First Day of Preschool!

Lila had her first day of preschool today and it went great! She was so excited to wear her new "school dress" and her backpack that she could hardly stand still for pictures!

When we got to school she hung up her backpack in her cubby and then went right over to the toys and started playing. After I made sure she said hi to her teacher I gave her a hug and a kiss good-bye and she went right back to the toys.

When I picked her up from school she said she'd had a great day and that school was fun. I asked her some questions about her day on video:

I'm Calling It

I'm considering it official that Cara has a first word. I've thought for a little while that Cara was saying "hi" and today she left no doubt. While we were grocery shopping she said "hi" and waved to every person we passed in the aisles!

First Day of 7th Grade

Ian started 7th grade today! He seemed excited for school this morning and when he came home he said he'd had a good day. One of his friends is in all of his classes and he has several other friends in a few of his classes as well.

With Lila starting school tomorrow (!!!!), I thought it would be fun to start something new and interview each of them when they came home on their first day. Ian humored me, so here's his interview:

Day Out With Thomas

To cap off our whirlwind last weekend before school starts we went to Day Out with Thomas today. Lila loves Thomas and was so excited to see the real Thomas today! We had tickets to ride Thomas so we did that as soon as we got there and then we walked around and did some of the other activities until everyone was tired and ready for naps.

Seeing Thomas for the first time!

Riding on Thomas

To make Thomas go we all had to yell "Let's go, Thomas!" on the count of 3. Lila LOVED it!

My only complaint about the day was the lack of Thomas photo ops. You could have your picture taken with Thomas when he was in the station but that was only for about 5 minutes every half hour so we never got a picture with Thomas. We tried to get one as he was going by while we ate lunch but Lila didn't cooperate.

They had a tent set up with coloring pages and train tables. Lila had lots of fun playing with the trains.

A Visit with Auntie, Day 2

Day 2 of Erin's visit was much more low key. She and I went into the city for a few hours to go to lunch with Katie and then shop at the magical place called Lori's.

We set up our old playroom TV in the basement so that we could play Rock Band down there instead of in the living room since it is not a quiet game. Lila LOVES Rock Band! We had introduced Erin to the game when she was here last time and she was anxious to play again as well.

The family band

Later we enjoyed a Midwestern evening of cooking out and playing Washers in the backyard. Erin had never played before, but wanted to since she saw us talk about it here on the blog. Thankfully, it was less humid last night and we all enjoyed hanging out outside.

Cara cheering everyone on



Auntie with her nieces and nephews

A Visit with Auntie, Day 1

Erin is visiting us this weekend! She flew in Thursday night and we had a fun-filled day with her yesterday. She spent lots of time hanging out with the girls reading and doing puzzles and games.


Lila and I made a new recipe for Pink Lemonade Cookies which are good if you don't mind eating a scoop of powdered lemonade mix... Here's Lila sampling the dough.

While the girls were napping Chris, Ian and Erin went mini golfing. Here's Ian being Ian. He apparently lost very, very badly but had fun anyway.

Erin wanted to go to 2 Toots for dinner so after the girls' naps we headed to the train station so Erin could have the whole experience of riding the train to the train restaurant.

Cara's first train ride!

At the restaurant with the train in the background. Not sure why Ian looks so pained... After dinner we had about 45 minutes to kill before our train back home and I discovered a fantastic store across the street from the restaurant. I will definitely be making a trip back there!

I had taken the kids to the toy store yesterday to pick out one thing each and Lila opted for an umbrella instead of a toy. Luckily for her there was a thunderstorm warning yesterday so she got to bring her new umbrella along and we even had a few sprinkles while we were waiting for the train back home.

Open House

Lila's preschool Open House was tonight. We got to drop off her school supplies, explore the room and meet some of the other kids in her class. She was very excited!

