Young Rembrandt

 another storm system is hitting the bay area again. byron wasnt able to make it home in time to take us to school. so i completely changed her outfit - to walk in the rain. harajuku longsleeve shirt and black denim jeans from crazy8. paired with a brown/black plaid rainboots and the black parka coat from gap. luckily it stopped down pouring by the time we left the house, and it was actually faster to walk down the blvd than drive.
i signed ariana up for "young rembrandt" drawing class afterschool. i had thought the assignment was to color, and this was from a coloring book. come to find out - ariana drew this herself. i even went back to the class to check with the teacher.
and since we didnt take a picture during the day, ariana posed for her "night time blog".

Happy Birthday BYRON!!

i posted this on facebook, most people thought it was an invitation. its actually a mocked-up birthday card for byron that i put together via shutterfly. i used the sample, and filled-in the blanks appropriately. they were leaving comments like "have a great time", etc. i wonder if some people felt bad because they didnt get invited. notice there is no time on the card. byron pretty much slept through the whole day, since he's working midnight shift this week. leaving ariana time to make a pop-up birthday card for him, since my shutterfly card is still in process. we also made him a cornbread muffin cake. ariana did a really great job mixing it and getting all the lumps out. she suggested to put only 3 candles on it. she was so proud of it explaining to dad that making it by scratch saves money than buying one at the bakery. and cornbread is much healthy than the sweet regular cake. she made daddy so happy, that he didnt want to go work and vice-versa.

P.E. Prep

the prep special class is P.E. its 2 times a week (tues & wed) for the class. my daughter is a true girly-girl. ariana told me that she is tired of wearing pants. even threw in the fact its not that cold outside and not raining. remember when she was little, she used to say "i'm not a princess anymores" when i put pants on her. i always responded "you're a princess no matter what you wear". this sweatshirt outfit from gymbo "i love soccer" fit the bill. even with matching knee-hi socks.

Put Together

this is what i call a "put together" outfit. ariana wanted to wear this tunic swing top from pumpkin patch (before they closed all retail stores). she usually wears this with a black pettiskirt, which was no where to be found. either its in a summer storage bin or i gave it away. the black leggings were already on. originally i was planning on putting black boots, but remembered theres dance practice afterschool for the winter concert.

Advent Saturday

its the first day of december. i had a little helper constantly counting the days til. i was lucky that my sister had given ariana an advent calendar. disney princesses with chocolates behind each door. on one of my clothing loops yesterday, they posted barnes & nobles had 50% off lego advent calendars. i called the store to put a playmobil princess wedding one on hold. we went all the way over to redwood city to pick it up, they had closed all the nearby b&n a couple of years ago. i picked one up for ariana's classmate, and sent one to my niece & nephew in florida. so now the question is - what door number do you start with? door #1 as day number 1, or door #24 and countdown to how many days left til xmas? ariana noticed on the lego calendar that door #24 was the biggest, using 2 flaps to open up. where on the flat chocolate one, it didnt matter where you start since all the doors were the same size. we went with opening door #1 to go by the dates. behind #1 there was a princess lego, and at one point i thought maybe this should be the finale. this is so much better than the candies. maybe i'll use the chocolate one as a countdown - or let ariana practice her math subtraction skills every night.

Imaginary Friends

another storm system moved in through the night. luckily dad was home to take us to school this morning...and to approve ariana's outfit. he prefers to have her legs covered up, either with tights or leggings. my new thing for fridays is to dress her in black. this makes it easier to pick out what she's going to wear. ariana is wearing an "imaginary friends" dress, note this gymboree line came out in the fall 2006. boots are from gap glamour gal to go with the matching trench coat.
the kids made butter in class.

Super Star

thursday mornings is my day i volunteer in the classroom, and help out with the reading groups. went home for a couple of hours, only to return to help out with arts vistas lesson B in the afternoon. the kids are going to paint seascapes with watercolors. with this in mind, white or ivory color sleeves are a no-no for today. ariana is wearing another gymbo oldie but goodie dress from the "super star" line (2009), with the matching hair ribbon. the grey sweater/suede boots are from gap. one of ariana's bff has this dress too, where they are both hoping to wear it at the same time. guess we'll have to coordinate in the spring. i rarely put ariana in the same dress again in the following month. if i did that, she wouldn't have a chance to wear all her other dresses. make sense?? theres a method to my madness afterall.

and she decided to wear the matching nightgown from the same gymbo line.

