Come Fly With Me

Tori is now a seasoned flyer.  We took 4 plane trips to Portland and back a few weeks ago and she had a great time.  We got in late and had a hard time getting back to the hotel, so we got to the hotel around 3 am our time.  She got a 2 hour nap on the 2nd flight and loved the in flight music selection.  She wasn't interested in the kung fu panda movie though.  She slept in late and went flower picking with all the girls and had some lunch.  Then back for a quick nap before the rehearsal and dinner.  She had pizza for dinner that night and had fun playing with her cousins and other kids.  We tried breakfast again in the morning at the hotel, but the kids weren't into it, so we walked to BK and had breakfast there.  We also had lunch at Elmers, which wasn't bad, but the kids needed a nap.  Tori and the girls took a decent nap and got ready for the wedding.  They all got to blow bubbles in the procession and were good for the ceremony and pictures.  They had a blast at the reception as you can see below.  We left a little early since we had an early flight and I took Tori and her cousins back to the hotel to get some sleep.  They played for a little bit and watched the cat and the hat and zonked out for the night.  I warned Tori the night before that we were getting up early and she'd have to get up when I woke her.  She got up, but was tired and crying a bit.  Once we got on the flight, she was ok.  Unfortunately, there wasn't any entertainment on the way back, but she still enjoyed the flights and only got a little ancy on the last flight waiting for it to land.  It took a day or so to recover from being exhausted, but she Overall, she had a good time and loved flying.  She can't wait to get on a plane again. 

Shot Time

Tori went for a checkup yesterday, along with Eli, and sadly, they had to get shots. I thought there shot days were over, but it turns out there are a couple of new shots. Tori, apparently, took it in stride, not even crying about it. She came home with a bright pink band-aid and stickers. She is doing well and growing fine. Eli, too. Unlike his big sister, he did cry. By the time I saw him, however, he was doing well with his band-aided leg. He told it hurt, and that was that. My babies are all grown up. I don’t even have a toddler anymore. Sad, but not sad enough for us to want another kid. We are done! The sight of infants doesn’t even move us anymore. Travis is having a girl in November, and while Huts and I look forward to meeting her and holding her, we also look forward to handing her back! We are so done with babies.

Happy Camper

Unlike her brother, Tori was a pure delight on the first day of school. She got up without a fuss and talked non-stop at breakfast, though she was a little teary when she learned there would be new kids in her class. Huts took her to her line, and they found it right away. After the fuss with Christian, I walked over to Tori and gave her a big hug. She was so excited to be there and even more so when she got off the bus. “That was fun!” she echoed Christian as we walked across the street. She had a great first day. The only downer was the 15 minutes of reading with her dad. She was not interested in that at all, but she survived and we will do it again tonight!

Ready for School

Tori got a mail teacher, Mr. Jacobson, for her first grade teacher. She was upset at hearing the news. She wanted a female teacher. Once she saw his picture and heard how nice he was, she got excited to start first grade. She's all ready to go to meet her new friends.

She also got to meet a kindergarten girl named Kayla who lives in our subdivision. She is getting some of Tori's old school clothes. They both seemed to like each other and want to play together right away. Kayla didn't stay long the day she came to check out the clothes, but they both were excited to setup a play date in the future after school gets rolling. Maybe they'll get to play together soon.

In a couple weeks, Tori gets to take her first flight to Portland for her Uncle Samm's Wedding. She's a bit scared about the flights, but she'll be fine after the first short leg of our trip is over. She'll get to dress up and fawned over at the wedding, so she'll be fine once we get there. The trip back is going to be a bit more difficult. We have an early flight and Tori is not an early bird. I may be carrying her through the airport zonked out. Hopefully it goes well and we can do it again in a few years to Disneyland.

Tori does not yet know her teacher for first grade. They are still sorting everything out. One of the first grade teachers passed away recently, so that and the coming and going of students has resulted in some shuffling. Christian promises not to say anything about his teacher until we know Tori’s. She wants a woman, but there is a possibility that she will end up with Mr. Jacobsen. She is terrified of that, but all will be ok. She is looking forward to having her own desk and using all of her new school supplies. Wish her luck!

Readers

Along with our trip to the bank, we visited the new library. Christian was not impressed, but Eli and Tori had a good time looking at the books and playing with the blocks and puzzles. We spent about an hour there, much to Christian’s dismay. Tori brought home a book about Olivia—she is on an Olivia kick right now. She has the house that turns into a pirate ship and the family. She also watches Olivia every chance she gets! Anyway, the book she borrowed folds out, and she has done a good job of keeping it away from Eli. Way to go, Tori!

Wowww!

We took the kids to a ball game late on Sunday night to catch the fireworks show. Tori had a blast. She got some fries, played at the playground and watched the fireworks show in awe! She loved every boom, unlike Christian who slunk down into his seat and covered his ears. She thought it was spectacular and watched most of it with her mouth open in awe! She had started to tire out, but the fireworks woke her up and she was oh so ready for more once we got home. She played outside for an hour lighting up the night with sparklers and went to bed after midnight! This morning, she was a bit tired but happy to go off to the sitter’s with toys in tow for whomever else might be there.

