BeachShack

gymbo beachshack patchwork halter dress, with lamour fisherman sandals. i had a list of errands to run with ariana in tow. davids bridal - first was the alteration appt of her flowergirl dress for my nephews wedding. they told me to bring it back july 1st before going on vacation. its a size 5 - it needed to be hemmed and the sides (underarm) taken in. they are sewing up the shoulders and the sides, therefore no need to bring up the hem. petsmart - right next door to davids bridal. saved me a trip to walmart. need to buy an automatic feeder for the turtles. i was planning on buying a fish feeder, but the salesperson advised me to get a turtle one. the fish one is for flake food, where turtle food is pellets type. next go grocery shopping to buy stuff for the mac & cheese i'm bringing to the family ranch bbq. i need all the cheeses (sharp cheddar, mild cheddar, monterey jack, muenster and velvetta. it was a hot day and i made a pitstop - ariana wanted ice cream to cool down. then on my way to grocery store - byron calls and suggests to go out to eat. he took the day off, actually he is officially on vacation. its been along time since we had friday family sushi night together. went to grocery store afterwards...except no muenster cheese.

Flower Garden

ariana is wearing gymbo flower garden patchwork top, with matching seersucker capris.

Short Cake

gymbo tea for two top, with ruffles made by loopie friend yvette. with josh at home playing with ariana, i was able to vacuum the whole house. even took the hose out to do edges and went along the ceiling corners for spider webs. once i get one area done, my little tornado is right behind me.

Snow White Princess

its raining, its pouring! can you believe at the end of june. actually its kind of like florida weather, without the humidity. guess we're staying in today. when we cleaned out the garage, all of ariana's dress up costumes were brought back inside. they are all hanging in the portable coat rack in the master bedroom. only becuz i finally got put away her winter coats. now all her princess dresses are at her reach. today she picked to be snow white. too bad the red cape doesnt give her any super powers to help clean up and pack.

MONDAY - JUNE 27, 2011

its our 12th wedding anniversary, altho we've been together for 20 years. remember i chose the house over the big wedding ceremony first. we usually dont celebrate our anniv only becuz we go on vacation the following week. byron is on my case about spending, so i expected nothing from him. what does he come with? a dozen red roses... one for each year we have been married.

Bridal Shower

my nephew is getting married next month. all of us are in the wedding. i am my nephew's godmother (ninang), and a godparent sponsor in the wedding. by marriage, byron is the godfather (ninong). josh is one of the groomsman/usher. ariana calls them "the seater". and ariana is one of the flowergirls. she has been making a list or plans for her pretend wedding. want to play "merry, merry"? she even needs a dress holder, just like pippa did for princess kate. i get to be the "dresser" like on "say yes to the dress" tv show. she assigned her kuyas to be guards becuz they are big and wont let anybody in unless they have an invitation ticket. dad's assignment is to walk her down the aisle and be the "let me go" person. its the bridal shower - on the invitation we are to bring a recipe and wear black&white. ariana is wearing a hype baby dress (via zulily.com) with gap rosette sandals.

Popsicle Party

on one of my gymbo loop groups, they listed the line for the day. these games sure helps make it easier on deciding what to dress her in. then all of us post pictures of our kids on the same thread. its popsicle party. i didnt buy a single item when it first came out last spring 2010. a couple of months ago, gymbo stores were having box sales. it just so happen my store only had boxes of popsicle party at super duper marked down prices ($5.99 or less) plus stack a 20% coupon. now i practically have the whole line. ariana is wearing size 5 denim jeans with flipflop tee. the weather isnt hot enough to go swimming. we took all the water out, ariana helped big time in watering the yard. we stuffed the inflatable pool in the garage, hoping for another heatwave soon.

Glamour Safari

the diary of an airline child. late last night (i'm talking past midnight), joshua showed me the calendar where if he goes to disneyworld with his girlfriend, it is good for 14 days after the first day of use. therefore it will be good when we go. i was like "...and you're telling me this WHY??" fast forward to this morning 9:00, i talked to dad if we should let him go for the weekend. byron finally gives the go ahead 9:30 leaving an hour for joshua to pack. we leave the house after 11:00 to head to cal berkeley first to pick up gf. from there we hit traffic at the toll plaza. why fast trak lanes are slower than the cash lanes - i dunno? only to come to a halt at the metering lights. ugggh. no problem going over the bay bridge and made it to sfo by 12:45 to catch a 1:24 flight. luckily the flight was delayed til 2:00 becuz a pilot was late. and everytime right before we arrived, ariana decides to rest her eyes...and never gets around to it.

ariana and i was standing in front of the garage. along came a big huge monarch butterfly flying in front of us. we both saw it. this kicked off the safari hunt outfit - gymbo safari tee, gymbo savannah sunset skirt and her latest pair of sandals from payless shoes (bogo sale). the hat from san diego wild animal park was found during the water heater tank garage cleanup. later on, ariana added on tinkerbell wings & shoes to become a "fairy spy".