Showing off her backpack

Standing next to her cubby at school

We found out that she already knew one boy in her class because he was in Muscle Club with her and she enjoyed meeting some other kids in her class. She jumped right in and started playing with the toys in the room and didn't seem nervous at all. She said hi to her teacher who we had met last week and when we left she ran across the room to tell her good-bye.

Ian also went to his school today to walk through his schedule and get his locker set up. He did not want me to take his picture by his locker so you'll have to just imagine what it was like.

Nanarazzi

Mom took some cute pictures of the kids when she was watching them last weekend. This one pretty much sums up Cara's adoration for Lila.

And Another One

I went to another one of my friend's 30th Birthday party last weekend. This one was a surprise and it went off without a hitch!

With two of my best girls

Katie was nice enough to chauffer me around before the party and then she met up with us afterwards.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last weekend we all went down to Clinton for the weekend. My dad had gotten tickets to the Cubs vs Cardinals game in St. Louis and invited Chris and Ian to go along with Tim and Popoo. It was about 100 degrees and 100% humidity in St. Louis, but the Cubs won and everyone had a good time. Except for maybe my dad and Tim who are Cardinal fans. :)

While we were in Clinton, I was able to get together with some girls that I used to work with, and who I don't see nearly enough, on Friday night and then on Saturday we got together again, only this time with kids.

The Stats

Cara had her 9 month check up today and it went great! She weighs 16 lbs 12 oz and is 26.5 inches long which puts her in the 15th percentile for height and weight. For comparison, she weighs 8 oz less and is 1.5 inches shorter than Lila was at 9 months.

The doctor commented on how well she made eye contact and how social she was. She didn't cry at all, not even when they pricked her toe for an iron test!

Hmmm...

I went upstairs to give Cara her bottle and grab Lila's dance clothes and when I came downstairs this is what I found. Not sure what was going on, but she was OUT. In case it's possible that some of you don't know, I am very Type A and scheduled and keep the kids very scheduled, so it's very unusual for them to fall asleep at odd times. She was fine (and hyper!) the rest of the day though, so I guess it was just a fluke.

Tipping Point

Cara has reached the tipping point, now that she's nine months old, where she's been out longer than she was in! This was the best picture I could get by the monkey because she was diving for Lila or I the whole time. She's looking at Lila, not me, in this one, but at least she's smiling.

Cara has had an explosion of new skills the past few weeks! She says dada and a word that sounds like "hi" and once she looked at me and said "hi mama". She has been doing what I called floor swimming for several weeks-- it's like scooting but she kicked her legs to move-- but in the last few days she has started to really crawl. She has also started waving on command and can play "So Big!".

She hasn't started pulling all the way up yet, but she has pulled herself up on to her knees several times. And when I stand her up she can stand up for quite awhile. I got out a little music table that was Lila's the she can play with while she stands and she seems to like it.

Checking out the table.

Look at those strong legs!

An adorable, chubby back view!

Cara's 9 month check up is Thursday, so I'll update then with height and weight.

WOW!

Ian had his 13 year check up today and he is 5' 4.75" tall and 114 lbs. Bigger than me on both counts...everyone was right, it did happen! At least I know I wasn't imagining things when it seemed he was getting too tall for his jeans every few weeks. He grew FOUR inches this year which makes him 80th percentile for height and 70th percentile for weight!

Vacation Bible School

Lila had Vacation Bible School last week and loved it! It was good practice for both of us before she starts school in three weeks. She got to play games, sing songs, hear Bible stories, make crafts and play with other kids. She was very excited to go all four days.

On Thursday night, the kids put on a show to celebrate the end of VBS. The preschoolers sang three songs--two by themselves and one with all of the kids. Lila knew all of the songs and practiced them at home, but at the show... nothing. She just stood and looked around at everyone else. After the kids finished singing there was a picture slideshow with the songs as background and the little stinker sang every word of the songs sitting next to me in the pew!

Since she just stood there, this is just a short clip, but imagine her doing this for three songs and it will be like you were there.