Give Me A Few Bucks... I'll give you....

A fantastic sorting/patterning game.... this is great for early math skills. Very fun jungle manipulatives....

99 cents.

A Spirograph!! Hoo-ray Art!!

$2.

More horses... because 100 isn't enough.

$1

TANGLED DRESS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

$2 (Garage Sale from last Saturday!! Who gets rid of their tangled stuff?!?!?!?!)

And, as if we could possibly beat tangled.... but we did... 3 lightsabers!!!!!!!!

$3

Do you know those average for $30 in stores each!?!

First Day of 2nd Year of Preschool

I love this little killer face.

I was so excited for Maria today. She just adores preschool and her teachers. She was very excited for her father's blessing that Joe gave yesterday. It was a beautiful blessing. Maria is quite the smarty pants, but what I'm most proud of, is the kind little girl she is. She is just a light. I also just love her teachers so much. They are such good women who love what they do and are exceptional at it.

I was also really happy that she enjoyed her day with her best little friend Amyra. They are going to have a wonderful year together!!

Things that make me smile....

Today I was "nesting" a little and I ran across a document from when I was a teenager. I had just learned how to fax and used a company letterhead (very professional looking) to fax a note to Ramya, knowing full well that her parents would read it....

It read, "Dear Miss Ramya F., A deep apology for the previous miscommunication. I have not received any faxes or response from you and am gravely disappointed in myself. I had no idea that you didn't tell your beautiful, kind and wonderful mom that you have AIDS. I think now is the time to be open and honest. Love each other and let it heal. I know that I am not a psychologist, but I am a friend and I have your welfare weighing my heart. Please have a nice day and say hello to Auntie and the cousins. Deep apologies again, but honesty is the best policy. Thank you for your care and consideration on this matter."

Then I signed my name!! I should have signed Dr. Something. What on earth was I thinking. I just wish I could have seen George or Queency's face when they read it. Fun fun times. It's funny to think that a year later I was engaged. Ah.... sweet maturity.

Family Home Evening: John the Baptist

This week we did things a little different. We asked the girls what they would like to learn about and they chose John the Baptist. I gathered pictures of him and we read from the Bible Dictionary. Then we all came up with a script (the girl's own words!) to act out everything we learned and thought was important from our reading. Of course, we always conclude with testimony and things we know to be true.

I really value this time spent together. Of all the things I teach my children, I know nothing is more important than having them know who their Heavenly Father is and who Jesus Christ is. I'm also especially grateful for Joe who is so fun, so diligent in his role as a teacher in our home and for his example. We rarely miss a week of Family Home Evening and I know that this has truly blessed our family. We have peace, we have love and while our home is in no way perfect, it is a place of comfort and happiness. Living the teachings of Christ truly is the only way to true joy in this life and in the next to come!

Beauties in Brown

I got both these dresses at the thrift store. Maria's was 99 cents and Christina I splurged for $2.99.

Such sweet little beauties. Today was funny because I was giving a lesson on modesty in primary. Our prophet has counseled us to not get tattoos, and I got one before he said that. I wanted to make the point that the Lord so eloquently puts in Samuel, that we need to not judge for the Lord looketh on the heart and seeth not as a man seeth. I asked the kids a question, if a person has tattoos are they bad people? A lot of the kids said yes... hmmmmm... what are their parents teaching them... but Christina raised her hand and said, "You have a tattoo Mommy and you're a good person." Thank you child. And food for thought Primary children :)

OPA! Greek Festival 2011

I love Greeks, don't get me wrong... they are my family, my culture, my food, my blah blah blah. I just feel like I need a trip to Greece to actually authenticate my love for the society. Hence, when Greek Fest rolls around, I'm not the most excited person on earth. Usually it's hot and over crowded... however, this year proved to be fantastic and far surpassed all my expectations.

The food was excellent. Yum.Yum. Yum. The girls ate every single thing in front of them!

