Check-Up

5-year check up went well. i've been telling ariana the doctor is going to check how you are growing and play games (hearing test, eye test). no shots. when i made the appt i had requested for the flu mist. apparently they ran out of it last week, meaning she had to get a shot (opps sorry baby) ...and also her second polio one. luckily byron was there, becuz i dont do well with those things. ariana did great better than expected, she sat in byron's lap burying her face. at least we didnt have to wrestle with her and hold her down. my trooper. good thing her next appt isnt until she is 7 years. bad thing - get the second flu shot next month.
ariana weighs 38-1/4 lbs and 42 inches tall, brings her both in the 35% percentile on the chart. theres a formula where you can predict how tall a child is going to be. you take the fathers height, divide by 2, minus the mothers height. hmm, did i get that right?? anyways - she will be a little over 5 feet tall. ariana is wearing gymbo all about button dress. its like a midnight plum purplish color with pink trim and velour leggings. dont let the sunshine fool you - there is a chill in this 55 deg air.

Fall Homecoming

...theres no place like home.

sorry no pics - i cannot shake this cold/flu bug. it hit me last monday. i refused to take any medicine as they knock me out - yes even the non-drowsy ones. i've been popping halls cough drops every time i have a coughing attack. unfortunately, byron got tired of hearing me and ariana gets scared like i'm going to choke or suka (throw up). he ran out and got me some at the drug store. i am now on the clock watching every 4 hours for my next dose. have no fear though - i have princess ariana dr. morgan tending to me. she is wearing a pink sleeping beauty dress, and for most of the day - has been correcting us to call her "Princess Ariana". she checks up on me along with her boo-boo kit. the stethoscope around her neck is her necklace. dont tell dad i have a fever or else he'll make me take medicine (yuck!). she offered me one of her melt-aways (children tylenol).
watched The Wizard of Oz. how lucky are kids today? ariana is watching the movie in HD on a 42-inch color plasma flat screen tv. and get this - she even paused it herself to go potty. i was even able to rewind to hear judy sing "somewhere over the rainbow". if only i could've done that when i was a kid, instead i hate to wait a whole year for it to show again. i remember watching it on a black&white tv with a tri-color plastic film over it. ...theres no place like home. a couple of days ago we saw the original "Miracle on 34th Street" in black & white. ariana said "hey what happened to the color, why is everything gray?" i told her "thats how daddy watched tv when he was a little boy."

Black Friday

i actually got a headstart - gymboree bf sale was up online on wednesday night by 9:00 pm (midnite EST). saving me from going to the mall at 5:00 in the morning. too early, too cold. i did have one store on the agenda today - janie & jack. i have a pair of black patent boots on hold, and need to get there by noon for additional 30%. i did sneek into gymbo to do a return, and found a "jingle deal" sweater dress $14. found out i would be in line for over an hour. i went to a lady (5th in line) and offered her a 20% coupon if i could get behind her. for that, she insisted i go in front. the lady in front of me wanted me to offer her the coupon. gymbo had the same bf promo - additional 30% before noon plus you could stack the 20% on top.

we warned ariana that santa claus is at the mall now. ariana watched as kids were taking their pictures with him. she kept saying "no way!" i pointed out he had a real beard. ariana said "oh that means he's just an old man wearing a santa suit." either way, she still wasnt going to take a picture with him fake beard of not.
ariana is wearing ALL gap - this sweater dress i picked up last month on sale. have no idea what line its from. we went into gap to meetup with josh. a teenage girl pointed out to her mom she wanted a tunic just like what ariana had on. i said its from gap and not sure if they made a girls xxl. gap leggings, gap socks, gap moto boots.

Happy Turkey Day

Freezing Temps

i know it doesnt snow here in the bay area - compared to chicago or the east coast. some cold blast of air coming from canada is headed our way over night. we even had a freeze warning up until 9 o'clock in the morning. we're talking about hitting below 40 deg and highs in the low 50's with blue skies. brrrrr. byron set it up to bring the lexus into the shop. we're getting a RX for a loaner, and no place to go. of course, ariana wanted to go pick up the "new" car. altho it made me get her dressed - a hoodie sweater dress from oldnavy, gymbo charcoal gray leggings, with gap moto boots.

