auntie mel's wedding

yesterday was melissa's wedding. i have known her since she was born. our families used to be neighbors. my mom considered her mom one of her best friends. so they are family to us. malia was excited when mel asked her last year to be a flower girl at her wedding. so when i told her on friday that we were going to the rehearsal, she couldn't believe it was already time for her walk down the aisle.

the wedding ceremony was at the immaculata. malia did a great job, but she tends to walk faster when she's excited. plus the other 2 flower girls are only 2 years old, so she helped one of them walk down the aisle. when we were getting ready in the morning, i was thinking to myself that it's harder to get girls ready for occasions like this. boys are easy, black pants and a nice top. girls need their hair done, the perfect dress, jewelry, tights, and matching shoes. not to mention a different outfit for the car ride because the dress will get wrinkled in the car seat. and it's a challenge for me because i'm not very girly. but it's worth it, for pictures like these:

the reception was at the manchester grand hyatt downtown. it was gorgeous. it's details like the elaborate tablecloths, crystals hanging from the flowers of the centerpieces, the photo booth, the plate of 3 desserts before the wedding cake and the godiva chocolate giveaways that made it such a memorable reception. mel did a surprise number for her groom, and the bridal party did a skit on how mel and kenny first met 13 years ago.

some photo booth shots

malia described the day as 'fancy'. she said, "all the girls looked pretty but auntie mel was the beautifulest one of all."

first day of preschool

it all came too quickly, but micah started preschool today at Spectrum Preschool in bonita. he's the baby at school since he just turned 2 yesterday. it was also picture day, so his day started off by taking pictures. the photographer was wonderful with the kids. micah even held his pose and smiled. i can't even get him to do that. then it was off to his classroom, called 'the pond.' he went straight for the toys but i could tell he was trying to stay near me at the same time. he tried to follow me when i told him i was leaving, but his teacher distracted him. i'm so glad we went there last week, so she's not a complete stranger to him. of course i worried about him all day and wasn't too productive at work. roel picked him up during naptime. the teachers told roel that micah cried a little just before lunch, but it was because he was tired. but other than that he was fine. when i got home, there were papers waiting for me. one was about field trips, one of which i am already scheduled to go on as a parent volunteer. another was about a fundraiser, which was to bring in my vons receipt that had a code for the school to receive 10% of what i spent. wow, no effort fundraiser? love it! and of course my favorite was this certificate:

when i asked micah if he wanted to go to school tomorrow, he said no. it was the same with malia. it took her a week to get used to school and now she loves it. at least the first day of school jitters are gone (for me). we'll see how he does after a week.

micah is 2

happy birthday micah! i can't believe my baby boy is 2 years old. he had a birthday celebration at daycare today. he asked ms. beverly for chocolate, so she made him chocolate cupcakes. it was delicious! it was also his last day there at daycare. although he didn't realize it, he was happy to pass out his goodbye gifts to his friends. ms. beverly made a small photo book of micah and his friends as a gift. she also gave him some of his favorite books he liked to have read when he was there, like 'down by the bay.'

we had our families over for dinner along with some of micah's godparents. the kids had a good time decorating pumpkins and running around. i made micah a car cake, but he only wanted to eat the wheels, which were oreos.

it was such a bittersweet day for me. lots of changes for my little guy. i'm sure he will adjust better than i will. i will pray preschool goes well tomorrow.

teacher time

micah starts preschool next thursday. the director of the preschool suggested i take him in before then just to help with the transition. so this morning, he met his soon to be teachers, ms. romo and ms. gonzalez. micah immediately began to explore the room as soon as we got there and chose some toys to play with. he had some, but not much interaction with the other kids during free play time. then he happily ate a snack with them. when it came to circle time, micah only sat for a minute then got up to play. the teachers said all the new kids usually just want to explore the room first and then when they are comfortable, they will participate in circle time. of course he went for the cars, guitars, and trains first. we only stayed for an hour, but it was enough to tell that he will be fine there. i was glad that we were able to go there today, it really eased some of my worries. and it's heartwarming that they include jesus and prayer as part of their day. after that, i dropped micah off to daycare.

then it was off to malia's school for parent-teacher conference. malia loves her teacher, ms. rogale. she loves every teacher she has. ms. rogale says malia is doing excellent. the only thing we really need to work on with her is her narrative writing skills. not my area of expertise, but i can still learn. it still amazes me what they teach kids these days at such a young age. anyways, she said that malia has adapted very well to the structured-based classroom setting, considering she came from the montessori environment which is unstructured. and that malia is doing a great job abiding by the rules in the classroom. we're so proud of her! now if we could just get her to follow those same rules at home...no, then she wouldn't be such a character.

