' They Call Me June: June 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009

Another Fabulous Dinner a la Mark

I am so lucky, everyday, I am so lucky - I have a wonderful family who loves me, a beautiful home, a great job, and a husband that cooks amazing dinners for me! Tonight we had Tony and Taylor from next door join us in our feast.

Here's proof of one of his fantastic dinners:

























































Love you baby! Love, June
Sunday, June 28, 2009

Library

I haven't gotten to this yet, it's been in the works for awhile . . . and I'm sitting here, on a lazy Sunday morning, thinking of nothing else to post, this might be a good time!

As mentioned before, there are some really amazing blogs out there; while mine is pretty much a picture journal of our latest happenings, there are many blogs that are uber creative and inspiring! One of my favs, is inchmark.squarspace - the link is listed on the right of my blog under Amazing Things. The writer of this blog suggested a book, The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. My copy is the 6th edition of this book and was first written in 1979. The first half of the book goes over the IMPORTANCE of reading aloud to your kids, not just when they are young, but through middle and high school! I did not realize this! The second half of the book is suggested reading material for your munchkins in any stage of their life! The whole book is invaluable! Really great! So I decided to introduce my kids to the library . . .

I grew up in libraries, my grandmother, my Nana, was the head of the Scottsdale Public Library, my sister, cousin and I volunteered numerous hours there. We also were always enrolled in any library reading program, it was part of my upbringing, part of my life. After college, I stopped going and I don't know why I never thought to bring my kids before discovering this book. The library is great! It is cool, it doesn't cost any money, the kids get to pick out whatever they want, there are places to sit, look and read books, and it also teaches them how to enjoy something that is not loud or exciting, but can still be fun! So now every week, we go to the library, the kids get to pick two books each and I choose two from the suggested reading material by Mr. Trelease. So they each have three books, we take them home, read them during the week, rate them, and return them to get more. It's really so much fun.

Here are some pictures of our first visit to the library, the kids each have their own card, which they signed and they are responsible for checking out their books and returning them themselves also. They feel good, they have so much responsibility and we have some great time reading together.





Saturday, June 27, 2009

Caden's 5th Birthday Party






Caden is one of Karsten's best buddies from K-Prep. His mom is super nice too, so we made sure to exchange information to keep in touch. Karsten was so excited to get his invite from Caden for his 5th birthday party to Peter Piper Pizza. We all had a great time and two of Karsten's other classmates were there too - Sophie and Mia. It was so nice to see Caden and his family! It was also nice to see Karsten with his friends from school, it made me miss the program, but it's so great that they all just played so well together, like they had just seen each yesterday! Young friendship is so sweet and pure.
Thursday, June 25, 2009

Nose Injury Caused by a Play Pen, NOT a Crib

When I picked Ella up from my sister's house on Wednesday evening her nose was red and raw on both sides and the top. I asked her what had happened and she said she did it on Ava's crib. Ava's crib is wooden and has bars, like every other crib, I just couldn't see how that could have caused her injury. I didn't push it, I was just trying to get the kids out of their house. But later that night, I asked Ella again. She exasperatingly told me she did it on Ava's crib! She showed me she was turning her head back and forth, back and forth. It finally dawned on me, Ava's crib at Shanna's (our kid-sitter) is a play pen and the mesh netting could have done that to her nose. After I figured that out, I turned to her and asked her why she didn't stop when it started to hurt. (It had to have hurt, she basically rubbed the skin off her entire nose!) She said Ava was laughing and it was making her laugh and it didn't hurt. The power of love and laughter at work! Here's pictures of poor Ella's raw nose (two days later). Miss Ella sure does love her cousin!


Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009

Crazy Ava Fridays!

Ihave the pleasure of watching my gorgeous little niece on Fridays. We had taken a small hiatus from our fabulous Fridays for awhile, but now we're back - together again! It's not always easy, but the time we have together is so important to me. My love, trust and bond with Ava gets stronger and stronger; there is nothing better than that! Not to mention my kids adore her and we always have fun; even if we are staying home, chillin'. Here's a few photos from our last Friday together.

Ella and Ava dressed up as princesses - Sleeping Beauty and Snow White in the flesh!



Karsten had to get in on the picture action with his quilt. I swear that child is blanket obsessed! What is he going to do in Kindergarten?! (That is a whole other issue and post to be dealt with LATER!)


Two girls and their Fedora's - so stinkin' cute!



Ella got in trouble and while she was serving her time in the corner, Ava walked over and stood right beside her!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Ella Goes Dancing

I got a referral to a dance school from one of my patients . . . Ms. Robbin is a professionally trained ballerina who has two studios in her home. She teaches young girls ballet and tumbling. Her classes are fun, but proper. Ella was to have a black or pink leotard, plain, no bling or frills. Pink tights are optional at Ella's age, but for the rest of the girls, mandatory. Ella's hair must be pulled back, preferably in a bun, or ponytail if the hair is too short. (Which Ella's is). It sounds like a lot of rules and regulations, but I like the structure of a proper ballet class.

I wasn't sure if Ella would like it (you just never know). So this Summer class was just 3 weeks long and super cheap so I thought it would be a good introduction to see if she would enjoy a longer session in the fall. Here are pictures of Ella on her way to class. Mark took her to the first one, because I had to work, but I was able to help her get ready and see them off!





















































Love, love, love my baby!
Saturday, June 13, 2009

Isabella's Second Birthday

Happy Birthday, Isabella!



Miss Isabella turned two on June 14th. We weren't telling her she was two though, the Nordling family was going to board a plane that week and didn't want Isabella telling everyone at the airport she was two so they didn't have to buy her a ticket!


Watching presents being opened . . .

This is the point where Ella took control of my camera. She very much likes portraits. And I have to say she's not too bad. She can line up a nice shot!






I have included this picture also, as it was taken by Ella, but this was just one of a series of portraits taken of this stuffed puppy; about 15-20 images on my camera. And she was posing him on different things also; on the ground, on a bike, by some legos . . .

Happy Birthday Princess Bella!

While Megan and I were running around getting cake and ice cream for the munchkins, this is what Ava was doing . . .






























Wash it off with a dip in the kiddie pool!


























A perfect end to a fabulous birthday party; Uncle Brandon reading a Fancy Nancy book to the kids.
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