Kristin's First Day of Kindergarten...at home that is!!

We started Kristin's home schooling last Monday on August 18th!  She is so excited about finally being in Kindergarten.  She is SO cute!  I must say though - that it is particularly exhausting (for me anyways).  It isn't the actual work of teaching her Kindergarten that's difficult (man - that would be pathetic if it was!), but it's forcing myself to go to bed earlier than normal, so I can wake up at a more horrendous hour 5 days a week...for the rest of my children's' lives! That's the difficult part for me to get used to!!  I've enjoyed not living for the weekend like I used to when I had a paying job.  Well - I guess I did trade in working 8 hour days 5 days a week for a 24/7 job when I became a mommy, but still - I've gotten used to not looking forward to anything more than the days when Jason is off work (which can be very random)! Now I look forward to the weekends again!  Just to be able to sleep in a little bit longer and not have to get up, exercise, shower and feed Kristin and I, so we can hurry and start school, so we can get a little one on one time before Katie awakes and graces us with her presence (and countless demands).  ;)  But besides my laziness, we're actually enjoying doing school at home...thus far.  Yes - it has only been one week and things could change (especially when the next baby arrives in February - eek!), but for now - I think we'll be okay! 

Kristin's first day of Kindergarten (one of the many perks of being a home schooler: not having to wear shoes to school)!!  ;)

She's just a wee bit more excited about this than I am...  ;)

Showing off her new school room

Some more of the school room (you can't see it, but we also have the alphabet all along the ceiling edge)


Our school calendar

Kristin working on her first assignment

Her picture of Goldilock's in the Three Bears house

Recess time!

Back to work, practicing her cutting skills (and making a silly face as usual) ;)

Day 2

On Thursday night, we met up with my friend Cami and her kids (Kristin's little friends) at Chuck E Cheese. We had dinner and then let the girls run around until we closed the place down!  It was nice to get out of the house. We didn't get out much while Jason was working nights.   

Katie can't get enough of Mr. Cheese!

Kristin pedaling for her and Carol on the bike/helicopter ride

The next evening, Cami had us over (as well as a couple other Moms and their girls) for a pajama party.  The girls all put on makeup, painted their nails and then afterwards they ate movie snacks while watching every girls favorite Disney movie, The Little Mermaid!  Did I mention that Little Mermaid is MY favorite movie?  I can watch it over and over...and over!  It's the best!  ;)

Kristin and Carol putting on makeup (Kristin looks slightly confused)  ;)

Kristin trying to learn a few tricks from Carol

So back to school.  Our routine is pretty much the same everyday.  We start off with the Pledge of Allegiance, then we figure out what day it is on the calendar.  Then we have some sort of discussion before we begin the lessons.  After that we do math, language arts (reading stories and answering questions about them), break for recess and snack time and then we do some more language arts (practicing writing capital and lowercase letters and listening to and reciting poems).  Then depending on the day of the week, we either do arts and crafts (M and F), Science activities (T and Th) or Music (W).  And we finish off each school day with a game or activity.  So far, I'm not completely impressed with our curriculum's arts and crafts activities (who knows - maybe they'll get better), so far now I'm going to supplement with some arts and crafts projects that I find out of crafts books or kids magazines.  On top of her usual swim lesson on Tuesdays and gymnastics on Wednesdays and Fridays, I'm also having us do one cooking activity every Thursday and in the next week or so we're going to start going on a field trip every Monday (to the zoo, children's museum, library etc).  For our first cooking activity, we made pretzels (one of Kristin's favorite things to get at the mall). 

Our first cooking activity: Pretzels

Kristin mixing the ingredients

Kneading the dough

Rolling out strips of dough...

and twisting them into pretzels!

Look at that pretzel!

Getting the water and baking soda ready...

to boil the pretzels for 30 seconds on each side

Bake them in the oven for 15 minutes...

and they're done!

