Social butterfly ballet

tuesday prep is PE, this time another gymbo patchwork except shorts from social butterfly line. ariana previously wore this line back in 2009. luckily we were able to score this outfit from a loopie friend (thanks esther & madelyn). ballet lessons tonight. ariana dressed jade up in black leotards to match her, except with a pink tutu skirt.

Butterfly Blossoms

gymbo patchwork skort from butterfly blossoms line, paired with the green top. the kids are reading different Cinderella storybooks from around the world. the native american indian version is "the rough-face girl". since there isnt homework during star testing week, ariana took it upon herself to make the teepee in the story. she drew the things that symbolizes the beauty of nature on it. maybe the teacher could make it an art project.

Sunday Dance

i committed to bring ariana to Filipino dance lessons - every sunday afternoon. call me crazy, but LIKHA is like our second extended family. alot of our friends are interested in joining the group and would love for their children to learn traditional folk dances. its on every sunday afternoons in downtown oakland. only if it was closer to home and on another day perhaps more would join. altho if a soccer or baseball game falls on the weekend - they dont complain. guess it comes with the territory on being on the team... where we're in the dance troup instead. at the end, it is all worth it seeing the kids perform. she's wearing gap hampton bay tank with the usual black leggings. Tcp sandals.

Fall for Spring ??

theres no rain in sight, but one wouldnt be able to think its actually spring. ariana is wearing gymbo knit dress from "fall for autumn" line. i put knee-hi socks on her, thinking if it does warm up - she could roll them down. theres no star testing for 2nd graders on fridays. the kids worked on painting their clay masks from art vistas last week.

C'est La Vie

i dont know why - but its harder for me to pick out arianas outfit on PE prep day (tues & thurs). where on the other days, i could easily put one together at the last minute. this is a gap top from sabrina line years ago, paired with gymbo ponte pants from sunflower smiles. we are all so tired this morning from last night. ariana's favorite lovey "Dolly" was left in the car. dad has been taking us to school in the morning and ariana has been grabbing Dolly & blankie. she always reminds dad to take Dolly inside. well he forgot this time and ended up taking her to work. ariana got ready for bed and looked all over the house, when we realized she's in the car. ariana cried and said that she wont be able to go to sleep without dolly. i tried to console her and told her she had ME, altho she insisted she needs both of us. ariana started to worry about dolly in the back seat with it being dark and cold at night. i even suggested what if daddy brought her inside to the office. nope, not gonna work. i asked josh to drive to dad's job to pick the doll up. ariana even "pleaded" with him saying "please kuya, please go get her!"  i made a deal - she needed to calm down, stop crying so her eyes wont be red and go to sleep. i promised her that i will wake her up when kuya comes back. she falls asleep, and josh thinks all is well that i was joking. i told him to go ahead because what if she woke up in the middle of night looking for the doll. so do you leave now or in the wee hours in the night?? he went and coordinated with dad where the car was in the parking lot. just like i had promised - woke her up and gave her dolly. thank you kuya. funny this morning, she said she's going to "punish" dolly for going to school. like its really her fault.

Colour My World

we're not hitting the 80's today, but its fine for bringing out the saltwater sandals again. i had a hello kitty outfit at first, but ended up being a bit too small - aving just the leggings on. ariana is wearing the all-in-one dress from pumpkin patch (colour my world). this was still hanging in the fall/winter closet. luckily i had left it to be worn this spring.

STAR Testing

this is the first day of STAR testing - Standardized Testing and Reporting".  each spring, students in grades 2nd thru 11th take it. we make sure not to go anyplace or be sick for the next 2 weeks. the STAR program looks at how well schools and students are performing nationwide. ariana is a little bit nervous, only because of the word "TEST". we told her to try her best, get a good nights sleep and eat a good healthy breakfast. she even took 2 vitamins this morning. it was great seeing all the kids in class today and on time. if you're late, you have to stay in the office and make-up the test laters. its not suppose to be as hot compared to yesterday. ariana asked for her "big girl" justice outfit to wear.

"friends" are always welcome to ballet lessons. ariana brought jade for the first time wearing the ballet outfit from the american girl store.

Palm Desert

its not a heat wave, but we'll take the 80-degrees for one day anytime. again, i havent been able to completely finish changing out the closet. i'm still at step 1 where i removed and packed away the fall/winter dresses. at the same time, sorted out the ones that wont fit ariana come this fall. especially the dresses with long sleeves. i have been getting by for the past couples of years with rolling up the sleeves, but i doubt if we could go another year. next step is either to hang up the spring/summer wardrobe. good thing i just received my online order from gap.com. this is palm desert dress straight out of the package. ariana had dance practice afterschool it was so hot where the teacher let the kids outside to be picked up. ended up going to tutti frutti for some frozen yogurt to cool off.

