. ariana helped count and stock the baby food jars. i was impressed how several families came together to do all this. down to cardboxes for recycle, paperbags & plastic bags organize, to a clean room waiting for the next batch of groceries. we left with a great feeling of giving back, that we might sign up to help out in the future.

Kelly Green

repeat outfit - only to find the dress is now too small (according to my preference). its the kelly's kid one from a loopie named Kelly (get it?? haha). love the quality. its one of those dresses similar to bedsheets with a high threadcount - the more you wash, the more comfortable it becomes. it came with matching tights and we wore them with vincents happy face clogs.

Northern Lights

the winds are picking up and we're braving for the storm tonight. all this following the beautiful weather we had yesterday - weird. my nieces are moving back to florida. some of mimi's winter wardrobe got passed down to ariana. this dress was on top of the bag of clothes we received. i managed to put together an outfit with it. its very weighty - one wouldnt even need a jacket on. its from gap's 2008 northern lights line, paired with brand new pair of brown leggings from gap. even tho we didnt go outside, i put on one of her faux uggs. ariana has a pair of slippers she calls "house shoes", so these are her "house boots". ballet tonight - hoping the weather holds out.

i finally tackled the mess in her kitchen area (family room). my lil tornado hit a couple of days ago, and slammed into it again. i'm about to give up, but you know if you dont cleanup daily - it only gets worse and more to put away. i watched "Hoarders" the other night, it was about this firefighter. his job was on the line as he should know better about fire hazard living conditions, and firemen need to make quick decisions. some points he was good in having certain things all organized (belts, baseball caps, etc). but the rest of the house he couldnt manage becuz he likes things a certain way - and it would've taken him too long to do those areas the way he would want them. so it just piled up. and why am i telling you this when ariana is far from having this ocd mental disorder??

BonVoyage

beautiful 60 degree day. it would've been ridiculous to put a winter-themed outfit on. went to the dresser drawer that holds all nautical pieces (from gap, gymbo bon voyage, gymbo holland days, gymbo wywh). working around the gymbo bon voyage sweater, paired with our favorite gap sailor jeans. when we got to preschool today, mrs.becky told ariana she's going to be excited. her bff signed up today and will be in the same class. ariana said "wednesday preschool is much better now". ariana usually tells me her dream when she wakes up. yesterday dream was about a girl walking in disneyworld. had a hole in her pocket. money fell out. ariana picked them up and gave it back to her. the girl said "oh i still need them, yes yes i do." this mornings dream is about me asking if i could use ariana's kitchen to make a cherrios cake. she'll still remember it to tell byron by the time he comes home from work. funny thing is sometimes she'll quiz him and say "do you remember my dream yesterday when i ..." we cant remember our own dreams, let alone what she dreamed the other day. i know i had a one, but dont remember a single thing about it.

Tummy Doctor

i had my annual ob-gyn appointment today. in ariana's mind - its a "doctor" and she doesnt want to get anywheres near them even if it doesnt concern her. i prepped her its MY doctor appointment, and my lady doctor was the one that took her & kuya out of my tummy at the hospital. she said she'll stay home and wait for dad to stay with her. i finally coaxed her into the car and i'll bring her to dad. i had byron meet me at the parking garage instead, where she wanted him to stay in the car. somehow byron managed to get her to come up to the office, something about my doctor only sees grown-ups, no men and no kids. guess that leaves her out. when my appt was all done, ariana asked me "did the tummy doctor see a baby in your tummy?" nope, nothing was in there. wearing an outfit from a fav loopie on the east coast - a talbot kids corduroy patched skirt and matching fuschia top. cable knit sweater was a birthday gift. i had intentions of putting on maryjanes with the brown knee-highs, but ariana had already slipped her foot into the brown boots. guess she suspected i wanted another pair, she told me "they match, see the brown".

Scotty Dog to School

its the scotty dog sweater dress from gymbo holiday friends. ariana has a choice of 4 pairs of black boots - she always picks the fringe ones from gap. i dont mind since they are size 9s which she will probably grow out of first. the others are 10's and 11's - hoping she'll be able to wear them at the end of the year. no rain today - but dad insisted "you have a coat for her?". quickly i grabbed the black puffer one gymbo glamour kitty line. ariana mentioned they celebrated one of her classmates birthday at preschool. the girls got the pink cupcakes, the boys the white ones. she said mrs.becky let them pick: eat it now, take it home, throw it away. ariana said she picked to eat it and just licked all her favorite part (icing) off and throwed it away. "some kids ate the whole thing, they were hungry". we needed to cleanup before dinner. ariana ran to get her notebook "i'll go get the list". i usually hand her things one by one to put away. she said "no mom, i wrote the list. i'm the reader. you're the listener. you're the cleaner." help! ok who's the parent and who's the kid??