Kristin has never owned a pair of shoes with laces in them.  She's only had either velcro sneakers or sandals.  So when one of our discussion activities was to practice tying a shoe lace (for just 5 minutes each morning on Thurs and Fri), I thought Kristin was going to get all upset and frustrated.  I was not looking forward to it!  But she seemed to catch on pretty quick and then on Saturday evening (after playing some dress up), she came out and said, "Look! I tied my own tap shoe!"  I couldn't believe it!  I made her untie it and do again in front of me, so I could see it for myself - and she did it again!  I was so shocked and proud of my little nerd girl that I just had to take a picture of her accomplishment!  So here it is folks, here's what Kristin can do after no more than 10 minutes of practice!!  Now I'm curious - I need to go call my Mommy and find out how long it took me to figure out how to tie my shoes!  Kristin either catches on really fast...or I'm the most amazing teacher EVER!!  Yeah - that has to be it...  ;)

Another trip to Dallas!

Before I get into the details of our most recent trip up to Dallas, I'll update everyone on our growing fetus (or should I say - my growing gi-normous stomach)! I feel like I'm really starting to show. It isn't a cute show mind you... So lucky for most of you - you don't live near enough to witness the new bloated look I seem to be sporting these days. I can't wait until I actually look pregnant, so people don't think I've just been hanging out on the couch with an endless bag of chips, doughnuts and calorie-ridden sodas. Sheesh! I really haven't been! I promise! I'm even still exercising! I'll be 14 weeks tomorrow and I'm still maintaining a 3-4 lb weight gain (which is good), but for some reason it FEELS like I've gained about 15-20 lbs! I just can't figure it out! I mean seriously folks - our tiny little baby is only a little over 3 inches long and weighs about one ounce (about the size of a large shrimp), so what the heck is going on?! ;) You can click here if you want to see what our little shrimp looks like for the time being! My first ultrasound is scheduled for August 28th (a few days from now) - it'll still be too soon to see any SPECIFIC parts (or lack thereof), so we'll still have to wait another 3 weeks or so to find out what's cooking in there!! I can't stand not knowing! I don't know how people can choose to wait and be surprised at birth! No way! I am WAY too impatient!

So anyways - enough about me and the shrimp!  Jason just finished up two weeks of night float. He was working from 6pm at night and coming home at 9am the next morning - only to eat, go to bed, wake up, eat and go back to work!  I hated it!  I'm so glad to be going back to our somewhat normal schedule!  

Much to Jason's disappointment, the Olympics have now come to a close, so we're not sure what we'll be doing with our free time now!  ;)  The Olympics were pretty much over for me after gymnastics and swimming were finished - although I did enjoy watching some volleyball every now and then.

So anyways - onto our trip to Dallas!  Back on August 9th, Aunt Shelley threw a 50th birthday party for Uncle Jim.  Unfortunately for us, Jason had to work late that day, so we weren't able to start our 5-hour drive until 730pm that night.  We didn't get in until almost 1am, but lucky for us - Jason's brother Mike and all of the cousins stayed awake for us!  Jason's two older cousins, Jessica and Doug were also in town to celebrate their Dad's birthday, so there were even more people to visit with! You can never have too many people!!  They were both on their summer breaks from college (Jesse from W. Connecticut and Doug from the Naval Academy) and they even brought along their boyfriend and girlfriend!   

So it didn't take long after arriving before everyone began (well continued) to celebrate Uncle Jim's magnificent milestone of a birthday.  Sure he had been sleeping for at least the past couple hours, but that didn't mean there wasn't still cause to celebrate!  ;)  There was a lot of drinking and swimming going on...excluding the pregnant person (me) and Rissy.  I'm glad Rissy stayed up and kept me company!  It's not fun being the only non-drinking person at a party!  Well - I guess it isn't so bad - you can laugh at people for doing silly things, so I guess it can still be somewhat entertaining.  ;)  This all lasted until about 4am or so and then everyone finally decided to go to bed.  

Katie was right on time and ready for the day bright and early four measly hours later!  Ugh!  I was SO tired!  Not too long after breakfast, Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley decided we should all go out and spend some quality time on their boat out on the lake - along with a portable grill to cook up some hamburgers and hotdogs!  Of course, I completely forgot about the possibility of going out on the boat, so I didn't bring along any swimwear for myself! Argh! Jason and the girls always have their swim stuff for the pool, so at least they were prepared.  Alas - I was the only one in jeans on the boat, so I look like a total party pooper! Oh well - my favorite thing to do is just spend time with family, so I didn't miss out on much! 

