Sebastian

Our lives have been sort of busy. And when I say sort of, I mean really. Starting school has brought in a lot of driving, and meetings, and schedules... I was/am really trying to digest it all. But, I think I have come up for air, and now have time to post all the new photos of Sebastian. It is so hard to tell at this point since he is only 2 months, but he is a CUTE kid. The smiles that he gives us melt the whole house- I LOVE his brown eyes, and his sweet presence. I won't lie- I have a hard time with the nights- oh, if they could only come sleeping, but I'm trying to remind myself that it will go by fast.

Here are some of my favorites:

What a perfect ending... great face EMI!

Maddie's first day of Kindergarten

 I am old- I have a kindergartener. This is so cliche- and I've read other people say it, but when it happens to you, you find yourself saying the same thing. How could it go so fast? Life really does go slow/fast. One minute you are teaching your baby to walk, and the next you are walking them to kindergarten. I know it will be only a matter of time, before I'm driving her to college. It makes me so emotional- but I guess the best we can do is appreciate it the best we can.

Here she is:

 She LOVES kindergarten. Everyday she pops right out of bed, and can't wait to do all of her morning routine/chores so she can jet out the door. We are so lucky and only live 1 1/2 blocks away from school, so it has been such a blessing to walk everyday. Her teacher is amazing- the perfect combination of strict/nice/heart of gold. We are so lucky.

When she comes home, she loves telling me about the troublemakers at school who made a mess in the bathroom, or the playcenter she did, or what she did at recess. She also likes to remind me that I put too much food in her lunch and she is too full. Duly noted :)

 Here in Cali, we have 30 kids in each class. Yikes. But, the teacher is so amazing, and we have a student teacher, so it seems to be working!

They have had colors each day of school- ie, Green Tues, Purple Fri... it has been a workout to find colors that she can wear each day- but fun. The only color we couldn't really represent was orange- so not bad!

I am so proud of her- she is such a great student and is reading/writing so well :) I love this girl and I'm so glad she is having such a great time at school!!!

Emilie: First Day of School, being at home and her fanciful self

Emilie is our little fairy- she jumps and skips everywhere she goes.... and does it in such a quiet, floaty way. Since Maddie has gone to school, it has been such a great time for me to focus and get to know Emilie every day- I thinks he has liked being the big one in the house- not to mention being able to play without getting things taken away from her. She loves to color and bike right now. All the time. Almost every M,W,F, we color and color and color. And, we bike and bike and bike. We bought her a very fancy bike, and had a real hard time riding it at first, so we are doing our best to get the hang of it.

 Two weeks ago, she started preschool at PELC (presbyterian early learning center). This was her being very serious before we went.

 And, then she started to warm up. Or- as my friend Kelly Ripa likes to describe her son Michael- whenever you introduce him, he turns into a human croissant and looks down. This would be Emilie.

 When we got there, she was very quite. And, her eyes were very big. But, she was a trooper, and didn't cry at all! I was so happy!!

 PELC is amazing- I don't have enough space/time to describe how great it is. I am so happy with my decision to go here- the teachers are amazing, the teacher/kid ratio is great, they have tons of programs, singing people who come in, extra curriculars, the parents are so nice...

 When we got in the classroom, she was immediately attracted to this little house set- FYI, she LOVES little things- little houses, little people, and will spend hours creating stories with all of them. I LOVE this about her.

 As I left, this is the big smile she gave me. I knew we were in the right place!!

 On our non school days, this is what we have been practicing. And, she is awesome! We don't go around the block, but we go up and down the street about 9 times !!

And have fun the rest of the time!!!

Friends

We have so many great people in our life, who really are our family. Some old friends came to visit, and some friends moved away. So, is life, right? Here are some of our favorite pics...

Our Garden

These pics will not do it justice, but we have had a rock'n garden this summer. Carrots, pounds of tomatoes, peppers of all kinds, apples, herbs, etc. Steve is our master garden keeper and manure is his secret :)

 I had to have Emilie hold up these carrots- because they are huge!!

And come in very funny shapes and sizes :)