Whimsical ME

My Family - by, Nyomi

It was the end of grading period last week.

I'm pleased to report that Nyomi is getting all A's ... so far.  Phew.

Nyomi's teacher reviewed some of Nyomi's work with me during teacher conference.

She showed me that Nyomi had learned how to fold paper into a house and that they had discussed their families.

This is what I saw.

The teacher told me that Nyomi really liked to talk about how "different" her family was.  She thought Nyomi was quite amusing. 

This is why.

Nyomi S.  My family

My Dad is lighter than the rest of my family . My Mom is the darkest in my family.  My brother is so weerd so I think he is from a diferent world.  I am going on a vacashon with my famly.  I love my Mom Dad and my brother and I wont forget aboat little cute Nadya.

I love My hole family <3

 

{{{ SMILE }}}

 

In our home we like to talk about how different we are ... how different PEOPLE in general are.  We do not have a lot of diversity in my community so I have to take advantage of what I have as teaching moments.  I tell my kids that people come in all colors, shapes and sizes and that WE ARE ALL WONDERFUL.  I tell them that it's okay to be different ... that different is good and beautiful.  

 

My favorite line.

I love my whole family!

Nyomi's Bday Celebration

We really like to celebrate the kids birthday's here.  I enjoy planning with the kids and making the whole event come into fruition.  Nyomi turned 7 in August but because of several conflicts we scheduled her party for September 10th.

Nyomi has loved The Little Mermaid since she was 2 years-old.  I thought she might eventually switch to another Disney Princess but she has never wavered from her fascination with the red-headed mermaid.  Perhaps, I somehow passed along my LOVE for the ocean through DNA or something ... at least I'd like to take some credit for it.  

This year she wanted to have a Little Mermaid birthday party, but I have a thing for keeping it not so ... um ... cheesy.  We compromised and we decided to have an Under the Sea Celebration with the Little Mermaid inspirations.  Nyomi was quite happy with it and so was I.  

I planned it for a while but didn't get to actually doing anything until the week of.  Thankfully, I have a super talented friend, Jessica who helped me shop, decorate and clean-up.  I'm a lucky gal.

The invite asked our guest to come dressed in their prettiest turquoise and white.  I loved it when all the girls came in wearing such pretty stuff and they all looked fantastic.  I really appreciated the moms going the extra mile in getting their daughters ready.  It made for a cute group shot.

I'm not sure where I got the idea to blow-up balloons and transforming them into fish but it turned out so wonderful.  I purchased the extra large balloons from Party City, felt and some foam (that were already pre-cut into butterflies ... with Jes' good eye she saw that I could cut the butterflies and make them into the fin) from the Dollar store.  I used a circle punch to cut the pupil that coordinated with the fin.  I used double sided tape to adhere the felt and fin to the balloon.  It didn't stay on too well but it served it's purpose of lasting through the party.

The Details:

the food

Sea Shells (mac-n-cheese)

Fish crackers

watermelon (I tried to cut them into stars for starfish but it was more difficult than I thought it would be, so I gave up)

Water to drink

Seaweed

and 

The Little Mermaid playing in the background.

Nyomi's bff's from school

Natalie

Emily

Julia

Our neighbor friend, Amelia.

our cul-de-sac and Jes' daughter Lily.

Dylan didn't fit around the table so he had his special seat on the counter.  He was quite happy with these arrangements.  He said he didn't want to sit with all of the giiiiiiiiirl, yuck.

After lunch ... while some of the girls finished up the other girls that were through with their lunch drew/colored on poster board that was taped to the wall.  Girls LOVE to color and draw!

My beautiful niece, Ella.

Adam told Ella to look for something inside my lens and the other kids heard so they all gathered up behind her and she was quite embarrassed.  I think it's a pretty funny picture.

The Gang.

Goofy Gang.

Musical chairs.

Who's gonna win?

NY - O - MI!

They were so happy that she won and Emma was such a good sport.

Nyomi won ----  Fish Poop!

That was Adam's idea.

The kids thought it was HILARIOUS!!!

