So, back away now if you don't want to hear bragging from me on my kids. :)
We had Isabella's parent teacher conference today. She is doing exceptionally well. She is doing math at 3rd grade level as well as reading at 3rd grade level. She scored leaps and bounds above district and national averages in math and reading. And, the little nerd...um, I mean smart girl...is doing basic algebra problems. Folks, I took algebra in 9th grade. I'm sure the training she does in Math Pentatholan helps as well. Boy, don't I feel smart next to her. LOL She has a very analytical mind and just processes and thinks much, much different than her mama!
As long as she remains socially active and not socially immature I'm all for her being a nerdy, smart girl. LOL She starts indoor soccer in a couple of weeks so we are trying to allow her to branch out as much as possible. Anyway - after the conference today we were super proud of her.
We took the girls to Chuck E Cheese for their first Tasty Tasty Club reward. They had a blast while Steve and I were bored to tears waiting for them to use up their tokens. Isabella has a 1/2 day again tomorrow and then starts spring break!!! We aren't going anywhere major but we do have a jam packed week.
Sunday after church we are heading over to Cincinnati and spending the night at the Hilton and the girls are going to swim in the indoor pool Then Monday we are going to the Newport Aquarium (we got a great package deal for the hotel/aquarium tickets). Tuesday the girls are spending the night with Jack for a sleep over. That sounds kinda funny typing it - having sleep overs with a boy. LOL But, they adore and love Amy, Mark, Christine, Jack and Corey so they will have an awesome time. Wednesday and Thursday we'll take advantage of our zoo and childrens museum memberships and head there for some fun. Friday we head to my moms for a couple of days. Steve is on vacation starting today until next Saturday - yippeee!!!!
Steve took Ava on a date this morning. He is so great about spending special one on one time with each of the girls. They went to McDonalds for pancakes for breakfast and then Ava played on the indoor playground there. Ava and I spend lots and lots and lots of one on one time together - did I mention a lot of time with each other???? LOL But, Isabella and I don't as much other than little trips to the store or Target. So, our next outing - although a couple months away - we are going to go and get a pedicure (me) and she'll get her nails and toenails painted (she just wants to get rhinestones on her toes and fingernails LOL) and then we'll do a little shopping for our trip to the beach at the end of May.
How many more weeks of this basketball stuff do we have left???? It's messing with my shows people. Survivor isn't on AGAIN tonight but The Office and Grey's Anatomy are new so I'm happy. teeheee
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Latest Happenings
Wow, almost a week since a post. Life has just been busy and we've been on the run and the kids have behaved themselves so not much material to write about. :)
Isabella got her report card for the 3rd 9 weeks - all A's again. We are proud of her, of course. We have a parent teacher conference on Thursday. She's nervous about it since it's student led and has to do a lot of the talking. Plus, she has to go over the goals she made during the first conference and she's worried. One of her goals was to not miss a word on her spelling test the entire year. Well, a few weeks ago she made a mistake while writing her sentence (she spelled the word correctly on the test, but spelled it wrong when writing the sentence - the word was friends). So, she's embarassed she didn't meet her goal. Goodness - she places too much pressure on herself for 7!!! We tell her that constantly but she is who she is.
At Steve's restaurant they have a birthday dinner each month to celebrate the employees birthdays for the month. The managers all cook the food themselves and then they show a movie. Steve has been taking Isabella with him for the past 6 months. It's a sweet time between Daddy and his little girl each month. Ava and I went to yoga and had our own bonding time. The kid is glued to me so I think we may be having too much bonding time. LOL
We have been going to a semi-new church the past month. We love it so much!!! We went to it for a few months when we first moved here but just didn't really like the lead minister. Well, that minister has since moved on and the former associate minister is now lead. We love everything about this church!! I joined a ladies bible study the first week we went back and have had an awesome time meeting the sweet, sweet, beautiful ladies during this study.
Well, Ava is once again requesting a "salad sandwich with ranch" (bread, lettuce and ranch dressing) so off to pacify this crazy girl!
Isabella got her report card for the 3rd 9 weeks - all A's again. We are proud of her, of course. We have a parent teacher conference on Thursday. She's nervous about it since it's student led and has to do a lot of the talking. Plus, she has to go over the goals she made during the first conference and she's worried. One of her goals was to not miss a word on her spelling test the entire year. Well, a few weeks ago she made a mistake while writing her sentence (she spelled the word correctly on the test, but spelled it wrong when writing the sentence - the word was friends). So, she's embarassed she didn't meet her goal. Goodness - she places too much pressure on herself for 7!!! We tell her that constantly but she is who she is.
