I am the most blessed girl in the WORLD!!!!!!! :)

Project 365 Week 38

This post will look as if I did not take many photos for this week, but they are in seperate posts... found a few for fun to fill in the gaps.  :)

Sunday, September 11th - no pic

Monday, September 12th - no pic

Tuesday, September 13th - Separate post - Elia and the flower

Wednesday, September 14th - Elia's 1st Birthday!!! - Separate post

Thursday, September 15th

Elia up from her nap. She put a headband on straight away... she loves putting on headbands...

 and shoes...

 more headband modeling...

she also LOVES the stairs...

 Friday, September 16th

Noah has this thing where he likes to hold and feel his shirt with his fingers... see... :)

 Daddy's Shoes!!!  LOVE!

...we are on our way to pick up GRANDMA from the Airport!!!... separate post on her time here! :)

Saturday, September 17th

Scott's Orchard with Grandma!

Kindergarten Open House

Not only was yesterday Elia's First Birthday, it was also Liliana's Kindergarten Open House!  Two HUGE milestone and SUPER-SPECIAL occasions making for an extra emotional day for Mommy!  GOOD emotions, but LOTS... hehe!  FUN!

I took pictures the whole time and one long video of her showing us around... here we go...

Liliana showing us the "All About Me" book she had made at school... the picture she is showing us in this shot is her family... us!  AWE!

This Open House was SO MUCH FUN and we were just BLOWN AWAY and IMPRESSED BEYOND EXPECTATION of the detail, organization, and creativity of the entire room!  WOW!!!

Liliana luring Daddy on to show him more...

Liliana's table... he sits on the right seat there...

Story/Book corner:

The kids names are everywhere...

This is the attendance board at the entrance of the room... when the children arrive they take their froggy off the board and place it in the basket...

Their cubbies... this is where they place their snack each morning...

Their private locker room... no doors = no finger boo-boo's (my personal assumption).  Liliana's locker is the second to last on top... see her red mat in there... she lays on it during quiet time...

Daddy meeting Mrs. Then, Liliana's teacher!  She is precious, very poised, sweet, but not overly sweet, just a real excellence and sweetness about her... She hugged Liliana when she saw her tonight and told us about Liliana that "they just don't any sweeter"... she also told us about how conciencous Liliana is and gave us an example of it... ;)  SO SWEET!!!

The carpet - circle time area.

The letter on the tree changes throught the school year... and the children bring in something from home to put on the tree that starts with the letter represented.

Listen Center... where they can read a book while listening along.  Liliana is pointing to a little microphone that Mrs. Then uses... don't know what for.  :)  Maybe for when kids r too loud... ??

Kids earn points for various things like listening, raising their hands, saying "Thank you, etc... Liliana was the second kid in her class to reach the 25 Power points earning a prize, your name announced over the school-wide loud speaker and visit to see the principle.  ...SO... We walk to school on occasion, maybe once or twice a week and I was SO thankful we did today because I got the sweetest treat!!!  As my neighbor and I and the kids were walking home from dropping the girls off at school, about a half-a-block away we heard the loud speaker... they said Good Morning... announced what was for lunch then listed of about 12 school-wide students that had eaned 25 Bowers Power Points and I got to hear them say "Liliana Capps" among those names!!!  AWE!!!!  SUPER-SPECIAL TREAT for me that morning!!!  I said to my neighbor "I am so glad we walked today of all days!"  :) All smiles!!!

Girls on left, boys on the right... some kind of picture list of all in her class...

 Mommy noticed a coffee cup on her desk... hoping I can send in Starbucks gift cards... hmmm... got ideas on how to show Mrs. Then how much we appreciate her!

 Liliana's apple is the red one right on top in the center!

In the hallway.

 We are SO PROUD of you, Liliana!!!  You LOVE Kindergarten and it shows... you are only 2 weeks in and are excelling and learning SO much!!!  SCHOOL is COOL... with this in your heart, you will soar through life!  WE LOVE YOU AND JUST LOVE WATCHING YOU BLOSSOM... :)

Elia's First Birthday!!!

Noah and I baked Elia's Birthday cake while Liliana was at school and they frosted and decorated it when she got home...

 Elia reaching and begging for frosting... look at those lips... :)

 Noah's way of resting his knife... hahaha!  oh, boy!  :)

Chicken Nuggets and Mac-n-cheese for dinner!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.... !!! 

XOXOXOXOXOX

 For the first few minutes she very carefully used two fingers to grab tastes of frosting... then much later started grabbing... she did not seem to like the feeling of all that mess on her hands and finally had enough!

Too sweet for words!!! 

I cried that night... our last baby's FIRST Birthday... a big deal for Mommy... a huge milestone... this whole infant phase is officially done for us (technically speaking)... no more rear-facing carseat, no more baby food, she is walking... I have always felt like I could hold a newborn in my arms FOREVER... There are two extremes of women... the Mary's and the Martha's and I am so much a Mary, that I could sit around the house holding a baby and breastfeeding and bonding forever... but like Ecclesiastes tells us, there is a time and a season to every purpose and I embrace each one of those seasons of life and live in the MOMENT and live it to the fullest with no regrets, only celebrations, with thanksgiving and joy and excitement for what is ahead!!!  

Elia's First Birthday!!!

First thing this morning... :)

Butterfly Garden Flowerful FUN

 While Liliana was at school, I took Noah, Manny and Elia to our favorite park and brought my camera... here is our adventure with a Black Eyed Susan... she was so cautiously intrigued by this flower... SO SWEET!!!

 I lured her along the path and tried to get her to take the flower from me to hold.

Look at her pointer finger... love how she does this!  She has done this for months!

 There's the other pointer finger...

 "He loves me, he loves me not..."

"He LOVES me!"

 And my-oh-my, do I LOVE HER!!!

Errands With Elia

Today Elia and I went to Walgreens to pick up some photos then to one of my favorite stores, AC Moore... when I parked the van at the latter mentioned location, here is what I found in the back seat... Elia was looking and talking and pointing at herself in her mirror having the biggest time!  Love going out and about with her... she is so EASY and quiet... but she will NOT stay seated in the store carts... those buckles do not hold her in... she still stands up and turns around like 15 times throughout the store... I laugh now, as I write about it!  hehe!  Oh, buggy!  :)