Happy Birthday Matt and Danny!!!

Today Matt celebrated his 6th birthday (even though it's really Monday) and Danny celebrated turning 5, (which was yesterday). We had a big party at Check E. Cheese's and it was crazy, but waaaay fun. Here are a few snapshots to sort of commemorate the big day!!

Here are Matt and Danny blowing at candles on their cake!!

Here is Matt and me pre-party, ready for the event!!

Here's Danny with his super good friend, Ashley (showing pepperoni in his mouth).

We got oodles of tickets!!

And the boys each got a cool inflatable crown!!

And here they are with Chuck E Cheese

(I don't think Danny wanted his picture taken *laughs*)

They had the best time with their school friends and enjoyed the playtime with their buddies almost as much as the very cool presents that they spent the rest of the day (and most likely weeks and months to come) playing with!! Feliz Cumpleanos, mis ninos!!

Ikenberry Apple Orchard: Our First Field Trip!

My Little Gal Pals

My girls have really been a world of fun for me lately. This morning Shelley woke me up at 5:45 :( and I didn't want the rest of the family woken so early, so I snuck both dogs out into the garage to get them breakfast. Away they flew, jumping on each other and pouncing, running super-fast in circles around the garage! Hilarious! I mean if you have to be up that early on a Sunday, then this was the way to do it!!

Mocha steals away most of the time to her bat-cave, AKA our closet. Shelley follows me around endlessly through the house, and I've even tripped over her as she eagerly got under my feet in the kitchen! They are so different, and so compatible. I love, love, love these girls!

Danny in Preschool!

Danny has the sweetest preschool teacher, Mrs. Lintner. She emailed these pictures of Danny from the first two days of school. Can you just see how much this boy is loving preschool??? I'm really happy for him -- just really thankful that he's glad to be there and is really thriving in his own social circle. :)

Here's Danny with his show and tell item: a magnifying glass.

Danny was SO EXCITED that preschool has playdough too!!

They made little people necklaces out of pipe cleaners. I don't know if this is supposed to mean something or what, but this boy LOVES his necklace!!

First Day of School!!

*teary me*

Today was the boys' first day of school. I'm still waiting to get them to see how it all went, but Matt was CRAAAAZY excited about it. He spent all morning rushing around, rushing ME around, doing every task at hyper-speed. It was pretty cute. Here's Matt posing for a first-day-of-school picture!

This is genuine happiness right here! Talk about READY!
And we can't forget Danny because it was his first day of starting preshool -- something completely new for him. He was actually a bit scared, but don't tell him I told you. ;) Don't you like their sporty new shirts for school? They did!
Then the boys decided that we definitely needed first-day pictures with Shelley. They love her in a wild-wanna-touch-every-second kind of way. :) Didn't she do a good job of posing though? She likes the camera, I think.



Here's Matt taking off with Mrs. Spangler, assistant principal! It was all waaay to fast. He was out the door and in the building before I knew it. I did get a kiss before he hopped out of the car, but it was all too fast for me. :(
Then here's Danny popping his bookbag on his little blue-bird hook with his name. :)
And here he is with his teacher and in his classroom. He actually ran back to hug and kiss me three times, but it still felt too fast. *sigh* I hope they both had a good day!!

Our First Gotcha Day!!

We will have been a family together for one year on Monday. Can you believe it? One year. It has been a wild, wild ride. And now our lives are about to change again as Matt starts kindergarten at West Salem, and Danny starts preschool at First United Methodist Church.

We wanted to celebrate our Gotcha Day just doing fun things as a family. We left the house a little before 9am to head to our first Putt Putt experience. It was an adventure. Mateo was all about learning the game and trying to follow the rules. I was awesome at knocking in a couple of holes in two! No holes in one, but loads of fun. Danny, we weren't surprised (despite not realizing it ahead of time) wasn't ready for following the rules and waiting for turns. He still has a bit of maturing to go, but he did say he had a good time this evening before bed. . .

Here we are at the putt putt. :)

Look at this lovey hubby of mine. Doesn't he look like a real golfer?

Victory!! The ball went in the hole!!

We did use 8 tokens to race cars (quickly remembering Matt's obsession with all things related to video games).

And we played one game of air hockey. :) Danny just liked getting the new puck out of the slot, after Mateo knocked it in his slot.

Then we ate lunch at McDonalds -- %100 not there for the food, but for the park!! They had a BLAST running around with the other kids, and I laughed and laughed enjoying all the children playing together.

I really tried to get a picture. See how fast he was moving????

And here's Matt climbing and hanging off the poles, until we saw the sign telling us now to climb on the outside of the structure. :(

Then after naptime, chores, and games with the dogs, we went to a Red Sox game!! It's this the best picture??

On the way home, Danny said, "Today was a good day, right Mommy? We played that game, and we went to Old Mac Donalds' and eat the candy (cotton candy). Right Mommy? It was a good day."

Precious.