What is crazy is that she has the same teacher I had 27 years ago!!!! Miss Julie!
How cute is this?
hop! hop! hop!
and twirl.
And now for a little practice at home (with Chase-buddy included)....
Who remembers watermelon/pancake from ballet?
Watermelon = flat stomach and pancake= fat belly
"Watermelon!"
"Pancake!"
"Watermelon!"
"Pancake!"
One of the few games where the kids actually enjoy following my commands. You should try it at home. It's pretty silly. And no tu-tu's included so your boys can participate.
I write with much excitement and some sadness that after 5 years, there is no more crib! Sophia is now in her big girl bed (I know, a little late since she is a mature 3). But can you blame me? She was perfectly content in it and it allowed me to sleep longer and keep office stuff in her room without her pressing all the buttons on our printer! I searched and searched and used some birthday money to buy her one that has a trundle with an extra twin bed underneath. We are always needing creative ways to host more people and this way she has an extra bed to offer but without taking up the space of a full bed. And I even found one in espresso to match her furniture from before. Brian assembled. It was quite an arduous task. We also had an extra body pillow which I found an adorable cover for that happened to match an accent color of her comforter.
So we have the same color scheme b/c I wanted to keep her adorable birdy valance and fabric-covered canvases but added some owls in there
(Can you tell decorating this room brings me so much joy?)
Owl trash can
Wooden hand-carved owl from India
Changing table turned dresser
reading chair near the window (still need to tackle organizing the shelf)
Owl comforter/sheet/sham set I was so excited to find for cheap at TJMaxx. We also have some adorable owl sheets my friend Liz sent us that I can put on the trundle mattress once we buy one!
Owl boxes I searched and searched for and finally found in almost identical colors to her bedding!
Big girl dresser
Such a big girl and yet I still see her as so "baby" as she sucks her fingers and twirls her hair
G'night my little Sophie-owl!! I am sure I will see you early next morning as there is no crib to prevent you from climbing out of your bed anymore!
New England, Beer, Kheir-packages, and La familia Vargas: What do these have in common?
Well, as we passed through Scranton, PA (paying homage to The Office) we headed up the coast to Providence, Rhode Island to stay with our friends extended family. We spent a week there with "la familia Vargas" and we spoke much Spanish! It was fun experiencing life in New England and I must say there is a Dunkin' Donuts every 5 ft. Not kidding. I'm not sure what the southern equivalent would be: dollar stores, or gas stations, or maybe even stop lights?! Yep. THAT many Dunkin' Donuts. Here are some pix of our friends:
B carrying Sophes
Samy carrying James
treehuggin' whiteds
Both sets of kiddos going for a bike trailer ride
Chase & Sophie with their alien faces
And what about beer? Well, Brian's cousin-in-law took us for a tour at
the Sam Adams brewery near Boston where we heard the entire process of
beer-making and even got a free tasting at the end. Sorry Sam Adams, but
the Boston Lager is not my favorite. However your sour stout was quite
delish.
Pretending to hold hops which actually stunk but which Brian loved the smell of and was contemplating rolling around in as a testdrive for a beer-inspired men's cologne
Beer tour (I'm trying to take mental notes so next time I am in a conversation, Brian will be impressed with my beer terminology like "wert", "finish," "alpha acids," and "tannins." Yeah your wife is cool.)
Who is feeling hoppy now?
Sophie getting in her baby snuggles
I also got to reunite with my DEAR friend Laura who sends
me care-packages or what I like to call "Kheir-packages" with a ton of
ADORABLE hand-me-downs for Sophie. I finally got to meet her kiddos whom
I have only seen in pictures and prayed for since they were in her
womb. I loved seeing where she resides and just how life is done in
Boston. I don't know if I could do "city-life" but man am I proud of her! Laura and I go way back... Maracaibo, and even JMU! I think she was the
first among my college friends to get married! I have learned a lot and
laughed a lot with her during all those years. And thankfully, we still
keep in touch over the years. We share a lot including that our kiddos
are mixed and quite exotically adorable if I do say so myself.
