9 Year of Wedded Bliss

For our anniversary this year I asked Randy to take me out on a date. I didn't want to have to think about anything. So he called a babysitter (for the first time ever...besides asking family) and arranged everything. On Saturday night he picked up the sitter and we headed to Velvet Lips, a restaurant in town. We had a martini and an appetizer (calamari, my favorite) and chatted on the floating peer outside the restaurant. Then we went to Central Coast for dance lessons (the Tango and Foxtrot). We were certainly beginners but had a great time. There were two other couples there so we got a lot of attention but also got to see couples who kind of knew what they were doing. After lessons we enjoyed a wonderful meal with salad, main course and dessert. I had shrimp scampi...and it was wonderful. After dinner we watched the other couples dance a bit and even went out and tried out what we had learned. We did a little swing dancing, fox trot, waltzing and even tried the tango. I'm sure we looked quite mechanical, but we were learning it together and having a great time. It was the perfect way to spend our anniversary. I feel so blessed to have met and married my best friend. There isn't anything in my life that has made me happier. He has helped me grow into the person I am, he supports my creative hobbies and puts up with all of my crazy personality traits. He has given me 3 wonderful children and is a great dad. There is a saying that has become quite popular lately "All because two people fell in love". I truely think that is true in my life.

Football or Soccer

Logan had a busy day on Saturday. He had his first flag football practice in the morning. Randy is helping out with his team, which Logan loves. The kids did some drills, played a few games and learned some of the rules of the game. Then they got to play a little game at the end. It was exciting to watch. Many of the kids had never played flag football before, so lots of them had no idea what was going on. Logan had a lot of fun though and actually got one of the kids flags. He also ended up being on a team with two of his 4K friends and another friend of his from school!

After football and a light lunch, we went to the soccer field for his second soccer practice. I know we're crazy...two things at once. They just overlapped and we couldn't choose which one to put him in...so we'll see how this goes. Anyway, soccer went great. Logan had a blast and scored 3 goals. He has some friends from school on his team, which is fun also.

So which will he choose to do next year...I don't know. It's so fun seeing him have fun out there with all of his friends.

Ava's in a Big Girl Bed

This has been a couple of weeks coming...On the day of Cooper's family birthday party, Ava decided it was time to try crawling out of her crib. She did it a few times that day. The last time we let her know this was not OK...in very stearn voices. So two weeks go by and she doesn't try it again, until the day of our block party. She climbed out of her crib 4 times. The last time I went into her room and found her on top of her changing table (scary). It was at this point that we decide it was time to put her into a bed. It went suprisingly well. She loves it and the first two nights she didn't get up at all. On night 3 she peaked out of her her room once or twice and went back in when we asked her to. She just loves being able to get into her bed all by herself (and out again in the morning). Naps have been a little more interesting. She's not napping quite as long as she did in the crib, but I have to say I'm pretty impressed at how well she did!

Before and After

Some people spend Labor Day Weekend relaxing and others (like us) embrace the long weekend and try to get a long overdue project done. We stained, scrubbed and stained our deck and fence. You can see by the before and after pictures that the stain really added a lot to the deck...it looks brand new. It did take a lot of sweat though. After about 8 hours of work on Saturday by both of us staining, another 4 hours of staining on Sunday and 5 hours of scrubbing of the deck on Monday and about equal that much staining we finally finished the project. Have I mentioned how much I dislike staining/painting. In any case after all the hard work we finished and we are loving the nice weather to enjoy it with!

Cheese

Ava is quite the cheesy girl when she wants to be. With all of the gorgeous weather lately we've been able to enjoy our pool a little later in the season!

Logan is Officially a Kindergartener

Logan started Kindergarten today at Barrie School (the school I teach at). So I got to wear my teacher hat, as well as, my mom hat today. He was so excited to begin his journey. Randy dropped off Cooper and Ava and met me at school, where we took Logan out to the Kindergarten playground to play before school started. Then we headed into the room with the kids (I had a to leave for 15 minutes to get my students situated). We unpacked his backpack and then Mrs. Wagie talked with the kids about what they could expect for the day. She read them a book she had made titled "People at Barrie School". Two of the people she introduced were our custodians, who help keep the building clean. Logan raised his hand and said. They should have my grandma Miller come work here because she loves to clean. Then she read another book called "The Kissing Hand". It was very sweet. After the tear-jerking story they went back to their seats to trace their hand and color it as a response to the book. The parents were graciously escorted out with a picture and a kiss and my 'little man' was officially on his own. I really can't believe where the time goes. It seems like just yesterday I was holding him in my arms or walking to the park with him in the stroller. Now he's turning into such a neat little guy. He had a blast at Kindergarten. He got to do crafts, play at the sand table, play with the turtle 'Al', chase his friends as recess (who are his friends to the end), and take a nap...which he did no problem. All in all he had a great day and can't wait to go back again tomorrow!
'

Logan can ride a two-wheeler

The night before kindergarten Logan learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. I was so proud of him. He spent about an hour riding it on September 1st...the night he learned and another 2 hours tonight. He is so excited and can't wait to ride his bike to school...I think that will wait for a while since it's a 3 mile bike ride. Yeah Logan.

Cooper is 3

We had our family over on Sunday for Cooper's 3rd birthday and had a great time. We grilled out, ate airplane cake and played with reptiles out by the pool all afternoon. Thank you to everyone for making Cooper feel so special. He had a great time and enjoyed all of his new toys!