Daniel the dancer

Daniel is THRILLED to have the girls back in school. Thrilled. He loves having the time with just Mommy where he gets to decide what to play, what to watch, where to eat. He's definitely a little spoiled, or so his sisters say. But here is his reaction on the first day the girls went to school.....He came home and wanted me to play these songs on my phone and he just let loose dancing :)

Back to School 2011

On Wednesday our darling girls started back to school. What an amazing summer we had. Trips to St. Louis and Florida, the pool with friends every Wednesday, and lots and lots of quiet afternoons at home, reading books and playing board games. It was sure fun while it lasted.

But we were all ready for the new school year and all of the excitement that it brings. Just as I've discovered since leaving Florida that I LOVE the seasons, I love the seasons of life as well. I can cherish and enjoy having all of my babies home all day, knowing that soon the hustle and bustle will begin. And just as I'm about to keel over from exhaustion, it's Thanksgiving break...seasons are a beautiful thing!

We have lots of changes this year. For one, Lexi and Lainey are in the same class for first grade. After much debate, we felt this was the best situation for them this year. Besides the long list of academic and psychological factors, it really just came down to the fact that they are best friends and want to be together. I can't argue with that at this point in their school career. What kid doesn't want to be in class with her best friend?!

Changes for Emily include that in 3rd grade they change classes. So her homeroom teacher teaches her math and science, then after lunch they swap with the other 3rd grade class and her class learns language arts and social studies. Each teacher is really well suited for the subjects she is teaching, and Emily has really clicked with both of them. I'm very hopeful that it's going to be a GREAT year for all 3 girls.

Without further ado, here are our first day of school pictures :)

Twinnies on the first day of first grade





First day of 3rd grade


1st day of 1st grade





Emily with her homeroom teacher


Lexi and Lainey


Emily in her classroom





Lainey in her classroom





Lainey and Lexi with their first grade teacher

Family Pictures

Since we haven't had family pictures taken in a while, we decided to head to Portrait Innovations one day this week. Of course my kids love having their pictures taken, so it was an easy morning :)

Take me out to the ball game....

Thanks to a recent Living Social deal we had, we took the kids to their first baseball game this past week. We thought they would only care about the food, but they actually REALLY enjoyed the game and made us stay till the very end! I couldn't believe it!! We stayed till 10:20pm and they loved every minute of it! I was worried that it would be too hot to enjoy, since it had been 100 degrees that day, but thanks to some clouds it was actually really nice weather! It even sprinkled a few times and cooled us off!






Daniel and Lexi were REALLY focused on catching a foul ball....that never happened.





Emily caught a shirt that the mascot launched!


Daniel did love the giant Sprite :)


It was also $1 hot dog night--can't beat that!











Starting to get upset about not catching a ball....








The girls with Homer

Florida Trip, Part 3

Another highlight of the trip for me was getting to spend 2 days with my best friend from childhood, Angie, and her 4 kids. It was amazing to sit back with her and watch our collective 8 kids, ages 1 to 8, playing like they've known each other all their lives. They only see each other about once a year, or every 2 years, but I love that they even know each other. Angie has been my dearest friend, literally from the time I was 2 weeks old, and I always love picking up where we left off when we visit Florida. On the first day, we went to Dubois Park together, then the 2nd day we went to her house and swam.

Chloe and Emily


Emily and Chloe jumping in





The kids all planning a game








Emily and Chloe