They Are Here!!!

YAY! I picked up my parents at the airport on Friday evening and I am not sure who was more excited...me? My kids? Or them?! Either way, as soon as they arrived, it was off to their place where Chad and the kids met up at the Estrella Golf Course for some yummy dinner! The kids love it there, they get to run around on the practice course at night and the outside patio that we eat at is a good place to let them run around!



For part of this trip out, my mom's wonderful friend Linda is joining them for about a week, along with my Aunt Sue and her daughter (my cousin) April! April is super excited to be moving here in about 7 months to finish up her schooling!

As soon as we got back to my parents house, Lola wanted to play outside in the fountain (but there wasn't any water in it - they drain it when they leave for extended amounts of time) so she immediately turned to grandpa and told him, "It's broken, you fix it for me?" in the sweetest voice she could! Melted my heart and it must have melted grandpa's because he went and got the hose and put water in it right away! She LOVES that fountain and needed grandpa there to play with her in it!

Meanwhile, Kyan and grandma were busy hiding and seeking the snakes that grandma brought him for his surprise! Usually they hide G.I. Joe guys, but because the snakes were new, they hid those this time! Kyan could (and sometimes does) do this for hours with grandma! They take turns and use the expressions "hotter" and "colder" to locate their hiding things!

Grandpa and Grandma Nebraska are here for another two weeks and we can't wait to spend every second that we possibly can with them! They joined us last night for our little get together that we had at the house to watch the Suns game (so sad they lost) and UFC fight and we are off to spend the day with them today at the waterpark out at Estrella!

WE LOVE YOU!

The Little Lady Sleeps

Just when we think that Lola has made it another night in her big girl bed (we converted her crib into the daybed/toddler bed a few months ago) we find her sleeping ever so sweetly right outside our bedroom door. We sleep with our door open, so we can't quite figure out why she doesn't come all the way in (because that happens too - then I have to make her a little bed on the floor). Now, this is happening less and less (so thankful for that, and knocking on wood now) but I couldn't resist capturing her in this moment.

Preschool Graduation!

(this song was playing on the cd that the teachers made for parents, when you hear it with all of those pictures, it definitely gets the tears going)

Wednesday was a very special day, Kyan graduated from Preschool! I thought that I would be able to hold myself together, but I had BIG huge tears on several occasions during the hour or so we spent celebrating in his classroom.
{Gulp, I am getting a knot in my throat just thinking about it now}
Where does the time go?
He was so proud and expressed on several occasions that he was a Kindergartner now!
His teachers were amazing and so proud of each and every one of their kiddos! One of the neatest things that they do for parents at Christmas and at the end of the year is present us with a cd/movie of pictures and videos that they take on a daily basis of our kids. It is so special and it makes me feel like I am there with him when I obviously can't be.
Preschool was a wonderful year!

Kyan's Preschool teacher's were beyond amazing this year!

We are so lucky that Kyan was placed into their warm, loving, caring, and incredibly friendly and welcoming classroom!
We are going to miss them!

Before the ceremony started, the kids passed out the Father's Day presents!
Kyan was so excited to give his to his daddy!

A proud graduate of the 2010 Preschool Class!

Oh Kyan, I am beyond proud of you and had so much fun at your celebration! I can't wait to see what Kindergarten and the future holds for you! I love you.

So Close I Can Almost Taste It!

Summer.

Yep, only one more week and then it is summer vacation!

On Friday evening, the 8A crew gathered our families together over at the Casillas' house and celebrated an end to our academic school year (in 8th grade, the last week of school is a big promotion celebration, so no classes! Yay for teachers, as well as the kids)! It couldn't have been a more perfect way to end our year! I would say that every single person there had a fantastic time!

The kids had the most fun! They slipped and slid until the grass was flooded! It is nice that they are all a little bit older too, while they played, the adults got to sit around the table/campfire and visit! So relaxing! We each brought a little something to eat and ended the night cooking smores!

Soccer Champ

This past Saturday marked the end of the Kyan's first soccer season!

It has been so much fun to watch him grow as a little goalie (his favorite position to play)!

Our schedule was crazy busy, and Kyan actually had his soccer game an hour earlier than it normally is played, so Lola and I missed it, as we were at her gymnastics class. We tried catching the end and the trophy hand out, but we were too late! By the time we were walking up to the field, the boys were walking to the car! It didn't matter though, Kyan was still as proud as ever to show off his trophy and was happy to pose for a picture!
Good job on a great soccer season my handsome little man!
Love you!

Dear Lillie

Lola and her beautiful tutu were featured on Dear Lillie today!
I feel honored!

The creator also happens to be a Jenni, and over the past few weeks via the blog world and emails I feel like I have learned so much about her and realized that we have so much in common, other than just our name! Another reason why I love this bloggy blog world so much!
Jenni has a beautiful blog and incredible style, I love reading what she posts!
Head over there now to not only check out Lola, but to enter into their BIGGEST giveaway yet (and I mean hurry, it ends tomorrow!) ~ $100 to spend at their shop! Here are a few of my favorites that I have my eye on:

Lola and her Tutu Part II

I thought that I would have had more time during the day today to work on these - NOT the case! However, another late night in front of the computer screen! I emailed some of you the pictures from the shoot, thank you for all of the wonderful compliments that you sent my way! They really meant a lot to me! It helped to have such a fun little lady to work with! Enjoy some of the new ones!

