School Dance

Yesterday, it was time for the big "Back To School" School Dance. It was a very excited girl that I helped getting ready, and she looked stunning when she was done! It got pretty stressful here in the afternoon, as Cassie doesn't come home from school until around 3.45pm and then it was time for homework right away. After homework, change and getting ready with hair and makeup and an early dinner and then it was time to leave. The dance was between 6-8pm. But before we left, I had to take a few pictures of course, I wouldn't miss such an opportunity to get some pictures of my pretty girl!

 Ready to party!!

Her cousin Sina had bought this pretty purse for her in LA, and Cassie wanted to be able to use it this evening. As she wanted to dance and have fun and not worry about holding on to a clutch all evening, we attached it to a necklace that matched her outfit. Worked perfect according to Cassie! The glitter shirt was pretty big in the neckline, and I had to make some last minute adjustments with needle and thread, to make it smaller. If the "undergarments" shows, it's against regulations as it wouldn't follow the dress code of the school. They are very strict about these rules, and Cassie didn't want to risk that her shirt would fall down her shoulder by dancing..

 Cassie and her cousin Sina before we left!

I had tried to get Sina to come to the dance with Cassie, but the school was pretty strict on their regulations that no "outsiders" were allowed to come. But Sina came along when I brought Cassie, to have a look and to see how it works on an American school dance.

 Outside the school, we met Emma one of Cassie's closest friends.

 Cassie with friends..

 Rocking the dance floor!

It turned out to be quite the difference to other school dances that Cassie has gone to. In the other school, it was only a dance for the 5th Graders, and that wasn't too many people. It was very low key and lots of parents coming along and helping out.

Here in Middle School, it was a dance for all school, that means for over 600 students, not that all would come but still! It was also a pretty good DJ and also a smoke machine pumping and lots of colorful spotlights. Like a "real disco" and not just a dimmed down school cafeteria. The person at the door needed a permission slip from each student that they were allowed to go and understood the rules, signed by a parent with a contact number on hand. Each student also had to pay a ticket $2 pre sale or $3 at the door. Cassie had bought a ticket days in advance...

The person at the door was very sweet and when I asked to just walk her in and take a few pictures and that Sina was only with me to drop Cassie off, they said OK and let us in for awhile. Sina was happy about this, and as the music started right away, the girls were soon on the dance floor for a few songs before it was time for us to leave.

Not that anyone said anything, but I was the ONLY parent there that came with my student inside, I had brought a girl that doesn't even attend that school and I was taking pictures - with other words, I stood out in the crowd! I didn't want it to become an issue or make Cassie embarrassed, so after awhile, we left.

At 8pm, Chris and Sina went to pick her up again, and she had had a great time with her friends! It makes me so happy to see her like this, all happy, excited and full of life!! 

 Girls in the smoky spotlight!!

I got the picture above sent to me from Gracie's mom, just before she picked Gracie (in the middle) up. 

Transformation

This morning it was time for me to finally go to the hairdresser. I've been wanting to go for a long time, but to make it happen is another story..

Over the summer, I haven't been able to sit in a chair for so long that it would take and as it's always difficult with the kids and my husbands work schedule, it just have been forever since I did anything with my hair. It was long over due, and the hard water here in Yuma plus all the sun had done a lot of damage, so a lot of hair had to be cut off. I was not too worried about it, as I have wanted to cut it more into shape for a long time, and even if this was the first time I went to this hair salon, I was very happy with the result. I will certainly go back again!

 I had to take this one for the kids to show them how it was done..

 Happy with no flash..

When Cassie came home from school, I asked her to take some pictures and also to get the back, and she did great. I really like the cut, it can be styled in many ways, and even if it's very blown out here with a round brush, my natural curl is almost gone, but if I don't blow dry it, it will be very curly. It feels good with a much needed change!

Good Bye Summer

Goodbye Summer! 

It's been a tough one this year. This summer certainly didn't turn out to be what I wanted it to be. I had so many hopes and wishes for this summer - and none of them came true.

I had hoped and wished to visit Sweden again. To be able to go and visit family and friends. It was a long time ago since I was there, 4 years to be exact.

I had hoped to be able to bring Cassie and the twins there, for them to enjoy a Swedish summer again. For Cassie it's been too long, and the twins have never even been there yet...
  
When things didn't turn out that way, I had planned and hoped to atleast visit the beach a couple of times, that we would do a lot of fun things here at home, even if no big travels were in store for us this year. It didn't turn out that way. 

We were just starting to enjoy the summer, when I injured my back. The month of July could pretty  much be erased from this year, because all I did was hurting, crying and laying at home, trying to cope with the pain. Even if I tried to do things with the kids, every trip outside the house was under extreme pain before, during and after..Not that enjoyable, but I had to try here and there for the kid's sake.

August didn't get much better, and as Cassie already started school on the 12th, summer ended in a way already then. None of our hopes of short trips, or any fun for that matter, came true.

Now Fall is officially here - Summer is officially over, and we still haven't been once to the beach. To live here in the desert where it's been so hot for so many months and where it's still so hot, and not once be able to take the kids to the beach 3 hours away and let them enjoy the much cooler California breeze and waves, is for me something that brings out guilt and sadness. I wish I could have done differently, I wish I could have given them more. I wish things would have been easier..

