HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABRIELA!

One day like today, eight years ago, a beautiful little girl was welcomed to this world! Today we celebrated our little girl's birthday! We started with singing happy birthday in bed, then heart-shaped toast with eggs, opening presents from all friends and family! And to top it all, it was the first day back to school! So, double the fun!

Un dia como hoy, hace 8 a#os, le dimos la bienvenida a una hermosa ni#a a este mundo! Hoy, celebramos el cumplea#os de nuestra hija! Comenzamos el dia cantando Cumplea#os Feliz en la cama, luego un desayuno de huevito revuelto con tostadas en forma de corazones y luego a abrir regalos!  Ademas de eso, hoy tambien fue el primer dia de clases! Asi que fue doble divertido!

Gabriela was very excited about all her presents! She felt so special and loved:
Gabriela estaba muy emocionada abriendo sus regalos! Se sentia toda una princesa:

Here she is with Nonna and Nonno's present:
Aque esta abriendo el regalo de los abuelitos Italianos:

She obviously liked the DS games! Y obviamente le gustaron los juegos del Nintendo DS!

And look aunt Sara! I got your book! I started reading it too! It's funny... even the castle has a nose.
Y mira tia Sara! Recibi tu libro! Y ya lo comence a leer tambien! Es muy comico...hasta el castillo tiene nariz.

Thank you to the Stephensons for all the fun art supplies! I especially liked the one with the wooden person so I can learn how to draw people! I already started using the sketchbook.

Gracias a los Stephensons por todos materiales de arte! El que mas me gusto fue el que traia el maniqui de madera para aprender a dibujar personas! Ya hasta empese a usar la libreta de dibujar.

And for the first day of school, we got a Paul Frank bookbag, with a matching lunch box and of course the matching Paul Frank t-shirt!

Y para el primer dia de clases, compramos un bolso de Paul Frank, con la lonchera que combina y por supuesto una franela de Paul Frank tambien!

AND, we picked out new glasses since last year was a bit of an issue (they weren't very fashionable). These are black and purple with little stars and diamonds. We're very fashionable now. We hit jack pot because she LOVES this pair! Phew!
Y tambien escogimos un nuevo par de lentes ya que el a#o pasado tubimos algunos problemitas (los lentes no eran muy pavitos). Estos son negros con morado y tienen estrellitas con diamanticos. Ahora si estamos muy pavas! Y nos sacamos la loteria porque esto le fascinan! Menos mal!

Wish me luck on 3rd grade!

Deseame buena suerte en Tercer grado!

Hello Kitty!

Hello Kitty came to town! And took over our daughter!

Abuelita Maritza made some really cool tank tops for Gabriela using a new technique with napkins! Can you believe that? They're so much fun and cute and go very well with the Hello Kitty earrings (by Aunt Sara) and the necklace and the bracelet and even the Silly Bands*! The only down side is that they have to be hand-washed. Yeah, that's where the love ends. That's so Venezuelan of the little cute top... and I... am... sooo not Venezuelan in the hand-washing department any more! So maybe we can dry clean them?

*Silly Bands: For those of you who either aren't teachers or don't have school-aged kids, these are the new trend. Colorful rubber bands shaped like farm animals, or music instrument, or cars that come in packages with two of each so that kids can trade them, teachers can't teach and parents can run around all over town trying to get "the frog one mommy... that's the ONE I NEED"!

Other than that, not a whole lot going on over here. Jay finished his summer classes (phew!) and has one week off (so he can go through the To-Do list I gave him) before he starts his Fall semester. Almost there!

This Friday we get to meet Gabriela's 3rd grade teacher! (so we can talk about how much fun they're going to have this year, find out what the yellow, blue and red folders mean, tell her what a great kid our princess is... mhh... she might talk a wee bit in class but you should have no problem with her otherwise). And we already got school supplies and matching lunch bag with bookbag because she already starts school the week after. Where did summer go?!

And since work has slowed down, and I'm coming home at a human hour, I get to bake!

You're going to think that we don't eat any veggies! But I swear we do! Baked goods are just a lot more fun to photograph (and OK, fine, yummier too!) :-)

If I was a pineapple - Essays Part II

So my last post was on Gabriela's writing essays, on which I think she did a great job! I hope everyone enjoyed it and that it brought a little smile to your face.

This one, I think, is even better! I decided to just post it with her own writing instead so that it doesn't loose its effect... enjoy:

She's using some big words now, like gigantic and joyful. So reading all those books at night is definitely paying off. The story may sound a bit dramatic but it actually makes a whole lot of sense to me! And no, she doesn't need therapy!

Jay and I were looking at our wedding pictures (which I keep - fruitlessly - trying to put in an album... yeah, I know... 1 year and counting... but you try picking from 2,300 beautiful pictures! Why can't I have them all!) and my little girl looked like a baby! She's grown so much in these last 18 months! She's growing up to be such a beautiful, fun and smart little girl but I want those big cheeks back!

Hmm, my essay today sounds a bit like Gabriela's essay - all over the place. Now we know where she got it from ;-)

2nd Grade Essays - Part I

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now and it just keeps slipping through the cracks.