Birthday Party

12 was the magic number for the birthday party on Friday night. Owen showed up to play with Christian, and Tori had nine little girls to play with. There were also a few parents who stuck around to help. They played for an hour bouncing on nearly everything, and then they were off to the green room for pizza, ice cream and cake. Most must have eaten beforehand because there was quite a bit left. Oh well. Tori opened her presents, got a hug from Monkey Joe and took off for another half hour of play. Shop closed up at 8, and we were back home by 8:30 with three tired kids and a sack of presents. Many thanks to all who made this birthday so special for Miss Tori.

Diva Turns 6

Tori’s birthday was this Friday, and she had a blast shopping at the toy store. She collected all of her money—thanks to everyone who contributed—and bought:

Pillow Featherbed Lala Loopsy doll

Four mini Lala Loopsy dolls

Lala Loopsy doll treehouse (NEW!)

Lala Loopsy cat to dress up

Zoobles carrying case

Zoobles figures—for those of you who aren’t familiar with these, Zoobles are like Bakugans for girls.

Monster High Jeckyll and Hyde dolls

Tori is all set and spent much of this weekend playing with her new loot in her room. She doesn’t realize it, but this Friday is her party and she is sure to receive a few more gifts, including the cat above that she had me wrap for her party.

All of the Lalas and Zoobles came in, and out went the majority of the My Little Pony stuff. Tori is growing up, and her interests along with it!

Birthday Girl

It’s hard to believe, but Tori is turning 6 on Friday! She is getting so big now. Not only does she have her own way of doing things, but she is starting to talk like an older kid, telling us jokes and relaying stories of her friends. She even went to camp by herself this morning—yes, she was a bit scared but off she went without big brother Ollie.

She is fortunate enough to come from a big family, which means she will be receiving quite a bit of birthday money. This is presenting a problem in the shopping—she can’t make up her mind what she wants to buy. More than likely, some of it will go into savings until a later date. Got to make sure she leaves something for Mom and Dad to get her!

Out of all the people she gets cards from, Aunt Lucy and Lily (not Brent, sorry Brent) are her favorite. She looks forward to their card—probably because Lucy was the first to send her a musical card that she remembers. Lucy also sends gift cards, which Tori adores! Thanks, Aunt Lucy, and to everyone else who sends Tori a card or gives her a call. She loves to talk on the phone and will not doubt be pleased with everyone who calls her!

Birthday Girl

Tori will turn 6 on Father’s Day weekend, and yesterday, we booked a party for her at Monkey Joe’s. In addition to two hours of playtime, Tori will get pizza, cake, ice cream, a gift and goodies bags for everyone. She is not thrilled that she gets the green room for her party, but she will live. We aren’t sending out invitations until school is out to avoid the hoopla.

Since we can’t have the party on her birthday, we are going to have a little party of our home. Tori gets to choose where she wants to eat, and we’ll get her some gifts. I haven’t asked her if she wants to pick out her own gifts. We’ll see. Anyway, she is looking forward to her big days and will probably drive us crazier the closer we get to them.

Please

Tori has been asking for a lot of new toys lately. We didn't really know why because she got toys often enough to placate her. We found out why this past week why she was asking for more toys. Usually the kids take toys to before care to play with in addition to the toys they have there. Apparently Tori's "friends" like them so much that they decide to take them home with them. They tell Tori that they don't get new toys or toys that are that pretty, so they are going to take them home. Once we found this out, Tresa discussed it with Tori and they decided that it would be best not to bring toys to before care for the rest of the school year (about 3 weeks). Tori seemed happy with this arrangement and hasn't asked about taking toys to school since she decided. She seems to be happy about the whole thing and so far her "friends" haven't said anything that we know of. She's such a nice girl that she couldn't say no. We may have to work on that a bit as she gets older, but for a 5 year old, its pretty much expected.

Sleeping Pretty

Unlike her brother, Tori LOVES her new bed. She couldn’t wait for us to get it together, and unfortunately for her, we started with Christian’s first. By the time we got it together and everything put away, it was lunchtime. Poor Tori. She so wanted her bed up.

Finally, we got it together, and we started putting things away. Tori was a huge help. She carried in all of her clothes from the family room and put everything where she wanted it under her bed. She loves her new space under her bed and tacked up a blanket not too long after so she could have a real hideout.

There have been no complaints from her about the height, not even when I was helping her get dressed this morning. The beds are a little harder to make, but she is happily doing her best. Whew! One child satisfied.

Field Trip Finally

Tori has been waiting all year to go on a class field trip, and yesterday was the day. She visited a farm and saw lots of animals. She had much to tell us yesterday, and she can’t wait for the next field trip.

On another note, she had lost interest in dancing and is now into MAD. She loves to watch the show with Christian. It keeps them laughing and they always come downstairs with recaps!