The gift that keeps on giving

If you have a preschooler like me, then you must be getting a birthday invitation at least once a month!  Which means you got to budget for a present, two different gift wraps (depending on the gender) & a gift tag.  Well that all adds up!  Sometimes I can't say no to the invitation since Gianna loves to play with classmates. 

I found this link to a beautiful and free gift tags which can be used for birthdays and Christmas.  The pdf also have lines to guide you with cutting.  It was best recommended to use for a stock card, but instead I used a full page label maker.  Enjoy!

New additions

It has been four months since I've made any updates.  So much have changed & I'm still playing catch-up.  Vincenzo Sagan was born on 4/10 & on 5/8 we left our lovely SF flat for a single-family home in Oakland (bonus for the backyard!).  From there, my brother-in-law "rescued" a kitty from our backyard & Gianna happily named her Little Mermaid Sparkles.  We call her Lms or Sparky for short. 

The bride-to-be getting her practice on.

Gianna & Alijah bathing after spilling hand soap all over.

Bday BBQ with the girls.

We're happy to welcome our friends & family who visited despite the mess & unpacked boxes.  Hope to see you all soon!

10 more weeks to go...

The anticipation, anxiety and worry  are starting to set in.  This weekend I'm planning on packing, setting up the play yard and dusting off the swing (on top of preparing Gianna to be an Ate).  She's already showing symptoms of jealousy when other babies are around, not to mention she's a Stage 5 clinger!  I still find myself sleeping with her in her twin bed & sneaking out around 11:30 only to find her again in our bed at 2 am.  Someone help me!

@ 24 weeks

Happy Holidaze!

Gianna's preschool is on a 2 week winter break which coincides with our San Diego vacay.  Her ninong happens to be there for a NCAA tournament & ninang resides there, so we killed 2 birds with 1 stone.  She really took a liking to Ninang Lora & her boyfriend, Curtis.  Its unfortunate that they live so far away.

It was nice to escape from the SF rainy & cold weather.  We took G to Legoland, San Diego Zoo, the Aquarium, a puppet show and The New Children's Museum.  In other words, she got hooked up!  This year we celebrated NYE pajama-style beating the boys in Pictionary with NKOTB & the Backstreet Boys serenading us and Gianna tormenting the kitties. 

Debuting her new smile at SD Zoo

The best seats I've ever had.  Go Lady Dragons!

Enjoying some slim pickiins at Aloha Grille.

A visit from Auntie Mel.

countdown to midnight, PJ style

Too excited to drive

Happy New Year to all.  We are excited on our new addition for 2011! 

Gianna's 3rd Halloween/Birthday Bash

Thank you to all those who celebrated with us in a Mad Hatter kind of way.  The kids all had a blast with a surprise halloween puppet show and beating up the pinata.  We were blessed with a beautiful and sunny weather so the kids spent most of the time outdoors in the playground area while the adults socialized inside the rec hall. 

The birthday girl with cousin Gerard.

Dylan (Mini-Stacie) trying to rip Barney open.

G along with Lil Nick, Tyler and Audrey.

Notice of Action

I was deeply saddened to hear that the Governator eliminated $256 million in funding for Calworks Stage 3 program beginning November 1^st, 2010.  This means that if you’re childcare or school is being fully or partially subsidized for more than 2 years, then your service will be terminated.  This allows family to stay employed so we can work.

California’s unemployment rate stands at 12.4% and may go higher with this recent budget cut.  This cut is a direct assault on our children.  This will greatly affect 1300 children & over 900 families.  In our case, we are fortunate enough to keep Gianna in preschool.  There isn’t much choice.  I can’t pull her out of school!  But I can’t imagine what other families who has to pay rent, tuition, utilities and food must struggle with. 

Let the Governor hear from you.  This is truly serious.  Families can go unemployed or homeless.  Send him an email or call the State Capitol (916) 445-2841.  For more information, visit http://parentvoices.org/

My girl loves to potty all the time...

After 6 months of potty training, the notion of using the potty for wee-wee and poo-poo finally settled in. I was on stress mode after we received the acceptance letter from her preschool, which required all students to be potty trained. I did everything the books, internet, friends and family told me, but nothing really worked. Not even bribing worked!

I borrowed a DVD from the library about potty training. (This was actually a third video we watched about this.) She must've really liked it since she wanted to copy the main character using the potty. She sat on hers & low & behold she tinkled! We were making strides on completing her potty chart. For next few days, she just kept on going number 1 & 2! Now that her chart is complete, we can take a trip to the zoo as promised.