Jason and I - getting ready to leave the dock!


Mike and Jason


Jessie and her pro-mancé Mike ;)


Jessie and her Mommy-poo Aunt Shelley


Becky taking the jet ski onto the lake


Kristin and Katie trying to hide from the sun


Jason and Mike testing out the party island that we dragged behind the boat


Me and Jessie


Doug and his woman Sam


Jason and Kristin

So after Jason, Mike, Kristin and all the cousins tested out the party island and took turns riding the jet ski, the sky started getting dark with some crazy clouds and a few lightening bolts flashed in the distance.  So in his best pirate voice, Uncle Jim belted out, "A storm's a brewin'!" and we headed back to the dock to see if we could wait out the crappy weather and go back out. We waited for a good while and when the clouds and lightening got worse, we finally decided to call it a day and go back to the house.  We never got to test out that portable boat grill, but we still had fun!  We got back to the house and Uncle Jim put together a glorious BBQ instead (no surprise there!) and we all ate while watching some of the Olympic games.  

Uncle Jim says, "A storm's a brewin'!"


This is Jason's artsy picture of me (or so he calls it) ;)


Me, Jason and Kristin


Mike making Jason sick by spinning the inner tube around and around


Jessie, Katie and Mike taking a walk while we wait for the storm to die off


Sam and Doug

The next morning, we took the girls over to Becky's new workplace called Wazoo's (a giant bouncy house place) and we spent a little time there before we packed up and headed back to San Antonio.

Katie in the kiddie bouncy house


Kristin in some sort of undersea bouncy thingy (I don't like the look of this thing...it looks questionable to me!)


Rissy and Katie all ready to go home

On our way back, we stopped at Ikea (as if we would ever drive by Ikea without stopping - psshaw)!  ;)  Of course we shared our usual plate of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce, but then we veered away from Jason's normal bee-line route to the exit door and took a little extra time to find Kristin a desk, cubby shelf, easel and wall shelf for her school room.  This whole home school business is starting to get expensive!  First the Kindergarten curriculum that cost $925 and then all this stuff for her schoolroom?!  Come on! Of course, you don't have to buy some company's curriculum to home school and you don't need anything more than your dining room table, but...I want it to be as much like school as possible! And Kristin was (and still is) so excited about her school room. She said, "Oh Mommy! Thank you so much for all of the stuff in my school room! It's all so beautiful!" Is she cute or what?!  It made all of our unplanned credit card charges SO worth it...in a tiny sort of way...  ;)

James and Tish' Rehearsal, Dinner and Wedding

After much anticipation and years of waiting, it has finally happened! Another Capra brother has finally gotten married! Angie and I have been waiting and waiting for a new sister-in-law to enter the Capra family - 11 1/2 years to be exact!! ;) James married Letitia a week ago on August 1st! And what's even more exciting - is that we don't have to wait too much longer for the 4th sister-in-law installment! Joe is marrying his cute little fiance, Dillon, in just 8 short months! Woohoo!!

After we checked out out of the Disneyland Hotel on July 30th, we drove about 15 miles away and checked into a Holiday Inn in Newport Beach (just a mile away from the boat where James and Tish were going to be married). Jason's parents and siblings were already there at the hotel (including Dillon and James' friend Troy) and Angie had just flown in, so we were ready to party! We visited with everyone for a couple hours and then we headed over to the boat for the rehearsal.

