first day of school, 2010

my babies are growing up!

natalie just started kindergarten a little over a week ago.

thankfully, she was very excited about going back to school this year.

her first day was only a half day.

she had P.E. and didn't eat a full lunch.

when she got in the car that afternoon she wasn't overly excited, nor was she sad, or upset.

just normal, happy natalie!

i tried to pry every bit of information out of her after that first week and basically she said she liked her teacher, her class and seemed very happy.

she did, however, ask me if they could put her old class toys in her new class.
(kindergarteners don't get to play whenever they want to???)

this was the only real "complaint" i got from her ;)

first day of kindergarten, 8/11:

driving to school, very excited:

watching her walk away:

the end of her first day of school:

second day of school:

*****

now on to russell.

russell began pre-kindergarten this year.

he is in the same class that natalie was in last year, with the same wonderful teachers.

i couldn't be any happier about that!

they are about to discover just how different natalie and russell are.

at russell's orientation class last week, he cried and ran out of the room after i tried to drop him off for the hour.

they said he eventually did stop crying but it took him a while.

i knew he was hesitant about going to school because of this phase he was going through.

he is not particularly a momma's boy but he didn't like being dropped off to be "alone" anywhere.

i knew that this first drop off would be rough.

his teachers and i were all a little worried about how he would react to his "real" first day of school.

surprisingly, he grew very excited about wanting to go to school and by today, his first day, he couldn't wait to go!

he got dressed early, brushed his teeth early, grabbed his backpack 30 min. before we were ready to walk out, and had a huge grin on his face all morning.

when i dropped him off, it was a total breeze.

he jumped out (forgot to kiss me goodbye- but i called him back) and happily walked to the room hand-in-hand with his teacher.

we were all a little surprised!

as i drove off (very slowly, and taking pictures) i couldn't believe that that moment was the end of the toddler era in our house.

no tears were shed at that time.

it wasn't until later in the afternoon when the doorbell rang and all was quiet throughout the house.

normally, the doorbell rings and the kids go running like wild animals to see who it is, pulling back the shades revealling themselves and all.

i'm usually racing them to the door shushing them and making sure it's not a stranger to whom i don't want to make known that we are home.

none of that today.

when i was done talking to our mailman, i went back to the office,called russ and had a silly little cry about it.

an hour later, i was driving back up to the school to pick up BOTH of my babies.

first day of pre-k, 8/23

SO HAPPY!

watching him walk away:

celebrating anniversaries, 2010

on the day of my parent's anniversary WE were at magic kingdom.

my parents enjoyed a nice dinner that night at Emeril Lagasse's restaurant, but we were never really able to celebrate their anniversary during the chaos of our vacation.

we decided to celebrate with them last weekend instead. we all got together at their house for dinner and then celena and i surprised them with cake and presents.

cheesecake factory cheesecake, courtesy of celena

dad reading our cards out loud
a monogrammed vase for the flowers i bought them


we bought this personalized frame for their anniversary 2 yrs ago, but i never put any pictures in.
i decided to steal it from their house, add the pictures and then re-gift it :)
my plan was successful -- they loved it
natalie wanted to wrap a present for grandma to open too:
princess flash cards!
russell's turn to wrap a present

opening it with daddy

watching tv in gma and gpa's bed

this is always a sign that it's late and time to go home :)

35 years together

the beautiful flowers

(and my beautiful parents)

this is the picture from orlando on their actual anniversary,

on their way out to dinner

WE LOVE YOU MOM & DAD!

our anniversary is only 5 days after theirs

we went out for dinner that night and ate at the restaurant where we had our first date

*celebrating 6 years of marriage*

camping out with ryan

earlier in the summer we promised natalie and russell that we would let them camp out in the back yard with dylan. you may remember the day that was to happen, natalie was sick and instead, they "camped out" inside the living room. they still had fun but of course, it wasn't the same.

last friday, we invited our older nephew ryan over to camp out with us. it was a hot night but they had lots of fun making s'mores, eating them, playing UNO and reading Toy Story books in the tent with a flashlight, before they eventually went to sleep (which was REALLY late).

roasting marshmallows

natalie and russell tried it but then got afraid of the heat,

so gave their skewers to dad and ryan

assembling the s'mores

tasting their treats

their bed for the night

the hands on museum

last thursday we met up with my wonderful friend heather and the kiddos. i had promised the kids i would take them to this children's museum some time over the summer and before i knew it the summer was almost over! so this was my attempt to keep my promise AND squeeze some mommy time in at the same time.

heather and i don't get to hang out as much as we would like and i miss her a lot. playdates with the kids is most definitely for OUR benefit too. but with both of us having a family and living such busy lives, getting together ends up being a rare occasion.

as luck would have it, this trip to the museum turned out to be pure chaos. there were THREE different summer camp groups there on a field trip, in addition to the people who just walked in, like us. i felt so overwhelmed with trying to keep up with both of my kids who continuously went in separate directions. (why can't they stick TOGETHER?). meanwhile, my plan to catch-up with heather totally went down the drain.

fortunately (for my sanity), the camp groups left about half an hour after we arrived and things finally calmed down for us. heather and i got to chat, watch the kids run around and goof-off, and we even got to snap some pictures (imagine that!).

it really is a fun place for kids and hopefully we can make it back there soon.

firefighter natalie

inside the pirate ship:

they were in there forEVER. it was like they were digging for gold

selling train tickets

all aboard!

the ever adorable lauren and russell in the police car

my favorite picture of the day

i love logan's face here:

she is SO cute!!!

i love that russell is climbing this shelf

while heather is taking the picture :)

working in the bank:

and natalie's favorite part,

THE DRESS UP STAGE

(this section was closed the last time we were there

and she was devestated)

***all of the high quality pics above were taken by heather

random summer fun

hanging out on the driveway

daddy making a birdhouse!

natalie helping :)

our new swing!

we found it at ikea and daddy built it on to the tree in the backyard

we've been wanting to build a swing for loooong time
and this was a steal at ikea!!!

russ, his brother (on the right) and a friend

at their last softball game of the summer

(all nice and sweaty)

sadly, they lost that game

at the park in the beautiful area of san marco

(um, can i have that house? i'm sure it's no more than a million dollars, give or take)
my little monkeys