Poolside Princess

gymbo palm beach paradise tank, shorts from crazy8. black crocs. the swimming pool is still out in the front yard. ariana is wearing gymbo happy rainbow bathing suit & matching flip flops. the hat is from gymbo too, candy apple line (the apple is in the back).

Summer Solstice

the hottest day ever - and it happens to fall on the first day of summer. we took the pool out for ariana to play in. luckily a little breeze kicked in later in the afternoon. she still managed to get a tan line. shes wearing a bathing suit from janie & jack. i'm going to have to look up the line, its been a couple years ago. when she was 2-3 years ariana had so many bathing suits in that size, that i bought ahead in bigger size. before & after, she is wearing one of my favorite summer dresses from gap (seaside madras patchwork). its a 4T and i doubt it will make to next.

Jungle gem

the day started off with dentist appointments. having a water heater tank installed, and cleaning up the garage. plus a visit from my sister-in-law. ariana is wearing gymbo from jungle gem. the flips flops are from gymbo coral reef line.

Happy Fathers Day

SUNDAY - June 19, 2011

byron caught himself making breakfast as usual... then realized it was fathers day. ariana dubbed him KING and he could do anything he wants. she even made him a crown.

no beach party for us. yesterday josh stepped in the garage and said "why is this wet?" only to find out a quarter section of our garage was "flooded". we had a water heater tank leak. dont know how long its been leaking, but glad we found out before going on vacation. luckily we had pieces of "united" carpet which soaked up some water, but boxes still managed to get wet with some minor damage on things. everything had to be brought out one-by-one, transferred to new boxes or throw away. it wasnt anything near a flood, but i could only imagine what people go thru when disaster hits. ariana wore a gap tee from tropical punch "music lover".

w/ boyfriend jeans

First Day Summer Vacation

i thought we would be able to sleep in. wrong was me. all this week we have been getting up by 7:00 since everyday was kinder combined day. so ariana's self alarm clock got up at 7:30. we didnt do anything nor go anyplace. if she had it her way, it would be a pajama day. i think its lazy on my part - so i do the whole dress up shabang with her. just dont look at me. ariana wore gymbo happy rainbow - blue bermuda shorts with the blue flower polka dot tee.

Last Day of School

for the first day of school you have your newest outfit all planned out. its not that big of a deal for the last day. throughout the school year ariana wanted to wear her big poofy pink pettiskirt - i told her she could wear it on the last day. she remembered! i had picked the silver gray one with gap havana rose tank. luckily she agreed, as long as the twinkle toes shoes stayed. deal. the chiffon headband was made by my niece melanie. i purchased a yearbook, but chose not to have blank pages for autographs. ariana as a kindergartener has her picture in it 10 times. its in full color. i showed it to my sister, she said "our school is too poor for yearbooks, let alone in color." i dont remember having one in elementary school, but in middle school we did. not all the kids bought one, so the kinders made an "all about me" booklet. then they went around the room having their friends sign the back of it - they only signed their first name. ariana connection was like when the princesses sign their name in her autograph book at disneyworld... except she's not a princess. the kids also got a chance to play on the BIG grader's playground. its official - she is a first grader now.

Plum Petti

one more day of school and probably the warmest day yet. ariana is wearing the plum pettiskirt. its one of the last skirt made from loopie lisa, she put away her sewing machine. the tank is from gap outlet. if ariana doesnt wear any of her disney princess dresses for halloween, we might use this. lately disney has been promoting vidia. one of tinkerbells fairy friend that wears purple plum.

Field Day

gap woodstock purple tunic & leggings. ariana gave me specific instructions from the teacher - dress comfortable, wear socks, do not want to see toes (no sandals). kinders time was 9:30 - 10:30. i manned one of the jumpy houses, while byron took ariana around. shes not comfortable in going down the slides or the bouncy houses. the kids did a tug a war, first against their 2 teachers. then room 103 am morning class vs the pm afternoon class. popsicles & popcorn were passed out afterwards.