Groom-James, Best Man-Mike, Groomsmen-Jason, Troy and Joe (being silly as usual)

Maid of Honor-Melisa (Tish' sister), Bridesmaid-Gabby (Tish' best friend), Junior Bridesmaids-Danielle and Joanna, Flower girls-Julia and Emily and Tish' 3 nieces


Tish and her Dad


James and Tish


Mom, Dad and Kristin (it's not Mom's fault her eyes are always closed - I figured out she only does it with my camera, so it must be the green light that throws her off) Love you Mommy! ;)


James' jubilant entrance


Jacob standing in for the pastor during practice


Jason and Gabby


Jason doing some sort of celebration dance during the rehearsal

Immediately after the rehearsal was over, we headed over to the Old Spaghetti Factory for the rehearsal dinner. We waited for a long time upstairs in the bar waiting for our room to become available - all the while Daddy Capra had a tab running for drinks... Eek! He's lucky there weren't too many of us that were old enough...or not pregnant to partake of this alcohol feast! ;) I'll be ready to assist in adding to the next tab at the next rehearsal dinner!! ;)

Katie and her Grandma (Mom's eyes are almost all the way open in this one!) ;)


The soon-to-be married couple - Joe Shmo and Dillon


The old married couple - Me and Jason


Getting some smooches from Angie


Me and my woman ;)


The boys having an in depth conversation on female anatomy (Jason's the instructor of course) ;)


A few hours later, the night had finally come to an end...at the restaurant anyways. When we got back to the hotel, all the guys (over 21), Angie and Rachel went out to an Irish Pub just down the road...where Jason gave an audio version of The Book on marital relations. Sheesh. It's a good thing I wasn't there - my face would have been hot with humiliation! ;) Actually I wish I could have gone out, but there was that whole pregnant issue of not being able to drink alcohol or breathe in all of that lovely second hand smoke. ;)

The next morning, we met everyone (or a lot of them anyways) downstairs for the complimentary breakfast. A couple hours later the guys (Jason, James, Mike, Joe, Jake and Troy) went out on a deep sea fishing trip to kick off James' bachelor party. This bachelor party celebration had to be the longest-lasting bachelor party in history! It went from 12pm to 330am the next morning! How ridiculous is that?! ;) Oh well - Jason kept me updated as to what they were all up to throughout the day (much to his brothers' disapproval), but hey! Isn't it better to keep your wife happy than to leave her in the dark - angry and wondering what the heck is going on?? If you're married - you know what I'm talking about!! ;) Anyways - it sounded like they had a lot of fun, so I was happy for them to be able to spend time together.

While the boys were out gallivanting about, me and some of the girls (Rachel, Dillon, Danielle, Joanna and my little girls) went out for a three hour shopping spree to Target! I can't believe how easy it is for us to spend that much time in one store!! It was ridiculous...but fun!! It was supposed to be for just a few last minute items that we all needed...but hey! We're girls and we like to shop (or at least look)! When we got back, we wrapped up our presents for Tish' bridal shower and then went downstairs to the pool to meet up with Mom, Angie and some friends who live 3 hours from Newport Beach who stopped by to say hi for a couple hours (Amber, Brian and their 4 cute little boys). Brian was the other EOD leader stationed (and sharing a room) with Tony while they were in Iraq just a few short months ago. They were so sweet and I'm so happy to have met them in person after only writing and talking to Amber by phone and email. I hope we can meet up with them again sometime!

Me, Amber and Angie (courtesy of Angie)


After they headed back home, we went upstairs to get ready for Tish' bridal shower. My girls stayed with 3 of their little aunts and Grandpa, while we (me, Mom, Angie, Rachel, Sarah, Dillon and Danielle) drove 40 minutes away to meet Tish and her family at BJs for her bridal shower. I was totally upset for leaving my new memory card (that I had just bought for my camera during our 3 hour Target trip) back at the hotel! I couldn't take any pictures!! I'm depending on Tish's sister to help me out and email me a few pictures! Anyways, we had a good time playing bridal shower games (none of which we Capras won), eating pizza and caesar salad and watching Tish open up all her bridal shower gifts - which were all really cute and tasteful. I must say - Angie's present was the best. I thought I liked what I got Tish...until I saw Angie's present! Pssh! That Angie - always trying to outdo me! First with the sheer number of babies she has birthed and now with her present-giving skills. Hmph! I'll top you at something one of these days Angie!! ;)