Thanksgiving Break

Purrfect Autumn

even tho its the last day of school before thanksgiving break, i wanted to get another fall-colored outfit on. gymbo purrfect autumn (the babygirl line is called fall for monkey). the orange dot dress has a brushed-velour velvet feel. kidgirl size 5 and a little on the big side still, this way it will fit next year. at least we'll get 2 years out of her clothes. you might not see her wear it next month, but for sure in a year from now. the kinder class didnt have a thanksgiving day party. guess you dont learn about the mayflower & pilgrams til the first grade. they did do artsy-crafty projects coloring turkeys and a homework assignment "I am thankful for..." ariana was thankful for her famulee (family) because she loves them. also thankful for daddy to mac muny for us (make money). i asked ariana if she knew what thanksgiving was all about. her response "you mean turkey day?!?" guess we'll have a little history lesson 101 before next thursday.

our principal and his wife just had a baby girl. we went to congratulate him after school. ariana was really excited about the visit and to see his office. "he has a big desk and lots of books!" she even gave him a hug, mind you she doesnt give one unless she trusts you. i am glad she has a friendship with the principal, plus she has 5 more years at this school. most kids are intimidated by them, me being one. i think my teachers used them as a threat "if you're bad then you're going to the principal", and made them out to be a mean guy. this is his first year at eastin. i have heard nothing but great things about him where he is more about than the kids, than all the administrative stuff (test scores, reports, etc).

Fall for Monkey Dots

another morning day, actually the whole school is on a minimum day schedule. i waited til the last minute to wake ariana up at 7:00, and got us out of the house at 7:40 on my own. luckily i had her clothes picked out, dont have to braid her hair, and she could eat breakfast (pastry) on her own. on top of that, i have to pack her snack and get myself "presentable". ariana is wearing gymbo fall for monkey polka sweater dress. its a 4T and used it as tunic with a pair of gymbo red leggings (line unknown??). janie&jack boots. ariana asked me last night about going on a tire swing. she must have saw it on a show/cartoon. since she got a great report card, i promised to take her to kennedy park (hayward, ca). we had alot of fun, and she wants to do a popcorn date when shes done with phonics class. glad she doesnt expect to be rewarded with a present (toy). i had a stash of goodies for josh. it was a surprise box, and if josh ever peeked - it would loose all the magic. not only did i use it for rewards, but to bribe him too. like, be good at lola's house and dont cry. it wouldnt work with ariana - she sticks to her guns and could care less of the gift at the time.

Straight A's (4's)

ariana had a fever in the middle of the night. it would happen on a day she has to go to school at 8:00. its a kinderg combined day (minimum day) to accomadate parent teachers conferences. they used to hold them during thanksgiving break. byron would be the first one to complain if you were a working parent or if we had a planned trip. this is when i would call him "Mr. PTA", and like the school district is going to listen when he didnt even go to the meetings. guess ptc's was based long time ago when mothers didn't work. in my family, there were at least 3 of us in school at the same time since we're a year apart. can you imagine, my mother had to go to each of our classes. we had our conference this afternoon and yes, report cards are given out in kindergarten. no letter grades. minus, check, plus. joshua rating back then was Outstanding, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory. ariana's report card is in categories and rated 1 - 5. ariana got all 4's. 4 is an A, 3 a B, and so on. the teacher didnt give out any 5's (advanced). if thats the case, the kid should be in first grade. ariana knows all her shapes & attributes, recognizes patterns, ABC's and count to 100 (altho a kinder is expected to count up to 30). memorizes the poems, infact she'll recite the poem or song to me the first day she learns it. actively participates in class. plus she knows how to read and all the high frequency words. her preschool teacher and phonics teacher both told me she was going to be "a kindergartens teachers dream student". which i'm not surprised. funny cuz i remember they said the same thing about joshua. i was like - are you talking about my son??

ariana is wearing all gap - corsica butterfly tee, corsica denim skirt, even the boots. we changed into corsica jeans after school.

