The last link

Tonight Owen tore his last link apart, which means he starts preschool tomorrow! He is beyond excited. I'll let you know how it goes.

Glad we packed sweatshirts!

I asked Adam Thursday evening if he wanted to take the kids to Six Flags for a surprise trip on Saturday. We checked the weather, and with a forecasted high of 82, we bought tickets online Friday night. It had been a long week: the first full week of kindergarten for Lauren, Owen's last week of summer vacation, and a busy week for Adam and I. After a nine hour notary class on Thursday, I was ready for a break!

We decided to bring one of our smaller strollers, to tuck sweatshirts into (you know, for the cool breeze that was bound to pop up that evening) and smuggle snacks in (apple slices and pretzels, for sustenance from overpriced fried food).

Well, it ended up being HOT. With a capital H. and O. and T. Too damn hot. I checked online when we got home and it said 94, but I'm certain it was around 112. We finally sold our double stroller a couple weeks ago, it was one of my last "baby" holdouts. So of course the kids fought over the single one all day long. At one point I almost kicked them both out so I could use it. One good thing, the heat did put some color in my cheeks!

BUT! We had fun. We managed to find shady seats for the killer whale show and the tiger show. And in between, we rode the rides and enjoyed the sights, such as the butterfly exhibit. Lauren boycotted the roller coaster, which surprised me, but Adam and Owen went on it. We were exhausted by the end of the day, and so thankful for the air conditioner on the way home.

Enjoy the slideshow!

Not to be left out of the blog news this week

Owen put this puzzle together this afternoon by himself. Can you tell how proud he was?

Our much anticipated morning...

Today was Lauren's first day of kindergarten, and she had a great experience. No tears from any of us! In the true fashion of my maiden name, we were the first ones to arrive at the classroom. We got in a few pictures while we waited for everyone and then made our way into her classroom. The kids were able to pick out whatever seat they wanted and they got to pick a few coloring pages and a brand spanking new box of crayons. They parents mingled for about 15 minutes and slowly started trickling out. When I bent down to give Lauren a kiss goodbye she got a little nervous, but I told her I'd be back in a few short hours to pick her up, this time with Noni in tow. Luckily, last week, we'd gotten together with a couple of other girls that are in her class, so that they'd all have familiar faces this morning.

A couple of weeks ago her teacher had mailed her a letter with a picture of a gingerbread man and a note saying that on the first day of school she'd read a story about him and have a special treat waiting. What a way to break the ice! Both kids have been talking about this ever since that letter came. So today, they read the story and then were told that the gingerbread man had run away. They went on a school-wide hunt for him, which was just a sly way of introducing the new kindergartners to every class. They even got to go meet the principal and get a tour of the office. Eventually they found the gingerbread man hiding in the teacher's lounge on the fridge, and everyone got a popsicle and a gingerbread cookie. If that's not a way to reel them in, I don't know what is!

Mama and her girlie

Daddy and his crazy kids

She didn't want her sweatshirt when we left the house, but it was a little chilly.

Friends reunited, helping to make the transition easier.

Looking forward to this school year!

More to follow

Ready or not...

A few weeks ago Lauren and I sat down one afternoon while Owen was napping and made a paper chain to countdown the days until kindergarten started. Every night before bed she'd tear off a link and see how many days were left. We forgot to tear one off last night, so firs thing this morning I reminded her to do it. When she tore off the #2, she looked at the #1 for a few seconds, letting it sink in. Then she turned to me and said, "Can't we add a few more back on?"

PB&J, how we love thee, let me count the ways.

Oh, wait, only one acceptable way? Per kid? One wants it with Great Grandma's homemade apricot jam, cut into triangles. The other, grape jelly in squares. Lord help the poor soul who gets that mixed up. At least they've never noticed their friends don't like to eat the bread crusts. We tell them that's where all the vitamins are!

Guess who?

The kids love making pretend mustaches out of anything and everything. They laugh hysterically at each other when one of them comes up with a good example. This was Lauren's latest masterpiece this morning.

Here's a picture of Lauren and Uncle Corky from our beach trip last month. He's their mustache inspiration!

Still here!

No, we haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, we've just been busy. Nothing in particular, just enjoying the last few weeks of summer.

Spent some time at the park today with our favorite foursome of three year olds. Here's Owen making sure the ladies don't hog all the snack.

Ally and Owen racing. Didn't wear them out enough for a nap, though!