After we left, we stopped at Starbucks and Rachel treated all of us to drinks, then headed back to the hotel. It was only 9pm, so the guys weren't back yet, so me and the girls stayed up in my room watching girlie movies (27 Dresses and Pride and Prejudice). Half of us fell asleep halfway through Pride and Prejudice and then we all woke back up when Jason came back into the room (covered with a thick stench of cigarrette smoke and alcohol). Needless to say, he and his stench slept on the floor because he was too tired to take a shower) - while I slept in one bed and Rachel slept in the other. Nate knew not to come in and wake Rachel, so he slept down the hall in the guys' room (unlike Jason, he didn't keep Rachel posted as to what he was up to and this didn't make her very happy). She forgave him the next morning though, so all was well! ;)

The next morning, Angie, Dillon and I went back to Target after breakfast to get a couple more things while all of the other girls went to hair appointments. When we got back to the hotel, Dillon decided to work on her hair herself while Angie and I went to meet the other girls at a local hair salon. When we saw how crowded they were, we decided to go somewhere else. Tish drove in front of Angie and I and took us to another hair salon to help us get last minute appointments. After we found a place, Tish left to go get ready and Angie and I had our hair done. Since Angie has a frickin' thick horsetail for a mane - her hair took longer than mine (mine of course only took like 20 minutes - if even). It was almost 4pm and I knew she still hadn't eaten anything, so I walked next door to the diner and bought us milkshakes and french fries for two - with ranch dressing for dipping. Angie and I were so hungry, we didn't waste anytime - we started eating the fries and drinking the shakes while her head of curlers was under the dryer (when no one was looking of course). ;) When she was all done (and sneakingly paid for my hairdo as well as hers - Rrrrrr...), we raced back to the hotel to get dressed and finish getting ready. Daddy Capra loaded up the van and took most of the family over while Jason, me, Mommy Capra and our girls drove Jason over and dropped him off and then went back to the hair salon where Rachel was STILL getting her hair cut!!! She was the last person to get her hair done in that long wait and we were supposed to have already boarded the boat! The hairstylist worked fast and we raced out the door and sped over to the boat (while Rachel changed in the car like Superwoman)! We parked the car and ran onto the dock and got in line behind all the other guests. Whew! We made it!! The boat didn't leave us!! ;)

As we entered the boat, we were given a choice of either a flute of champagne or a flute of apple cider. I of course went with the apple cider. Dang blast it! ;) Everything was beautiful, but a little hard to follow. People were still talking when the wedding party started to walk down the aisle - nobody knew when the wedding was officially starting. But once it got going, it was a beautiful ceremony, Tish looked gorgeous, her bridesmaids and flower girls beautiful and the groom and his groomsmen were all handsome! :) I really liked the pastor officiating their marriage. He was so happy and smiley and he gave some really good advice. It wasn't your average marriage ceremony - it was almost like a cozy counseling session. It was so cute!

The boat (courtesy of Angie)


(James doing his signature arrogant pose) The groom is ready to go! :)


Kristin and I toasting with our apple cider before the wedding ceremony began


Sarah entertaining Katie during the ceremony. What would I have done without her!! Katie seems to obey her much better than she does me (that little traitor wench)! ;)


The pastor and James watching the wedding party come down the aisle


Joe and Joanna (aren't they so cute?!)


Troy and Danielle (I want to pinch that little dimple of hers!!)


Jason and Gabby


Mike and Melisa


The bridesmaids


James and his groomsmen (sorry Joe - I cut you out by accident!)


Cute little Julia and Emily doing their flower girl duties (right before they joined the other ladies up front, Julia gently blew some flower petals at Daddy Capra as she past by him - it was SO cute!!)


Beautiful Tish and her Dad


Let the ceremony begin!!


Aw...how cute!


Dad Capra praying over the almost married couple


James and Letitia Capra!!


Mom Capra, James, Tish and Dad Capra


They're so cute!