MJ DeDe & Lindey

another gorgeous day. it actually hit 81 deg yesterday. i'm beginning to doubt the rain this weekend. ariana is wearing matilda jane hammond bay line. the top is dede fiona with lindey capri ruffles. she was excited to tell me they had a class meeting again... altho some kids were missing (absent). this is when the kinders talk about what they did over the weekend. they probably havent had one in awhile, because ariana mentioned "one day i went to filipino dance on stage and everybody liked me..." the Ritwal show was last month oct 23rd. another high five for ariana - she "graduated" in writers workshop. guess before the kids start out with blank pieces of paper. then when the teacher thinks you're ready to draw & write a story - you graduate to the BIG paper with room to write your own sentences.
you know how when we go to a family event, the filipino kids greet their elders first by taking the hand and bringing it to their forehead. its an instinct tradition of showing respect. when we get to school, ariana remembers to "manopo" her bff's grandma (who lives across the street from us). the kids were standing in line and ariana mentioned there was another classmate's grandma next to me. i gave her the go ahead to manopo if she wanted to. the lola in return said "bless you". ariana said "i didnt sneeze". she is used to our relatives by making the sign of the cross with the hand and say "awokanajos".

Hanna Mod

we are expected to hit high 70's, with rain forecast for the weekend. its not a heatwave, but i'll take all the sunshine warmth i could get. the summer bins were put away for good a couple weeks ago. in fact, the dress tub is at the very bottom. luckily this one was left hanging in the closet. its a hanna anderson via costco of all places). size 110 cm, equiv to a 5-6. worn with l'amour lime sandals. i pulled these out of the sell pile, for sure they wont fit ariana next year. she slept thru the night and looking good to go to school. its a no-go to the doctors this morning, but we gave her one last dose of medicine. ariana's 5 year check up isnt til the end of the month, hoping she stays well enough to get the flu-mist (shot).
i swear i really cleaned the house the on sunday, especially the family room. infact this afternoon before byron left for work, he was admiring how nice the room looked. by the time he came home tonight, you would've never known what hit it. our little tornado (ariana) did major damage. at first she declared it one of her dolly's party bringing out decorations & goodie bags. then decided to cook up a storm in her kitchen, and we ended up playing restaurant. i'm the customer and was shown to my hotel room (kuya bedroom). of course theres a gift shop, where i was talked into buying things for my dear daughter. all the things ariana made at art vista night was displayed at the art gallery "museum". i think i'm gonna have to teach her how to play "housekeeping".

Little Hearts

gymbo had 2 names for this line - popstar academy and little hearts. its such a beautiful day, but ariana is kinda under the weather still with a slight cold.

Dad Doughnut Date

we all slept in this morning. whoever got out of bed first had to make the coffee, funny neither one of us wanted to. ariana suggested on doing a donut date with dad. we went to this shop we have been going to ever since she was born. we hurried up and got dressed, practically just throwing on some clothes. she's wearing gymbo top from prep school line, with matching clips in the plaid apple print. after we did a craigslist find pickup, one of ariana's xmas presents. come to find out, the seller works for united too. ended up tending to the frontyard, while ariana got some sunshine vitamin. yesterday we took out the barbie jeep. it wasnt running that fast so i thought it needed to be charged. ariana got in it again, the same thing - slow. come to find out - she's getting big for it and weighs more. now i have my eye on the powerwheel escalade. doubt if byron will give the "go ahead" though. off to search for one on CL.

