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.