i'm happy with all the teachers, couldn't ask for better ones. and meeting with them is a good reminder that we as parents are our kids' first and foremost teachers.

twinkle toes

malia has been asking for skechers 'twinkle toes' shoes since school started in july. one of her classmates has them. they are a bit pricey so she had to earn them. she finally earned them by getting 100% on all her tests and for good behavior in class. i took her to the mall last friday so she could choose which one she wanted. she wore them out of the store and i could tell she was walking slowly so that people would notice her new shoes. i actually heard someone pass by us and say, "cute shoes." too funny. she was so sad when she got sick that evening and couldn't go to 2 parties over the weekend to wear her shoes. and she was devastated when she found out she wasn't going to school on monday or tuesday and couldn't show her friends her new shoes. she went back to school today. when i picked her up, she had a huge smile on her face because i noticed she was wearing her twinkle toes. she's not even 6 yet and is already acting like a tween obsessed with fashion! i'm guess i'm okay with that as long as she knows that the twinkle toes won't be shining outside of the closet unless she keeps up the good work in school. is this how my mom felt when i asked for things? and this is only the beginning.

CYT

for a while now, malia has been telling people she wants to be an actress when she grows up. it's even in her kinder yearbook. but she also loves to sing and dance. i wanted her to have an extracurricular activity for after school but couldn't decide where. she's a bit small for sports, and the rec center classes were only good for just for fun classes. so i was excited when i came across the CYT (christian youth theater) website a couple of months ago. i knew it would be a perfect fit for her.

when i told her yesterday that she would be starting a new class that involved singing, dancing, acting, and costumes, she immediately started jumping and screaming with joy.

the class started today. malia couldn't wait to meet her new teacher. but of course there was a parent meeting first. so they played a disney trivia game while the kids waited. disney trivia - i knew i had made a good choice =). aside from that, the organization has really good reviews, and i was really impressed with their presentation. malia went off to her "wiggles" class with her new teacher, ms emily. she had a big smile on her face when she came out and can't wait to go next week. her homework is to watch mary poppins. that's my kind of homework!

back to legoland sealife

malia has been asking to go back to legoland sealife ever since we went in february. we thought it would be perfect to go for the holiday weekend, especially since we had free tickets and she's been working really hard in school. micah was down to go anywhere. of course, malia was happy to see the stingrays again. micah seemed really into the sharks. and now that he's a bit older, he was able to touch some of the starfish and hermit crabs.

when we got home, i started watching an episode of 'planet earth.' they were interested for about 30 minutes then went back to running a muck like monkeys in the zoo. i was surrounded by animals today.

fundraising is here

i'm officially one of those moms that ask family, friends, and co-workers if they would like to look at and buy from a fundraising catalog. i was actually waiting for fundraising to begin, curious about what it would be. malia came home with her catalog today. i was kinda hoping it would be for cookies, but it wasn't. that's okay, i already ordered from a friend's daughter's catalog. malia's catalog has different gifts, magazines, candies, and wrapping paper. her goal (really that means me) is to sell at least 15 items so that she'll get to play in the game truck that comes when the orders are in. of course, immediate family will order. i just hope my co-workers remember when i bought from their kid's fundraisers and they will return the favor. i'm not a salesperson ya know.

freak out

the minute i became a mom, i self diagnosed myself with anxiety disorder with paranoia since i tend to freak out before i take a breath and think out the situation. today was one of those kind of days. ms beverly called me from daycare and told me that micah started coughing and wheezing after lunch. it was possibly a reaction to the catfish in the meal he had eaten. he had eaten fish before, but certain dishes made him break out in hives. this was the first time he had catfish, and the first time he had an allergic reaction of just coughing and wheezing. this was just before 2pm and i get off work at 2:30pm. well, turns out my boss is out the whole week. so i just grabbed my stuff and told a co-worker i was leaving. i rushed to buy some benadryl and headed to daycare. when i got there, micah's ears were red and he had some hives starting. the good thing was that he was still playing. luckily, he liked the taste of the benadryl and took it right away. after about 30 minutes he was better. and i was too.

church school

malia started CCD today for her 1st year of holy communion classes. she calls it church school because it's different from regular school. as her teacher, mr steve, was explaining the curriculum, he mentioned he didn't like giving homework. AMEN to that! then i had to attend a parent meeting outside. i was able to see malia from where i was outside. there she was raising her hand many times to answer questions. she also had an activity with a partner and i could see her smiling and talking a lot. she even showed her teacher her cross necklace. they ended the class with a prayer. such a character that girl. she really enjoyed her first day.