First Day of School- 2009

The first day of school was last week on Wednesday, August 5. The morning went more smoothly than I imagined. Ron had to go in early that morning which left me to get them ready and try to get pictures and get to two different schools on time. I had prepared that it would be a disaster....however, the kiddos were so excited about going to school and they were angels! They even cooperated during the photo shoot and it only took 5 minutes rather than the 15 or 20 I imagined in my mind it would take. Here they are together: Here is Anna, a 2nd grader:
Luke is headed to preschool this year. He is going to Hendersonville Bible Kindergarten (HBK). He is in the 4 year old class and he goes everyday for half the day...
Here is Luke headed inside:
Luke standing outside his room: (can you tell he is excited?)
So far, Anna loves her class and teacher and has gone right back into her routine. Luke is making adjustments. His new class is quite different than what he was use to. He is learning to sit in his assigned seat and he is learning he can't just get up and go play when he feels like it. I'm so excited that he is making lots of new friends and the teacher is so excited to have him in her class.

Mother's Day Tea

Anna's class invited all the moms to school for a Mother's Day Tea last week. It was so thoughtful of the teachers to do. The children made us lots of presents and they worked really hard on their program. They each took turns reading parts of a poem and then they each read what they had written down about their mom.
Here is the beautiful table that they decorated:
We took the some extra time for an outdoor photo shoot since Anna was dressed up. She loves it when she has an opportunity to wear a dress.
Hopefully, I'll get some new pics of me and Luke soon....right now he is hard to catch!

Luke's Birthday

Hard to believe that our youngest turned 4 last Friday! We celebrated with a backyard cookout with a few close friends. He insisted on a Mario party (even though mommy tried to convince him to do something else because the Mario stuff was difficult to find). The kiddos played on the jeep and took turns swinging and playing t-ball. They all played so well together!! Here are a few pics I took:
the cake:

the pinata:
the kiddos:
fun on the jeep:
Luke is obsessed with Mario thanks to our Wii and Anna's Nintendo DS. However, we think it is adorable and allow him to play his favorite game Mario Party 8 in moderation. He has such a good nature about it...when he's not playing the real thing, he uses his little figures and just plays pretend Mario. (note: he is holding little yoshi in the jeep picture).

Paint Patrol

Here is Anna's basketball team (The Flames) at a Belmont game. Ron organized an opportunity for them to work as the Paint Patrol. What does that entail? Wiping up sweat! The girls thought it was great and they had a lot of fun together. Here is Anna taking her turn wiping up the floor:
Here are some of the girls with the Belmont mascot:
Luke was there too! He mostly enjoyed the popcorn and was ready to go by half-time.
Go BRUINS!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

It is hard to believe our baby girl is 7. On Tuesday we celebrated with close friends that have become like family with dinner and an ice cream cake. Friday we plan to celebrate again with her school friends at the "jumpy place". She is so big, I feel like she is already a teenager. She has let us know that she has now outgrown Disney princesses and her new favorite thing is Camp Rock and her nintendo DS. WOW! Where did the time go?

Our Little All-Star

Anna decided to play softball this fall rather than soccer. She has decided to try all the sports before deciding which one she wants to stick with. She has played soccer for 2 seasons, danced for 6 months, took swimming year round for 3 years and this winter we will be trying basketball.
Yes, she is a busy girl. Anyway, the softball season is going well and she has learned a lot. It is coach pitch/tee ball which basically means they get to attempt to hit off the coach and if unsuccessful they hit it off the tee. She typically has been playing pitcher (which is why she is wearing a batting helmet in the field):

She is getting the hang of batting. Just yesterday, all the girls hit off the coach and we only had to use the tee one time in the entire game!
Each team bats 10 batters (it doesn't matter how many outs you get or don't get) and when you hit you can only take one base. Here is Anna getting ready on second base:
I played softball all my life so of course I have really enjoyed practicing/teaching her the sport. Luke has gotten in on the play time too and is acting like he might be a lefty. Here he is running the bases after the game:
I'm already looking forward to spring ball...

