Heading To September

Wow - it is the last day of August. Briana has completed a month of school and we are heading into Labor Day weekend. We have a fun weekend planned for Miss B. Doug is very excited about college football starting tomorrow. I have lunch plans with a good friend that I haven't seen in a while. I can't believe August (and summer - even though it is still hot and Bri has been in school) is over. Fall break will be here in a few weeks.

Sadly, we didn't make it back to the neighborhood pool like I had planned though. Bummer.

Next week, things really start to gear up for Briana. She will have her first soccer practice of the season (she was supposed to have it last Tuesday, but we were getting some of Hurricane Isaac's remnants and it was raining), she starts 1st grade PSR (Catholic) class and her Chinese dance starts up again as well. She will also have her first soccer game of the season next Saturday. I am glad Briana was able to get some time to get used to 1st grade before all of the extracurricular activities started back up again. Next week will be a bit crazy for us.

Briana seems to really be liking 1st grade. I've been having some communication problems with her teacher the last couple of weeks, but I finally think we have gotten it all straightened out now. I was a bit upset for Briana yesterday because one of her tasks at school was to tie her shoelaces in front of her teacher. The kids that could do it were invited to eat lunch in the classroom with the teacher as a special treat (happening today). Briana practiced a whole bunch over the week and could do it. When the time came yesterday to show the teacher, she choked. She couldn't get it done. She got in the car yesterday and told me. I was so disappointed for her. Not in her at all - but for her. Because I knew she could do it. Surprisingly, she wasn't all that upset by it. But I was sad for her. I e-mailed her teacher saying I heard what happened and that Bri really could tie her shoes but that I believe she got nervous. Well this morning, Bri's teacher e-mailed me saying she did it perfectly today! I don't believe my e-mail changed anything - I have a feeling the teacher had a plan to give some second chances anyway. I was so happy for Briana because I knew she could do it. I have videotaped proof!

I hope that those who celebrate Labor Day have a wonderful weekend...

Briana is very happy she gets a day off of school next week. :)

6 Year Old Checkup

Miss B had her yearly checkup today. 

She is in perfect health and is long and lean. She is 45.5 inches tall and 40 pounds.

I absolutely love B's pediatrician. He was wonderful when I had him look over her medicals at referral time back in 2007 and he is still wonderful. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He has a super friendly bedside manner. I asked Briana to say goodbye to Dr. S at the end of the visit and she gave him a hug. He said, "I am so happy I came to work today."

She had her flu mist done today and she should be good to go until next year!

B was about 2.5 hours late for school today - but she really didn't seem to mind. ;D

Emerald City Day

 Today is "Emerald City Day" for the 1st graders at Briana's school. Briana's teacher has been reading her class "The Wizard Of Oz" and Bri has been loving it. Today, the teacher will read when Dorothy and the gang enter Emerald City. I also had to pack a green snack, and B brought her green panda to school as well...

And you might remember that last year I donated money to the school library so that Briana could have her name in a book in honor of her birthday. I donated again this year. This year, Briana chose a book about leopards...

I am looking forward to hearing how Briana enjoyed "all things green" today at school!

Build-A-Bear Party (11th Party Of The Year)

Briana had a wonderful time at her Cousin N's 4th birthday party yesterday!

Here she is posing for my mother before the party. Isn't she something?

She named her bear "Snowy the Bear"...

After building her bear, she had two slices of cake and was one of the last to linger at the tables...

She did get to ride the carousel at the mall before we left which made her very happy...

Miss B also got to stop in the American Girl store before the party to spend some of her birthday money. She ended up with the bubble bath that she had been wanting for a while and also got the pet bath too.

I think Saturday was quite a fun and successful day!!!

Tying Her Shoes

Yes, Miss B finally learned to tie her shoes. Here she is holding her new cleat that she will wear to soccer practice and games. I am not sure how old kids should be when they know how to do this, but Bri still didn't know at age 6. We have tons of shoes, but we just never seem to have many that actually tie. It is so much easier to zip, buckle and/or velcro and go.