Storm Systems

 the bay area has 3 storm systems coming all the way into the weekend. this first one is bringing strong winds in with it. ariana is wearing a gap cable knit tunic dress. paired with gymbo brown velour leggings, only to go with the das leopard print rainboots.

did i mention one day in october, out of the blue, i couldnt pass up a QVC today special value on the keurig vue coffee machine? on top of that, theres a $40 rebate along with 5 easy payments. byron considers this one of mine (really "ours") xmas presents and going to go under the tree. the box has been sitting in the entry way to josh's bedroom, and finally moved out to the garage for the past month. i had to open it to cut the upc scan code, its the last day to submit for the rebate. it took me 3 boxes. the machine in between 2 pieces of styrofoam was in the original keurig box, which fitted in a cardboard box. then the box was put in a bigger box with all the extra coffee packs and accessories. i was THIS close in breaking out the machine to use it. we went to kinkos fedex to make copies (as they asked for the original receipt). then to the post office to make sure it was postmarked "november 28th". all this for my rebate to be mailed out in 10 weeks. its worth it as we're getting the vue model for the same price as the regular machine.
this is a new thing ariana wants to do. make a night time blog of her pajamas.

Plum Owl

Artisan Inkat

since we weren't home for the weekend, i wasnt sure about the weather. all i knew was the rain is due in on wednesday. back to the same routine for a whole week - 5 days in a row. ariana is wearing a dress from "tea collection", a local san francisco company. you could now order from them directly online, but before i only found this brand at nordstrom. even much better if it makes it to nordstrom rack. dad wanted to winter-ize this outfit in the morning (longsleeve top & leggings), but ariana has dance afterschool and will perspire with all those layers.

Cabin Camping

we went to my brothers cabin, which is actually his house now since he retired. ariana has been dieing to go up there for the longest time, except minus the tent. she told him "wow you're lucky, you get to go camping every day!" we took a nice peaceful hike along the creek, then ariana summed it up "we got our exercise in for the day". this place was covered with a foot of snow about 2 weeks ago, and then it rained right after. and the sun has been shining eversince, it was about 65 degrees today. she's wearing another naartjie outfit (grey melange) with jeggings. ariana has on her "duck boots" i had bought from gap. they are lined with thinsulate made to keep her warm in the snow. she wanted to wear them for "these are made to go hiking in the mud too".

Black Friday

No midnight or early morning shopping for us. I placed my black friday gymboree order on wednesday when it went live at 9:00 (midnite eastern time). the one advantage living on the west coast on pacific standard time. we slept in, had a nice breakfast and got ready to go to my brothers cabin. ariana is wearing a corduroy naartjie outfit (bobbin blue) for the road trip.

Thanksgiving Blessed Birthday

this year the family gathered to celebrate my aunts 90th birthday too. my dads mom and my aunties mom are sisters, making them first cousins. 

ariana wore a "jelly the pug" dress, and changed into her gymbo turkey pajama for bedtime.

Stitch & Sew

 

thanksgiving break for the whole week, no school to get dressed for. i let it be a pajama day wearing gymbo "girl talk" one. i had given ariana a sewing machine for her birthday. its a singer and really works when you step on the pedal. the one great thing about it - it has a plastic guard around the needle. she has been bugging me for the past month for her sewing lesson. we started off with making rows of straight lines, and to figure out the tension. ended up folding a material in half to make Dolly a pillow. now we just have to go buy the stuffing and finish off the hole.

Baby Boy Visit

this is my nephews baby boy - Carson. he is 10 months old beginning to stand up, claps his hands together, and shakes his head to say "no". and what does the doggies say? he does a little growl. no woof woof. ariana and my nephew are first cousins, thus making her Carson's auntie. they are only 6 years apart, we'll just have carson call her Ate' Nana. the only time ariana will officially become an auntie is when joshua has a baby.

Woodland Friends

usually there are only 4 weeks in the month of november, and thanksgiving is on the last week. this year there are 5 weeks and the holiday falls on the 22nd. its the last day of school before the thanksgiving vacation break. i thought it would be the only chance for ariana to wear this fall pumpkin dress from gymbo (woodland friends). not realizing she has another week of school at the end of november. i got it in a size 7 during the recent gymbucks redemption, where she will be able to wear it next year. thus the sleeves are folded up twice. and the rain is back - grabbed the gymbo raincoat & matching umbrella from growing flowers line.

hooray the turkeys are done! the class has been working on their turkeys little by little. first i helped to masking tape-mache' over a styrofoam ball and paint them a redish-orange. the kids took brown tissue paper pieces and glued them over an apple juice jar. then i came back to help the kids food color dropper-paint the coffee filters for the tails. the teacher and another mom glued-gun the eyes, beak and gobbler. tied a red ribbon around the neck to finish it off - gobble, gobble!!

the class has been reading "thunder cake" during critical literacy time. "its about a little girl who is afraid of a storm, and the grandma distracts her by making thunder cakes. the girl then overcomes her fear of thunder and notices that she is actually brave." the recipe is at the back of the book. the kids read the recipe for the teacher to mix all the ingredients together - including pureed tomatoes. its topped off with chocolate frosting and strawberries. ariana's review "not bad, but a little bad" only because she isnt very fond of chocolate cake. she's a vanilla-yellow cake person.

Target Owl

ariana is wearing the popular owl dress from target a couple of years ago. and probably the last time too, as its a size 5T. all the other outfits i had in mind for today (since there is no prep classes) had off-white. the kids are making a turkey, and part of the project today involves paint (food coloring).