Last year was a pretty intense learning year for Gabriela. She had a fair amount of homework and projects to do for school. And to think that she's only in Second Grade! One of the areas they focused on was writting essays. They were learning the structure of an essay, the opening sentence (The Grabber), transitioning between sentences (First, Next, and Last) and conclusions.

At the end of the school year they sent home a compilation of her work. Jay and I sat one day and read all of her essays and we had so much fun! She has such a creative little mind! And her little grammar mistakes make the esssays that much cuter.

Here is one essay that we'd like to share:

Gabriela was given the following information:

Your Aunt Sally has sent you a Mickey Mouse hat for your birthday. Whenever you put the cap on, you discover that you can fly for about an hour. Before you begin writing, think about flying around for an hour with this cap on. Now write about one of your flying experiences.

And this is Gabriela's essay:

I BELIEVE I CAN FLY!!! Hay, you know when you put that Micky mouse hat on it makes you fly like the wined. Yay! I'm flying. It an merecal. CRASH! Aaa! My eyes! It hurts! I can't see! Bad sun bad sun! I wish I can have glasses that pertect my eyes from the sun. I will save you mmm cat. Oh... you are tighed to a tree. I can ficks it fast as lightling. Oh thanks. Oh!? here old lady, heres your cat. Wow! I can't believe you gus are still there. 2 hours later. Oh my gosh. guys you wasted all my power. Hony Bunny come down stairs! Later! No! Now! Ok, Ok. You're on the News paper! "Well I'm going up stairs" BANG! "Are you all right hony. Yes mother." Just pay a tenchion next time. Ok. Ok... Now go up stairs and I will get you some ice. Ok. Can I turn on the TV. Yes hony bun. Do you wanna a Micky mouse hat like mighn it's black moon light and red like a roes. What will you do when you get a Micky mouse hat that is black as moon light and red as a roes.

Glossary:

Wined = Wind
Merecal = Miracle
Pertect = Protect
Lightling = Lightning
A Tenchion = Attention
Roes = Rose

I have to say, I'm with her with all the spelling... as an ESL person there are a LOT of things about the English language that still don't make a whole lot of sense to me.

La nonna è arrivata

Most of my mom's family lives in Italy (Perugia to be exact) and she tries to go visit them every summer or so. Perugia also happens to be the birth place of Perugina chocolates! And as you all know, I have a (not so secret) affair with chocolate. My dear husband also happens to share that weakness with me. You can actually find Baci and Nutella in many places in the USA now, especially since it became a division of Nestle. But for whatever reason, what you get here does not compare to the real thing that comes from the factory in Perugia. The Nutella is so smooth and soft and creamy and yummy! And the Baci is so rich and it doesn't have that waxy feeling some chocolates have. So needless to say, I was ecstatic when mom told me she had my "package" ready to send it to me when she came back. Because I knew there was some delicious chocolate on the way!

But mom didn't get us just chocolate... the care package was full of fun treats: some parmigiano cheese, some truffles (the mushroom ones for cooking... can't wait!) and some cute Benetton outfits for Gabriela:

And here is Gabriela posing for nonna..."look nonna, it fits!"

"And the jacket has pockets!"

Thanks nonna!

And welcome back home!!!

Almost like twin sisters!

This last weekend we had some mellow family time. As you may have seen from my previous posts (here and here), I have been enjoying the southern life. But being a Southern Belle doesn't come without those extra pounds.

So, on Saturday, while Gabriela swam laps at practice, Jay and I walked laps on the track next to the pools. It was nice and refreshing (OK, I'm totally lying... it was sweltering hot but it still felt good at the end). Then, we got home and did some house cleaning and after a hard day of work we went out around town for some family time.

Gabriela decided that she wanted to dress just like me that day. And it was the cutest thing. She was trying to pick out shoes, top and bottom that looked just like mine. So she picked out a brown skirt to match my striped one, and a tank top, jean jacket, sandals and dangling earrings. Then she had me do her hair "just like yours mommy". Those are the moments that fill my heart with so much love and joy. And at the same time, it terrifies me to think that this little human being looks up to me as a role model! Being a parent is by far the hardest (and most rewarding) job on this planet! And there's no training manual!

Here are the side to side comparisons (please note that even the poses match!):

Pizza night!

This week seemed long for some reason. Not a whole lot to report; mostly just the routine: work for me, school for Jay (with a test that he aced! So proud hun!) and summer camp for Gabriela (she's making a movie at camp! How cool is that?). Oh, and Izzy jumping like a little Mexican jumping bean all over the house.

On Fridays usually I'm just so drained from the week that by 8pm I've completely melted on the couch or somewhere on the house. All I want to do is sit, not think and stare (at the TV or book or Facebook or at my husband while he talks to me).

And today was no different. Especially since it was so rainny and gloomy here (due to semi-Tropical Storm Bonnie). It actually reminded me of those gloomy winter days in NYC (minus the zero degree weather and the dead, I mean asleep trees).

So after swimming practice we came home and decided to make some home-made pizza! It was yummy! So much fun for the whole family to make and best of all, very cheap!

Now, Jay and I can catch a Netflix movie and just relax and welcome the weekend! Ahhh...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love,

Jen