Princess Ball

Our little princess was invited to a ball last weekend (at Grama and Grampa's church.) She was so excited about it and talked about it a lot. :) The night finally came and she was accompanied by her two favorite princes.... Dad and Grampa! 

Since this was only a Daddy-Grampa-Kala date, I'm going to have Kala tell the story...

She's giving me a tiara because I like tiaras. She picked the tiara for me. I like purple.

That's Grampa and me. My Grampa got me those flowers.

I love my dad. Because I like sitting down with my dad.

I am pretty and beautiful. The princess ball is fun.

The room is pretty. I like the lights.

Pretzels, pink and white cookies, fishies, and pieces of cereal. The pink and white cookies were my favorite. (Sister Vaden) gave me a lot of them! 

I was dancing to the chicken dance.

I like dancing with my dad. My favorite was when my daddy made me jump really high. (Almost brought down the display.) Because it's fun to dance.

I like dancing with Grampa. We danced slow and then we danced fast!

I like being with him.

I'm jumping on my tippy toes. (When she asked if she could dance by herself.)

Because I like jumping.

Because I like making a crown. They didn't have purple, so I picked green. 

I like the pretty jewels. There are different shapes.  

My favorite part of the ball was dancing on the stage and twirling. I had a good time because 

I was so exciting and it was so fun! I was happy when I got home. I had such a good time at the Princess Ball!

xopkkijmnbgefr4wsact//.kb=54368vn.,;098uho/mom

  (I love you, mom.)  --Kala.

Mykala had a lot of fun, but Chad said that it took awhile for her to warm up. She was a little nervous and apprehensive - it must have been somewhat overwhelming for her. Once she started dancing, she really enjoyed it. She was excited to see a little girl dressed up as Snow White... Chad said that she yelled, "Hi, Snow White!"

Kala's Puppy!! :)

Chad and I love this picture! :)

 This is the first time (that we've seen) Kala draw a puppy - and it's awesome!!

Kala Quotes

"You're just jealous."


Kala: "Some days I forget the name of her dog."
Me: "Do you know what it is?"
Kala: "These are one of those days."

Jace, the other day, decided it was a good idea to color all over his and Kala's bedroom door with permanent marker. Hooray for 1 1/2 year olds!

Also, our only car's in the shop. Yay for cars!

Kala's Artwork

Kala's Quote of the Week

"I am smarter than cat dirt!"

(Because Grampa always says "meaner than cat dirt"...)  :)

It's That Time of Year Again....

So it's time to get back in school mode. The semester officially starts today and it came a lot sooner than we anticipated! (In my mind, I kept thinking it started Monday... then all day yesterday felt like Monday or Tuesday. My whole week's been a little unusual!) But now it's here. I am really excited about my classes and I am really curious as to how the next few months will go. It's my first semester at ASU and I am absolutely thrilled - I have one Anthropology class and three Religion courses, all of which are online. I figured it would be better and easier to stay at home than to go to campus and rearrange our lives completely. (And I'm really hoping that this semester will give me an idea of which "track" in my major that I want to do.)

Chad is taking a full load again as well. Like me, he's glad to be back. :) He'll also be doing the same nano wire research that he was doing over the summer - he'll be plenty busy!!

As for this kids, they will be going back to school this semester too. We're planning on taking them in about twice a week so that I will be able to have some homework time and so that they can get out and be the crazy munchkins the apartment restricts! :)

Speaking of crazy little munchkins, I fear that Jacer might be hitting his "terrible twos" a little early. He's recently found this hatred for highchairs and goes crazy when in them. I hate it. He also screams like a maniac and yells "no" more than I'd like. I hate that, too. He's still very very sweet when he's sweet, but he's definitely a trouble-maker. We have to keep our eyes on him constantly!

Anyway. Wish us a good and smooth semester! :)

Kala's Quote of the Week

(While wrestling dad...) "I can use magic without using my face."

