Andy is 5!!

We kicked off Andy's birthday celebration the night before his actual birthday. Grammy and Poppop were heading out of town and Daddy had to work a double on the 19th. We went out to Grammy's and had pizza (his choice) and ate cake. Memere and Uncle Sean were there too.

He blew out all his candles in one breath.

And he got to open a few gifts. He was a happy boy!

Tonight we threw him a dinosaur party at home. Complete with dino dig! This little box was full of tiny dinosaurs that the kids got to find them!

All of our great friends and family were there (minus a few key players, who were sorely missed).

Party goers all there to celebrate Andy!

John ordered the bounce house. They called and asked if it was ok if they brought a bigger one for the same price. Does anyone say no to that?  It was a huge hit!

Next year Lydia will be much more excited about the enormous bounce house.

There's the birthday boy!!! He was hard to track down. There were at least 20 kids there. All well behaved and wonderful. My kids have great friends.

Cake time! Andy picked out the cake....can you tell?

His buddies were so excited for his cake.

Again, all in one breath.

Lots of buddies to share his cake.

You can tell it was a good party by the look on this face!

Yay!! Uncle Monster made it! He had to work but was able to get some quality time in the bounce house anyway!

I don't know what I would have done without this lady. She helped me so much with this bash.

And after 2 soccer games and birthday party where 72 hot dogs were consumed (not all by us, of course), we were still able to smile for a family picture. These don't happen that often!

So happy 5th birthday Andy Jus! Our lives our enriched every day just by knowing you and your sweet love.

Twinsies!

I found the picture of Julie (on the left) after dropping Sadie off at preschool. It was taken her first day of school, about 4 1/2 years ago! They wore the same sweater!! And I totally didn't even plan it. Look at their matching pig tails and cheesy smiles!  Julie is about 4 months older (just over 2) than Sadie in this shot.  Love my girls!!

Preschool!

Sadie had her first day of preschool today! This morning once she was dressed, I told her we would go outside and take pictures. She screamed "come on Momma!!!", grabbed my hand and ran to the exact spot that I took Julie and Andy's 1st day of school pictures.

Of course, she called them over to join in.  We were slightly less successful than the previous day. But adorable non the less.

When we got to school, she hung up her lunch box and ran to play. She turned and waved, after giving Julie and Andy huge hugs. Julie had a hard time letting her go. She didn't want to leave. She is protective of Sadie and it really showed this morning. But we had to get them to school too, and evenutally, me to work. So we left with Sadie not even noticing.

We picked her up at 4:30. She gave us all big hugs and brought us over to see what she was working on. She was playing play dough with her buddies. She had a big smile on her face. She had a great day, ate all her lunch and took a good nap on her little cot.

When it was time to go she threw a huge tantrum. She cried and stomped her feet. She said, "NO STAY!!"  I think that's about as successful a first day I could ask for.

How did my Babe become a Big so fast?!

First Day of School!

Beware, lots of photos to follow!

Today Julie started 1st grade and Andy started Kindergarten.

The kids were up early, as usual. Julie was dressed before 6:30 with her hair brushed and shoes on. She helped me get breakfast for everyone and put ice packs in lunches.

Andy was right behind her, sleeping with his back pack made his getting ready even faster this morning. By 7:15 we were outside taking pictures and we had to hold the kids back from knocking on all the neighbors doors asking if they were ready to go yet!

We killed a little time taking pictures in the front yard. Sadie even got in on the action, even though her first day of school is not until tomorrow.

New backpacks are always a highlight.

She just can't resist being a cheeseball when she sees the camera!

They can be sweet....when they want to be.....

Again, showing off their cool backpacks.

When it finally got closer to school time the neighbors started coming out and we walked to school with some great friends. We live in such an awesome community where the kids are all buddies and their parents are pretty swell as well. It almost feels like you went back in time, especially on mornings like today.

Julie was so excited to learn that she has the same teacher she had last year! All of her best buddies are in the class with her, so she barely looked at me for a picture before we were dismissed to Andy's class.

He listened so well when the teacher told them to line up. He's right in the middle, with his hood on. And he was all smiles as he waved goodbye. Sadie had a few tears, though. She didn't want to leave Andy's fun classroom!

But, she and another baby sister started their own club out on the playground, and all was well again.  This is actually a co-workers daughter who's big brother is in Andy's class. I think they are destined to be friends!

After everyone was picked up, both Julie and Andy talked non stop. They were wound up and excited and happy. Sadie kept begging for them to stop talking so she could have a turn. Andy made me promise he could go back tomorrow, so I would call day one a complete success!

Carousel

I found theses gems on John's phone. I know I already did the Gilroy Gardens post, but they are just too good not to document.

So proud of herself.

Goofball.

Total sweetness.

Sadie's First Haircut

This weekend was busy and crazy full of getting ready for school. We finished up shopping for backpacks and soccer cleats (they go hand in hand with back to school). We also cut both John and Andy's hair, so we just had to get Julie's done. When we got there, Sadie really wanted to get a trim too, Just like her big sister.  She was so excited to sit in the chair and have the robe on her.

She sat perfectly still, listened when the lady said to look at her toes. She didn't squirm when they combed through the snarls.

I only had them take about an inch off, but it was the baby fine hair and when she was done her hair looked different and much cleaner.

She was a little upset her turn was all done, but of course, the sucker afterwards made up for it.

Gilroy Gardens

Welp, school officially starts next week. Julie will be in 1st grade, Andy will be in Kindergarten and Sadie will be starting pre-school. With the start of school also comes the start of soccer season. So John and I decided we should try to get in one more little family outing before school starts and our weekends are (happily) taken up by soccer. So we headed up to Gilroy Gardens.

I know I have other postings about Gilroy Gardens but this time Sadie was able to really enjoy the rides and that was a game changer. We had so much fun.

A lot of the rides John and I were to big to go on. So the kids got to go on all by themselves. The second the gate would close, Sadie would yell, "Bye Momma! Bye Dadda!!"

Andy was the only one who had any interest in the giant snake roller coaster. So he and I enjoyed that one together. It ended up being his favorite ride.

Sadie loved driving the cars. Luckily they were attached because she is one crazy driver.

You can only imagine what kind of mess this turned out to be!

I love her and her silly picture faces. Smiling is just so boring.

Deep thoughts about a purple snow cone.

This was Sadie's favorite ride. She waved at all the parents every time she went around.

She also got a little frog push toy that she has yet to put down. You can hear the little wooden clacking all over our house!

And this marks the success of a good day! We had a blast and she didn't even make it out of the parking lot.

Back at the hotel we enjoyed the pool until way past bed time and the kids put up no fight going to sleep. It was a great little getaway before the wild start of school!