Baby Blue Baptism

what do you wear to a baby boys baptism - blue of course. we had 2 to choose from. this is a janie & jack look-a-like with a dutch windmill scenic print. its actually from tj maxx. well due to some family drama, the baptism didnt go through at the church. some of the guests proceeded to the reception restaurant. plus who is going to eat the 2 cakes that i had ordered?

Hanna Mod

being a warm day - this calls for breaking out the sandals. the only saltwater sandal ariana has are the red sweethearts size 12. she grew out of the other colors, and i havent gotten around to ordering from my connection in texas. ariana is wearing a hanna anderson dress via costco. not only does it have to match the red sandals, ok to get dirty as the kids have arts vista making clay masks.

Harajuku Minis

its going to be warmer than yesterday, with the winds finally dieing down. knowing its PE prep and they will most likely have the class outside, were talking leggings and sport shoes. ariana is wearing a harajuku mini tshirt from target. i sized up one for the tunic swing top look. paired with gap houndstooth leggings. altho ariana had wished i put her in shorts because it got too hot. she even rolled up the leggings to her knees. 

remember yesterday i dropped off ariana's outgrown clothes. i felt bad afterwards thinking "oh no, now she has to go thru 3 bags full on top of the kids homework, dinner, baby, house, etc." hey at least i didnt give them any toys. the preschooler wore the navy daisy dress. the toddler wore a nautical outfit to lunch. she got alot of compliments where she knew she was the cutest thing.

with just 2 more months of school left, our summer vacation trip is coming up too. we decided to add  another disney park - epcot. i made lunch reservations at Akershus in norway. this way ariana will be able to meet the princesses since we're not eating at cinderellas castle this year. wonder if this calls for a royal invitation - via shutterfly??

Creative Genius

when ariana first got in the classroom, the teacher asked what it said on her shirt. "creative genius". to come to think of it - i should let her wear it next week during STAR testing. this outfit is from gymborees "panda academy" back to school line in 2011. its a new session of "young rembrandts" drawing class afterschool. ariana is so excited, because her bff signed up again too. i had signed ariana up in the first session. i didnt sign her up for the next sessions thinking they would repeat all the same drawing lessons, plus arianas weeks were filling up with activities. they drew a graphic featuring bees and applied a "stylized illustration style" as they produced this composition. arianas drawings at home has greatly improved since being in this program.

Butterfly Girl

the wind is back picking up in the afternoons again. now i'm debating if i should hold off in changing out her wardrobe. i wasnt feeling well last night and just in case, i put out this one keeping in mind she has PE. long sleeve shirts are still in the drawers, this one from gymbo butterfly girl line (august 2012). it  happens to be the only item i purchased from this line, paired it with sunflower smiles ponte pants. araian has ballet this evening. she really likes this class at the studio since theres an assistant for her to "copy". ariana was practicing a position, and she caught the teacher watching her and said "whoa" as she did the position pointing her toes. ariana felt the praise and couldnt wait to get home to show daddy.
josh was home for the weekend, and went back after ariana came home from school. we used to have a gardener carlos, he basically came with the house (employed by the previous owners). he went from every tuesday, to every other tuesdays, as needed since josh was old enough, then eventually we let him go. we had a manual push lawn mower, i didnt want josh using a gas one. plus i have this issue, where i think the gas one is going to takeoff and end up in the neighbors yard. well now that hes 24, byron gave him the go ahead to purchase one. and typical josh did the lawn, my brothers yard, and if he could - he wouldve done the whole neighborhood. josh just mows, period. he doesnt trim the edges, nor pull out the weeds. my energy level is back up, and i'm back outside doing my yard work therapy. plus i need the vitamin D. josh also started organizing the garage to make more room. i had 4 boxes of ariana's outgrown clothes that i sorted through. one box are some sentimental outfits i'm keeping, the other box are summer clothes to send to my ebay trading assistant. i have another box of winter stuff to send later on. then another box to my niece. some clothes were size 3T the smallest, so i managed to make 3 bags for one of arianas classmates who has 3 younger sisters. i'm pretty sure these will fit one of them.

Go Warriors

the golden state warriors are headed to the 2013 nba playoffs. tuesdays 4/9 win clinched the warriors first postseason berth in six years. right away i put in a playoff shirt preorder for josh. they were schedule to ship out on thursday 4/11. we were outside tending to the front yard, and hear comes the ups truck down the street. josh starts teasing me saying i have a package, also that i order too much for ariana. the truck stops at our neighbors, then goes down to make a delivery in the court. see - nothing for me. ha next thing you know it, the guy brings a package crossing the street. of course josh was "i told you so". the package was from "gameday company" vs my usual gap, gymboree and zulily. come to find out - it was the playoff shirt. joshua didnt waste anytime putting it on. after i took arianas daily picture of what she wore to school, i put her in a warriors track outfit - to take  a picture with kuya josh. ariana being the girly-girl that she is, didnt really want to change. she said she looked liked one of the boys in her class.

