Student of the Month

Our precious little girl received a Student of the Month Award today.  We're very proud of her. 

She's been a sponge, absorbing everything she is taught since kindergarten.  She loves to learn and is excelling, especially in reading.  She is at the top of her class.

Congratulations Sweetheart!!

Sophia's $100

I know, I know it's been forever again!  It's getting close.  I feel it in my bones!  I'm going to be Super Mom soon and will have an immaculate house, be on top of capturing and documenting the daily wonderful things my kiddos say and do here on this blog, and of course be able to juggle everything and everyone in perfect harmony.  In the meantime, I had to post Sophia's beautiful note.  It's my favorite school work that the kids brought home this week.

Just in case you can't read it it says ...

As part of the activities in celebrating their 100th day of school, their class was given this assignment:

WHAT I'D DO WITH $100 ...

Sophia's reply: first I'd give money to the church.  Second I'd get a toy mater for my brother.  Finally, I'd get myself a bike.  Sophia

How totally precious is that?!  She was listening ..we had a lesson on tithing a couple of Family Home Evening's ago.  More so, she's always mindful of her little brother, Steven.  And if you notice the order, she put herself last.  Even though her current bike just has a broken training wheel, this princess is getting a new bike!! 

Notes like these are great testaments that we have the best kids!!

Artwork

At "Back to School Night" a week and half ago, parents got to formally meet their child's teacher.  Sophia's class prepared a guess who portrait for their parents that was hung around in the classroom.  Now, isn't this just a spittin' image of my little girl?  It was an easy spot for me.  The, "I love to read" was a dead giveaway  ..and the hair (hehe).  That's my girl!!!  :)

*Wrinkled because she stuffed it in her backpack!*

I have brown eyes.

I have brown hair.

I am a girl.

I love to read.

Who am I? Sophia (this wasn't filled in at the BTSN) 

Speaking of Back to School Night.  We had a scare that evening.  Sophia, being her active self, fell off the chair and bumped her head on the hard floor in the middle of her teacher's speech!  Wow, did she have a huge lump.  Of course I monitored her closely that night and prayed she's be alright.  Surely didn't want another E.R. trip.  She was back to her 100% self by morning.  Thank heavens.

Sorry we missed your baby shower Summer.  I had to take Sophia straight home and keep a close eye on her.  Thanks for understanding.

First Day of School

It's official.  We have a 1st and 4th grader in the house!  Yeap, today was the first day back to school for these munchkins.  Hallelujah!!  Yes, you read that right.  I'm so glad they're back!  This summer was exhausting!!  I'll have to catch up on the happenings later.  Anyway, they were pretty happy with their teachers.  David actually got the teacher he wanted.  Sophia described her teacher as funny and nice.  Happy that they're off to a good start.  Speaking of start, last night my home teachers came over to give the kids a blessing to start off the school year.  It was a last minute indirect request (facebooked a wife to hint to her hubby, my HT) and they came through for us!  Actually one of the men was our official home teacher while the other came to fill-in for the other.  Both I'm sure were tired and ready for bed but they came to see to our need first.  Love the priesthood!  Thanks Brother F. and C.!  You guys are awesome!!  I even sneaked in for a blessing too. :)  ..btw, Steven wasn't in the mood for company so he was off in another room playing and missed the whole event. 

We were cutting it very close to making it on time for school so these were the only snaps that I was able to manage getting before we took off.  I have a few of Sophia in her class on my phone but I haven't figured out how to upload pictures from there yet. Anywho, here are our cuties!! :D

Our cool 4th grader.

Yes, she had to sport her Justin Bieber shirt ..she's growing too fast!

Firsts

David had his first judo injury today.  He went to judo class with his dad this morning and David tells me that he did something wrong when he did a roll.  He was in great pain so Dave took him to urgent care.  David came home with a brace similar to this Googled image (he didn't want his picture taken).  He said that the doctor told him that he suffered a small crack on his clavicle.  It should heal on its own but he's to see an orthopedist for further assessment.  David's in no pain now ..it actually subsided while he was in the urgent care waiting room.  In fact, at this very moment he's playing Wii with such gusto!