Ok, so I know that this picture above isn't the most focused and it makes me a little dizzy when I look at it, but I adore it! There is something about her innocence that makes me love what I think I might have accidentally snapped in her spinning circle madness!

I was lucky enough to win this beautiful tutu from Dear Lillie, by way of Tatertots and Jello (super cute crafty blog)! I swear, I might be one of the luckiest blog winners on the planet, (yet I can't win a thing at the casino?)! Really, I am lucky in the blog world. I was lucky enough to win a beautiful dress from Dear Lillie, then to win a tutu the next week for Lola from them...I mean, come on!

This tutu has to have been the best win so far, not just for me, but for Lola! It began with her excitement opening the box and putting it on the second she laid eyes on it! That inspired me to grab my camera, snatch her up and get creative with my pictures! She was all about it too, so it made for an easy shoot! I photograph my kids all the time, but I don't take them out on real shoots all that often. However, think that this might be the start of something new (head over to Rosie J. Photography if you want to see some of the pictures again)!

Lola and her Tutu

Lola's tutu arrived in the mail today (another one of my blog winnings, more on that later), and let me tell you, she was excited to get mail!!! The second that she opened the box she wanted to put that baby on! The tutu, made by Dear Lillie, was so beautiful and you could tell it was made with love! Seeing her excitement, I whisked Lola away to the Wigwam Resort for a mini photo shoot! She had so much fun and was quite the ham! I promise to post more pictures, as I have them all edited, but I need to put them together in collages! So tonight (really this morning...it is 12:19 am, what am I still doing up? Once I started editing I couldn't stop!) I leave you with just one!

For My Mama

A song for you today mama, 'cause I want you to know how much I love you.

I am so lucky to have the most amazing mama in the whole entire world (ok, so I am biased...but this is my blog, so she gets to be the most amazing)!
She is the first phone call that I make in the mornings on my way to school. Even when it is to say nothing at all, I just need to hear her voice.
I don't know what has been up with me lately, but I have been needing her more than ever.
I wish that I could be with her today.

Happy Mother's Day.

My best friend.

My mama.
I love you more than you will ever know.

He Melts My Heart

Tonight, after the Suns pulled off another win over the Spurs, Kyan asked if he could watch a movie! Yes, it was getting on the late side, but why not?! It is the weekend.

He has been crazy watching The Mighty Ducks and D2 (we picked those up when he was at home sick this week with strep), so I figured he was off to watch one of those.

WRONG!

He caught his daddy coming up the top of the stairs and had the movie The Sword and The Stone in his hand (as he knows that was daddy's favorite movie when he was little) and asks ever so sweetly, "Daddy, you wanna watch Sword and the Stone with me?" He was so excited and you could just tell in his voice that he really, really, really wanted Chad to lay down with him and snuggle and watch the movie (and this is when the heart started melting).

So where are the two boys? Curled up in Kyan's twin bed, watching The Sword in the Stone. I BEGGED to take pictures and said I was just going to go grab my camera downstairs, when the boys said, "No pictures please!" and told me not to ruin their "moment". So I obliged, but had to post about how adorable they are!

10(plus) Years Later

Last Saturday I had a message on my phone from a girlfriend from high school, whom I hadn't really seen or spoken to since we graduated, telling me she tracked down my dad, got my number, was in town for a conference, and asked if I wanted to meet for lunch on Sunday?!

Then my next message was from my dad saying that Cori just called him, asked for my number, said that she was in town for a conference and wanted to get together for lunch, and that if I see a weird number on my phone, I should answer it, because it is probably her! HA! Thanks dad!

We played phone tag throughout the day, finally resulting in the great power of text messaging and arranged our plans for Sunday, where we met at The Keg for a wonderful lunch (even Lola was wonderful sitting for about 2 1/2 hours) and great conversation! It was so nice to see Cori and hear all about life after high school! I had no idea what she has been up to, so it was really neat to hang with her! I think we could have talked for several more hours, but she had business to attend to and I had Lola who kept begging to have me take her shopping (she kinda says "shopping" with this little British accent, it is to-die-for)!

Needless to say, I do not plan to let another 10+ years go by, we exchanged emails/phone numbers/business cards (which reminds me...I need to order more)! I had a great lunch Cori, thank you for tracking me down!

Busy Mommies...

I, along with several other mommies, teamed up on Friday to finish decorating Mrs. Revord's windows of her Preschool classroom, for teacher appreciation week. A few moms met on Wednesday and got a nice start, but Friday was crunch time and we had to get everything finished, as judges come around Monday morning! Plus, what a nice surprise to walk up to come Monday morning as a teacher! We know she is going to LOVE IT!

These are some of Kyan's besties at school, I sprung them from extended day to get pictures of them for their teachers, as part of the gift they are giving them!!!

Remember to thank a teacher this week!
We know we love ours!