Veterans Day

even tho i dont go to work, i still live for the holidays - and a 4 day weekend is even better. it means i get to sleep in. ariana is at this point where she will get up, go potty, and play in her bedroom. we have the monitor on, and she actually is the one who keeps checking up on us. at least i'm not in this morning rush routine of getting ariana ready for school to leave the house by 11:00. my laptop is on its last leg, actually just the backlight on the monitor. i have been talking to joshua and coming up with all these scenarios.
#1 - byron wants to call dell. the backlight isnt worth fixing. spend the money on a new desktop computer (approx $500).
#2 - get joshua an apple mac pro, and we would end up with his dell laptop which is loaded about 2 years old. but byron doesnt want to maintain 2 different platforms. once we were all macs becuz of united and school. then we switched to dell pc.
#3 - byron buy me a brand new laptop. i dont really need nothing fancy, as long as i have internet and download my photos. over $1000.
josh wont be home from college til thanksgiving break. he has a symphony concert next weekend. in the meantime, i need to find somebody who has an extra monitor. come to find out, theres one at my mom's that the caretaker was using. my brother across the street might have one. and josh is checking if his gf family has one. really this is my #1 priority.
sister #3 comes over around noon, drops off nephew to play with ariana while she goes runs errands. i was hoping she would stop by my mothers and get the monitor for me. instead we went out to lunch and to the mall. we went to gap and i told her i had a coupon (thurs 45% and give&get 30%). went into gymbo to see what they had on sale, i had a 20% coupon. the kids wanted to look around the disney store. dont laugh - i had a friends&fam 20%. she was like, what do you got a coupon for every store? came home, and in no time - sister #2 calls. she had to drop something at my mom's. perfect timing - she could pick me up, go to my moms, help me get the monitor. next thing you know it - it was dinner time plus a quick trip to target. ariana had her midnite feast (bedtime snack). i wasnt able to plug&play til 10 o'clock. i'm a happy camper and ready to communicate to all my peeps (email, facebook, yahoo groups) ... and to all my blog followers. almost forgot - ariana is wearing gap st. petersburg tee wtih gap nautical pants.

Global Mapper Artist

ariana is wearing gap global mapper dress, with greggy girl brown patent boots. i'm trying to get all of our fall-colored dresses out of the way, before the xmas holiday kicks in. thanksgiving is just around the corner. tonight was "crafty" (art vistas) at school. there were around 20 tables for families to do projects. we made a keychain, macaroni necklace, glitter fall leaves, painted a pumpkin, bubble paint, button frame, decorated a butterfly, and more. ariana's prized art piece is her beaded-star especially fused (ironed) by her kinder teacher.

Fall Forest Plaid

weather calls for sunny and cooler temperatures barely making it over 60. also for a chance of showers tonight, then to warm up towards the weekend. like i tell everybody the reason why it costs so much to live in the bay area, let alone california - we're paying for our weather. ariana is wearing gymbo fall forest plaid dress and hat. they had pants in this print, but it look like what an old man golfer would wear. but you know on one of my gymbo loops, was a pic of their dd wearing the pants - and it looked great. i usually grab the accessories afterwards on sale, i scored this hat for $2.99.

ariana enjoyed her morning time with dad, since they are both getting up early due to daylight savings time ending. she showed him a book she made last night of some of her drawings, and brought out her baby photo book. arana reminisces and loves to tell her version that we we're a lonely family before she was born. then daddy tells her we are so lucky and blessed to have a baby girl. she got into this conversation about dieing, where you go to sleep for a long long time and put into a box (coffin). out of the blue she said "i hope the gate will be open." byron assured her they will let us in because we are good people. then she added "Jesus and God will take care of everybody in Heaven."
the power went out in our neighborhood tonight for a couple of hours. ariana was drawing on the easel in the family room. i was on the computer in joshua's room. it was complete darkness, luckily i had the computer's monitor light. i told ariana to stand still, she said "you mean freeze, except for my mouth??" as i slowly made my way to the family room in the dark, i told her to keep calling me so i could go to her. she knew exactly what i was doing - "so you could follow my voice??" i turned on one of my flameless candle and got the flashlight. i asked her if she was hungry and explained i couldnt warm or cook anything. we went down the list what things are plugged in and needs electricity. to sum it all up - tell dad to put batteries in everything. now when byron comes home, he has to go around the house re-setting all the clocks again.

Tuncy Henrietta

after all the rain yesterday, its a bit cooler & breezy. ariana is layered in matilda jane - tuncy tunic, henrietta ruffles and even the brown l/s tee. the janie&jack boots were thrown in last minute, she grew out of both brown maryjanes size 9s. my one hour sleep was taken away, josh drove back to college this morning. at least it got me up & running for when ariana woke up "earlier". whats suppose to be the last monday of phonics-reading class, it got extended for another 4-week session to december. ariana told her reading teacher "i had a substitute since my "old" teacher is sick. also noted one of her classmates missed their regular teacher. i asked ariana how she felt about it. "i'm ok because i was brave." she has such a big heart and gets attached to certain people. at the same time, she fears they will go away to jail or to heaven. i have no idea what movie she got this idea from. i was there in the morning to explain to ariana about the substitute where its a temporary teacher until mrs.C gets better.