Hair Salon

ariana hair is getting really long. too long for me to wash it and comb it out. i took her to a salon - and it only took them an hour to do everything. shampoo, comb, blow dry it straight - instead of using a flat iron. ariana said her head feels so light.

Faraway Traveler

i havent changed out ariana's closet to spring/summer. it still full of fall/winter, mostly long sleeved dresses. the only spring outfits available were the ones i recently purchased from gymboree in feb. and they were still in the plastic shopping bag or online plastic packaging with tags & receipts. thats why she wore the blooming nautical one on wednesday. i pulled this faraway traveler dress out this morning. again its a size 7 with plans for ariana to wear back to school in sept. justice capri lace leggings paired with our favorite lamour maryjanes.

Spring Portraits

this is the spring portraits pictures taken last month. each kid has their pictures taken at the chosen background, and 5 sheets are printed out. you only pay for the sheets you want and return the rest back to school. when i picked ariana up at school, she was so excited to tell me the pictures are in her backpack, and that i'm going to be happy. she remembers last year i was a little upset, because they didnt take down her hair. i had wrote it in the "special notes" box. instead they fixed her hair tie and pulling her hair back into a pony tail. omg they came out really great! even her teacher will agree as she said "oh my gosh, heres a good one. its so beautiful!"

Blooming Nautical

the winds have died down and its going to reach almost 80 deg. warm enough to even wear sandals. i put ariana in a gymbo blooming nautical outfit. i went to my moms house with my sister. she picked oranges from the tree in the back. i ended up going thru some drawers in the dining room credenza. there was one drawer filled with cards given to my mom on her birthday, xmas or holidays. before her stroke she must of went through it and found the time to sort thru them. she put all our  cards (7 children) in an envelope with our names on it. all the cards she has received since fall 2005 were placed in the drawer too, so i continued her project and sorted them out. i told my sister that i dont even do this at my house, guess i'm going to need organizing time myself.

FILA Track

the bay area is getting hit by gusty winds since sunday night over 30 mph. ariana said that her girlfriends almost got blown over during recess yesterday. the temperature is suppose to reach at least 75 degrees. but one wouldnt be able to feel the sunshine warmth with the winds blowing at 15-20 mph. with ariana having PE twice a week, i have been looking out for track yoga suits. and since we are getting out of our rainy season, the chances of having PE outside are greater than before. ariana is wearing a fila track suit - pink raglan jacket with black skirted leggings. 

we are on a schedule on tuesdays afterschool. when we get home, ariana usually likes to "settle in" - either eat a snack while watching tv or play with her toys. 4:00 homework. 5:00 get dressed for ballet, plus i have to put her hair in a bun. 5:30 leave house to arrive at dance studio for 5:45 lessons.

Flying Home

checking out and heading home. the plan was to catch a 1:30 flight in the afternoon, and have the rest of the weekend to spare. instead we didnt get on a flight until midnight. united has daily flights flying from los angeles to sfo. one of the morning flights got cancelled, and it practically took the whole day to accommodate all those passengers little by little on each flight. finally we got on the last one back to the bay area. usually ariana realizes we're not getting on and tends to get homesick. this time she met a girl about the same age in the same boat as us - standby. sometimes it felt like all odds were against us, as the girls were wishing we could stay and they could have a "hotel sleepover". home sweet home.

American Girl Party

american girl has 3 big stores - los angeles, new york and chicago. the one in LA is downtown at the Grove shopping plaza. we had 11:00 reservations and booked the birthday package. the regular lunch is $23 vs the birthday is $25. ariana's birthday isnt until october, and hopefully by that time the store in stanford mall (palo alto) will be opened. so we are celebrating her doll's "Jade" birthday turning 9 years old. only because the suggested age on the box is 8+. even on our calendars (wall, planner & iphone), ariana red lettered marked "april 14th" as jade's birthday. they had seats for the dolls to sit at the table. and if you don't have an AG doll, you can borrow one off the shelf. i invited Theo a bitty-baby twin doll for byron. dads have to be a kid-at-heart for their princesses.

jade had an appointment at the doll hair salon, plus the spa package. afterwards we headed back to the hotel to eat the cake. ariana is wearing gymbo polka dot poodle dress with the embroidered beaded necklace.

Spring Break Getaway

i got good results from my doctors appointments, so we are cleared for takeoff. houston was a no go. still cold in chicago from the snow last week. hawaii is on the map. this trip is really for ariana to go someplace during spring break. she has been a trooper these past months, especially with the passing of my mom. and i am trying my best to keep things in the norm for her, where we dont stop living and doing things because someone died. destination: los angeles to go to the american girl store. we got to try out the doll seat carrier that slips over the luggage handle. this is a lifesaver because when we went to vegas, guess who ended up carrying the doll - me! they also sell a slim rollaway luggage bag, but ariana already has her tinkerbell one. i dont need to be worrying about another piece of luggage. she's wearing a matilda jane tomato peasant top (serendipity) with hammond bay lindey ruffles.