Fall Break

we are getting a little break of sunshine before the rain comes in this weekend. ariana had this crochet top/tank hanging in her closet, its from nordstrom rack (paper doll). i figured this will do in the 67 deg temperature and sunshine. the denim pants are from janie&jack orchard harvest. this line came out in 2009 and i picked them up on sale - enough to buy a size 5 when she was only wearing size 3 at that time.

Purple Prep

no rain but still chilly in the morning and hoping to reach at least 65 this afternoon. coming off this 4-day holiday weekend has me all messed up on the days. ariana's prep class on mondays is science, where i could dress her up a little bit. realizing it was actually tuesday, i turned her outfit ready for PE. i combined 2 naartjie lines - the color of the dress is piterpat and the leggings color is cashmere that actually matches with another dress. geox shoes.

School Pics

American in Paris

Brrrrr - its cold. in the morning it was 50 degrees with rain expected in the afternoon and snow in the sierras. ariana is wearing gap american in paris ponte dress. theres zippers on the side and in the back. i paired it with the gap boots, going after the motorcycler look. i am going to start taking a picture with her wearing a coat/jacket, instead of telling you what the coat of the day was. afterall, she does have a nice coat collection. this one is from gymbo penguin chalet line (2010).

Smart Girls Rule

now i think our fall "heat wave" is over and temperatures are going down with rain in the forecast. ariana is wearing gymbo smart girls rule. this is the same outfit she wore on the first day of 1st grade last year. although i was able to get a top in a size 6.

VOTE Election Day

we got this tshirt when we went to washington dc in may. and saved it to wear it on election day. can you guess who we are voting for?? president obama is the only president that ariana is aware of, since he was sworn in january 2009. she has become very attached to him and really hopes he can be the president forever. the bay area is setting another record high almost hitting 80 degrees, but not as hot as yesterday. this is probably the first time to be able to wear sandals in november. the tshirt was too long for ariana to wear shorts with it, so i paired it with white capris from janie&jack. good thing all her pants are kept on a shelf (side of the closet), no matter what season they are for. or else another trip back to the summer bins.
we waited for ariana to get out of school to go to the polling place. the lines were long for the voting booths. we were able to drop off our ballot, and received a sticker "ako ay bumoto". it means "i voted" in filipino tagalog. they ran out of the english ones. what was suppose to be just a coloring assignment, ended up turning into a government lesson. the kids were given a map of the united states to engage them into following the presidential election. color the states RED for romney and BLUE for every state obama wins. as the polls begun to close on the east coast (where we are 3 hours behind in cali), ariana started getting worried and noticed she was coloring alot of states "red" for romney, compared to blue for obama. she was even keeping a tally on another sheet of paper of how many states each candidate was getting. so to keep her hopes high, i explained to her about the number in the ( ) added up was the one that counts. ariana's whole line of thought changed and she finally realized "romney has all the little least BABY number red states. obama's colored-blue states have big numbers. it doesnt matter how many states they win." by golly, she's got it. mind you she is only in the second grade to figure this out. i probably didnt get til i was in middle school. guess i should've watched tv with my parents on election night. the only thing i remember - is my dad talking to the tv if his candidate wasnt winning. when obama won ohio's 18 electoral votes, ariana did the math knowing he only needed 13. once they officially announced president obama was re-elected, ariana said "he could stay in the white house for 4 more years. yahoo!"

One Hot Day

the bay area is hitting or breaking all time record temperatures in the month of november. its 80 degrees in san francisco alone, so you know its even hotter/warmer every place else. ariana happens to be sick, basically recuperating from a stomach flu she had over the weekend. every time its a hot day here - i was either sick or ariana is sick. and it never fails, right when i change out ariana's closet from spring/summer to fall/winter wardrobe - its warm again. ariana felt well by the afternoon and managed to keep her food down. she has been wanting to take dad to tutti frutti, so he can do the frozen yogurt & topping experience. i pulled out the gymbo ice cream social patchwork dress from the bin.

Autumn Classics

i dressed ariana for the morning weather of 50 degrees, call me "byron from chicago". cold enough where the kids were blowing their breath and said "look, we have dry ice air". temperatures got as high as 65 by pick up time though. she's wearing a janie & jack outfit from the autumn classics line. i bought this way back on black friday 2010 sale. it was probably still too big on her last year to wear, the skirt is 5T and blouse is kidgirl 6. paired it perfectly with gymbo fall for autumn boots. of course i had tucked the blouse in the morning, and you know that kids never come home looking the same after school.

Petite Madame Plaid

there was a little rain from the halloween front this morning, and moved out right when it was time to walk to school. the sun was shining by pick up time. i know the first thing ariana is going to say "i'm hot & perspiring". only because i dressed her in gymbo petite madame jumper dress, long sleeve shirt, tights and  crazy8 navy boots. this was one of my favorite gymbo lines that came out in 2008. ariana had this dress in several sizes, where this one is kidgirl size 7. same headband though.

December 2010