Jie Jie Dress

this is our newest outfit from naartjie (pronounced nar-chee). sometimes all their clothes kinda look alike - same washed-out colors, ruffles, etc. every once in awhile i'll grab a piece different from the rest. this is their spring jie-jie dress in the color "grass" (size 4). i choose to get the stripe leggings, it was too much with the matching polka dot ones. the leggings are size 5 a little big in the bootie area. the last 4 days of school are kinder combined days 8:00 - 11:20 am. ariana hates this schedule, let alone mondays. i told her to bare with us this week and she could sleep in everyday... unless we have an early flight to catch.

ariana is a happy camper - now that her kuya josh is home from college for good. altho she thinks its not fair he's out of school before her and lucky he doesnt have kcd. by the time ariana gets home, josh is just waking up. remember last year when he moved out, josh brought home a pair of turtles. this time a drum & guitar rockstar video game. my family room has turned into a jam studio. ariana plays the drum to each alphafriend letter song. we practically have every single video game system - wii, ps3, ps2, xbox 360, xbox, and the old gameboys. ariana plays the wii sometimes, but loves her leapster. josh wants us to get her the new nintendo ds so he could play pokemon on it. (whats in it for him?)

El Dorado Hills

we always stay at the same hotel when we visit family, so ariana knows the routine. there is a complimentary breakfast buffet down in the lobby. this time they have a pancake machine spitting out the flapjacks in 45 seconds. before checkout while dad is getting ready, we take a dip in the pool. she just sat and played on the steps, the water wasnt warmed up from the sun yet. ariana is wearing a gap bathing suit i scored last summer for $5.97. changed her into another gymbo fairy fashionable outfit - flower top & purple shorts. all of ariana's gymboree clothes are in her dresser drawers. each stack is a line with all the coordinating pieces. so when i packed for the weekend, i just grabbed 2 outfits from fairy fashion. can you imagine if i put tops in one drawer, all shorts in another, etc? i would be pulling from each one here & there to make an outfit. there is a method to my madness afterall. don't laugh - but i even have a online database with pics of each item (line name & size). kind of like a virtual closet. then we went to the nearby farmers market. i got a couple pounds of white peaches and pluots (cross between a plum & apricot). plus a stop at our favorite children boutique - posh punkins. i usually score at their tent sale held usually in august, this time a pair of juicy black sweat pants. of course they were on sale, and byron is lucky they didnt have the jacket in ariana's size. on second thought, its the other way around - he would've killed me if i bought it $$. there was no rush to get home, so we stopped at the outlets in folsom. plus ariana wanted some tcby ice cream to cool down from this warm weather. i did really good - tshirts for josh at jockey and 2 things at gap outlet for ariana. i couldnt pass up on the white denim jacket for half price. byron asked the question "does she really need it?" duh, of course my answer is yes. i got a size Small where roll up the sleeves now, and pointed out she'll be able to wear for at least 3 years. made it home in time to watch the nba finals - congrats to the dallas mavs. no ring for lebron james yet.

Wild One Swim Party

SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011


school isnt even over and we are checking into hotel #1 reservation. its baby audrey's 3rd birthday party. a couple hours drive, and decided to make a weekend out of it - especially since the hotel is free using our hotel points. we got a late start (what else is new?). josh drove up on thurs night with a truckload of stuff, and went back to move out of college today. a little bit crazy trying to get ready for our trip, at the same time sending josh off - and locking up the house. it was an iffy to go or not - ariana has a little cold (sniffles) that started on friday, and the weather isnt that warm. we gave her some cold medicine and luckily it was warmer up north. we really didnt plan on her going swimming, but i changed her into gymbo wildone bathing suit. this is a size 2T believe it or not; one pieces tend to run bigger. she did manage to take a little dip in the pool, and luckily they brought out the "parachute" for the kids. went to the house afterwards to visit with family, and put ariana back into her gymbo fairy fashionable outfit - embroidered top & knit capris.
on the drive up ariana was looking at the scenery and then started questioning - who my mom is? who their parents are? really she was after who were the first humans. we told her the story about adam & eve and they had children., and their children had babies, etc. we mentioned the story about eve eating the apple. then she asked if it was fiction or non-fiction, and wondered how we knew the story "its in the Bible". this turning into a history lesson.

Jack & Jill

the kinder class put on their Bo Peep play. ariana had 2 parts - jill and the old lady (who lives in the shoe). the kids would recite the nursery rhyme while others act on stage. little bo peep & little boy blue would ask each character "have you seen my sheep?" this was produced & directed by the student teacher and the children. props were brought in or accumulated from previous kinder classes. ariana wore the soda fountain dress again from janie&jack. a summer dress was requested, but she told me jill wears an apron. we had googled "jack&jill" and also on "youtube".

