Speedy delivery.

I ordered Disney Princess: Little Mermaid -Ariel's Pop-Up Castle from amazon.com on Sunday and the UPS man delivered it today. That's speedy delivery. I got free shipping on it too and I thought it'll take at least 10 working days. Very impressed with the service. I saw the commercial on this toy on T.V. and decided that I have to get it for Aria. It looks too cute. I love how it folds up for easy storage. I'll post her response to the toy after Christmas when she opens it up but I think it's going to be a hit.

Question of the day:

Aria: Why does food become poo?

Me: Ahh... let's have daddy answer that when he comes home tonight.

Windy days.

Can you feel the chill?? I'm freezing! It's been pretty chilly lately and it doesn't help that our heater is dead. Brrrr..... We're hopefully in the process of getting a new one.
Aria and I spent today in our family room because it's the warmest room in the house since it gets alot of direct sunlight (it's also the hottest room in the house during the summer seasons.) We made paintings, baked brownies and did alot of pretend play. All I secretly want to do was snuggle with Aria on the sofa and watch T.V. She kept on telling me that I was "squishing" her so I gave up and snuggled with a blanket instead. Phooey.

This is her version of a silly face when I asked her to make one.

Age 3 checkup.

Aria had her age 3 checkup with her doctor yesterday. Everything checked out fine. I do have to cut down on her milk intake so she can have a better appetite. She's never been a big eater. She's currently 36" tall and weighs 31 lbs. She also got her annual flu shot. She doesn't have to see him again for another year, which is a good thing because she freaked when she saw him.

Thanksgiving weekend recap.

We had a very long Thanksgiving weekend with A. having 4 days off. Our weekend consisted of alot of eating and watching t.v. and more eating. Here's the recap:

We went to A.'s parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner. That went fine as usual.

We made ribs on Friday night and invited one of A.'s friends over.

We ate at a teppanyaki style restaurant on Saturday night and the grills with all the smoke and flames freaked Aria out. We also put the tree up.

I made my own turkey for dinner Sunday night. A.'s brother and the same friend from Friday's dinner came over.

Bella on the piano.

Aria playing with her grandparents' very expensive souvenirs from around the world. That's grandpa in the back.

A.'s sister-in-law is in the middle. That's her sister, her sister's hubby and their twin daughters. They're the one's who's house I house-sat for a while back.

Our tree is up.

Morning at the zoo.

I had a playdate with my friend Lisa and her son at the L.A. Zoo. It's cool to know other moms with an annual pass. We met up around 10:30 and started exploring. I was pleasantly surprise to find the zoo decorated with alot of Giant Christmas cutouts. I thought,"All right! I'm sure to get a picture suitable for our Christmas card today!" Wrong. The child would not cooperative. Augh.
On a happier note, the weather was perfect and the park was fairly empty. I wish A. could have joined us too. Lisa's son Nathan was pretty active so the pace was very fast. We saw alot of animals in a short span of time. I hope we can do it again real soon.

Here's Nathan cooperating for pictures unlike my child.

Party in the park.

We attended Nikolaus's 3rd Birthday Party held at a local party after our visit to Lakeshore. It was an abnormally hot day for November but thankfully there were some shade for us to duck under. There were pizza and fried chicken. A. and Aria played in the playground area while I talked to friends. Everyone had a good time.

The theme of the party was Cars. Nikolaus is the one in red, getting ready to blow the candles.

Aria wanted one of those inflatable balls bad. A. got suckered into getting one for her. She got the pink lamb one.

Zoe and Aria. Zoe's in Aria's preschool class so they get along really well. Zoe's more outgoing and that's one trait that I want Aria to build one.


Hugs.

During the sack rack. She refused to do it by herself so A. had to help her along.

She got a ribbon for her efforts.

Getting Crafty

We went to Lakeshore Learning Store on Saturday morning to partake of their free crafts for kids. They offer free craft activities every Sat. from 11 AM - 3 PM. We try to go every week but we've been bombarded with parties lately and have missed the last couple of weeks. We made it there yesterday to create a Thanksgiving Placemat. Well, A. and Aria made it. I was perusing the aisles looking for good deals and ideas. I love their stuff but it can run on the pricier side. That's not going to stop us from going back.

A mini art break.

Aria's creation. Don't think she's too impress with the outcome.

The search is on.

It's that time of the year again where I have to search through my hard drive hunting for the perfect picture to use for our annual Christmas cards. It's hard for me to take the perfect picture of Aria especially since she hates to pose for pictures or even acknowledge the camera sometimes. I've just backtracked through the last 2 months of pictures and I can't seem to find one picture suitable for use. I hate to use a summer picture for our cards since I think she's changed alot since 4 months ago. Well, I still have a couple of weeks. Hopefully I come upon a happy accident with my photo taking. I'll post the end results here for sure.

Whole lot of sneaking.

This picture captures what Aria looks like when I sneak up on her trying to sneak up on me.

So thankful...

I got a surprise call from a mom named Michelle this morning. She's a mom from the Co-op and she called me to vent about one of the moms currently attending the school. That mom is a friend of mine and has been mentioned in a previous post. Michelle wanted to vent to me about how my friend is taking advantage of the generosity of the other moms at the Co-op. I listened to her and talked to her about the situation for about an hour. She told me she felt better after talking to me even though the situation remains the same. She was glad to know that someone else sees her point of view. I told her that I understand her frustration and that was one reason that I've left the Co-op.
After I got of the phone with her I gave a big sigh of relief. I'm soooo glad that I took Aria out of that school and that I no longer have to deal with all that cattiness and the blatant disregard of rules. Co-ops only work if everyone is following the rules and willing to do their share.
Leaving the Co-op was one of the best decisions that A. and I made for Aria. I love Aria's new school and I can tell that Aria enjoys it also. It's operated by a wonderful director and all the teachers are very professional. I'm looking forward to a great school year for Aria.

