Halloween Recap 2011

We had a great first Halloween in Hermosa this year. My little angels were, well, actually and angel and an angelfish. We had some friends over for dinner and then went down to the walk streets for 'trick-or-treating'. It was quite the scene and I was very happy to see that the residents really do participate and make it fun for the kids. After 3 walk streets their buckets were full and they were ready to come home and survey the damage.








Leading up to the big day, Lauren had her harvest festival at her school, Sarah had a Halloween carnival at her school and she had a Pippi Longstocking Day on Halloween. We also did a little pumpkin shopping to pick out the perfect pumpkin to carve for the annual McDonald Family Pumpkin Carving Contest. We used Facetime to be a part of the action and it was quite fun!









We ended our Halloween week, with a broken arm for Sarah (scooter accident) and new glasses for Lauren!

1st Day of 2nd Grade

One of my all time favorite writers is James Barrie. He was the author of Peter Pan. If you ever go searching through his writings and his quotes, you will find he wrote a lot about growing up, having hope in the unknown, relishing being young, and about childhood dreams in general. One of my favorite ones I found from the movie Finding Neverland, was this one:

"Young boys (or girls) should never be sent to bed, for when they wake up they are a day older."

Now whether or not Mr. Barrie himself actually uttered these words or it was a line written in the script for Johnny Depp to read (he played Barrie in the movie), is beside the point. It has great meaning for me and on days such as yesterday when you take your baby to school and you realize she in the 2nd grade, you sort of wonder, where the time has gone.

Sarah and her BFF

I am so grateful I have a child that loves school. I am sure there will come a day when she does not, but for now she is absolutely giddy with excitement. Even when we found out she only knew 3 boys in her hew class and no girls, she wasn't phased a bit. She is a very social girl and has never had a problem making new friends. She loves being around all her friends, she loves learning new things, she loves wearing new school clothes, and she seems to like her new teacher. As a mom, it makes me happy knowing that when I drop her off everyday, the place she spends the majority of her childhood, is a happy place for her.



She said yesterday, "Mom before you know it, I will be in the 3rd grade" and I responded with, "Before I know it you will be going off to college!" Sort of makes me not want to put her to bed tonight and just hold her close and try to keep her from growing up.

Mr. Barrie knew a thing or 2 about children and life and about how as humans it is a struggle to deal with the fact that things change and will never be the same. I feel I can relate to so much of what James Barrie wrote about and cared about. I encourage you to watch Peter Pan again (and this time, not through the eyes of a child.) I also encourage you to watch this movie:


Not only is Johnny Depp amazing as ever, but it is such a touching, beautiful movie. One of my favorites of all time!

Valentine's Day Wrap Up

Valentine's Day this year was really great for us. It was on of the first I can remember that Charlie was actually home with us. Instead of doing some romantic evening out just the two of us, we decided to have family dinner at home and make it special and fun for the kids. Of course the girls had a blast during the day at their schools having parties, making crafts, and eating sweets. So it is always hard to top the fun that they have at school. SO when they got home I had a little Valentine's table set with goodies for each of them. I then made them breakfast for dinner (one of their favorites!) I attempted heart shaped pancakes, but was having some technical difficulties with that. They loved them just the same regardless of the shape. Whew! Then I made sausage, bacon, and had strawberries and yogurt for them. While all this smelled divine, Charlie and I opted to try the Thai place down the street, so he went and got take-out. We had chicken satay, yellow chicken curry, and chicken pad thai. It was really good, but not as good as Sea Siam in Keller, TX. I will say, though, that here in Hermosa Beach and the South Bay, there are about a hundred different Thai places in a 5 mile radius, so we will find one we love. I am sure of it.

For dessert we had chocolate fondue. You can tell by the pictures that the girls LOVED it. Every time we do fondue I ask myself, "Why don't you do this more often?" It is always so good. We had pound cake, strawberries, and bananas with the chocolate. YUM! So it was a nice evening at home and a great Valentine's!

Back to School

I cannot believe it! Where did the summer go and where did my baby Sarah go? I know she is only in first grade, but in the blink of an eye we will be dropping her off 2 blocks from the school for junior high and I cannot make time slow down. I so badly want to see her grow and become a beautiful woman, but I think childhood is going just a bit too fast.

So 1st grade...new teacher, new friends. Thankfully she knows a few girls in her class, but for the most part it is all new people. I hope she has a great day. I hope she likes her teacher and I hope she has fun with her new friends. She was so excited last night that she didn't want to read a story, but go right to bed. She looked so super cute this morning in her new dress and her spectacular shoes. They are very sparkly and they light up when she walks. Lauren is very jealous. (No worries Lauren, they will be yours in about 4 years!)

If you look closely, you can see the purple light on the carpet coming from Sarah's shoes!

Lauren, on the other hand, was starting a new class today at her daycare. She is not technically in pre-school, but it is school all the same. She is not wearing uniforms yet, but that is really the only difference. She was a little shy at first, gingerly walking into her class and checking it out. I know once her BFF Addison shows up she will snap out of it and be full of energy. She has missed "her Addison" all summer and is so glad she will be back in her class!

Christmas Spirit

This is what we woke up to today....

Can you believe it? Well, for us here in the Dallas area, it was a little bit of a shock. They weren't even saying we had much of a chance at all. It was beautiful! Sarah loved it and Lauren was unsure.....

This was even more surprising than the snow itself........The kids actually had school!



You have to remember that we live in the part of the country that if it looks cold, flights will be delayed, if we have flurries..the airport shuts down and school is cancelled, if it all out snows..you are held captive in your home until further notice.

I think the only saving grace is that it didn't start snowing until 7am, caught everyone off guard, and there was no time to cancel! I volunteered at Sarah's school today, and let me tell you, the kids were wired!

So this is how we finished our day...

Lauren had her little Christmas show at her daycare. The called it the Carol of Lights. Her little class sang Jingle Bells. She was so darn cute if I may say so myself! What a day to get you into the Christmas spirit!