Baby Shower

Sometimes thank you just doesn't seem like enough. I am overwhelmed by the love and generosity I felt at the baby shower. My sister (Stacey) and my mom hosted. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!!
Here are some pictures from the shower. We had a fall theme with pumpkin pie (my fav), apple pie, pumpkin rolls, zucchini bread and yummy cookies shaped like little acorns.

I didn't realize that there were so many cute outfits for little boys!

When I got home Sue and I laid out all the stuff I got to take a picture everything in one shot.

A sincere thank you to Cirdan's family who came from Spokane and Portland to be at my shower. It was great having you :) And to Stephanie for taking all these pictures . There are just so many thank yous, the list would just go on and on. Both Cirdan and I are so grateful! Thank you for everything. We are lucky and so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in our life~

Little Ballerina

As if its not enough to spend Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings at the dance academy we have one more day to add to the list. Wednesday. They started a ballet/tap class for 2 1/2-3 year olds. Cirdan and I discussed it and thought that we should let Ella try it out. She loves to dance! Kaiya is a good big sister and is always helping Ella with stretches or dance steps and Ella loves to go watch Kaiya dance. We didnt know how Ella would handle the class but she did great! Cirdan and Kaiya took her...she walked right in with no crying or clinging to Cirdan. She listened to the teacher and tried most of the steps. We are so proud of her!

Ella doing her stretches she learned from Kaiya...

Flex (toes pointed toward her)

Point (toes pointed away from her)

Trying to do the splits...

Stretches...

Checking things off the list...Room...DONE!

Cirdan and I finished the baby room. It looks so cute! Makes me really excited to meet my little guy. I painted a wall blue last week and we put up the wall art tonight. We decided to order some more of the vinyl to make the road go all the way across the wall...and I also want to put his name on the other wall. Other than that...its done!

Doing the Puyallup....Happy Anniversary!!

Cirdan and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary last Wednesday. It's a tradition we go to the Puyallup Fair during the day. We were lucky to have good weather. It was a lot of walking and as soon as we walked from our car to the front gates of the fair I was ready to go home. We started by checking out the animals. Ella loved the cows and the goats. For some reason we missed a lot of the animals though...not sure why.

Cirdan always enjoys playing games. Ella even played a couple this year. We took home about 6 stuffed animals. The 3 of us enjoyed eating a cinnamon/raspberry jam elephant ear and an ice cream cone. Mmmmmm, gotta love fair food!

I was waiting for Cirdan and Ella to catch up and Cirdan pointed out the big bin that I was standing right next to...Doo-Doo Only.

That evening Stacey babysat for us while we went to PF Changs in Bellevue for dinner. It was nice to get out, dress up and have a nice dinner with my hubby of 3 years.

Happy Anniversay Cirdan! This has been another year of fun! I love you!!

Pears Yummmmm

Kaiya loves pear jam. She doesn't let me make her a PB sandwich with anything other than her pear jam. Ready for the bad news? I used the last of the pear jam last week. Even worse news? Cirdan and I saw some pectin in the store a few months ago that said you could use it and make the jam sugar free. I never realized how much sugar it takes to make jam until I started canning it last year. So, we decided to try it. I spent about a half day making jam and also canned some pears. What is the bad news? You probably guessed it...the sugar free jam was NASTY! It was really sour. Now we have no more pear jam and I am too lazy to buy another box of pears to make more. I guess she will have to learn to like the peach jam that I canned last year. Note to self...no more sugar free canning.

Back to School - 3rd Grade

The summer went oh so fast. As soon as we knew it, it was the 1st day of 3rd grade. Kaiya was excited and nervous about her 1st day. The night before we went to the open house and met her teacher and to see where her desk would be.
I asked Kaiya what she wanted for breakfast on her 1st day and she chose a bagel and some sugar cereal (sugar cereal isn't an everyday thing).

Cirdan, Ella and I dropped Kaiya off at her classroom door. This was the first year that she was kind of embarrassed to have us there. Sad :(

We were like the paparazzi outside trying to get that perfect shot of her.

When Kaiya got home she wanted to take some fun pictures with Ella.

So far, the school year has gone well. This is Kaiya's 1st year using a binder and having homework everyday of the week, except Friday. Kaiya has been extremely busy with dance. She spends about 10 hours a week at dance. She also takes piano lessons and has to stretch for dance at night before she goes to bed. So far so good...I just hope she doesn't get burnt out and can keep up with her school work.