For a rare preschool homework assignment, Aurora had to read the story, My Pony by Susan Jeffers. Then she got to right her own story that started with, "If I had a pony..."After the story was written she drew some illustrations to go with it and presented it the next morning at her preschool.
Here's her story:
If I had a pony, I would wake up with the morning with it, give it some breakfast, get dressed and we would go to the park. We would go down the big slide. Then we come back home and go on my swing-set. Then we would go back inside and have some lunch. Then we would play games on the computer. Then we would look at the calendar to look for special day stickers. Then we would look at pictures of Mommy, Mama, and me as a baby.
We would play for 2 hours in my dollhouse and then we would have dinner and get ready for bed. Then we would sleep soundly and dream about more adventures. Her name is Sparkle.
Here's her illustration:
And last but not least, here is her presentation with her teacher:
Note, if the video won't play, click on the pop-out icon in the upper right corner.
We celebrated Aurora's 5th birthday at a park near our house today. We were blessed with gorgeous and not too cool weather. On November 30th she turned 5 years old. Hard to believe our little baby has turned into a "big kid."
Aurora chose Elena of Avalor as her birthday theme (a princess we can tolerate finally). To celebrate Mommy and Mama made an "Elena" cake, we got a giant "Elena" piñata at the San Jose Flea Market, and lots of pizza.
On her actual birthday her tía got her a fabulous tres leches cake with her favorite pink flowers (Feliz Cumpleaños Aurora).
And because two celebrations isn't enough, the day before her birthday, she celebrated with her preschool class. Mommy made delicious rice crispy treat cake pops and her class made her an awesome birthday crown.
She continues to amaze and amuse as she grows and changes. The next year is full of excitement including starting kindergarten next fall (gulp!)
Getting ready for the Elena piñata
Her cake with figures from Elena of Avalor (and unfortunate backlighting)
Aurora lost one of her bottom teeth this afternoon. I was away at a conference and she called to tell me it was loose, boy was I surprised when I got home and there was a new gap in her smile. She has a missing tooth, but that one was pulled by the dentist when it broke. She could hardly wait to get to sleep so the tooth fairy could come.
Aurora is SO excited for Halloween. Last week we went to a pumpkin patch with her preschool class. Last night we had a great time carving her pumpkin with our friends Mary Ellen and Erik. She has a parade at her preschool today and then trick or treat with her cousin. She was asking about her previous costumes so I thought I'd share some pictures from Halloween's past. We'll post today's costume later when she's all decked out.
2012 - Aurora's first Halloween. She was an adorable fuzzy monkey.
Summer is nearly over and this kid is growing like a weed. Today I was treated to a "dance performance" while we were hanging out waiting on a doctor's appointment.
Since Aurora loves opening "surprise" eggs, last year we gave her a ton of them. This year we decided to make things a bit harder and designed a scavenger hunt. She can't read yet, but we were happy to help with that part.
The egg shaped clues.
We hid 6 eggs of various sizes in the early hours of Sunday morning both inside and outside the house. #1 was just outside her door and sent her grabbing shoes and a coat to throw over jammies.
Yes, our grass is quite tall, thanks El Niño.
Then another outside before she had to run inside.
Then inside for a few more clues and back outside again, this is fun right?
Then for the last clue, and the big surprise! I got this Dora house from a fellow staff person at Stanford for $35. Not only does it have lots of parts, it talks. She was unavailable for a while after this.
We finished off the day with a fantastic Indian lunch and play date with a friend from preschool. Lots of fun and full tummies.
Time is a funny thing. I remember being pregnant and thinking it was taking FOREVER, now I wish it could just slow down a bit. Short of defying the laws of physics, we'll have to suffice with making the days full and fun.
We started the Birthday weekend off on Friday with a trip to Joseph D Grant Park to stretch our legs and enjoy a gorgeous fall day. On Sunday we had a party at Emma Prusch Farm park, the kids got to see the animals, eat cotton candy, and take a hay ride. Aurora turned 4 on Monday. Her preschool teacher gave her a birthday crown and we wrapped up the day with a piñata and cake Monday night.
Happy Birthday to our sassy little girl.
Checking out the park with Lucille
That sun feels good on this cool morning
Walking with Mommy and Lucille
Birthday girl decked out in her Wonder Woman costume
MMMM cotton candy
Sugar run!
New Darth Vader jammies
Smacking the piñata
Finishing off the day with a face full of frosting
Thanksgiving always feels like a great day to reflect on the year, before the holiday insanity kicks into full gear and it becomes harder to keep focused. I decided to put my thoughts on our blog rather than a social media post.
The last year has been challenging for more reasons than I care to share, but looking back I reminded about how well my wife and I weather the hard stuff together. I am thankful she is often able to find optimism when I cannot and helps me find the light at the end of the tunnel.
I am so grateful to the family and friends who have reached out and lent a hand, often without realizing how much it's needed. I'm thankful for our friends who have stuck by us even when I imagine it gets hard.
I feel so blessed by our beautiful child who is such a source of humor and light even while she tests the limits of our patience. She is growing into an amazing compassionate little person. On Monday, she'll be 4.
As each year passes, I look back and find little I regret. Life continues to surprise even as it throws up roadblocks.
Wishing everyone a season of hope and peace.
