New house

Our house hunting in Texas did not last very long.

As a matter of fact, it took only a day.

We did not end up in Sugarland, but instead opted to live just outside of Sugarland in a town known as Richmond.

Although Sugarland has great schools, the houses available were about 15-20 years old.

Not the best scenario for an asthmatic.

Luckily Richmond has great schools and new construction houses.

This is the little area we found and fell in love with...

The development is filled with all of these man made lakes...

It has a community center with a pool, tennis courts, weight room and playground...

This is the street we will be living on.
My grandma used to be a Lombardo, so it should be easy to remember...

The house is in the very early stages, but should be done Mid-May.
Although you can't tell by the outside, it's actually quite large:
It is 1 1/2 stories; 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, media room, great room and 3552 square feet...

This is the view from the girl's play room...

Our backyard.
It's not nearly as big as our current one, but this has two things the other did not have:
1. fenced in
2. No snakes...

Our guest bathroom...

Thankfully the garbage is not included...

When we informed the girls that this would be our new house, Lily was a little bummed.

She asked me, "We are going to live in this dirty house?  Why did we buy this dirty house?"

After much reassurance that it would be clean when we moved in, she tentatively let herself get a little excited.

Sugar Babies

This weekend, we grabbed the girls, loaded the car and made a last minute trip to Texas.  

Our hope was to check out the little towns outside of Houston and find one we wanted to make our new home in.

First stop, Sugarland...

So quaint.
So clean.
So sweet (well what do you expect from a place called "Sugarland"?)
 What do you think, could these be future sugar babies?

Only time will tell.

Star Student

Once a month a child from each class gets nominated to be Star Student.

They get nominated for many different reasons.

Sophia's reason for becoming Star Student was because of her leadership skills and the way she follows directions.

Star Students get their very own seat at a special table in the cafeteria...

Then Officer Norman calls each of them up to the podium to honor the tiny stars...

They receive a bag of goodies...

Are asked a couple of tough questions, like "What's your name?"...

Then you are presented with a certificate...

After all of the pomp and circumstance, you get the opportunity to give a shout out into the microphone.
Some kids choose to do it, others opt out.
Sophia chose to do it.
Into the microphone she proudly shouted, "PRESCHOOL ROCKS!"

That's my girl...

My shining star!

Artsy Fartsy

Sophia loves to draw.

She could spend all day drawing or coloring.  

This could just be me bragging, but she is exceptional at both of these tasks.

While Lily and I were watching a movie, Sophia was drawing a picture.

Here it is...

Granted it's no Pablo Picasso, but kids in PreK 3 usually draw big circles for a head with the arms and legs extending from the head.

Sophia drew eyelashes, a mouth, and a dress for goodness sakes.

Pretty dang incredible.

Even if it's just me who thinks so.

"Snow"

With the early snowfall a few months back, I thought without a doubt that this was going to be another cold winter.

The schools even got smart and built in extra days for snow.

Today was a school day, but was cancelled because of snow...

Seriously!

Valentine Boxes

Ah, we all remember these days back in school.

Having to transform a plain white box or shoebox into a mailbox for our Valentine's day parties.

Many things have changed in the 25+ years since being in elementary, but this one thing sure has not...

While the girls were at school, I prepped their boxes...

Then gave them the freedom to put their own stamp (or sticker) on the design...

So much fun then.

Still so fun many years later!

The Six Year Celebration

Today began like any other day.

With one teensy-weensy exception.

It is Lily's birthday.

It is also a school day for her.

But her birthday couldn't go unnoticed.

So for lunch, I surprised her and Sophia and took them to lunch at Larry's Pizza...

They were quite surprised.
First they were relieved because they thought I had forgotten their lunches and they did NOT want to have to eat the cheese sticks at school.
No cheese sticks.
Just cheese pizza and cinnamon sticks and a few games.
Then it was back to school.

From there, I went home and whipped up this beauty for Lily...

Ha!
Lovely, isn't it?
Well, it's the thought that counts, right?

After school, Lily opened presents from the family...

Dinner was followed by cake...

Today Lily turned six.

It wasn't done with much fanfare, but it was filled with sweet surprises for my sweet six year old.