A lot of shattered dreams this summer - a lot of tears and a lot of disappointments. Every summer has a story - summer 2013 certainly didn't have a happy story in store for me.

How I miss that voice...

School Pictures

6. Grade

And today they came - the school pictures! And as always, we are more than happy with them, Cassie is a natural and looks as stunning as always. I don't think we have one school photo of her that isn't really good. I could only wish that I could say the same when I have my my own pictures taken..

My beautiful little girl - that clearly isn't that little anymore, she is growing up fast, and looking at the pictures from year to year, it makes it even clearer! Where did the time go???

For Cassie, it was almost the most important school picture taken, as there isn't a formal class photo taken this year, but only for the Year Book, and that's important, as EVERYONE will be buying those. I can only relate to the days...way back...when I had pictures taken for the Year Books, it was a disaster if the picture didn't turn out good!  Well, no worries here this year!! We bought a package of pictures and will have some extra for family. When I went to school, it was big to trade small pictures with each other, do your kids still do that? Here it's not such a big thing, and not all families buy the packages, so not all kids have the photos to trade. She hopes to be able to get pictures from her best friends, and that's about it.

Student ID

Yesterday, Cassie came home with her brand new Student ID. This also gave us a preview on how her school pictures will look like, as it's the same picture. She was so nervous that the pictures wouldn't turn out right, as she felt like the smile froze while the photographer was talking before taking the pictures, but I'm really happy with how it turned out! Pretty cool ID too, this is the first time she has had one, and this ID is mainly for the library and for the cafeteria. 

Heavy Book Bags..

It's not just Cassie that is carrying a heavy book bag, my little ones have normally quite the load to carry to the library each week. We check out many books that we read over and over again, and also some movies, and the bags fill up fast.

This time at the library, they really took their time to color and they both surprised me with doing a really good job with coloring within the lines! Normally Isabella does quit a good job, but Ben normally doesn't really care, but scribbles all over the paper, but look below how neat he is coloring in the tree!

 Small short movements does the trick!

Same result on Isabella's paper!

This time at the library, we were happy to see our friend Claudia and her daughter Lily. Lily started pre school for three year olds, and normally doesn't come to toddler time anymore. Isabella was so happy to see her and didn't want to let her go!

 Always some time for silly faces..

The kids did a pretty good job at sharing the computer. It's not easy to share a keyboard and a mouse on three kids, and with a touch screen it's even harder to take turns, as someone is always faster to touch the right answer. Still, they had fun and entertained themselves for a while so Pamela and myself could hang out and check out some more books!

 Benjamin, Isabella and Calvin!

Busy Week With A Bug In The House

Well, as you have might have noticed, it's been a while since I updated the blog and I never seem to find the time to sit by the computer and write, read or download pictures anymore. The last couple of days I've also been totally down with a heavy cold/flu? with pretty bad symptoms as body aches, runny nose, elevated temperatures but no really fever, cough and a sore throat. Not the best timing, as we have a lot going on here at home, I need to get the house cleaned and get everything ready for the end of the week, when we are expecting visitors!

It's my husband's sister and her family that are coming, and the kids and especially Cassie is looking forward to see her cousin Sina again! I just hope that I will feel better soon, and I do hope that the kids don't all get it, Isabella has started and last night she had a rough time waking up all the time not letting me sleep at all during the night, as she woke up her brother too.

I haven't been able to do much at all here at home, as I'm totally down, letting the kids watch a movie and hanging around with books on the sofa. Chris is working night shift, and couldn't take any days off now before he goes on leave when his family comes, so I just have to manage anyway. Luckily, tonight is his last shift, and he'll be home tomorrow and Thursday, which hopefully will be enough time for me to recover and to get the house organized. I also should have fitted a hairdresser visit in this week, a new appointment with my doctor about continued physical therapy or not (that is a long story that I will have to write more about in a separate post) and also teacher-parent conferences tomorrow and Thursday with Cassie. Like I said, busy!

This cold couldn't have hit me at a more inconvenient time! But being sick also means that you can treat yourself a little extra right?! This chocolate was soooo good!

Roses Are Red...

Friday night was a good night. A night with a special surprise. Just out of the blue, my husband brought home this beautiful bouquet of roses. They were huge and smelled wonderful. Like always with fresh cut flowers, they don't stay nice very long, but still, for the few days that they did, it certainly brightened up our dining room!!

Still Warm & Sunny Days

Even if the summer is supposedly officially over, we still have warm and sunny days here in Yuma. The temperatures still go over 100F and many days up to 110F/43C, so it's far from cooling off. The other day, I let the kids have some fun in the yard in the late afternoon, when it got a little more shade in that area, and they had a great time playing with their water table and with the water guns.

Cassie decided to stay inside in the cool, as she was so hot and tired coming home from school, and needed to just lay on the sofa in the AC and under the ceiling fan for awhile. Here are some pictures from that afternoon:

"Haha, I got you Ben...!!"

"Hahaha- I got ju right back Bella!!!"

Popsicle cheers!