Laura & me and our clans (are mixed kids the cutest?)
Betcha can't guess which are half-Egyptian and which are half-Indian?
Mary & me
La casa de la familia Vargas (just kidding)
So if I look no more tan after vacation, think "rain every day except for this picture"
and think cliffs, not beach (believe me if I could've laid out on the rock I would have)
but we still had fun (contrary to Chase and Evi's faces)
Sophie deciding she was done with walking
Chase flying a kite
Me sporting white capris and enjoying soft dry grass which seemed kinda hard to find in a rainy city. There was something therapeutic about running around soft grass barefoot even though it wasn't the beach.
Thursday May 16th was probably a pretty normal day for most of you. But for Brian and I, it marked the end of an era. You see, for 8 whole years we would sit and laugh together (sometimes with friends) at The Office every Thursday night. We have been married for this long. Eight years. So as long as Brian and I have shared life together, this show has been a Thursday commitment. We intially bought some of the first seasons on DVD, and when we realized it was going to go on and on (for like NINE seasons!), we stopped. This was the one show that we both equally liked, equally quoted and equally reserved time in our schedule to watch and laugh together.
So, as we traveled to visit friends and family this summer, we payed tribute to The Office. We spent the night in Scranton, PA, where the series was based. Though there is no real "Dunder Mifflin," Brian did his research and discovered that even though the show wasn't filmed here, it does allude to some of the city's landmarks. So if you are an office fan, you'll especially appreciate this:
Froggy 101 (anyone remember the sticker on Dwight's desk?)
Us being super cool singing
"Goodbye Toby. It's been niiiice. Hope you find your paradiiiiise."
Scranton here we come!
You may recognize this name from the episode “Launch Party,” where Michael Scott tries to befriend his
disgruntled employees by ordering takeout from their favorite pizzeria. The funny part is that when the pizza arrives, the workers discover it isn't Alfredo’s Pizza Café, but rather Pizza by
Alfredo’s! Apparently Kevin (who eats just about anything) complains that the pizza tastes “like
eating a hot circle of garbage." Thankfully Alfredo's Pizza was pretty good in person.
"SCRANTON! WHAT?! THE ELEC-TRIC CITY!" (So Michael & Dwight came up with a rap- perhaps a Beastie boys knockoff about Scranton.)
Mifflin Ave (we saw the street sign... maybe this inspired Dunder Mifflin Paper)
Scranton sign inside of the mall
We were hoping to find some remnant of the show like the giant Dwight head in the glass elevator. Brian hysterically approaches the mall cop: "hey do you know where the Dwight poster is?"
Cop: "Who?"
Brian: "Dwight." (without stating any reference- as if EVERYONE in Scranton should be on a first-name basis with Dwight Shrute.)
Unfortunately no Dwight or Michael Scott or Jim & Pam. Not even a Meredith or an Oscar. But I did find this hiding behind a booth in the mall!
Steamtown Mall playground
Remember Stanley and Pretzel Day at work? Stanley's favorite day. Period.
See ya Steamtown Mall!
Ok so those random shots don't really compare to the bizillion laughs we had over The Office quotes. I would share some but they aren't really G rated so I'll just let you watch re-runs on hulu.
Ok ok, well I think hubby and I laughed the hardest when Michael and Dwight drove their car into the lake b/c the GPS lady told them to.
Or pretty much anything Kelly Kapoor:
and can't forget the Office Olympics or my personal favorite- Michael's Diwali song:
And if you aren't convinced the show was that cool, the Decemberists performed "Sons and Daughters" with Dwight playing along:
Some clips of Michael:
If you haven't had a chance to watch the full season, I still recommend it. The finale was well-done considering it had to bring closure to 8 years of the show. We are hopeful that somewhere out there, some ingenious writers will bring together another show of relationships, hardships, the mundane with charm, wit, ridiculously absurd improv style humor that will be "incaculable."
