Graduation Day, Graduation Day, Graduation Day is FINALLY here!

Words from the song Seraya has been practicing to sing at Graduation to the tune of “Dina won’t you blow, Dina won't you blow, Diana won't you blow your Ho-r-n!"

My Seraya is an official preschool graduate! See, she has a graduation cap and diploma to prove it!

For the special occasion I thought it would be fun for her to pick out a new dress so I took her to the store and she got to pick out whatever dress she wanted. This is a special treat from the usual mom buys her something on sale and she better like it scenario. She said, “Mama, I’m going to pick the most beautifulest dress ever.”

All I can say is that girl knows what she likes. I must have shown her at least 30 dresses, how about this one, or this one…..no, no, no. She found a white and purple dress and her face lit up, “Oh, mama…I love this dress!” We narrowed it down to five dresses to try on and each one was a nope until she put this same purple one on and then it was “Oh, mama, I love the sleeves”, she twirled around the it was sold! On the way back out to the car she said, “Mom, I can’t believe I found my best dress ever!”

I’m glad she felt really special going to her graduation. She sat up front with her teacher and special friends, some of who she has been in school with for 2 years. They sang their “Graduation Day” song and then Seraya’s class sang “I’m Gonna Praise Him”. They did a fabulous job. We are so proud of Seraya! She has grown and has learned so much over the past two years of preschool.

Afterward, we gave Seraya some beautiful hot pink baby roses (her favorite color) that her daddy picked out for her. She took a picture with Ms.Corinne and got her Diploma and a gift of a Children’s Bible. Kaija was waiting so patiently hoping that she would get one too, and she was so sad to find out that only Seraya was graduating., afterall she has gone to preschool almost every day this year to drop Seraya off and pick her up and that should count for something!

We all went out to dinner afterwards and happened to meet one of Seraya’s classmates, Bryan, and his family there. We all ate together and celebrated the accomplishments of out little ones. They SO enjoyed being the center of attention… "Drink it all in, Seraya”, I said, and she giggled.

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My Have Poop

You SO don't want to be a mom of three kids four and under! I have one baby screaming from the high chair because I had to quit feeding him his rice-cereal mid-bite to rescue my other two daughters from floods of water. They tipped over my vase of Mother's Day tulips, which are now swimming on the hardwood floors. I didn't even know the vase could hold so much water, but I just kept hearing it drip and splash and drip and splash and with each drip I scurried faster and faster to try and find a towel...somewhere, anywhere....a towel, any towel.
So now, the wet is dried up and kids need to be changed because their pants (that they were ready to walk out the door in) are now ready for nothing.

I take a deep breath and calmly sit down to resume feeding the baby and I notice Kaija is missing. "Kaija!" I yell, "Come down and finish breakfast." Just then a completely naked Kaija peers around the corner, "My have poop" she says. "Where????" I say..."All over" she says.... Oh, and she meant it!

Freeze! Hands up! Don't move! I'm sure it sounded like I was about to arrest her, but I just needed to stop the mess while I ran for the wipes. With wipes in hand, I say lean over and spread em'! After she was cleaned up (the the droplets on the floor). Armed with wipes and a plastic bag, ready to face anything at this point I say, "Show mama where the poop is"... "Ok mama, come on!" At the bottom for the stairs I step over the diaper that was shed. Thisi s going to get worse before it gets better I say to myself. Seraya says I wanna see too! And I say, "I'll tell you ALL about it, you stay there and finish breakfast."

Kaija takes me up the stairs, my eyes are peeled looking for any clue as to where the mess may linger. Then she points into her room and there, I see the two logs I've been searching for. Oh my gosh, everyone stand back, "Seraya (who had followed us up the stairs so as to not miss it) get me more wipes, quick!" As I'm reaching with wipes to pick up the mess, Kaija says, "Mama, you still love me?" and with smile on face and poop in hand I say, "Yes Kaija, Mama loves you!" "Kank you, Mama", Kaija says with a smile melting my heart! And off they go like a couple of kids to play as I deal with the sanitizing and anti-bacterializing, un-fun stuff!

Meanwhile, Liam is still howling from his high chair, wondering why all of a sudden, mid morsel, his stream of food ceased and all his family has deserted!

Ha! If you like the sounds of my life, maybe you so DO want to be the mom of three kids four and under.

Time 8:38am, are we ready for bed yet? No, it's time to go to work!

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Holy Princesses!!

We had a royal day of princessing at Disneyland today, it's called a Magical Morning and with our tickets we could get into the park an hour before everyone else and enjoy an essentially empty park. What that meant was getting to the park at 7am dressed in royal princess attire with hair carefully done and crowns carefully placed by mama.



Mickey mouse was there to greet us when we entered the park and no matter how many times the kids saw Mickey, their faces lit up each time. AAaahhhh, the Magic! We were able to get a family photo without crowds and it was so special.

Then off we raced to Fantasy land to ride Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and Dumbo the flying elephant. Then we went on the storybook ride where you ride a boat and see little miniature lands where the storybook characters live. Seraya loved it so much she wanted to go on it again. Since there were no lines, it was as she wished!

We also went to the Royal Princess Walk where the girls met Jasmine, Mulan and Princess Minnie. The girls were in awe!


At the royal coronation, they girls were able to dance with the princesses. The whole room, adults and children alike, let out an audible gasp when Cinderella entered the room. The girls took an oath to be kind and princess-like at all times, then they were deemed princesses themselves. (We'll see how long that oath holds up!)

Afterwards I asked one of the ladies standing by if she knew if Cinderella would be on the Pricess walk later that day. She took one look at Kaija dressed in her princess gown and said, "I can guarantee you can meet Cinderella if you come back here at 10:55 am." So we got a royal invitation, a part of the year of a million dreams celebration, for a private reception with princess Cinderella for just our family! We told the girls they got a invitation, but they didn't know who it was from. When they were able to see Cinderella at her royal reception place all by themselves, they were star struck. I could see the sparkle in their eyes and it was enough to make any parent get choked up with Magic! Cinderella told Seraya she looked like her friend Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and she told Kaija, "You look like me when I was little!"

After the Cinderella encounter, it was story time with the princesses and royal craft time. By then the girls were wiped out! It was only about 11:30 am, but they were ready for lunch! We were amazed at how much we had already accomplished by that time of day with no lines around. Starting at 7am really payed off and who would have guessed they'd still be going strong at 11pm!

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