Back to school

Open Gym
School started a month ago for my older daughter, but it just started this week for Sasha!
Our local school district has a really neat early education program for children ages birth through 5 years old. They have some sort of activity every weekday. They open the gym up at one of the elementary schools so that the children can run around and play. They also have a classroom filled FULL of toys. There are so many toys that they are stacked from floor to ceiling on shelves. They also allow you to borrow any of the toys that you want, like a toy library. So it's like having nearly every possible toy available to your child.

We went to the program on Monday and Sasha had a great time! We are always the first family to show up, so Sasha played in the toy room until more children arrived. There was a set of boy twins her age, and also a set of boy triplets that were about a year older than Sasha, and another boy about a month younger than Sasha at the program. Sasha gets along very well with the younger boy. They both share toys with each other nicely and the smile and make faces at each other. The twin and triplet boys are a bit too rowdy for her.

After playing in the toy room, we went to the gym. It was great to have someplace for Sasha to actually run around. We really don't have that available to us in our small little apartment. Sasha took full advantage. She ran around and rode bikes, and she drove a toy car around. She kept yelling "Bye Bye! See ya!" at me as she drove away in her car, like she was pretending she was driving away from me.

I love this program and I'm glad that it is back in session. This program is awesome to have in the winter, when everyone is cooped up indoors.

Makeover

For the last week, we have been plotting a dramatic hair "makeover" for my 14 yo daughter Cassie. She just started high school last month, and now she does't want her long hair anymore. She wanted a new haircut. Something shorter, a little more trendy, cleaner, easier to work with, and something a bit unique.
So we all did some research and looked around at some new hairstyles (Cassie, my friend Anj, Cassie's friends, and I). There were some really neat hairstyles she wanted but we concluded most of them wouldn't look good on her face. She has a round face so it had to be something compatible with that.
Then one of my friends came across an article: http://beauty.about.com/od/hairstylephotogalleries/ss/roundfa_8.htm and it was perfect. The "Kelly Clarkson".
We put together a collage of other pictures that we found interesting that we were looking for in a haircut:
(click to enlarge)

So today was haircut day. We printed out the collage we made and the "Kelly Clarkson haircut" article and took it to the stylists. I got my hair cut (nothing drastic or new) and so did Cassie.
It took the hair stylists 4 hours! They had a blast with it though. They really loved doing their drastic makeover. Cassie got an "inverted bob", which is short in the back and long in front. She also got some purple and pink streaks in her hair too!
Here is our "before" picture (click to expand on these pics):

Our "during" pictures:

And some of our "AFTER" pics:


The pink and purple stripes didn't show up so well on camera, but they're very bright and colorful! We love the new haircut. I think it looks great with her face shape. She can't wait for school tomorrow so her friends can see it.

Traveling with a cold

After the birthday party on Saturday, Cassie spent the night at my brother's house. She and my brother were very close when she was younger, so it was nice of them to let her stay with them.
Sasha, my husband, and I stayed at a hotel. We had a free night coming to us so we used our free night for this stay.
Earlier in the week, Cassie had a cold with a runny nose. Between Cassie's cold and the all the rain, Sasha acquired the cold. It started very suddenly, in the middle of the night while trying to sleep in the hotel room.
Sasha woke up crying and at first we couldn't figure out why. My husband remarked that Sasha seemed to have difficulty breathing. I was very worried at first, but then when I realized it was a runny nose, we had Sasha blow her nose. She was able to go back to sleep, but she slept very fitfully. I felt bad for any hotel guests in the surrounding rooms, as Sasha woke up often and cried loudly during the night.
We checked out of the hotel in the morning and went to my brother's house. Sasha was still crabby with a runny nose, so my brother offered us some baby tylenol. Sasha took it and did seem a lot better afterwards.
We visited with my brother, then went out for lunch with a family friend, Jamie. After lunch, we went back home. I had been worried about the flooding at home, and whether we would be able to get back, but fortunately it seemed okay.
I was also worried about getting Sasha back home. She seemed better with the tylenol, but I knew that she was still sick so I just wanted to get her home. I had hoped to do more visiting, but I was nervous about Sasha's condition. I didn't want to be away from home if she got any worse.
So we returned back home. Uneventfully, thank goodness.

Pictures from the birthday party

Sasha sharing peapods with her cousin, Madison
The rain couldn't keep her from playing outside at her birthday party.
Playing with her daddy
Opening presents
Gift successfully opened! (good view of the t-shirt big sister Cassie made)
Reading birthday cards with mommy
Blowing out birthday candles. She really did it!
Eating her birthday cake
Trying to steal a little of her daddy's cake. His must taste better :)
Hugging her grandpa
Playing with her cousin, Madison

Birthday Celebrations

For Sasha's birthday, we traveled up north to my brother's house for a birthday party. We were glad to celebrate with family, and it was great to see my family again.