The games were... strict and stressful. If you didn't win, you didn't get anything, plain and simple. The lollipop game was super crazy and I guess they weren't letting children have lollipops if they got a certain color. Yeah.... a 2 year old will really understand that one. You can't spare a 1 cent dum dum to make a kid happy? However, maybe the Jews next door are rubbing off. The Jewish church was charging $5 for parking for the event...

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Love the hand coming out of the neck.

Thea Alex who Maria's middle name comes from. I just love the way she dotes on Maria.

I love that weirdos were asking Maria for candy off her necklace.... like our cousin Keri and the priest??

And finally, our sweet cousin Diego dancing!! Those little kids made bank with all the money people were throwing at them.

It was a great time to see all the family and the weather was really perfect. I think with the new priest, the atmosphere was a little more laid back and friendly. Plus Joe wasn't working the Gyro booth this year and it was nice to have his help. The girls loved playing with their cousins... so overall, fun times. Thanks Yaya and Papa!! They always spoil us rotten and treat us to fun. We are very blessed to have the parents we do.

Opa!

Art Farts August 2011

Zebra Tempera Paints

Orcas Water Colors

Lesson on Warm and Cool Colors using 20 cent painters tape from Ben Franklin's Clearance. The girls put down all the tape themselves except for the border.

Wooden Permanent Marker Puzzles

The girls own project creating Star Wars character popsicle puppets (Above is Princess Life Saber)

1st Day of Swim Lessons at Red Hawk

It's definitely not Silver Bear Swim School, but it's 3 minutes away from our house..... so it'll do for the last couple weeks of summer. The girls were put in beginner classes but were quickly moved up levels. It was a beautiful sunny day and the pool was just the right temperature.

Maria's preschool class was full of snot kids. The kids that needed their parents right there because they can't listen to other adults. It's annoying because those kids waste time and energy.... ahhh... this is coming from the lady that entered teaching and said there wasn't a kid she couldn't love. My problem is not the kids really, it's the parents that overindulge and don't know how to set limits. But watch, the kids are probably austistic and I'm just being a jerk.

Spiros Turns 4!

We had a great time celebrating our cousin's birthday. I can never get a good shot at these places. It's either blurry or dark... perhaps one day I'll take a photography class. Either way I love that this guy randomly got in our cousin shot with his child....

Prego Pics

I realized I really don't have too many pictures of me with the lil' guy in utero. Plus I got a hair cut. My hair stylist that I see once every two years is really high energy. She is a great conversationalist and I'm glad I have someone I can trust and not cry about after the cut. I had a doctor's appointment and Elijah is estimated at 6 lbs. We got a beautiful picture of his face and I couldn't believe how big and full his lips were. Can't wait to see the lil' guy. I'm hoping he has brown eyes for some odd reason.

Ben Franklin's.... Goodbye...

When I was a little girl my dad built me a doll house from Ben Franklin's. My mom would take me to get furniture for the doll house and I loved going there. I feel bad it's going out of business. It seems like everywhere you turn there is abandoned buildings and for sale signs. Sheesh. Anyways, they had an 80% off everything sale and I stalked up on ribbon. Because my girls need more hairbows.....

What's Summer without a Slip N Slide

We get these free $10 gift cards in the mail from Kohl's. I think their reasoning behind the promotion is that people will come in and spend more than $10.. however, I am a leach. I go, get my $10 worth of free stuff and hasta luego mang. So this was free along with a fancy nancy game.... fun times and thank you Kohl's.

Notice the crossed fingers.... cheese touch.

Carson's Baptism Day

They are so stinkin' cute. My little actresses. Maria pretending to be Christina's child while she sang her to sleep.

Papa with Carson.

They both ended up swimming. Erin was so kind to lend out some make shift swimsuits :)

The happy lil' guy! Toooooooooooooooo adorable!! 

With our cousins Amanda and Regina.

The girls did great in the car... they are champions of travel. We went down for the day and had a lovely afternoon at Erin's. I was quite stressed about getting the rental car back on time, but we made it 1 minute late!!! God loves me and my neurotic self.