Nyomi shared fish poop with the gang.

Dylan was in hysterics about eating fish poop (milk duds).

Stick-the-black-pearl-on-the-sea-shell

Claire won this game and she won ... chocolate covered pearls (Junior Mints).

Opening of the PRESENTS... always very exciting.  Nyomi passed her presents around so the girls could all admire her loot.

The Cake made by Adam and Nyomi.

The Mess.

All of the fish balloons were pulled down and it was super messy.

BUT 

so much fun to celebrate and play.

(thanks to Jes who stayed around to help me clean up)

This Saturday was super busy because aside from throwing this party I also woke up at 1:30am to run 20 miles.  I was tired but somehow I managed to stay awake until 3pm.  

Love my little princess ... so sad to see her grow up ... but so exciting too.

 

2nd Grade, here she comes!

Back-to-school

has caught me completely off guard.

I mean, yeah, I knew she was starting school but I was in denial.  Holding on to dear life to my summer schedule of waking up whenever, driving if I wanted and no homework.  Yes, even if it included lots of policing fights.  With the rush of registration and final last minute purchases of supplies Nyomi was off to school this morning.

I'm going to miss my little princess.

I'm already looking forward to Fall Break.

I love it when my kids are home with me, I'm sorta psycho like that.

My mom will be in Guatemala for Nyomi's birthday so she bought Nyomi's gift beforehand

AND

Nyomi was so stinking excited about her gift.

Last school year, Nyomi begged for TWINKLE TOES (Sketchers that light up) but she had shoes for the year and I told her she could have them next year.  She waited patiently.  My mom remembered that Nyomi had asked for them and took her to the store to get them.  She also got some cute boots that she will wear in the winter.  Nyomi wore her Twinkle Toes the whole day she got them and even wanted to sleep in them (Adam convinced her to take them off).

These shoes were made for walking.

Excited for school ...... hoooray!

Adam was able to take her to school on her first day.  I was pooped from running 9 miles ... and had a lot of work to do around the home.  

Nadya wasn't quite sure what was going on when Nyomi stepped out of the door.  Nadya cried for a little bit and quickly forgot when I fed her breakfast.

Nyomi,

Hope you have a great first day of school.  Hope you meet a lot of new friends.  Hope you LOVE your teacher.  Hope I don't miss you too much.

love you,

mommy

 

The Girl Who Lost Her First Tooth

I'm not quite sure why having Nyomi lose her first tooth makes me tear up.  I try not to be the emotional person, but things have made me tear up pretty quick recently.  Must be something in the air.  Nyomi's tooth became loose on our trip to California.  I convinced her that it wasn't loose that it could wait until we got home.  She kept complaining about her tooth when she ate different foods.  I knew it would come out soon but I wasn't really prepared;  I was in denial about the whole thing.  

On Saturday, Adam called me while I was out with my mom and told me that he was going to pull Nyomi's tooth.  I convinced him NOT TO ... that I needed to take some pictures and that it was too dark to get decent pictures, blah blah ... I won the night.  But on Sunday it was clearly ready to come out and Nyomi was super duper excited about finally losing her first tooth.  She was so brave.  

She's changing.  She's growing up.

ugh.

Can you see Dylan back here giggling about the pain Nyomi was experiencing?  Funny little guy.  Adam tried to pull it once but it wasn't lose enough so Nyomi worked on it for a little while 

AND

She was so PROUD!

The Tooth Fairy gently slid a $1 bill under her pillow.  During the night she found it and came running into our room beaming with excitement.

Sweet Nyomi, I'm going to miss your baby toothy smile ... cute-perfect-little-white-teeth!

Hello Summer!

School is out.

Weather is warm.

Going to bed late, getting up late.

Flip flops.

Sun dresses.

Shorts.

Road trips.

No schedule.

No sack lunches to make.

No carpool.

Movie nights.

Game nights.

Pool days.

Kids, Kids, Kids ... because they grow too fast.

daughter+father

Everyday the gnomes and daddy play various games on the way to drop her off at school.  The most recent game is called "the question game."  The rule is that daddy asks a question and the gnomes gets 3 guesses to answer correctly and then vice versa.