Sarah
P.S. Aurora says this year she's thankful for Halloween :)
Months ago Aurora told us she wanted to dress like Honey Lemon from the movie Big Hero 6 for Halloween. My wife decided she would make her costume and boy did it turn out great! Honey Lemon's Power Purse lights up and has a periodic table with buttons, just like in the movie! We had a great time showing it off at her preschool Halloween parade.
Tonight at bedtime Aurora announced that for the "first time ever" she was going to get herself ready for bed. She went in her room and put on her pajamas (with a short intervention due to a backwards shirt); she brushed her teeth and washed her face; and then she read herself a story (one she has memorized). We were not allowed in her room, but I got a short video peeking through the door of her reciting one of her favorites, "We're going on a bear hunt."
It's been a busy year and this little girl is growing like a weed. We were very excited to learn a few weeks ago that we had made it off the wait list and into preschool. Wednesday (10/7) was our first day. This begins a new adventure for all of us as it's a parent participation school. One day a week one of us joins the class to help out for the 2 1/2 hour session.
Aurora LOVES going to school!
The teacher's update for our first week said, "I want to again WELCOME Aurora, and her parents to the class. Aurora fit in very well, and you would never know that she has not been with us since the beginning!" We couldn't agree more.
We took Aurora to see Santa a few weeks ago. We were worried she might be scared, so we told her while we were waiting what was going to happen when she met Santa. As you can see there were no tears. She LOVES Santa.
Hope all our friends holidays were merry and light.
This was a crazy summer and fall. So I'm doing a massive post, lots of photos and video.
We got annual passes for both Happy Hollow Park and Zoo (hhpz.org) and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Her two favorite places in the world.
So nearly every weekend, we have done one or both. Exhausted mommy and mama. Meanwhile, she's grown from just barely big enough for the little rides, to tall and fearless enough for the roller coaster at Happy Hollow.
About a month ago, we went to Sacramento to say our farewells and share memories of my much beloved grandma Flossie. Aurora summed up the emotions of the weekend well.
We stayed in a hotel with a pool, so Mommy and her Duckling practiced swimming.At first she was quite reluctant. But by the end of the lessons, had paddled back and forth (with assistance from her floats and I.)
As we headed upstairs to change, she started talking about "needing to find my Mermaid Gem."
When we asked what that was, she looked at us somewhat exasperatedly and said "Its a magic gem to make me splash like a mermaid so I can swim better."
The story kept growing. Eventually we realized this was fast becoming a quest.
So I bought a few things. A green faceted round crystal ball, some purple ribbon, some "mermaid tears" beads, a small pirate treasure chest with a tiny lock, a 6" brass/leather spyglass, and some plastic gold coins. (Thanks Amazon Prime!)
Our friends helped play along. Our dear friends the Y-Js from Seattle "found" the map I made during their drive down.
I was repeatedly told to warn them to watch out for sneaky Swiper the Fox. Our old neighbor "found" the key.
So we read The Map. It was made Dora the Explorer-style, with three places that had to be found/crossed/explored before you could move to the next.
So Sunday found us first driving OVER the Tallest Mountains. (Santa Cruz Mountains
Then we went to the Boardwalk and for the first time, the 3 of us rode above everyone in the Sky Glider. While we were up there, I "saw where the Pink Pirate House is!"
So then we drove to the Pink Pirate House. Which is actually our friends' house in Santa Cruz. Hillary and her dad (who was visiting his new grandkids) dressed up as pirates for when we arrived.
Once she had established that the pirate in front of her was one of her favorite people in the world, I thought she was going to keel over from the excitement.
So then into the backyard, where she hunted about until she found where X marked the buried treasure.
Then a bit of learning to sword fight after being given a hat and sword. She's a natural.
She loves her Mermaid Gem. And we are all looking forward to lots more adventures!
Holy cow, is it May already? I see my last post was in January. We've done just a couple things since then. Aurora is now two and a half. It's a little hard for me to believe, but really, she isn't a baby anymore. We are pretty much done with potty training, except at night. Her Spanish is better than mine probably ever will be; she's learning numbers, shapes, and letters right now.
We've been spending a lot of time going to the park and keeping our active girl from getting bored. She asks lots of questions, often over and over. We try to get more creative with our answers. I suspect any day now the dreaded, "Why?" will finally enter our daily existence.
In mid-January we learned the lease on the house we've lived in for the last four years would not be renewed, so at the end of June we'll be moving. Our new place is near Aurora's new favorite park and zoo, Happy Hollow. We've gone there twice this year, and are already reaping the benefit of getting annual passes.
On the Frog Hopper (yes, she's just tall enough)
In early April we decided that Aurora really needed a haircut. We cut it a little when she was a baby, but nothing since then. We LOVE her curls but they are often a tangled nightmare and she's not very patient with a hairbrush. Thankfully her cousin Michael's girlfriend Zoe is in school to be a hair stylist, so she came to our house to give her a trim, sparing us a trip to the salon. Michael was kind enough to let her sit in his lap.
And yes, I kept an envelope full of ringlets.
For Easter, we filled the backyard with eggs and let her run around and find them. The day before we let her color some eggs with crayons before we dipped them in dye.
In early May we had a short visit with our friend Joy. Of course we had to take the opportunity to go to the Santa Cruz boardwalk to see Aurora's beloved carousel.
And here we are half way through May. I'm sure I've forgotten any number of things we've done. Like celebrating a Super Bowl win with my parents. Aurora can now proudly say, "Go Seahawks!" I suspect my wife has more and possibly better pictures to add. We're looking forward to getting moved and settled so we can get on with more fun things.
