TGIF!

The kids had a great first week of school. Some kids are already sick with flu in the 5th grade and others are not adjusting well. This year I hope we are immune from illness and drama!

It has rained three times in the last three days! The kids were so excited today, we just stayed outside and played in it. I admit I cursed it when it came down during tennis on Wednesday night but we'll make up the time next clinic.

Been working feverishly on a slide show for Jacob and Sarah's school. It's a montage of photos from everyone's summer vacation set to music. It's taken me more than a week to put it together. (Insert wistful sigh for ad agency days when I could find someone to do this for me in five minutes.)

Some exciting news! My "cuz" Kim is coming here with some girlfriends next month. Can't wait to partake in the craziness (I mean, show them the Alamo).

And repeated congrats to Hans, Monica and Soren on the arrival of Frances Josephine. Awwwhhhhh.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

It's started already...

...arguing about what to wear to school with Sarah. Today's outfit was a cute pair of white denim capri pants with her pink and white striped Hello Kitty shirt. SHE wanted to wear these ultra-short white shorts that we only keep around for her to wear underneath dresses. I won this round, but come on! It's only the third day of school!

First Day of School

Here's Sarah (K) and Jacob (3rd) in the hall outside Jacob's classroom.



Sarah's class has a table in the cafeteria where they meet before school starts. We waited here with her on the first day.



Good to see some old friends! Lexie ...



... and Grace!



Here's Sarah in her seat in her actual classroom. They got to play with playdough until everyone arrived. Both Sarah and Jacob had great days! Phew!

Toga Party!

Here's Mark getting Lucas ready for his first toga party.





I should probably give a product placement shout-out to Scott Shop Rags here. It lasted about three minutes and then Lucas started ripping it, saying "Off! Off!"

Lucas is 2!

We had a waterslide party and grilled fajitas and had lots of other Mexican food. The signature cocktail was the "Woo Woo". (Julie, this makes me think of you and I can't remember why!?!) Aside from the collapsing waterslide, it was a great night. Hot, but great.

Leaning Tower of Cupcakes. I realized halfway through decorating these that I did a "1" out of cupcakes for his birthday last year. Maybe some day he'll get an actual cake. Poor baby.



I call this photo "Lucas and His Harem of Working Women." haha! Doesn't he look like he's supervising something?



Ethan and Michael being silly.



Oh, the shoes he had to choose from! Strung all over the house! Flip flops, sandals, mens, womens, kids. These were a particular favorite!



Such a big boy. So happy. We must have asked him a thousand times today how old he was and he said "two" every time!

Stressed Out!

I'm freaking out just a bit about our schedule already. Jacob will have CCD, tutoring and swimming each once a week. Sarah will have CCD, dance and swimming. Ethan will have swimming - maybe soccer - with practice one night and games on Saturdays. I have lots of PTA stuff and tennis - as many times as I can squeeze in. Hopefully Lucas will squeeze in a nap.

I'm getting extra excited for my 20 hours a week where everyone will be in school. Looks like I'll be doing all the errands and appts then because when school's out for the day, the chaos begins!

Off to go get Fudge back from his vacation home ... or rather where he stayed when we were on vacation. Have to give him back next week so it will be nice to have a few last days with him and say goodbye!

New Teachers!

Jacob will have Mrs. Putze for 3rd grade and Sarah will have Mrs. Pompa for kinder. I'm very excited by this news and can't wait for Monday!

Top 10 Pictures from NJ

There's no place like home! We just returned to SA after a week in New Jersey. We had a lot of fun and hope to get back before another five years has passed. Since it usually sucks to look at other people's vacation pictures, I've picked my top ten favorites. In no particular order...

Grandma and Grandpa Nault with the kids right before we got in the car to go back to the airport.



We visited Grounds for Sculpture near Trenton with Aunt Barbara and Cousin Jay. It was really fun until the downpour started and then it was only a little bit fun! We were prepared for the rain with raincoats and umbrellas but the grass and paths got pretty muddy. My kids must have grown drought-tolerant from all their years in Texas because they were begging to leave.



On the way home after Grounds for Sculpture, we stopped to play in the fountain at Princeton University. The kids were already wet from the rain (and suddenly didn't care so much!) so they just jumped in with their clothes. Ironically, we had dry swimsuits to change into!



Cousins, cousins, cousins! The kids had a blast getting to see many of their cousins on Mark's side. We got to see 9 of the 18 over the course of the week. This pic is from the Seaside boardwalk on the Jersey Shore with Mariah and Nick.



And we also got to meet some new friends. Mark's good friend from childhood invited us over for dinner. Their son, Brian, is Jacob's age and their daughter, Catherine, is Sarah's age. It was a wonderful evening with lots of laughs, toys, swimming and fun. Here's Catherine and Sarah.

Top 10 Pics from NJ (cont.)

We spent two days at the Jersey Shore with Mark's sister Mary and two of her five kids. This pic was taken on the bay side. The kids played on the playground, in the sand, tossed sea weeds, looked for crabs. The water was warm enough to draw the jellyfish from the ocean into the bay.



Cousin Nick questioning something Uncle Mark is saying...his expression cracks me up. He's not fooled for a minute.



Mark and Lucas on the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty with Manhattan in the background.



This officer was so impressed with Mark's positive attitude (while carrying Lucas in the backpack and Ethan on his shoulders in the 96 degree heat and still smiling) that she offered to let us into the pedestal of the Statue for free. She escorted us through security, let us keep our "confiscatable liquids" (coke and water) and saw us into the air-conditioned museum housed in the pedestal. We found her afterwards to say thanks and snapped this picture.



Jacob hula-hooping at Aunt Barbara's house during a family BBQ.

New Jersey

We are in NJ for a week. My blog posts will have to be all text since I don't know how to load pictures here. Will have to post a bunch when we get home. Flight was uneventful and so far the kids haven't broken anything! I forgot to pack any underwear for Sarah, but other than that everything's good!

Sarah's Big Change

Sarah has been wanting her hair cut short for quite awhile. We finally gave in last night. She pretended she was very shy and wouldn't speak to my stylist, Julian. Apparently he is fluent in Drama so he asked questions she could respond to with nods or hand motions. She didn't tell him to go as short as we thought but it's still a big change!

Before.



After.



The back.



We tried to go to dinner afterwards. Sarah didn't like the menu choices at Pei Wei. (Duh!). The next closest place was the Flying Saucer. It ended up being too much of a happenin' pub to go there so we found Luce. A fancy Italian place with white tablecloths and roses and beautiful ice blue organically-shaped charger plates... We shared a margherita pizza (closet thing to kid food they had) and Sarah pronounced it was her "favorite night of her whole life!"



And to top it all off ... chocolate lava cake with vanilla gelato!

New Paint Job

No, we're not done with the master bath...but why not throw another home improvement project into the mix?! In an effort to rid this house of "Builder Beige" we had Marlon come and paint the two-story foyer and up the stairs. The color is from Ralph Lauren called Haystack. Eventually, I'll continue the color through the upstairs game room, but probably not until school starts. It looks so clean and nice...I keep telling the kids not to touch the walls - as if they are still wet - in an effort to keep them scuff-free for as long as possible! And if you want Marlon's digits...just lemme know.

More proof of the shoe fetish...

Hey, I can even play soccer in these!



Let me roll over to get a better look!



Fabulous!

Watermelon, watermelon!

A favorite summer treat. Usually followed by bathtime.