Also a first today was Sophia's full blown hug with a random boy!  While Dave and David was at judo, Sophia, Steven and I were at church stake conference.  About the last 20 minutes or so of the session, a boy in front of us was lured to our aisle by Sophia's drawing board.  Sophia didn't mind sharing it with him.  At the end of the conference, the boy's mother and I discovered that they were hugging.  Sophia's face buried on the boy's chest, both kids' arms wrapped tightly around each other.  So cute and scary at the same time for me (I thought the boy was at least a couple of years older and I suppose I jumped 20 years ahead).  The boy's mother however beamed and voiced adoration.  She kept saying how cute Sophia was.  Then we went on our way.  Apparently the boy chased after Sophia and when he finally caught up with her, they hugged again.  Mother and I then introduced each other and our kids.  Although no numbers were exchanged in the brief conversation, a play date might be up ahead ...Sophia wants to track him down!  She definitely wants to see Spencer again.  Aww, the joys of childhood.  ~Oh by the way, the boy turns out to also be 5 years old ... he's just tall for his age. 

Oh my, my kiddos are growing up! 

(images acquired through Google Images)

Praying Mantis

Yesterday we had a couple of visitors ... praying mantises.  One at the front door and another at our dining room window.  Sophia took the opportunity to sing to one of them.  She has been learning a lot of nursery songs in kindergarten and loves to sing them every chance she gets.  So why not to a praying mantis?

By the way, I alerted the kids to the insect.  I called out, "Look, it's a praying mantis!".  Later, another one showed up at the dinning room window and I overheard Sophia telling her Dad, "It doesn't look like it's praying."  Too funny!  Ya had to be there!!  :D

First Day of School

Summer sure flew!  It's already the first day of the school year!!  Way too fast but at the same time I'm finally glad it's here.

David is now in 3rd grade.  My little guy is growing up.  He refuses to wear his backpack on both shoulders and he gave me the you're embarrassing me look when I took a picture of him at school.  If looks could kill ...  Anyway, his first day went well.  He has a few of his previous classmates in class with him this year so he was happy about that.  Unfortunately, his best friend wasn't but they met up during lunch break.

Sophia is now in kindergarten.  It was a bit rough for her.  She shed some tears (silently broke my heart) but she asked me to wipe them off so that people wouldn't see, then she tried to brave the rest of the day.  After school she told me that she had cried again ...wanting me, so she didn't eat her lunch (ugh, broke my heart again!). 

We got to school early so I befriended a couple while waiting and had our daughters meet so they'll know each other at least.  Both were quite timid but I can see that they'll warm up to each other soon.  Then when the class door opened, I think it struck Sophia that she'd be on her own (understandably pretty scary) so came the tears.  But overall she did great. 

By the way, this will be an adjustment on Steven as well.  It'll be just he and I for 4hrs of the school day (well, 3hrs of that Dave is home too but we both run errands so Steven will mostly be with me).  Anyway, Steven was already asking for his brother and sister this morning.  Perhaps once he gets potty training down we'll put him in preschool so he can be with other kids as well.

Oh, the house was sure quiet for awhile.  Nice change of pace.  Now I've got to take advantage of the mostly kid-free time and be more productive.

What a scare!

Last Thursday Sophia and Steven fell off from a stage (at church's gym room) and down came a small portable wood table down with them.  Of course I wasn't in the room to witness this.  I heard the cries so I came running to them.  I took Steven to comfort him while Ryan (my friend's 9yo daughter) already comforting Sophia.  I thought nothing much about it, thinking that they got a good bang from the table (they were alert, no dizziness, no blood, no fainting, etc).  We went home shortly thereafter.  At home Sophia complained that her head hurt so I gave her some Motrin and then she tried to sleep.  But then she started to throw up.  I got worried and called my friend to ask Ryan what had happened (David was in the room but didn't see what happened and Sophia gave me a vague answer).  In the mean time, Sophia was in and out of falling asleep and throwing up.  After one too many and complaining of dizziness, I took her to E.R. 

They took her in fairly quickly.  The doctor assessed her to be physically (cognitive) fine but due to the nausea/vomiting, he ordered a CT Scan.  The medications for headache and n/v that the doctor ordered helped her.  We just had to play the waiting game until the results of the scan came in because apparently no in house radiologist was on duty during the nights so they had to fax over the test and await their response.  As the wait got longer and longer I figured it was a good sign that all was well, thinking that if there was a major problem they would have grabbed Sophia.  Anyway, 2.5hrs later the doctor finally called us in and said that the CT scan was perfect.  He said that Sophia had suffered a concussion (bruise on the brain) so keep a close eye on her for the next 24hrs and have a follow-up with her pediatrician in the next 1-3 days. 

The following day, I took Sophie to our family doctor.  Through modern technology, he was able to have access to her CT scan results right there and then from his computer.  I got to see the image on the screen as he was looking at it and explaining what he saw... pretty cool!! 

