Gracie

It's been an adventurous week. Not only did school start for all four kids and Kyle finally had a week to work at home (after travelling for the past 4 weeks), but we decided to throw in a little more chaos...a new puppy! Kyle and I are not really animal people at all, and unfortunately, our kids are scared of animals. We didn't want this for them, so we decided it'd be a good idea to get a dog of our own. Not just any dog of course, but a little lab mix puppy. Well, little Gracie was pretty cute, but she only lasted 48 hours. Andy tried really hard to like her and did a good job taking care of her, but he just couldn't take the hyper play and Gracie jumping all over him. Ryan liked her too and would occasionally let her jump on him, but then it got to be too much for him too. Colin did okay but didn't want to get too close to her unless she was still. And Elizabeth spent the 48 hours screaming, shaking in fear, being carried everywhere, and getting as high as possible to avoid Gracie. Seriously. We haven't given up on the idea of a dog, but perhaps a hyper, high maintenance puppy on the first week of school was way too ambitious!


how they ate every meal


they liked Gracie when she was still


and Elizabeth sat on top of the car

Dancing Queen

Maybe we should sign her up for dance classes?

First day of school, round 2

Our little "best friends" (as they call themselves) started preschool today! They've been in Mother's Day Out for the past 2 years and now they've graduated to the preschool. They are super excited about this mainly because it means no more naps at school, but also because they can start wearing their backpacks again. It's the little things in life! And their first day went great! They walked in like champs, hugged me good-bye, and never looked back. When I picked them up, they proceeded to talk for an hour about every little detail of their day. I hope the whole year goes this good. Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, but it actually rained today and fogged up the camera (I won't complain because we were super excited to finally get rain!). The last picture is of them with their little cousin, Shane. Aren't they all adorable together?!

Yikes!

Imagine meeting this frightening bed head in the middle of the night!

First day of school, round 1

SCHOOL DAYS! Though we were sad for summer and all its unstructured-ness to end, we were also excited for school and fall to come. And it finally came! Andy started 3rd grade this year (um, that's halfway through elementary school! What?!) and Colin finally (according to him) started kindergarten. After 4 days of school, I can say it's been a big success! Though they certainly don't like waking up early for school(who does?), they seem to be happy with the rest of it. Andy is thrilled that Colin is finally in the same school with him. Apparently, school is way more fun when you get to wave to your brother in the hallway. And Colin is all smiles as he waves to me when I arrive in the pickup line. They are both in the dual language program and cannot wait until they can speak Spanish "secretly" so the rest of us won't know what they're saying. Hmm, guess Kyle and I need to get a move on and learn more Spanish words! And I took a picture of Colin at his desk but not one of Andy. He informed that was okay for kindergarteners but not for 3rd graders!

Happy birthday, Colin!

On Saturday, August 20, 2011, Colin turned 6! (And congrats to me for posting this in such a timely manner! Be proud.) He has been looking forward to his birthday all summer and starting marking off the days when the calendar turned to August. Thankfully, the 20th finally arrived! He opened presents in the morning and got birthday donuts for breakfast (yes, he's wearing an old shirt of Kyle's for pajamas...he and Andy love wearing them to bed). Then we had a family fun-filled day cleaning the house and yard in preparation for his party (okay, that was really not so fun-filled, according the kids). And finally, his friends and cousins came over for a fun-filled swimming party (the kids told me swimming was way more fun-filled than cleaning...they must think I just love to clean...'fraid not kiddos!).


His favorite present


He actually put underwear on his list! 5 pair came in the package, so I wrapped them all individually. He caught on after the first few pair and thought it was as funny as I did!


Note to self: don't share a drink with Ryan...he puts his whole tongue into it.


Goofing off on the diving board

Elizabeth & Ryan are 3!

After MUCH planning and anticipation, Elizabeth and Ryan turned 3 on January 15, 2011! Seriously, when we planned Andy's birthday party in May 2010, they started planning their own party...8 months in advance. And they actually stuck with the same theme for 8 months. Impressive. Elizabeth wanted a fancy shoes party (girl after my own heart!) and Ryan wanted a police man party (his uncle was especially thrilled!). And I believe that kids should get their birthday party of choice (within reason, of course), so we had a fancy shoes/police man party! But they were also adamant that only girls could attend Elizabeth's party and only boys could attend Ryan's party. So, we braved the weather and went to a park. Ryan happily wore his police man costume. Elizabeth was upset that I made her wear her pink sparly sneakers instead of dress up shoes (hello, park mulch and cold weather!), but we compromised and she wore a pink tutu over her clothes and carried around her dress up shoes "just in case". All the girls sat at Lizzie's table and wore fancy shoes (and received dress-up shoes as their treat) and the boys sat at Ryan's table and got to ride in Uncle Lance's police car (and received police man dress-up stuff as their treat). The two themes totally did not go together, but our little guests of honor were thrilled! And really, what else matters?

(Planning for their next party has been underway all summer...so stay tuned!)