Disneyland!

We went to Disneyland today. This year the park is doing a little bit of decorating for Fall and for Halloween, which made for some great backdrops for pictures.

Arrrrgh, a Pirate Party

This afternoon was a pirate party for a friend in Hannah's class. The invitation said you could come dressed as a pirate if you wished. Already having some pirate gear in our costume box, Hannah went as a pirate! The funny thing is Steven and I had a Pirate Costume party we went to last night. So it's been a weekend of Pirate adventures for our family!

With her pirate attitude.

A Day of Adventures!

We had our first adventure of Hannah being off track today!

Our friend and neighbor, who is on the Freshman Volleyball team at the local high school had a game in Palm Springs, we went to her game and made a day of adventures out of going! It was us, Christy, Emily, and Gracie. That's a whole lot of estrogen contained in one vehicle!


First stop was the Cabazon Outlets for a little shopping, finding some shoes for Hannah, some super cute outfits for Rachel, and some killer milk chocolate truffles for the mommies!

After having lunch at McDonalds, chosen not for the food, but for their current Happy Meal promotion, toys from The Little Mermaid, our next stop was the Cabazon Dinosaurs. This place is cool because you can go up inside the dinosaurs, one has a gift shop and museum, the other you can look out it's mouth at the view, which sadly, is closed on weekdays. The girls, although a little hesitant at first because of their size, loved seeing the dinosaurs.


We continued our road trip to Palm Springs, stopping a few places along the way, making our way to the high school where Kayla would be playing. It was a short game, but fun none the less.


Following the game, we found a Super Walmart!! This wasn't exactly high on Hannah's mind for an adventure, but it was for us moms! We stopped for dinner, and then headed home. Seeing a beautiful sunset along the way.

We had a fun day. Lots of talking, lots of laughing. Lots of me thinking how in the world women with more than two children handle a van full of loud and noisy children!! LOL.

Off Track!!!

As of 11:30 this morning, Hannah is off track and on vacation! She'll return back to school on October 24th. It's hard to believe she's off track, let alone has 1/3 of her 1st grade year behind her.

She came home with her report card for this trimester. She got marked "strong performance" in all areas except two, and was said to be doing "very well academically" by her teacher! We are VERY proud!

Hannah completed her sight word program today. She has 220 sight words she can recognize just by sight. A few weeks ago, a list came home with 10 sight words. The assignment was to be able to recognize those 10 words in under a minute. Once we felt she was ready to be tested, we sent the list back and she was tested, if she passed, she was given a new list to study. She has brought a new list home everyday, with the exception of one list this week, and has been at the front of the pack of kids in her class. We will now start back at the first list and she will now need to be able to spell them.

Another academic accomplishment this week was moving up a level in reading. She's getting really good at reading and sounding words out. Which poses as a challenge when we drive past questionable billboards on the freeways, and don't necessarily want to explain what certain words mean. LOL.

We've been talking about what things she'd like to do while on vacation and here is a list of some of the things she's looking forward to:

* spending time at Gramma and Papa's house
* spending a few days at Gramie's house
* going to Disneyland
* visiting the pumpkin patch
* going to a couple of her classmates birthday parties
* having a sleepover with her cousin McKenzie

Those are just a few. I'm sure the list will grow as the vacation gets going. At any rate, Hannah is ready for a break and truthfully, I'm looking forward to going and doing things with her home.

Hannah Gets Her Yellow Belt

Tonight was the Karate Belt Ceremony. And once again, Hannah had quite the cheering section, Gramma and Papa, Gramie, and us. She made a comment this morning about how lucky she was to have her Gramma and Papa and Gramie coming to see her get her Yellow Belt. We told her it's because she's so loved. Perhaps she's starting to notice not everyone has the cheering section like she does.

The instructor called groups of kids up and presented them with their certificate of completion, then awarded them with their new belt, and finally awarded each kid with a medal. Hannah's yellow belt has a black stripe on it, which represents a higher degree of a yellow belt. She earned this by competing at the tournament.

Receiving her new belt.
In fighting stance, with her instructor.
It's official, she has a 2nd degree Yellow Belt in Karate!

Looking So Grown Up