Family Day

its a rainy day sunday for us. its also a pajama day for ariana - so no pics. i'll use one of ariana's drawing of her family. thats actually kuya joshua on the lefthand side becuz he's the tallest. then me - mama thel. those round circles are our shoulders, not my boobs. daddy byron with his curly "poodle" hair. and little ariana.

Naartjie Cashmere

FRIDAY - NOVEMBER 5, 2010

i mentioned it before where ariana has grown out of her naartjie. sometimes all the dresses look alike with their muted colors. i found this one sale at the end of summer. its from the april spring release, but i figure with the long thermal sleeves - it would be perfect in the bay area. its a lavender-purple colored dress, they call it cashmere.

Capetown

we're not getting a heatwave, feels like it tho and it is warmer than normal. 80 degrees minus the humidity. this was my last (i swear) summer dress i purchased on sale. i have this thing where black clothes are considered "formal" and i hang all of them in the closet year round - whether summer or fall. its from gap capetown line 5T, ariana now fits in black saltwaters size 10's

Giants Parade

the san franciso giants parade is in the city this morning. it starts downtown 11:00, to the stage at the civic center at 1:00. it is orange & black fever in the bay area. people either took the day off or called in sick, even some kids missed school. and no rain on this parade either, sunny & clear 70 degrees. going to hit 80 here at home, and ariana wanted to wear giants colors. most of our orangey clothes are for fall. how do i tell her she cant wear black on a hot day, when thats what i wear all the time. she's wearing her hello kitty skirt - minus the matching halloween top that it goes with. i'm not sure if the "no hat" rule applies to kindergs, so i put it in her backpack. i had the best seat in the house - the family room. even though i dvr'ed it, i watched it live. it ended after 2:00 - perfect timing to leave and go pick her up from school. she came out with her pink baseball cap on - atta girl!

BonVoyage Paris Kitty

this is my (mine's) all time favorite dress. it is gymboree 2005 bon voyage paris kitty line. i had this dress in all sizes since she was a baby: 6-12 months, 12-18, 18-24, 2T and now 4T. luckily it ran big. so if you happen to recognize it on her again, its the same dress in a bigger size. i haven't put out an iso (in search of) for a 5 as of yet, i dont even know what size gymbo made it up to. ariana said she looked like a school girl, guess it kind of has the uniform look.

the class had their publishing party, a couple parents and the principal attended. the kids drew a picture and labelled/named the best they could. then they told the story "one day..." of their drawing. it was neat looking at the different ways 5 year olds draw people, and some children are more detailed-artists than others. ariana's story was about going to "disney on ice" show where we celebrated her birthday party in a luxury suite.

the teacher had read a book about a mrs green who is a teacher. she had the kinders vote - her vs mrs green. of course mrs.C won by a landslide with all the tallys, except one kid did raise their hand for mrs green. ariana took this very seriously and broke into tears, she didnt want mrs green to win to be the teacher. mrs.C consoled her and ariana is glad it was just a pretend vote election.

we are still going to phonics reading class afterschool on mondays. the teacher gives us a worksheet for the kids to review every day. ariana read all of "the big hat". i mentioned to the teacher that we didnt get a chance to review last weeks assignment since ariana wasnt feelng well, and with all the halloween festivities. it proved to show - ariana can read. we are so proud of her, she got a surprise - the tangled Rapunzel doll.

SF GIANTS World Series Champs

they did it!! it took over 50 years, but the san francisco giants are bringing home the pennant tonight. the torture is over. i would've been ok if texas had won, therefore it would bring game #6 back to the bay area. but by the 7th inning, i prayed for them to get this over with and clinch the title. i watched it alone, with ariana in the background playing. i kinda have to keep my screams & cheers on the low scale. and i sure miss watching it without byron, not having an arm to hit. i was calling him at work, giving him the latest update throughout the night. my last call "we're one out away from winning", next thing you know it "we were one strike away". GO GIANTS - CONGRATULATIONS !!

oh i almost forgot - ariana, afterall that is who this blog is all about. she's wearing a htf (hard to find) sought-after fireworks dress from gap woodsy treehouse 2007 line. its a size 4T but with adjustable shoulder buttons.