At Steve's restaurant they have a birthday dinner each month to celebrate the employees birthdays for the month. The managers all cook the food themselves and then they show a movie. Steve has been taking Isabella with him for the past 6 months. It's a sweet time between Daddy and his little girl each month. Ava and I went to yoga and had our own bonding time. The kid is glued to me so I think we may be having too much bonding time. LOL
We have been going to a semi-new church the past month. We love it so much!!! We went to it for a few months when we first moved here but just didn't really like the lead minister. Well, that minister has since moved on and the former associate minister is now lead. We love everything about this church!! I joined a ladies bible study the first week we went back and have had an awesome time meeting the sweet, sweet, beautiful ladies during this study.
Well, Ava is once again requesting a "salad sandwich with ranch" (bread, lettuce and ranch dressing) so off to pacify this crazy girl!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Laugh at yourself
I wish I would have known years ago its so much easier when you laugh at yourself. I guess insecurities got the best of me when I was younger but now, I laugh at myself quite often. I can and often embarass myself - usually by opening my mouth. LOL
Last night I had made a roast and we were having roast beef sandwiches. I made a horseradish/mayo spread that I put on mine. Well, I didn't think it had as much zing as I wanted so Steve added some raw horseradish to my sandwich. Oh.my.gosh - my sinus' were burning - it was so strong I couldn't even finish eating it. I think Steve just wanted my sandwich. :)
Ava requested a "salad sandwich with ranch" last night. Translated - she wanted bread, lettuce and some ranch dressing. I did talk her into adding some beef with her salad sandwich.
Last night I had made a roast and we were having roast beef sandwiches. I made a horseradish/mayo spread that I put on mine. Well, I didn't think it had as much zing as I wanted so Steve added some raw horseradish to my sandwich. Oh.my.gosh - my sinus' were burning - it was so strong I couldn't even finish eating it. I think Steve just wanted my sandwich. :)
Ava requested a "salad sandwich with ranch" last night. Translated - she wanted bread, lettuce and some ranch dressing. I did talk her into adding some beef with her salad sandwich.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Tasty Tasty Club Sucess!
A couple weeks ago I started the Tasty Tasty Club in our house. I read about it on another blog. What you do is make little Tasty Club Cards with 7 round dots. When your child eats a serving of a new food or a food they think they do not like - then, they get to punch their dot. Once both kids get the dots all punched out - we go somewhere as a family to eat as a treat that the kids choose. Right now - it's looking to be Chuck E Cheese (Lord, help me!).
It has been a fabulous tool at the dinner table. I don't give them a huge serving at all but enough to equate more than a couple bites. Some of the successes have been -homemade chicken noodle soup with carrots and celery (the carrots and celery were the big obstacles - my kids like raw carrots but use to turn their nose down to cooked carrots), broccoli casserole (again, they both LOVE broccoli but with it going in a casserole, I knew I'd hear complaints), salad that has green peppers, fresh sliced mushrooms and cucumbers (they love salad but usually I don't put any fresh vegetables in it) and tonights dinner was a wild rice, mushroom and sausage casserole. When they walked in the kitchen and found out what I was making - of course, they complained and said they didn't like it. After Isabella took her first bite - she said "wow, this is actually good!". Ava only has only one more punch left and Isabella has two.
Steve has a HUGE pet peeve about people saying they don't like something. I don't have an issue with people having things they don't like - me, I can't stand peas or lima beans - would I try them if presented before me, of course but I won't load my plate up with them, that is guaranteed. My beef is parents who say their kids are so picky or will only eat 4-5 meals. I think it is such a huge disservice to the child and is sad they will be missing out on a lot of good food. Plus, going to friends houses for dinner when all the kid will eat is corn dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza or mac and cheese. It's kinda pathetic in my opinion. But, to each their own!!! That's what makes the world go round I guess.
So, I challenge you to start your own tasty tasty club - it works!
Oh - the reason I started this was I got a bunch of Paula Deen cookbooks at the library and fell in love with tons of different recipes and I wanted an incentive to have the kids eager to try the new meals out with me.
It has been a fabulous tool at the dinner table. I don't give them a huge serving at all but enough to equate more than a couple bites. Some of the successes have been -homemade chicken noodle soup with carrots and celery (the carrots and celery were the big obstacles - my kids like raw carrots but use to turn their nose down to cooked carrots), broccoli casserole (again, they both LOVE broccoli but with it going in a casserole, I knew I'd hear complaints), salad that has green peppers, fresh sliced mushrooms and cucumbers (they love salad but usually I don't put any fresh vegetables in it) and tonights dinner was a wild rice, mushroom and sausage casserole. When they walked in the kitchen and found out what I was making - of course, they complained and said they didn't like it. After Isabella took her first bite - she said "wow, this is actually good!". Ava only has only one more punch left and Isabella has two.