Except for a headache yesterday morning (later relieved by Tylenol), Sophia was back to her rambunctious self.  She's a tough cookie!!  I often complain of her rowdiness, but I'd certainly take that over a health scare, hands down!!!  ~We thank thee Heavenly Father for keeping her well. :)

Here she is singing & dancing to a Justin Bieber song at Barnes & Noble the day before the accident.

The sales clerk nearby got a kick watching her sing and dance.

It's official ...

... Sophia starts kindergarten this August!  We just received the school's kindergarten placement note.  She will go to the afternoon class ... just what I requested ... so that she gets off school at the same time with David. 

Wow, where did the time go?!  It seems like just a couple of days ago that she looked like this ...

First day in pre-school

Today was Sophia's first day in pre-school.  At home before school, she cried telling me that she didn't want to go.  Her tearful pleading just about broke my heart!  So we offered a prayer for comfort and then I told her that now Heavenly Father was with her.  She calmed down and off we went.  At school she initially clinged to me then once her teacher guided her to the painting station, she was in!  She braved the whole day at school and had a fun time.  She's such a trooper!!

After school, she had a special treat.  The book and swag (goodies) I won from a book contest on her birthday finally came in yesterday.  So we had a make-up session.  She was ecstatic!!  She loved her extra birthday treat.

Birthday party at the park

This past Saturday we had Sophia's birthday party at our local park.  It turned out to be a beautiful sunny-windy day.  An especially wonderful setting for the kids.  They had fun playing in the playground (not pictured) and at the wide open field.  We had the usual festivities ... grub, talking and laughing, games, pinata, birthday cake, and presents (opened at home).  Overall, a wonderful family fun afternoon.  ~Unable to make the party but sent their love and regrets were:  my dad, my sister, my brothers and their kids, and Auntie Tish.

Thank you family for celebrating Sophia's birthday with us.  We had a terrific time.  You are awesome!!

Couldn't find my still camera so these pictures were taken from my cell phone camera.

P.S.  Our prayers are with you Aunt Debbie!

Sophia is 4

Hip hip hooray, today is Sophia's special day!!  She is 4 years old.  Happy birthday Princess!!

Here's a glimpse of her day.

 She was happy to wake up to birthday balloons

I won nail polish & signed bookmarkers, so Sophia and I had fun painting our nails blue!

While Lil David was in school, the rest of the fam went to IHOP for breakfast.

She's sporting an Auntie Monica smile here.

 Then her daddy had to go to work so off the two lil ones & I to Toys R Us for shopping.

Ahh, Auntie Tish influence going on here.

 She ended up picking a jewelry making set ...Lola influence?

Whew, that was tiring!

Sleepy look like Grandma Bertha or Aunt Sheila.

 After picking up her Kuya from school, off to Chick-fil-A for lunch and play

(Not pictured): Then lil David wanted to go to the dollar store to get presents for his sister.

Sophia chose a Dora hairbrush & a piggy puppet.

 Birthday cake time!

A simple family celebration.  Then coming Saturday, a birthday party in her honor will take place at our local park and another trip to Sea World by the end of the year.

WE LOVE YOU DEARLY SOPHIA!

Silly Sophia

Conversations yesterday morning with Sophia:

Sophia: "What are you doing with my chonies?"
Me: "I'm putting them away because I just washed them."
Sophia: "Why did you wash them?"
Me: "Because they were dirty?"
Sophia: "Oh,...why are they dirty?"
Me: "Because you used them."
Sophia: "Oh,...why did I use them?"
Me: "So you wouldn't be naked."
Sophia: "Oh yeah, I forgot."

Sophia: "What are you doing?"
Me: "I'm washing my feet."
Sophia: "Why?"
Me: "Because they're dirty.?
Sophia: "Oh,... why are they dirty?"
Me: "Because I didn't put socks on and I didn't mop the floors yet."
Sophia: "Oh,...why didn't you mop?"
Me: "Because I just haven't gotten around to it yet."
Sophia: "Oh,...why?"
Me: "Becaaauuse..." (not agitated, just finding this amusing)
Sophia: interrupts, "Mommy, I love you!"
Me: "I love you too, Sugarbooger!"

Me: "Get dressed then I'll give you this chocolate, but don't tell your brothers because I don't have enough for you all."
Sophia: giddy, "Okay! Thanks Mom"
~A little bit later, I overhear her talking to her brother David:
Sophia: "Mommy got me a pink chocolate, after I get dress ...but I'm not suppose to tell you."

Growing tight

Because David goes to school, Sophia and Steven end up spending a little more time together and therefore growing tight. Being only 19mos apart doesn't hurt as well. Anyway, here's just a few captured love moments.