3 years ago
I received the call that I'd waited years for. It was the call saying that finally, we had a little girl. I've written one of these posts each year on the anniversary of our referral call. Each year I'm shocked by how quickly the time has gone. It seems as if the last three years have whizzed by in the blink of an eye. And, at the same time, it seems as though Georgiana has always been with us.

Having Georgiana in our lives has been such a gift. I as myself everyday, how did we get so lucky??

These are the first pictures I ever saw of my baby... such a little sweetie :-)

Lion King 3D
I'm fairly sure I saw Lion King in the theater when it first came out many years ago. Not completely sure though. I do know I've seen it dozens of times. The thing is, although I like the movie a lot, I've never been able to get past the scene where Mufasa is killed by his brother Scar. It has always been very disturbing to me. I certainly did not find it any less disturbing in 3D. Other than that, the movie was really good. The 3D effect was more noticeable to me in the early parts of the movie but I like 3D in general. It pulls me into the movie more.

G is always excited about going to the movies but when I told her we were going to have breakfast with Timon, she was really excited! It was nice because rather than just having Timon there for pictures, he came out and danced and interacted with the kids. Cute!

G showing off her Mickey waffle. She's always really excited about ordering them but she's never that into eating them. I think the idea of the Mickey waffle is better than the actual thing.

Waiting for the show to begin

G sporting her 3D glasses and munching on the popcorn. Life is sweet!

Beach again???
Yes! G had so much fun last weekend we thought we'd try it again. Weather.com said it was supposed to be sunny and what seemed like warm enough. Uh, yeah. Not so sunny and barely warm enough but still funtastic!!! G spent about 4 hrs running and playing. She made friends with another little girl and they giggled and dug in the sand. Me? I sat in a chair and dug my toes in the sand. Ahhh, relaxation. We barely had enough time to stop at the local Ruby's and get 1/2 a grilled cheese in her before she started falling asleep mid bite. Poor little thing... we really wore her out. Its not surprising she slept really well that night :-)

"I command you!!!!"

Bobby and G begin working on their creation

G as Ursula the sea witch... hence the angry face. Bobby was not terribly happy with the result. As he explained to me he has a plan for a much better Ursula next time. Haha! Bobby takes his sand art seriously ;-)

Moon Festival Celebration
We left the beach and drove straight to a friend's house for a little get together to celebrate the Moon Festival. G had a great time with the other kids playing, decorating paper lanterns with paint and markers, and playing princess dress up. The adults spent the time chatting. It was a very nice day. Thanks Tanya!
The princess and Prince Daddy

Beachin'
The saga of my groupons continues... I bought one for a beach photography thing awhile back and time was running out. The location, Aliso Beach in Laguna was gorgeous, really beautiful. I'd never been before but we'll definitely be going back. The photo thing was just ok. G was her normal uncooperatively cooperative self but once the words "say cheese" came out of the photog's mouth I lost all confidence. We'll see. Seriously, who trains these people??? The good news is, Georgie had a lot of fun getting the pix done and then playing in the sand.

I don't think I've ever known a kid who liked the beach more than G. She just loves digging in the sand, running from the water, chasing seagulls and "saving" or imprisoning any little bug that may come into her reach.

Bobby always seems to make these sand sculptures. Lately it seems G wants to be buried in them. She's such a goof!

Even though we'd done the pix and then let G play on the beach for a couple hours, it was still only 11:30 am when we left to go to our next stop. Busy, busy, busy day.

More fair
We had so much fun at the fair the weekend before we decided to do it again the following weekend. G had a good time the first time but explained that she didn't get to do "any fun stuff at the fair." What she meant is she hadn't gotten to go on any of the rides.

We spent another 5-6 hrs there without duplicating anything that we'd done the first time. I guess I'd kind of forgotten how huge the LA County Fair truly is. Its enormous! As always, G had lots of fun. She started out dressed in a shorts outfit but one of the vendors was selling these super cute cotton dresses and once G got a look at the pink princess one she was sold! Didn't take it off the rest of the day.

G loved this big reptile. I'm not exactly sure who was supposed to be watching it. G's normally pretty brave though. She hung out with the lizard for a long time and we only saw a couple other people during that time who would even get near it.

