September 2015

Social Committee hosted Concert in the Park for the whole community.

Went to brunch with my favorite people to celebrate the two new babies that are on the way.

Beating the heat!  We hit up the beach for the evening.

Started off the Halloween Season the best way we know how.  Mickey's Halloween Party with Lennon.  The kids had a blast.

They were both mesmerized by the Paint the Night Parade.

We were all able to get together and celebrate Matt's 35th Birthday.  So rare when this happens.

Skylar had a special play date at Legoland with her friend Sydney from school.  Girls have become  such sweet friends.

Madden's First Day of 3 Year Old Preschool

The best thing we did this summer was put Madden's into summer camp at Redeemer to make him familiar with preschool.  He did great all summer and begged to go everyday. So when he had his first day of preschool last week I wasn't worried about him one bit.  I knew how excited he was for it, he just didn't feel the same about his preschool 3 pancake.

Madden is very much against taking pictures so I was having some major anxiety for his first day of school picture.  His one request was that only he and Mama be out there and that he only had to take three pictures.  I was so relieved I was able to get the shots that I did.  He looked so adorable that morning.

Lucky for Madden he had two recent preschool grads to escort him on his first day.  To my surprise Madden didn't get the same preschool teachers that Skylar did. He actually was assigned to Room 2 with Ms. Tanya and Ms. Marian.  

With  Madden already knowing the ropes, he was the first kid in his classroom.  He ran from the gate, right to Room 2 and into the arms of Ms. Marian for the biggest welcome hug ever.  He found his cubby immediately, put his backpack in, the girls helped him grab his name and he was off to play with a toy.  I got the quickest good-bye kiss ever from him and it was right back to playing. 

When I went back to pick him up he didn't have the happiest look on his face.  First he was upset that he had spilled his snack, guacamole all over his handsome shirt (he was calling it his handsome shirt because I kept telling him how handsome he looked).  He said he kept raising his hand for more because it was so good.  Secondly because he didn't get to eat lunch at school that day.  All very minor complaints, because he was asking the next morning if he got to go to Room 2 today.  

If you would of asked him six months ago if I thought Madden was going to be such an easy preschooler I would of said not a chance.  He was still was having some anger issues, he needed work on his speech and just the thought of him being on his "own" was just crazy to me, but he has proven me wrong.  He has grown so much in so many aspects the past six months that I don't have a single worry about him.  I just know he is going to make such an excellent preschooler that I can't wait for this awesome experience he is about to have.

Skylar's First Day of Kindergarten

And in a blink of an eye we have a Kindergartner!  Skylar is attending Poinsettia Elementary School.  All summer we have been explaining what Kindergarten is and would point out her new school whenever we drove past it.  The day before school was to start we had the meet and greet when Skylar would find out which class she would be in.  When we found Skylar's class and were about to walk in I could feel her nerves.  She was gripping my hand very tight just as we were about to walked through the doors.  Luckily within seconds she spotted a familiar face, her friend Sofia from the neighborhood and her preschool and all was good.  She immediately let go of my arm and was playing and smiling.  After that I knew the first day was going to be a breeze.

Skylar got her traditional First Day of School pancake.  K for Kindergarten.

I couldn't get over how cute and grown up she looked.

Skylar is a late owl for kindergarten which means she doesn't start until 9:40 AM, while the other half of the class, the Early Birds start at 8:00 AM.  She didn't show much nerves while we waited for the doors to open.

Skylar and her friend from her preschool class, Madeline.  Sadly the girls didn't get the same teacher, but they are both Late Owls together so they get playground time together.

The early birds were sitting on the carpet while Skylar and the rest of the late owls walked into the room.  We had to be quiet so I really wasn't able to say much or get a kiss good-bye.  We just hung up her backpack, she sat down on the carpet to join the rest of the class, and I walked out.  No time to get teary eyed for me.

 Skylar's teachers are Mrs. Valenty and Mrs. Brisebois who job share.

I was so excited to pick her up and hear all about her first day.  Like a typical 5 year old, she didn't give us much information, but she told us she colored a couple pictures of herself....

and that she wanted to go back tomorrow, which was music to my ears!  I think it's going to be a great year for her.

August 2015

We took the kids bowling for the first time.  They couldn't get enough of it.

Swim Sisters!

Madden loving his summer camp days.

Poor Bubs got hit with the stomach flu.  Took him out for two days and then got Skylar. That was a rough weekend for us.

Enjoyed another sunset dinner and swim.

After the movie Straight Outta Compton came out, everyone was doing their own Straight Outta pictures.

Skylar has really progressed on her bike riding.  She is getting so close.

Cabo 2015

 Sun and Fun!  That is how we wanted to end summer so we decided to book a trip to Cabo before summer came to an end and the craziness of school begins.

CAB-OOOOO here we come!!!

Each day of our trip was spend the same way.  Swimming all day, dinner, and some cruising around the resorts until 9:30 bed time.  We were always by the pool bright and early.  

The best part of the pool was the huge pirate ship in the middle of it.  The kids would swim around the pirate ship all day long.  We would put on pretend treasure hunts and adventures for them, which they just loved!

Madden was a little fish the whole trip.  We just need to work on using two arms.

The sister resort had a whale water slide that the kids saw on the first night we were there.  They begged to ride it, but the pool there wasn't as good as our resorts so Jake and I tried to get them to forget about it.  After a full day of begging for the water slide we took them over to the resort to ride it.  They both took turns riding it with Jake and got really scared how fast it went after just one ride and demanded we go back to our pool.  We didn't hear one more thing about the water slide until we were on our way to the airport and we asked Skylar and Madden their favorite part of the trip.  To which Madden proclaimed the water slide!!  I don't get that kid sometimes.  

Cannonball!  Madden was shouting cannonball all trip.

 The beautiful blue, warm ocean water is what I was the most excited about.  I could of been in the ocean for hours.  Even though the water was deemed swimable, it was still way too rough for the kids so we were only able to go down for short periods of time because they preferred the pool.  We would take turns during nap time to take dips in the ocean and Jake even fit in some paddle boarding.

With all the swimming and sun the kids would pass out every day in their lounge chairs for afternoon naps by the pool.  When they would wake up it was either smoothie or ice cream time.  I was addicted to the Bob Marley's.  

After being in the pool since 9:00 AM we would end our pool days around 4:00 PM to get some down time before heading to dinner. The hotel has a trolley that takes you to and from the two other sister resorts.  We would take the trolley a ton during our trip.  Madden absolutely loved riding it.  

We ate most of our dinners at the hotel buffet.  It wasn't a typical meal if Madden didn't have 4-5 plates in front of him.  

Every evening a theme dance show was put on.

Skylar loved watching the shows each evening!

 Skylar when asked what her favorite part of the trip was she simply said "Just spending time with my family."