Lunceford Update

Well, the summer is almost over, and at least one of us is a little happy about that. Jace and Kala have been out of daycare for most of the summer, and it's been fun, but exhausting. Chad and I have been busy and tired. Chad is still doing research at ASU and is there all day. We were a little worried about graduate school for awhile, and Chad was even having second thoughts about going, but after a lot of thought and some reassurance from his professor and his dad, he's feeling much better about it. We would be very surprised if ASU didn't accept Chad into graduate school. Needless to say, we're feeling much better about it. We're not worried about having to leave Arizona quite yet. :)

I am still working evenings at a good job and was planning on signing up for fall semester there at the community college, but then when it came down to it, they wouldn't let me. Financial Aid didn't like the idea of me having already graduated and spending more time at PV. They didn't want me wasting "their" money and - to make the long story short - the only way for me to get "their" money for PV was to take only one class in the fall. So, at last minute, we decided it would be better to enroll at ASU after all. We knew the process was long and tedious so knowing that we had a month to do it all in was frustrating and stressful. Not until this week was I accepted and my "to do" list has doubled. I'm a little worried about getting all the left-over classes, but at least I'll be able to take more than one class and there seemed to be a few online options which I am hoping are still there on Monday (when I'm going to talk to an advisor). We'll see what happens!

Kala and Jace are still doing good... they play a lot together and are still crazy about each other, but they still tend to fight a lot. They fight over the stupid toys that normally don't get attention. All it takes is one of them picking it up and it becomes the ultimate favorite toy... ever! :) They also play a lot at night, when they're supposed to be sleeping. We finally got Kala out of our room and into hers. The only problem is that at night, Jacer thinks it's play time because Kala's in there. Then, because Jace is awake and talking, it makes Kala get up and entertain him or "help" him go to sleep. It was a rough week or two, but they've gotten a little better. The morning's are a little rough, too, for the same reason. Jace has been waking up early these days and notices no one else is up to share it with... so he wakes up his big sister. In fact, just this morning, I heard him awake around 6:30 and he was in his crib, happy as a clam, singing loudly. He went on for a long while - it was adorable!!

Also, with Kala, we found out that the kindergarten thing won't be happening. We had decided to try it and have her take the test, but when I called, they said all the testing appointments had been filled and that there already was a long waiting list. The lady I spoke to said that a lot of kids will sign up for it and very few kids will actually pass because they have to be at the developmental stage of a 5 year old (I actually think it was 5 1/2 or so) and so technically Kala would have been months behind and therefore having a smaller chance of passing the test. So, that was a little comforting, given the situation, and it saved us $75!! So... next year. 

All in all, everyone here at the Lunceford house is doing pretty ok.  :) 

Watermelon Gum

Ah. The good ol' story of gum in the hair. I've always heard about this happening, but I just assumed that it was told more than it was actually experienced. Lucky us - we got to experience it. Little Miss Mykala Jo got gum in her long, beautiful, blonde hair. And not on the bottom - oh no - it was at the very tippy top - which meant that a horrible hair cut would have to happen if everything else failed!

So... the remedy? Oil. I considered peanut butter, but decided to go straight to the source. :) I put olive oil on the spot, waited 2-3 minutes, applied some more, waited another 3 minutes, and then took a comb and went through it piece by piece and.... voila!! Good as new. :) There was a little patience involved, as well as a few tears, but everyone made it out fine and no haircut was required. :)

Kala's Dance Recital

For those of you who are interested, I posted the video of Kala's dance dress rehearsal on the dance post. :) :)

Kala's Rainbow

Playing

Cherishing the good moments while they last!! :)

The Park

Yes... we went to the park in the middle of the day and in the middle of July. Yes, it was a very stupid thing to do. But when you are desperate, you are desperate!! (We were itching to get out.) But the kids and I had a lot of fun - as long as we stayed in the shade. :)

 

This bridge made Jacer a little uneasy... he watched his every step!

Kala's Quotes of the Week

(When we told her to do something (I think)...)

"My body's just not very good at standing up right now."

"When I grow up, I want to be a mom - just like you!"

"But I don't know who I'm going to marry, cause there are a lot of people who have married each other. Hmm...  maybe I'll marry my dad." (Electra complex...perhaps that Freud fellow was right.)

"Blacias, Jace! Blacias means no and goodbye."

4th of July

Once a year we go downtown to watch the fireworks... it seemed shorter this year, which was kind of a disappointment, but we had fun nonetheless. :) There was quite a wait for the fireworks, so there are a lot of pictures!! Kala had a blast with the glow sticks that Grampa brought and Jace had fun running around. Once the fireworks started, Jace stared in amazement and did so until they ended. Kala, like the previous 3 years, became bored and wanted to blow bubbles instead. But not surprisingly, they both crashed on the way home. :)

This picture is a bit funky...

Kala LOVED the glow sticks

Talking to Grama on the phone

Grampa decorated with glow sticks

Silly Faces

Jacer was hard to keep up with for the first half hour or so...
While he was running around like a maniac, one of the gentlemen we were sitting by said, "He's just celebrating his independence!" It was cheesy, but it certainly fitted my little wild child. :)