Belle of the Ball

Yesterday, after soccer, it was Mommy/Daughter day! We met up with some friends to see Beauty and the Beast at the local Children's theater. It was darling, as always! They do such a good job there of putting on an interactive, kid-friendly performance with just enough bells and whistles. The girls did amazing and were completely into the show. Next season (Spring) they are putting on Rapunzel and then Snow White! Neve is counting the days!

Outside getting ready to go in for the show.

Neve with her sweet friends Shelby, Riley, and Addison.

The girls up on the big staircase before the show.

After the show it was on to Oregano's for lunch.

The girls playing Ring-around-the-Rosie while waiting for our table.

Aaron spent the afternoon with Nateman at the pool. No pictures of course because that would involve Aaron picking up a camera. :)

Nate does go with us to soccer games though and does quite well. We are still looking for a respite provider for that time but still nobody seems to be a good fit. *sigh*. How is it I found such AMAZING aides for Nate in Ohio, but not here at ALL. hmmmm..what gives? Oh well! Looks like Nate is going to learn to tag along for family events for now. It's good for him, sometimes I know. Other times it is just TOO much input for the poor little guy. Sensory and stimulation overload.

Just Kickin' It

Fall soccer season has begun. Woohoo!!!!!!!!!

We went back in the "draft" this year for a new coach and I think it paid off. Neve thinks it's super cool that "Coach Glen" has the same name as her cat. It was apparently meant to be. :)

AND the best news is that she has one girl on her team this year....YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Favorite shot of the day!!

Let me tell you WHAT A DIFFERENCE this game was compared to last season! WOW! Aaron and I both were looking at each other like, "Who's kid is that?". She was so excited to play EVERY minute and even scored two goals on her own. The only diva moments she has this time involved shedding tears when she had to sit out!

She doesn't look even close to 3 years old to me in this picture!

GOOOOOOO TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great game!! Can't wait for next week. :)

(..and for my mother: I will load all the pics from today to their Shutterfly account.

 http://nateandneveportnoy.shutterfly.com/

You would have been so proud of our Moo!)

Mom: "Neve, you have pinkeye." Neve: "Pinkeye? Great! I luuuuuuuv pink!"

Loooooong week and weekend but tomorrow is back to business. Aaron was in Seattle for the week and then Miss Thang got pinkeye. Good times. :)  It's funny because by Friday morning I had reached my limit with the kids so after dropping Nate off at school I headed to the gym and put her in the gym play center. Please note that this is the first time, EVER, that I have ever done this. Waaaaaaay out of my comfort zone...BUT I needed a break before I exploded at my kids so it is what it is. Neve also ALWAYS asks when she can go in there (when we are at the pool there), so why the hell not?  So I suppose a big ol' YOU'RE WELCOME goes out to the Gilbert area and all of those that we infected with the dreaded pinkeye. OOPS. Mother of the year over here.
I had the camera out on Friday so I tried to snap a few pics of Nate as we were leaving for school. He wanted NOTHING to do with it.

Nate carrying his "talker".

Then he flashed me what I assume is an offensive East Valley gang sign that he learned from those punks at his school. ;)

...and with that he was COMPLETELY done with my camera. :)

We picked up Nate after school and headed to the pediatrician. Both kids at the doc is also something we never do. Neve is GREAT at the places like that but holding Nate is like trying to hug a feral cat. Every year it gets that much harder as he is quickly outgrowing my hold.

We layed low most of the weekend as to not expose our bacteria ridden daughter to anyone else.. We actually got Nate to engage in some puzzles, family games, and sequencing cards. Yay! We also had some art time...

Nate's painting. Not quite sure what it is but Nate was happy making it. :)

Neve's "house house" :)

Neve's "Duck". Totally independent too except I called out the letters from the kitchen for how to spell , "duck".

Nate's dot marker "boat" and "flower".

Neve's family picture. I inquired as to why we had antennae, but she informed me they were ears. duh, mom.

some of Neve's "food group" art project we started.

...and this was from last week but I had to post it here as this is really written as a memory book for our family.

Glenn the cat. Taking one for the team. :)

Please tell me they go back to school tomorrow...

"Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold.

But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow."

Swimming, homemade ice pops, dress-up, games, puzzles, homemade banana ice cream, swimming, games, ice pops, zoo, swimming......

We pretty much just rotated these things all weekend long. Over. and over. and over again.

I am so glad Aaron had a 3 day weekend off work because he leaves on business soon and I will be flying solo round these parts. Usually I con my mom into driving the hour+ out here to my side of town to help take care of her grand-demon spawn. BUT nooooooooooo. Grandma Ding is livin it up in Maui right now. Must be nice. ..and for the record I have never been to Maui. Just sayin. :)~

Speaking of the demon spawn, they were pretty good this weekend. No huge meltdowns. It's still 105+ here in Phoenix so we stayed cool. We spent a lot of time at the pool. This morning we hit up the zoo at 8am to play in the splash pad area they have there.

You have to go that early or you melt. No lie.

We spent a little time in the Little People play area...

My daughter, Damian.

We didn't stay long. Poor Nate could NOT handle the sand in his crocs. I can't say I blame him. yuck. Most play areas out here in AZ are sand it seems. groooooss.

 ...We swung by a few animals.

Nateman checkin out the elephants.

Then we jumped on the carousel for a quick spin and headed home to beat the heat.

We had a fun weekend but I have a feeling my car will be first in line at the child dropoff area tomorrow at school.... :)

...and they said it would never last

ok, well maybe nobody said that (at least to my face-ha!). This Labor day weekend is our 9th wedding anniversary. Wow- 9 years? feels like 90. :)~

I don't have the best memories of that day. I mean I am eternally grateful that my family and friends were able to fly across country to be with us on that day- but my Dad had just passed away 3 weeks earlier, so the whole day has a low undertone for me. I wish Aaron and I could have a "do-over".

BUT, it is what it is and I am happy to have some great pictures from that day.

I busted out my wedding dress last weekend for Neve to play with. I never preserved it or anything but I just kept it for her to play dress up in some day. :)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, APO!

I Love you!

..and sorry, but you're stuck with me for a few more. :)