Bri's teacher gave the kids incentive to learn to tie their shoes. She said they could have a special lunch with her when they learned how to do it. So I started showing Briana, she and I watched some shoe tying videos together and then she sat with Doug for a long time yesterday afternoon trying to figure it out too. And she finally got it...

And I gave Miss B her first "side of her head" ponytail yesterday. She looked so cute for school...

She loved it so much, she requested it again this morning...

I love my side ponytail-wearing, shoe-tying gal.

Newly Painted Rooms!

Here is Briana's new room! I think it turned out amazing! If you click here, you will see the drastic difference between her room before and now. It really looks like a big girl room. I have to say, I was really nervous about all the bold colors at first. But, I think it turned out really well. Briana said she wanted to feel like she was in the ocean, and I think this is a great blue to do so.

About a month and a half ago, we had our exterminator Tim, who also a contractor on the side, fix a bunch of cracks that had occurred around the house from the house settling and also had him add some crown molding to our family room, guest bedroom, guest bath and master bath. Our master bath has a huge vaulted ceiling. The builder of our house decided not to put any sort of molding on the vaulted ceiling and with time and moisture, the tape and painted started to crack and peel. It was looking awful. Tim did an amazing job putting up all the molding.

He isn't a painter though.

And the unfinished molding sat there for about a month.

My friend Lisa had a bunch of work done in her house lately and highly recommended the contractor she had been using. So, we had him come out last Tuesday for a quote for painting for the inside and outside of the house. What I didn't expect was for him to say that he was available to start the next day. Ack!!!! But we went ahead and agreed to start the painting the next day.

(Unfortunately, Lisa still had a couple more small projects she needed done and I ended up stealing him away from her for a couple of days. Now I owe her a lunch. With dessert. Heh.)

We only had paint ready for the crack touch ups and the molding. We had no colored paint for the two rooms that we wanted to have painted. I wanted Briana to pick out a comforter before we chose a paint color. Over the next two evenings, we had a comforter (chosen by Briana) and eight gallons of paint (3 for Bri's room and 5 for mine and Doug's) purchased. And I had to clear a bunch out of stuff out of the rooms in order for them to start painting. It was a bit overwhelming.

I had known for a very long time what color I wanted for my bedroom. And I already had the comforter that I wanted to keep and matched the color to that. That was pretty simple.

But for Briana - I had nothing. When Bri picked the comforter, it only had to two shams in with it. I had no curtains, no bed skirt, no lamp. I had to start picking stuff off Amazon and prayed it would work. I ran to Target and managed to find the lamp and rug - getting the small cool blue chair was a bonus. 

Again, I was a bit worried about it being too bright. But it really came together. I absolutely love it and so does Briana...

And she said she wanted to feel like she was in the ocean...

Huge night time smiles!!!!

And here is the master finished product...

It feels very serene and relaxing now. It is exactly how I imagined it. It only took us 8 years to get the master bed and bath painted. That's not bad, right?

This is the beige color it was before...

I'm so happy we did it. And I am so happy it is over! It was a looooong few days of having it done.

And in a few weeks we will freshen up the paint outside and we plan to do some major landscaping in our backyard. The backyard has huge runoff gullies from the way our house is sloped. When it rains, half our yard gets washed away. Makes me want to cry sometimes! But we will get it all done. Eventually!

Grandma's 90th Birthday Celebration

Saturday afternoon, the family gathered at my grandmother's assisted living home to celebrate her 90th birthday. My mom asked if we could use a meeting room for the party. She brought balloons and a cake...

Then we started snapping some pictures when everyone started arriving.

This is my grandmother, my mom, my aunt and my uncle...

Me and my grandma...

Briana and Grandma...

Papa and Briana...

Time for presents and cake...

We ventured outside a while into the garden area. Briana and Cousin N looked at the fish in the pond and found a turtle...

Then the kids went out the front to check out my uncle's beautiful car "Little Red"...

The party wound down and Bri helped Great Grandma back to her room...

A few pictures taken in the room as well...

 There were several times we needed to remind Grandma that the party was for her and that it was her birthday. She still seems to recognize and remember everyone - which is a blessing - even if she can't always remember names.

I'm so happy we could all be with her to celebrate her 90th.