This week was back to school for all of us. Matthew started Kindergarten, Bianca started middle school (7th) and Jerry and I back to graduate school. I'm usually sad to see summer go but I was so ready to get back into a routine! It was a long summer vacation and I get excited for fall my favorite season. I can't wait til that first cool morning when I can open all the windows in the house :-)
The week has gone smooth so far. Matthew was so ready for Kindergarten! We held him back and started him one year later since he was a summer baby and boy what a difference! He does not want me to take him to school, he wants to ride the bus. But he can't because we live .1 of mile too close to the school. After 2 weeks I can call the bus service and see if they have room for him and I can pay for him to ride it. We shall see!
Bianca was a little scared about starting middle school. Athletics, changing classes, etc. But she is doing well and I think she likes it pretty good. She has acutally made quite a few new friends too. But she is a social butterfly, if only she would put more effort into her classes :-)
We have a very busy fall coming up! I'm going to Houston to visit my BFF Jennifer the weekend September 12. Jerry is going on guys trip to Chicago and to see Notre Dame game weekend of September 19. Then Jerry and I are off to Vegas Weekend of October 2 for the first installment of his 20 year reunion. We then have the actual reunion Thanksgiving weekend in Riverside, CA.
Here are some pictures of the kids first day of school :-)
We just returned from a 2 week vacation to Florida. First stop was Disneyworld for 7 days at Pop Century with Jerry's sister and the kids. We had an awesome time. It was a bit hot not what we are used to at Disney World since we usually go at Christmas or during cooler weather. Not sure I would do summer again. We are already planning our return for Christmas 2010 :-)
Jerry was only able to spend the first week with us and then had to go back to work. The kids and I then headed to New Smyrna to a condo with my parent's. We practically did nothing all week. Went to the beach, swam in the pool and ate lunch and dinner. We visited with my Aunt and Granny too. The kids had a blast but we were really ready to get home. 2 Weeks is a long time. It was the first time I took 2 week together but I have tons of vacation accumulated (6 weeks) so needed to use it. I'm ready to go back to work, can you believe it!
The next few weeks will be spent getting everybody ready to go back to school. All of us start the same week. 2 big milestones this year. Bianca goes to Middle School and Matthew to Kindergarten! Jerry and I continue on with graduate school.
We have a trip planned to California for Thanksgiving for Jerry's 20 year (gulp) reunion! After that not sure might go back to Florida between Christmas and New Years since my parents are moving there this month. Kind of nice to have both parents on both coasts now. Very cool places to vacation and visit :-)
Oh how I love summer. My second favorite time of year with the first being fall.
School is finally out, activities are over and now it's just the lazy days of summer. We got our NRH20 passes this weekend and will be chilling by the pool and the waterpark for the next 12 weeks :-)
Jerry and I just returned from Cabo. A nice little getaway for just him and I. We had a great time. Lots of R&R. Luckily only 5 more weeks to our family vacation in Disney World which gives us something to look forward to :-)
We have celebrated Bianca's 12th birthday (3 times). I dont even want to celebrate my birthday once any longer but she gets 3. We always do her friend party end of May since her birthday is middle of June and many people are away on vacation. Then on her actual Birthday June 13 I took her and 2 friends to NRH20 for the day. And then yesterday the 14th we barbecued burgers and ate yummy chocolate cake for the family at our house.
Now its on to planning Matthew Birthday in July and getting ready for vacation.
Here is a slideshow I put together for Bianca's first 12 years of her life. I've finally got all my pictures organized and working on getting the scrapbooks up to date. My next project is to get all the old videos off cassettes and onto the computer. That is going to be a chore! But I will be glad to get it all done.
I can't believe a quarter of the year is already gone! This is just crazy! We have been so busy and the next few months are going to be even crazier!!!
So what has the Monter Family been up to. A LOT!!!
First I wanted to post pictures of our trip to American Girl Store in Dallas in February. This was my niece's Christmas present. I know a little late but I gave her a gift card for Christmas but wanted her to pick out her doll. We had so much fun! Bianca came with her Doll "Marisol". We bough Ashleigh her doll "Chrissa", We had the dolls hair done in the salon and then ate lunch in the cafe!
We had a great Valentines day! We have made it a tradition to stay in for Valentines. I bring out the valentines dishes (yeah I know) my good stemware and set the formal dining table which is a rare in this household! I cooked steak and lobster courtesy of Central Market and then we had a chocolate mousse for dessert and then later chocolate covered strawberries and of course lots of WINE!
The last couple months for Bianca has been playing basketball. The Buckeyes did really well this season. This will be her last year of Rec basketball. She goes to middle school next year! That is absolutely crazy! The team has been together for 3 years and the girls have grown so much as far as skill and they have they most awesome coaches. The girls were sad that this is the last year. Next year they will all be at different middle schools playing against each other! Buckeyes were undefeated in league play but lost in the last round of the tournament! They lost to a team they already beat. It was very disappointing to the girls but the bright side is they were asked to play in a Keller Select Tournament. The girls did awesome! They beat out 2 Select teams but lost in the final round. It was great experience for them!
Jerry started grad school which is very stressful. He has 4 classes. The good news its only for 6 weeks and he is half way through! I have 3 classes and I'm almost half way through. How do we do it I do not know. But we are both taking the summer off for R&R.