The other day gnomies asked "what does mommy like to do?"  After 3 guesses she gave daddy the correct answer:  "Mommy likes being healthy!"

So daddy, ever so intelligent, asks "what does daddy like to do?"  The gnomes' first answer was "daddy likes to do ... NOTHING!"  Ouch!

Apparently daddy not being home during the day equates to "nothing."  Hilarious.

(written by Adam)

 

The weather in AZ has been fantastic this week and I couldn't help but ENJOY the gloriousness by being outside, opening my door, opening my windows and taking LOTS of pictures.

Nyomi allowed me to use the beautiful evening light and just gave me so many wonderful shots.  She just lights up in front of the camera ... she's typically shy, but a whole different personality arrives when she gets in front of the camera, it's amazing to witness.

The Funny things Kids say

Last night Adam and I were catching up on American Idol.  The kids came downstairs and Adam wondered who the kids favorite singer would be so he went back the re-caps and let them listen.  

Adam's question was, "Hey, which one is your favorite singer?"

After we watched Nyomi says, "The first one and the last one."

Which, were Scotty and Lauren.  Awwww ... she's a country singer fan.  LOL!

BUT

then she goes on to say,

"I think I've fallen in LOVE."

With who?

"The first one (Scotty), he's soooooo handsome."

Holy Smokes!!!!

Made our night.

She told us not to say anything to anyone .... so if you know Nyomi please don't tell her you know.  THank YOU!

all girl

Nyomi has been coming home from school earlier this week, which has made life a little easier in the afternoons.  What a difference it makes to have an extra hour a day in the afternoons ... homework gets done faster and there is more playtime AND even naps have been had by all!

Today though, Nyomi decided to throw me a curve ball during homework-time.  She was highly emotional and couldn't bare it ... there were many tears and a lot of frustration.  I really can't WAIT until the teenage years, so looking forward to it (ugh!).

Luckily, we were able to get some photos of Nyomi BEFORE the meltdown.  I wondered if she was ever going to be the baby-doll type ... and it looks like its finally happening.  She's quite fond of her doll named Miranda -- she makes sure she's dressed in pj's at night and a cute outfit during the day ...  It's quite precious!

Sweet Child of Mine

It was cloudy and cold this particular afternoon.  I knew that my sweet Nyomi was tired after a long day of school and was looking for any excuse to delay homework -- SO, I asked her if she'd be willing to take some photos -- to what she said, "Yes, mommy that would be GREAT!".  So thankful for her!!

We had a lot of fun rummaging through her closet and finally being able to use her rain boots.  She's quite excited about her PINK rain boots that are pretty useless in Arizona -- but I have a vision of a family portrait of us in rain boots -- so, not completely useless, right?

There are so many more images that I haven't had the opportunity to go through just yet.  For now I want to remember Nyomi's little "angel kiss" (what the common folk refer to as moles) right between her nose and her upper lip ... such a beauty mark for my little beauty.

My sweet Nyomi when you are old enough to read through this blog ... I hope that you KNOW that I LOVE you so much.  I am hard on YOU because I know that YOU can do it and YOU will!

itty-bitty pigtail

Sweet Nadya wore her very first pigtail today!  The start of many hair-do.s to come, now that I've had sufficient practice with Nyomi.  I didn't know what the heck I was doing for several years ... but now, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve.

I have to go and get some cute little clips or flowers for her hair.  Everything I have is rather big.

AND

what a perfect opportunity to get a SISTERS photo, especially when Nadya was looking so beautiful.  Nyomi ADORES her baby sister and constantly tells me how much she'd like for Nadya to STAY just the way she is right now.  I remind Nyomi that I feel the same way about her ... they are growing much too fast.  I'm grateful to watch the bond that these two girls have for each other already.  Nyomi and I laugh about how Nadya will soon be crawling and slobbering all over her toys.  Nadya is a very lucky girl to have Nyomi as her BIG sister.  Nyomi is incredibly sweet, patient and so loving.