This is G holding a scorpion! She was totally fine with it at first until Bobby made some joke about it pinching her, then she got scared.

She was fine with mommy holding it

In the flower and garden building. I've always loved that building... so pretty.

And finally G got her rides!

This car ride was incredibly bouncy and jerky. It would have either snapped my neck or made me puke. Georgie loved it!! She rode it twice in a row and begged to ride again. Ugh. She just laughed and laughed.

The airplane was a much calmer ride.

It was another really big day at the fair. Bobby and I agreed that, for sure, we don't need to go anymore this year and maybe not even next year ;-)

Its official, she's a preschooler
Summer school had gone so well that I had high hopes that the first day of "real" preschool would also go well. We got up early, had a little breakfast, put the apple outfit on and off we went! G was happy on the way, listening to her music and chattering at me about the things we were bringing to school. We got there and she had a HUGE smile on her face. She was thrilled with her teacher, her little friends, you name it! Again, what a relief. All the parents stayed for about 30 mins and watched them say the pledge (G got the wrong hand again, oops =). They did the calendar, sang a song or two, and then the teacher "suggested" that we all leave. Then off I went. I had to go to work anyway. As will be usual, Bobby picked her up. She had a GREAT day! She loves her school so much. So cute.

G all dressed up and ready to go!
With Mrs Davis who is possibly the nicest teacher in the whole world
Happy girl and a happy mama

Carpet time. Georgiana got a big smile on her face when Mrs Davis complimented her on having her hands in her lap... then all the kids put their hands in their laps too... darling!

Saying the pledge. By this time Mrs Davis had switched G's little hands. Only 10 mins into class and already learning =)

Apple Of My Eye
These are G's official September pix. Seriously, how cute is this kid??? As always, G loved her outfit. She's always really excited to dress up and get her picture taken. When I explained that we were going to run by the grocery store to buy an apple beforehand she was thrilled! Isn't it great that it takes so little to thrill a 3 yr old?

Fair time again
The last time we went to the fair was two years ago. My overrideing memory of that day is how freaking hot it was. OMG it was so hot!

This year we had a spare weekend day --super unusual on its own-- and it was going to be relatively cool so we thought what the heck and off we went to the fair. It also happened to be 9/11 so I think a lot of people were at home watching all the coverage. It was a nice day to do something normal and classically American like go to a county fair.

Of course we headed for the animals first. G loves the animals and she really loves the petting zoo. This one was fun because they had llamas. I don't think G had ever seen one and she liked them a lot. Bobby was smart and stood outside the area with the food. Let's just say he's not much of a fan of the goats :-)

They had this corn grinding demonstration and G loved it!! She stood there twisting the handle of that corn grinder thing until finally another kid wanted a turn and we finally made her stop.

Once she was tugged away from the grinder thing she started digging in the corn which was also quite fascinating to her. Seriously, who knew dried corn could be so mesmerizing???"Mamabird, take my picture with the corn!!"

G just being cute!

They had this thing set up to teach kids the farm to market process. First you got the seed:

Then you planted the seed: G got to milk a "cow":

Then you harvested the fruit:

At some point you sold your milk and veggies for money and then went shopping in the store. G was kind of bummed that at the end you had to just turn in your stuff and your money and got nothing but the experience in return.

I guess this is our official fair family photo.

G loved the dinosaur room! She was crawling on it and climbing on it. She's such a goof.

The had an area they called Princess and Knights. One side was for girls: pink, princess dress up clothes, tiaras and a play kitchen with, among other things, a play vaccuum and brooms. Then there was the boys side: shields, armor and swords. My I-am-woman-hear-me-roar side was a bit bothered by the way the gender roles were being presented to children. My mom side was happy to watch my daughter get such joy out of dressing up and playing make believe. I tried to get G to give the knight side a try and she was having NONE of it. She didn't even want to enter the knight side. Seriously, I felt like I was trying to drag her into the boys bathroom or something. But she went to town on with that little vaccuum. What's a mom to do?

G loved this carousel. I'd never seen a two story one before. It was beautifully painted. G loved riding on the second story horses!

After 5 hrs at the fair we were exhausted! We're hoping to be able to go back one more day this year because there was so much more to see. G's hoping for more rides!