Isabella's Birthday Party

We wrapped up Isabella's weeklong birthday celebration with a party at As You Wish pottery yesterday. Izzy invited all the girls in her Kindergarten class, her gymnastics class, and a few close family friends. The girls had a great time painting together!

Isabella Turns 6!

I can't believe my "baby" turned 6 this week! We've been having a week-long birthday celebration here, starting with a pool party with the family last Saturday. The kids had a blast swimming, and we adults enjoyed the abundance of food that accompanies every Montini Family gathering!






Isabella's actual birthday was on Wednesday. I visited her classroom, where she got to wear a Birthday Crown. The kids made her a special book where each child wrote about their birthday wish for her. We had a mini celebration with Zingers and juice boxes. Here she is with her class of Kindergarteners...




We'll top off the "big week" with a party at As You Wish pottery this Sunday. 15 of Isabella's friends and classmates will be there. Should be fun!

More from Happy Jack

Here are a few more pictures of our fun times in Happy Jack...

That's me! Enough said...

Nancy and Jason

Papap firing up the grill we got him for his birthday.

My sexy husband enjoying a glass of wine in the cool country! Ooh la la! ;-)

Amanda, Isabella, Ben, and Dominic rocking out in the loft with the guitars Papap bought them.

Back to Happy Jack

We just had a fabulous day and night at my in-law's new "mountain home" in Happy Jack! The house looks gorgeous now that all the furniture is moved in, and Judy has truly made it look like a Montini home! I have a ton of pictures to share, so I'll have to post two times!

The girls and Baxter are all settled into the van and ready to roll!

Izzy is a natural on the little tree swing!

Uncle Jason has fun showing the kids a salamandor he found.

Grammie Judy is kicking back at her new home.

Ben and Amanda are dressed for our "performance" of the day. As most of you know, a Montini family gathering would not be complete without a singing and dancing performance from the kids!

Friday ramblings

The girls have been so busy now that they are back in school!

Isabella has her first take home project this week. She has to go find a Community Helper, take her picture with that person, and ask questions about how his or her job helps the community. She wants to visit the librarian at our library. I tried to talk her into visiting the fire station so mommy could also check out the cute firemen, but no such luck! :)

Amanda is loving 3rd grade, but not loving all the homework that goes with it! She's got 25 spelling words each week on top of a big weekly packet of worksheets. She did a report in class on Bridget Sloan, an Olympic gymnast, and loved doing all the research on the computer.

I have taken on the job of Art Masterpiece presenter for both of their classrooms this year. Each month, I will go into the class to present a lesson on an element of art such as lines, color, etc. I will bring in prints of famous art to show the kids, talk about how they relate to the element we're studying, and have them do an activity to go along with it. The program has been put in place throughout the school, so I have lessons and materials provided to me. It should be a lot of fun, and I will be learning too since I know very little about art!

We're heading to Happy Jack this weekend to stay at the new house. We're all excited for some cool weather and time with family! I'll post pictures when we get back!

Amanda's braces

Amanda got her new braces today. She was very brave and never cried, although there were some parts that were painful for her. Below is a before shot, one at the office just after she got everything put on, and one "after" shot outside.

First day of school

Today is the girls' first day back to school. Since they were up and dressed before 6 a.m. (a little excited, perhaps?), I had plenty of time to take their pictures and post this before we head off!

Amanda is entering 3rd grade, and this is Isabella's first day of Kindergarten. They are both very enthusiastic, and a little nervous! Here they are looking forward to a great first day!

The cousins

Hello reader, I am the Daughter of Samantha and Marc Montini.I am going to tell you about the entire Montini family. The first photo is me when I turned two.

This is Photo of me ,sissy and two of my cousins.As you can see we went bouling that night.

We Had A Blast.

Here are the rest. Dominic3,Gareth10,Oliva9,Me8,Benny7,Sissy5,Laura8,Andie6,Andie5.

So I have a lot of cousins.

Our new pet

The girls have been desperate for another pet since the "passing" of our hamster Buddy, so I broke down today and agreed to another pet hamster. We visited two different pet stores scoping out their stock and searching for the most friendly one we could find.

We settled on a dwarf Blueberry hamster. I had never heard of a Blueberry hamster before, but she's a blueish-gray color, and the lady at the pet store swears she smells like blueberries, although I haven't quite noticed that yet!

She is much smaller than our old hamster, so we had to buy a new cage, running ball, and just about everything so she won't be able to escape (hopefully!!!)! She was very friendly and calm in the store, and is a bit skittish here at home, but who wouldn't be with two noisy girls and a nosy dog barking at her! :-) Hopefully she'll be a nice, calm pet once she adjusts to her new home!

The girls are thinking of naming her Princess Blueberry, but we're going to wait for Daddy's input before making a final name choice!

Camping at White Horse Lake

We had a blast camping with lots of friends last weekend at White Horse Lake! The weather, fishing, and friends were the best!

Look Nancy, you made my blog!

We had dinner last night at a FABULOUS little local Italian place with Marc's sister Nancy, bro-in-law Jason, and our nephews Ben and Dominic. The dinner was a belated birthday treat for Marc, but really should have been for Jason too, since he celebrates his birthday on the 12th! Happy Birthday Jason, and thanks for dinner, you guys!

Swim Lessons!

The girls are enjoying another summer filled with swim lessons! This is their 5th summer of taking lessons at the community pool.

Amanda is now in "Level 5," where she is doing lots of laps to perfect her strokes, learning flip-turns off the wall, and making major improvements to her dive off the board!

Isabella is in "Level 4," and quickly working to catch up to her sister's swimming abilities! She's doing laps in the 13 ft dive well, treading water, and has learned to dive this year as well!

The new Mountain Home

On Sunday, we drove north with Marc's parents to see their new mountain home in Happy Jack. It is a beautiful home, and we are all excited about enjoying many adventures in the woods there! Here are a few pictures:

Isabella and Grammie in the family room - look at the views outside that gorgeous wall of windows!

Amanda and Isabella on the wrap-around porch.

Amanda and Papap taking a walk on the property.

View of the house from the street.

Our 4th of July Trip to the Science Center

My friend Lisa and I took our girls to the Arizona Science Center today. We toured an exhibit called Grossology, where we learned all about gross human and animal characteristics. Here you can see Amanda and her friend Arianna standing in a huge nose that would sneeze, blowing a huge gust of wind out!

Isabella had fun guessing which animal produced the most slime, and all the girls enjoyed a life-size version of the game Operation.

Afterward, we visited a live demonstration of the human digestive system, where Amanda and Isabella were able to volunteer acting as the stomach, churning mushed up ravioli in a Ziploc bag much like the stomach churns the food we eat.

Finally, we enjoyed a lovely lunch at a little tea house called the Teeter House. What a fun day!