Disney on Ice

The kids had a blast going to "daddy's old work" for Disney on Ice. This was Luke's first time because in the past he was either too small or it was a "girl" show.
Here is Luke's face when he saw Lightening Mcqeeen:
At intermission we treated them to some popcorn. We couldn't bring ourselves to drop $10 on cotton candy, though.(Even if it came with a fairy hat)
The show was great and Luke's favorite part was the seeing "Cars and Mickey". Anna like it all and couldn't decide on a favorite. I really like the Lion King part. The music is just awesome and the costumes always amaze me. I'm just glad Ron was with us rather than us meeting him there because he was working the show. :)

A Walk Through Nature- The Musical

I know these are hard to see but the room was kind of dark and we were up in the bleachers.
These are some pictures from Anna's first school program. The first graders worked hard every day learning their parts. They sang several songs together as a group and then each class stepped down to the microphone and recited their poem. Anna's class was entitled "Rain". This program was so cute and they had so much fun performing it for us at the PTO meeting. The music teacher did an awesome job.

Here is Anna's class taking a bow:
I tried to post a video clip but for some reason it wouldn't load. Oh well, you get the idea. Mommy and Daddy were so proud and even Luke enjoyed it. He has been running around the house singing about crickets and bees!

Back to School

Anna started 1st grade today. The morning went smoothly. Last night she said she was a little nervous but this morning she was up out of bed and really excited. Of course mom had to have some pictures before we left the house. Look at how much she has grown in just 1 year.

Our California Adventure

Ok guys this is going to be a long post with lots of pics from our vacation/business trip to Anaheim California. Ron had a conference to attend (the IAAM- International Association of Assembly Managers) in Anaheim, California and asked me to tag along. Since I had never been out west I was pumped! We drove to Georgia and dropped the kids off with Mima and Tia Anita and then flew out of Atlanta. That's right this was a kid free trip. :) We stayed at the Hilton right next to the convention center:



After checking in to the hotel, we jumped in the rental car and headed to Newport Beach. There, we had some great seafood sitting outside looking out at the marina. This was just awesome. Thanks to Beth for the tip on the great restaurant.

The next day we took an Amtrak train to San Diego for the day. We went to ComicCon- the largest comic book convention in the world. This was way cool and very entertaining. We got to see lots of people dressed up in their favorite characters, a few famous guys...Lou Ferigno from the Hulk and of course my favorite by far Jack Bauer, oh I mean Kiefer Sutherland, and buy some cool stuff. At the convention, we went to a 24 panel where the director, writers, Jack and Tony Almata answered questions from the audience. This was my favorite thing we did the whole time. (Disneyland was a close second). We also got to see the trailer for season 7 and a sneek peek at an episode....looks like it's going to be as intense as ever.
Here is a shot of downtown San Diego:


After the conference we headed down to the bay for some dinner and I took a few shots of the view:

The next day, Ron had to attend classes so I hung out at the pool until it was time to get dressed up for the opening reception.

Day 3...Disneyland. What can I say? We had an absolute blast!

We got an early start so we were able to finish up in Disneyland by lunch and we headed over to California Adventures. I was scared to death on the Tower of Terror and the roller coaster was great except it shoots you 0 to 60 in 3 seconds and well... that just made me feel sick. I felt better 30 minutes later and we off again to have more fun. (didn't ride the ferris wheel just took pictures of it)



After a long day at Disney, we slept in a bit and Ron had a 12:00 tee time at this amazing golf course:


Meanwhile, I headed out to sight see and shop! :) Here are some pics of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Ca. The pictures don't do it justice...it was a really amazing place to visit.

The last day there, Ron had classes in the morning so I headed out to see Huntington Beach:

On the way back to the hotel, I was sitting at a red light and started to feel my car shake. I looked around to see if someone was shaking my car... no. That would be the 5.4 earthquake. Our California adventure was complete! Ron was on the 4th floor of the hotel and said it was very freaky to feel the building move feet side to side but also feel the up and down shake at the same time.
After the excitement died down, we hopped in the rental and headed to LA. We went to Hollywood Blvd. and took in the tourist sites(Mann's Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater, the stars walk of fame and of course the Hollywood sign). Then, we took in a Dodgers game.




Man, what an awesome trip! The weather there was incredible (high of 75 breezy and 0 humidity) but we missed out kiddos and were ready to come home!