FIVE? How is that possible?

Gigi turned five.  She was disappointed that she had to go to school, even though she loves it.  Every other birthday, we have always cut corners with preschool, or I have joined her at NatureChild.  Well, now it is kindy, and we just can't skip school.  Instead, I surprised Gigi and came to her class in the morning.  Here she is when she first saw me.

Mrs. P gave her a birthday crown.

And, I read two of her favorite books.  The Curious Garden, a gift from Zoe, and Three Hens and a Peacock, from Grandma.  Mrs. P had never read either of the books which was great.  Seemed like most of the children had not heard of Three Hens... but a few have The Curious Garden.

The Halloween costumes arrived on her birthday so of course, we tried them on.

And, for her birthday, she received Periwinkle costume (Tinkerbell's sister in the new movie)

We had a lovely traditional steak dinner with Kelli as a special guest.

All in all, a lovely day.

Palm Springs Weekend

After my soccer game on Saturday, we drove to Palm Springs to meet Grandma and Grandpa who were there for the week.  We stayed at a Marriott resort and I learned to swim.  All. By. Myself.

I also joined Jordan (and Grandma) in waiting and waiting for the bus and then finally riding it.

Even though it was 100 degrees in Palm Springs, we had a fun few days and I wished I could have stayed longer.

Periwinkle

Grandma, Mama, my friend and I saw the new Tinkerbell movie at El Capital theatre.  I loved her sister, Periwinkle.  I am not sure if it is because she has a name similar to Auntie Peri or if I just like her because of the movie.   For my birthday, Mama got me a Periwinkle costume and I may just wear it for my birthday party.

Soccer!

Soccer with Nyla started right after Labor Day.  We practice on Fridays at 5 and have games early Saturday morning.  We have gotten to know two parks we haven't been to before and have had some fun having dinner in the park after practice.  Nice way to end the week.

My team is called "Blue Sky".  We have been playing great for 4-5 year olds with little practice.

Practice includes "duck duck goose" and then beating a teammate to the goal with the ball.

Since it is my birthday this month, Pepa and Grandma and Grandpa have been able to come to a few of my games.

One of my friends from preschool and also a friend of Nyla's is on the pink team.  We haven't played them yet but she is at the park on Saturday mornings.

Our relaxing Labor Day Weekend

We started out the weekend with a beach morning on Saturday.  The waves were huge.

We had friends over for a barbecue on Saturday afternoon, including Allen's famous ribs.

We went for a bike ride (kids) and walk (the rest of us) up the boardwalk to the skate park.  Gigi (and Jordan) were offered to get on the 4x4 police "car" but Jordan was too scared.

We watched the skateboarders from high up (well some of us did)

On Sunday, we went back to Mother's Beach, both the park and the beach and Jordan saw the Water Bus....of course, he insisted we board the bus, so off we went to Burton Chace Park.  Gigi and Jordan gathered up pieces of the trees in the park (they look like snakes).

Of course, nap time is always part of our day.  Jordan just loves his Daddy.

Today, we made our own bubbles to refill our bubble wands.

Here are pictures of our new walkway in the garden and the beautiful garden in bloom.

We picked and ate many raspberries from the garden.

And, there are some habaneros growing but not quite ripe yet.....we were hoping for some jerk chicken this summer but looks like it will be a fall event.

On Saturday morning, we went to a yard sale and picked up all of these "legos".  We built a few houses with them, including a roof on this one.

This afternoon, Gigi spelled a bunch of words on the fridge, including "Cat", "Hat", "Rat", "Bat", "Fat", "Fit", "Hit", "Pin", "Pink", "Zoe" and "Jordan".  She is learning fast!

A perfect afternoon for some painting...

And more letter practice "Lemonade" for the lemonade stand she painted

Little brother got involved in the fun

And, we ended our weekend at the park for an early evening romp, including dinner at the park.