Favorites.

One of Aria's favorite birthday gift is this Activity School Bus from her Auntie. She loves to play with it at Costco and I mentioned it to my sister and she actually purchased it from her in Sactown and drove it all the way down to our house when she visited. Isn't she the best? It's still in the box because the house is cluttered with all of Aria's new toys that she received from her birthday. I've gotta clear things out and fine a great place for this because once it's put together, it's going to be a pain to move. I don't think it fits through a doorway installed.

What's cool about this toy is that it's educational and our second child can enjoy it also since it's not gender specific. Thanks, sis, you're the best.

Playing hooky.

Aria didn't play hooky, A. did. He took the day off on Tues. because he has around 6 sick days that will not roll over for the new year. He's trying to use some of them before loosing them. We had no plans at all yesterday except school for Aria and a trip to Costco. We arrived a little early when we went to pick her up from school and one of her teacher was nice enought to let us go in to the classroom to observe the last 20 mins. of class. The had share time and closing circle time. Pretty exciting huh?
I was a nice opportunity to check out what takes place there since the parents are not encouraged to stay during class time. We're a distraction. I totally understand from my experience at that Co-op preschool for the first 2 months of the school year.

During circle time.

One of the teacher is actually showing us Aria's artwork for the day in the background. See the green piece of paper that she's holding? Aria refused to make a craft last week.

Guess what we found at Costco? The same mechanical horse that's on sale at Target. I don't know how much it's going for at Costco since I didn't see a sign for it but I do know she will not be getting this anytime soon. She can visit it at Target and Costco if she wants to play with it.

School Day.

Aria had a very successful Mommy & Me class today. She made not one but two crafts. Here's the process for one of them:

Aria watches as the girl in front of her gets her craft done with the help of Teacher Nancy.

"Here goes nothing. Let me roll up my sleeve so it doesn't get dirty."

Teacher Nancy applies the many colors.


Then presses down on the paper.

Voila!! The turkey is born!

The class also celebrated Aria's birthday with the class's tin cake. They sang her the birthday song.

She loved the attention.

Outdoor play.

Here with Daniel.

Shoppin'

On Sunday my sister and I drove out to Echo Park for the monthly Felt Club. We have never been before but we're interested in all the cool crafty creations out there. We went to the last Bazzar Bizarre held in Los Angeles so we want to check the Felt Club out. We were disappointed in the small number of vendors and the location was not the best since it was held inside a small dark club. I walked away empty-handed but my sister purchased a really cute cardholder. I hope my sister can make it to this year's Bazzar Bizarre with me. I don't think I will have any fun if I take A.

My sis.

Aria turned 3!

Aria had her 3rd Birthday on Saturday. We held it at Playsource, an indoor playground 20 mins. from our house from 5:30 PM till 7:30 PM. Traffic was really bad and we were actually 7 mins. late to our own party. I walked in to see alot of our friends already there, enjoying the fun. Unfortunately, Aria fell asleep on the ride there and was very grumpy when I woke her up at the party. I can't have the Birthday Girl sleep through her own party! I took her 10 mins. to perk up but once she did she had a blast with all her friends. Pretty much everyone I invited showed up except for 2 people. That worked out great because I only had a set number of goody bags made (by the Playsource people, not by me). I was so thankful that my sister and her boyfriend were there because they helped me so much with loading and unloading of the food and supplies. I don't think it would have ran so smoothly without their help.
I purchased Costco sandwiches, A. ordered Pizza Hut pizzas and my sister and I made all the other dishes to save money. My polish sausage in teriyaki sauce and my sister's pasta salad were hits. People keep asking me the recipe for the salad and I told them that we improvised and made it an hour before the party with a simply bottle of Italian dressing, veggies and salt and pepper. My sister should be on Top Chef! Aria had a blast at her party and I think everyone had a good time. It was so much fun to see her understand the concept that it was her special event. She was excited about blowing out the candles. The only regret that I had was not taking more pictures but I got caught up with socializing. I was so touched that one of my college friends made the long trek out to Aria's party. I wish I had more time to talk to her in person. She was shocked to see that I'm preggie. Oops, I've beeen meaning to call her and tell her.
Overall, I think the party was a success. Everyone showed except for one mommy & her son. There were just enough party favors to go around. Everyone went home full. Another birthday over.

Nathan giving Aria a kiss. He's so cute.

Aria and her cousin Bella.

Cookies!

After Aria came back from preschool and a lunch of chicken and rice, Aria and I decided to bake some cookies. It's been extremely hot lately but I just can't pass up an oppurtunity to bake some fresh cookies with my little girl. We didn't make it from scratch. I purchased a package of Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies earlier when I went on my excursion to purchase stuff for Aria's party. Love the idea where everything is premixed and cut for me and all I have to do was put it on a pan and bake it. Aria was a great help. She got into the spirit of baking by bringing out her little rolling pin and rolling out the extra scraps of dough.

10 mins. in the oven and the cookies were done. They tasted great. I hope we're going to be able to save some for A. but I don't know if that's going to happen. There are still 5 hours until he gets home and I'm one hungry mama. We'll just share the pictures with him.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'....

Before the cookies enter the oven.

The taste test.

Let me try another.