It was very rainy from the hurricane Ike down south. As a matter of fact, I personally worried whether we would make it to the party, as our home parking lot was flooded. I wasn't sure how big the flood was; whether it was just a localized trouble or whether it was wide spread. Fortunately we didn't encounter any further issues. Guess our parking lot just really sucks.
When we arrived at my brother's house, we had a little bit of outside playtime. Sasha has a one year old cousin, Madison, and the girls were able to play with each other a bit.
The rain followed us north, and it rained a little. It wasn't bad. Sasha didn't care about the rain. She just wanted to keep playing. Sasha's fluffy birthday tutu got wet. The rain took some of the fluff down but it was still very cute. Sasha also wore a special birthday shirt that big sister Cassie made for her.

We had barbecued steaks and potatoes, and some chips and veggies. We opened Sasha's birthday present, read her birthday cards, had a bath, and then had some birthday cake. Sasha enjoyed blowing the candles out on her cake. Since we missed capturing the moment with the good camera, we re-lit the candles and let her do it again a second time :)
We had a great time, and like I said it was great to spend it with family.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Happy Birthday dear Sasha. You are a well loved little girl.

Needs More Tutu

After my last tutu making experience gone awry, I was still determined to make a birthday tutu for Sasha. Her birthday party is this weekend on Saturday.
The last tutu I made out of chiffon fabric. It was pretty but chiffon fabric cut ends get so stringy that it just didn't look right. I am so not willing to sew the end of every piece of chiffon fabric to get rid of the stringy look. So I tried it again, this time out of tulle fabric.
I used the same instructions I used last time: How to make a tutu <- link goes to flickr
This time, I used tons of fabric. Like 6 yards, and it is amazingly poofy.
I know I had a bad experience last time with letting Sasha try it on early, but I let her try it on today and she really liked it. She even danced around like a little ballerina for me. So cute!

For Sasha's birthday, it looks like we'll be visiting my family and having her party at my brother's place. I miss my family so I'll be very happy to celebrate with them.

Fun Day

This morning, Sasha woke up way to early. She usually sleeps a predictable 10 hours a night, but this morning she woke up after sleeping only about 6 hours. I was a bit groggy and hoped that she would go back to sleep, but eventually it became clear that she was not going to sleep any further.
I was too tired to actually get up out of bed, so we just goofed around for a few hours. Besides, I didn't want my husband to have to wake up too. He deserves all the sleep he can get.
We played so much that it's all a blur. I had a blast, and so did she. There were a few times where she was laughing so hard I thought she would wake the whole household up. We sang songs. She jumped on the bed. She played with her babies (dolls) and her bear. We counted and sang our abc's. We invented a bunch of games and played.
I love this child. She is truly a joy in my life. I love her personality and who she is. She is so fun to be around!

Eventually we woke up, then she went potty and we fed her breakfast. She had rice, and tons of it.
I found this "sukoyaka genmai" rice at a japanese supermarket and it is amazing stuff! It's brown rice, but it's milled in such a way that it is as fluffy as white rice, it only takes as long as white rice to cook, and it can be cooked in a rice cooker! Plus it sticks together like japanese white rice, which means it's really easy for Sasha to feed herself. Sasha LOVES the stuff, especially with some Bragg's Aminos (tastes EXACTLY like soy sauce but is a nutritional enhancer) and some "furikake", which is japanese rice seasoning. Oh man the stuff tastes great, and Sasha has been eating huge bowls full, then asking for seconds and thirds. I've never seen the child eat so much food ever. And the fact that it still has the nutritional content of brown rice makes me very happy.
Anyways, she's been eating rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She begs for the stuff: "Rice! Rice! Rice!", she chants. When she empties her bowl, she asks for more. If anyone even says the word "rice" in her presence, she starts chanting and begging for it.
Thank goodness I purchased a 15lb bag. I guess we'll be keeping this stuff around the house.

Giving herself "Shaken Baby Syndrome" at the park

Evening at the park

Today the weather was nice, and Cassie had a school dance to go to. I dropped Cassie off at her friend's house, where she was going to get ready for the dance. Along the way (as I was driving Cassie to her friend's house) I saw a park, so on the way back home, Sasha and I stopped and played for a bit.
There were swings and slides and lots of really cool things to climb on. Earlier in the day at another park, Cassie taught Sasha how to climb ladders! So Sasha was a real monkey, climbing on things and exploring.
When Sasha went on some of the park's rocking toys, I had to break out the cell phone video camera. She was rocking those things so hard, I thought she was going to give herself "shaken baby" syndrome, haha. She was really having fun. I'll upload that video next, which means it'll be the post right above this one :)

Cassie didn't really enjoy the dance much. The crowd of people that showed wasn't her type of friends. It was mostly all "Aberzombies", as she calls them. Those trendy blonde girls who always wear Abercrombie & Fitch clothes? Most of her friends came down with illnesses and were unable to attend the dance. Cassie still had to go because she's responsible for taking photos at the school functions for her Yearbook Club.

Little Impersonator

The previous post is a video of Sasha doing some impersonations!
Her first impersonation is "Home Alone". She puts her hands on the side of her face and opens her mouth.
The second impersonation is Gene Simmons. She sticks out her tongue. Mostly self-explanatory :)
Then her third is what her big sister calls "The George Bush" face. It is Sasha's attempt at George Bush, and looks like a big frown. It's pretty funny but it wasn't captured very well in that video. It's hard to get her to do it sometimes.

"Home Alone" and "Gene Simmons" impersonations