Steve has a HUGE pet peeve about people saying they don't like something. I don't have an issue with people having things they don't like - me, I can't stand peas or lima beans - would I try them if presented before me, of course but I won't load my plate up with them, that is guaranteed. My beef is parents who say their kids are so picky or will only eat 4-5 meals. I think it is such a huge disservice to the child and is sad they will be missing out on a lot of good food. Plus, going to friends houses for dinner when all the kid will eat is corn dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza or mac and cheese. It's kinda pathetic in my opinion. But, to each their own!!! That's what makes the world go round I guess.
So, I challenge you to start your own tasty tasty club - it works!
Oh - the reason I started this was I got a bunch of Paula Deen cookbooks at the library and fell in love with tons of different recipes and I wanted an incentive to have the kids eager to try the new meals out with me.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Chefs in Training
Every month Steve does a cooking class at Maggianos and every few months they have a childrens cooking class. Friday my mom, my SIL and my niece came up and we took the kids to the class Saturday. I don't know who had more fun, us watching and helping them, my mom who had to stand at the table and help Isabella and Ava or Steve. Ava was hilarious and entertaining as usual. Dialycia did an awesome job making hers - she was a pro and didn't need any help.
They had their aprons and chef coats - Ava was the only one wearing a chef coat and we wrote Chef #1, Chef #2 and Chef #3 on them. It reminded me of Dr. Suess - Thing 1 and Thing 2. LOL
This is after the class with their finished product - Lasagna.
I hope they don't do this in all of the kitchens. This is how Ava tastes the food.
Isabella, listening for her next set of instructions.
Spreading the ricotta cheese.
Ava working on her lasagna.
Dialycia preparing her masterpiece.
Before class starts.
Steve with his students.
Oh, I forgot. After the class all the kids were coming up for autographs and to get their picture taken with Steve. When we walked out to the car Isabella says to me "Mom, I didn't know Daddy was famous". LOL
They had their aprons and chef coats - Ava was the only one wearing a chef coat and we wrote Chef #1, Chef #2 and Chef #3 on them. It reminded me of Dr. Suess - Thing 1 and Thing 2. LOL
This is after the class with their finished product - Lasagna.
I hope they don't do this in all of the kitchens. This is how Ava tastes the food.
Isabella, listening for her next set of instructions.
Spreading the ricotta cheese.
Ava working on her lasagna.
Dialycia preparing her masterpiece.
Before class starts.
Steve with his students.
Oh, I forgot. After the class all the kids were coming up for autographs and to get their picture taken with Steve. When we walked out to the car Isabella says to me "Mom, I didn't know Daddy was famous". LOL
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Birthday Dinner with BFF's
Amy, Kris and I went to Maggiano's last night to celebrate our February birthdays. We had such a great time and laughed so hard it made my stomach hurt. I am so lucky we are neighbors and more importantly - great friends.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Birthday Pictures
The whole group making cupcakes.
Making individual pizzas on flatbread.
Ava making her pizza.
Each girl got to decorate their own chef hat. Isabella used some lighter paint so you can't see her name and the flowers that well. Notice the water streaks behind her??? That is from Isabella and Ava spraying Molly with the water bottle last year. We need to repaint the kitchen and the family room because these spots are all over the place. :(
Ava in her chef hat.
Isabella and Emma.
Isabella and Ava after school.
Isabella with her favorite gift - MarioKart from Grandma and Papi.
Game for her Nintendo DS
This was her birthday celebration at my brothers house with the cake my mom got her. This cake was so pretty and bright and colorful! It was delicious too!
Making individual pizzas on flatbread.
Ava making her pizza.
Each girl got to decorate their own chef hat. Isabella used some lighter paint so you can't see her name and the flowers that well. Notice the water streaks behind her??? That is from Isabella and Ava spraying Molly with the water bottle last year. We need to repaint the kitchen and the family room because these spots are all over the place. :(
Ava in her chef hat.
Isabella and Emma.
Isabella and Ava after school.
Isabella with her favorite gift - MarioKart from Grandma and Papi.
Game for her Nintendo DS
This was her birthday celebration at my brothers house with the cake my mom got her. This cake was so pretty and bright and colorful! It was delicious too!
Nothing too fancy - just some random shots from her birthday and with her friends that spent the night.
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