We had a nice relaxing spring break. We did nothing. Well not nothing, the kids and I played outside and Bianca and I had our annual spring clothes shop-a-thon! That was a lot of fun and we look forward to it every year!
Matthew started swim lessons last week. We are trying to break the habit of him holding is nose when he goes under water. We can thank Bianca for that one!! How is he going to learn to swim with one hand? LOL
Coming up we have Easter! which will be a nice relaxing 3 day weekend! I love 3 day weekends :-) We will be going to Savannah in May for 4 day weekend which will be nice to get away for a bit.
Summer!!! Only 9 weeks left until summer vacation! I love summer vacation. No school, no rushed mornings, no kids activities just FUN!!! We will get season passes to the water park and we swim ALOT. Just about everyday. Bianca will have a couple basketball camps but that is it. Jerry's nephew is coming to visit for a few weeks in June/July and we will most likely take them down to Austin/San Antonio for a few days. Then in July we are off to Disney World for 1 week and then 1 week at the beach for R&R.
Jerry and I wanted to try and get away for a long weekend just the two of us (VEGAS maybe, :-)) but I'm not sure we will have time to squeeze it in before graduate school starts back up in August. We will see. Maybe in the fall but that is harder because the kids are in school so finding somebody to keep the kids for 4 days is a bit of a challenge.
I'll be back around Easter to post pics of all the goodies Easter Bunny brings us :-)
Ok, a little late I know, but I'm just now recovered from vacation! We are all unpacked and back into school/work routine. I've yet to take down the Christmas decorations though. I'm working on that this weekend!
So Christmas was eventful as usual in our house. We were not only getting ready for Santa to come but also packing and getting ready for our vacation to California to see Jerry's family. Christmas Eve is always spent at my mom's house and the kids had fun as usual. Matthew got his Indiana Jones Lego Set that he asked for and Bianca got Rock Band and a Coach purse.
Santa made an unusual early stop at our house while we were at my mom's. He knew we had to get up early for our trip so he stopped by and brought all their gifts about 9PM :-)
We then headed off at 4AM to Los Angeles! We had so much fun! Some of the hilights were:
Climbing Mount Rubidoux This is a mountain in the heart of Riverside California. It overlooks all the city. We were lucky that there was no smog and you could see all of Riverside and San Bernadino mountains which were covered in snow. The kids climbed it twice while we were there. Jerry and I did only once (that was enough) for me; however, I did my exercise in while I was there! However eating that In and Out Burger beforehand pretty much cancelled out the exercise!
Hollywood We went to Griffith Observatory in Hollywood and took pictures of the city. Again, it was a beautiful because it was so clear with no smog! We then headed down Hollywood Blvd and then to Sunset Blvd to tour Beverly Hills. Of course I had to stop at the original Sprinkles cupcake store while there. We were lucky the line was not too long. One of the locals said it is usually 70-80 people deep, boy did we luck out! Then we went down Rodeo drive and I window shopped, LOL :-) Next we headed down Santa Monica Blvd to the pier. We got there right at sunset and it was a beautiful picture on the beach. The kids rode the roller coater and then the Ferris wheel (well Bianca did not, she got too scared).
Visiting Friends Monday we spent visiting one of Jerry's best friends from elementary to high School Sam. We had lunch and then headed over to Sam's parent's house Jim and Mary Lou. They were kind to feed us Tamales, YUM!
Knotts Berry Farm I had not been since I was really little girl and dont remember much about it. It was a lot of fun if you like thrill rides which Matthew does; however, he was a bit too small to get on most of the big ones. He did ride the Sidewinder about 8 times, LOL. Maybe next time Matthew!
Lancaster Jerry's Aunts and grandparents live in Lancaster so we made the 2 hour drive to the desert to see the family. There was ice in their back yard and Matthew and Bianca were ice skating. We took lots of family photos with his grandparents and one special picture of 4 generations of Monter's!
New Years Eve We basically just chilled at Jerry's parent's house. We had some family and friends over. I swear I was still on Texas time. I was ready for bed at 10PM but still had to stay awake 2 more hours! This was the day Matthew climbed Mount Rubidoux for the second time. He fell asleep at 8PM and never woke up, LOL. He was refreshed for the next day though which was Disneyland!
Disneyland Everybody knows I'm a Disney freak so we could not pay a visit to LA without going. It was crowded I have to say, but I've seen DW more crowded the big difference is we were doing it all in one day as compared to a total Disney vacation in Florida for a week. I will never do it like that again. If we do not have a good 2-3 days to spend there and stay at one of the hotels I will not do it again. Way too exhausting! But is was fun of course and the kids had a blast. We only rode about 10 rides but did see the parade, Fantasmic and the fireworks. We were there for 14 hours straight!
Finally we just spent the final day resting and visiting some old friends of ours. I had lunch with Carmen which was a joy and then Jerry and I had dinner with Matt and Terry. Matt is Jerry's best friend from High School. We love you guys! :-)
We got back early Sunday Morning and we are still trying to recover. We are so tired. I think my next vacation will be on beach drinking margaritas!
As for the new year I have made only 1 resolution and that is to get all my pictures organized. If I get caught up in scrapbooking then ok but I'll settle for organized for now!