Doing some silly poses for the camera


The guys doing more silly poses


The wedding party


The groom's family (Nate, Rachel, Angie, Sarah, Jake, Mike, Dad Capra, Emily, Mom Capra, Joanna, Kristin, James, Tish, Jason, Me with Katie, Danielle, Joe, Dillon and Julia)
*Picture courtesy of Nate Lee (my brother-in-law)


After the ceremony was over and family photos were taken, we were shuffled downstairs while the staff set up all of the dinner tables and chairs. We wasted time taking silly pictures and jabbering away. Then it was time to get our plates of dinner and go back upstairs to eat and then listen to toasts from the Best Man and Maid of Honor.

Jason and Joe doing their model poses ;)


Me and my woman Angie getting a little sassy ;)


Me and Angie and our cute little soon-to-be sister-in-law Dillon


Joe and Dillon (they're so cute!)


Angie buying Jason a drink at the bar


Tish and James


Tish and James (well part of him anyways)


Mommy Capra and me


Jason and me


Jason, me and Mike


Troy, Jason and Mike


Inseparable: Kristin and her Aunt Joanna (a.k.a. Baby Shamu and Mama Shamu) :)


California Capras: Uncle Doug, Aunt Gala and their kiddie-poos (and Emily too)


Katie blowing kisses during dinner


Joe and Dillon (okay I think Dillon was right - I was taking way too many pictures of them!) ;)


Mike giving his Best Man toast


The cake (after the bride and groom cut into it)


Tish and James feeding each other cake


Oopsies...


Aw...how sweet...


Rachel and Nate (I don't have many pics of Nate because he was busy taking pictures for the bride and groom - that would be a responsibility far too daunting for me!) I've heard rumors that the pictures turned out well, so that's a big whew for Nate!


After the dinner plates were taken away and toasts given, the bride and groom began their first dance, followed by James and Mommy Capra, Tish and her Dad and then it was a free for all!

Their first dance as man and wife


Mommy Capra and James


Daddy Capra and Danielle


Tish and her Dad doing their father-daughter dance


Mommy Capra and Rachel (I figured out how to keep her eyes open - have her look past my camera's green light! Hooray!!) ;)


Mommy Capra and Grandma Capra


Uncle Doug and Katie (for those of you who were wondering where my kids were all night...) Thank you Uncle Doug!!! You're the best! :)


The night was quickly coming to an end. Tish threw her flower bouquet to a sea of women - (some a lot younger than others) and James retrieved the guarder belt and slingshot it to the sea of guys. Of course Jason somehow made his way into the crowd guys after getting himself a glass of wine from the bar behind them. He ended up standing next to Jake right as James catapulted the guarder belt and it was flying right towards Jason and Jake! With jedi reflexes, Jake flung his hand out in front of him to grab the guarder while knocking Jason's wine glass sending it crashing to the ground in a thousand pieces! The mess was quickly wiped away and dancing resumed.

Who will win?!


James removing the guarder belt


Sling shooting the guarder belt to the guys


Jacob's the lucky man! (This is his second guarder belt - his first one was mine when Jason and I got married) :) Jason is disappointed that his wine went to waste... ;)


Jason taking his Mom out for a spin on the dance floor


Mike dancing with Angie at our table :)


Katie and her Aunt Angie


The night went by way too fast. I was surprised and sad that it was all over! I was even more sad because most of us didn't even know that James and Tish were leaving the boat and sailing back to the dock in their own gondola! We ran outside just in time to see them about 30 feet away, so my picture came out all grainy and horrible. I was so sad that I didn't even get to say bye to them! After their 10 day honeymoon in New Zealand - they'll be heading back to Germany where their both still stationed! :( Hopefully we'll see them again in November or December!



After we disembarked, we headed back to the hotel and a few of us stayed up for a little while longer in Jason and my room. Angie ordered some pizza and hot wings and we were going to rent a movie, but there weren't any movies to rent! We all went to bed somewhat early - since we all either had to either fly or drive back to our homes...ours unfortunately was a 22 hour drive back to poo-ville...I mean San Antonio. Ugh... It was SO great seeing everyone again - it's always a party when Capras get together, but it was such a very short visit. :( I'm ready for the next Capra wedding in April!!! Hooray for Joe and Dillon!!! :)

Congratulations to James and my new sister-in-law Tish-a-lish!! ;) We love you!!!!