Havana

when gap came out with the havana line, it was a must have since it was ivory & black. ariana is wearing the toddler girl version size 5T. the girls style was more dressier with a silky material. the shrug is from a gymbo line. i bought the black rose sandals, but didnt have any scissors near by to cut the tags. ariana prefers her black saltwaters anyways. the kinders did another run through of the nursery rhyme play. they used all the props and even practiced in front of an audience. afterwards ariana's class collected the most boxtops (409 to be exact) and won a pizza party.

Hampton

i have never officially changed over ariana's closet from fall/winter to spring/summer. i got around to putting away her sweaters and some of her holiday-ish outfits... only to have to pull items out during the last couple of months. we are finally on a warming trend - not a heatwave with breaking records. ariana is wearing gap hampton dress with the matching blue shrug. it happened to be hanging in her closet from the last time it was hot (march 31st).

Wildlife Assembly

today was made a kinder combined day for all the kinder classes to attend the wildlife assembly. ariana is wearing what she calls her safari dress from gap globe map line.

Burberry Pink

this isnt the real thing - its a custom i picked up from a loopie. hopefully the rain moved out and its sunshine here on out. counting down with 8 more days of school left. the teachers put on a volunteer tea party for all the parents who help out. it was a really nice event. babysitting was provided since it started at 2:30 and kindy gets out at 2:45. i had told ariana that she will go with the other 2 girls afterschool while we were at the "mommies appreciation party".

LalaLoopsy

ariana picked out her clothes last night. her other lalaloopsy doll shirt, jeans and lelli kelly shoes. all her favorite things. its just that there are only 9 more days of school left, and many more outfits to be worn. there were alot of things going on in kinder. rehearsed the nursery rhyme play for next week - little by little its coming together. self portrait art collage, fathers day gift project, math, daily 5 reading, and storytime "the carrot seed".

Loves Me kNot

at least it didnt rain today, even tho it still didnt feel like summer. ariana is wearing the opal knot top from Loves Me Not, very similar to matilda jane clothing.

June Invitations

i kept telling byron that we have nothing on our calendar for the month of June... other than ariana's end of year kinder activities. well, the invitations are pouring in.
second weekend - one of my nieces is turning one. and another one is turning 3. to go to the 3 year bday party, its better to stay overnight instead of making the drive back n forth. the hotel room started out at $117, brought down to $109, minus AAA discount to $104. we have hotel club points and enough to use half our points and pay $60. or i could've bought some points $13 plus pay $40. the agent did some recalculating and somehow we had enough and only paying $40. for that - byron said we are definitely staying over.
somewhere in between here, josh will manage to take his finals, move out and drive home.
the following weekend is our local high school graduation at 9:00. the school district has this pomp & circumstances down pack where almost 900 students graduate in 2 hours tops. afterwards we are headed to the family's annual beach bbq to celebrate birthdays, graduates, and all.
then the next weekend, is my nieces bridal shower. luckily i'm not throwing it, even tho all 4 of us are in the wedding party. the invite says to wear black & white. for me - thats not a problem since half my wardrobe is black. wait til you see the dress i ordered (via online) for ariana to wear. seriously she doesnt have b&w to wear in the summer. most of her b&w wardrobe is for fall or evening events. hoping the weather will heat up by the end of this month - ya think??
our wedding anniversary is at the end of this month too - 12 years. we usually dont celebrate it since we go on vacation the following week. now i just need to find some time to clean the house and pack. i have myself, ariana and all the things the family need. josh & byron are on their on. HELP!!

Tres Fabulous

please pinch me that its the first day of june?? last week they called it a late seasonal cold front. this time its an unsettled cold front. rain again! luckily it cleared out by this afternoon, and forecasted this weekend. our 60 degrees weather is about 15 deg less than normal. afterschool, ariana is on a puzzle-binge lately. she could put together 63-pieces by doing the edges first, only this time she challenged herself by not looking at the box cover. now today, she attempted to do the 100-piece puzzles. completed 2 of them - no edges and no cover. everytime she finishes one, she goes and hides, then calls me in to look. of course, i'm so surprised of the finished beautiful picture. now sits a total of 4 pictures on the family room floor - awaiting to show daddy. ariana is wearing a cowl neck tunic sweater from gymbo tres fabulous line (xs 3-4). black jeggings & gregory girl boots. i actually have a pair of black rainboots from gap to match. i had put those away last month.