Park Fun!

Apple picking and farm fun at County Line Orchard

My baby girls are 4!

I was in a cab the other day and a song came on that perfectly captured what I have been feeling lately as you two started school and your birthday was approaching.

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
She keeps apologizin'
He says They don't bother me. 
I've got 2 babies of my own. 
One's 36, one's 23.
Huh, it's hard to believe, but ...

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These Are Some Good Times
So take a good look around 
You may not know it now 
But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna miss this
Yeah, you're gonna miss this

Time is just going by too fast!  A second ago you were my tiny babies, and now you are strong, independent, smart, beautiful, sweet little girls.  As much as I am loving every minute of our time right now, I want to hit the pause button on life.  With all of you being in school and joining activities, not to mention dad and I's full time jobs, our lives move pretty quickly.  Most days I am just making sure I am getting you everywhere on time, getting healthy food inside of you, reading some books, doing "homework" and making sure you get enough sleep to be able to do it all over the next day.  I am often too frazzled to really sit and listen as you tell me about playing "monster" on the playground with Tabatha and Grayson.  Or how one of the boys, it always seems to be one of the boys, was asked to sit in the quiet chair until he was ready to make better decisions.  Or listen to the new song you learned in Mr. Yaple's music class or the craft project you did with Miss Patty.

This year I am making a vow to enjoy the quiet moments.  The moments when Sabine jumps into my arms, wraps her arms around me and gives me a big kiss.  The moments when Lourdes asks me to carry her downstairs to breakfast in the morning because she is having a hard time waking up.  The moments when you show me your art work and insist I put it in my purse right away so that I can take it to work with me.  The moments of watching you both act out Frozen and dance to Let it Go.  When you both are on my lap, under a blanket, watching our Friday movie.  The nights we have some extra time and fit in a game of Sneaky, Snacky, Squirrel before bed.  When you are both sleeping in our bed and I wake up and roll over and fall asleep cuddling you.  The nights I came home from work and you both scream at the top of your lungs, "Mommy's home" and proceed to tell me something funny that happened at school or that you did with Rosa.  Marvel at how, uncoaxed, you both decide to count to 100 while you all are in the bath.  Appreciate Sabine's ability to write her and Lourdes' name, without assistance, or how Lourdes has started to sound-out 3 letter words.  Because I know that not too long from now, I'll be sitting in our house thinking of all these moments with tears in my eyes while you are off to college.  And I will most definitely want this back.  I love you both so much and I'm going to cherish what time I have left where I am your whole world before you take flight and become the amazing women that I know you are destined to be.  Happy 4th Birthday, sweet babies!

Frozen Fiesta

The girls had their best birthday yet!  It started out in the morning with a trip to Rock Candy Salon for nails and hair.  Mom and Gigi even had the opportunity to get their toes done.  Bonus!  The girls absolutely loved getting dolled up!

Those are happy girls!

Perfect Elsa braids.  I would have NEVER been able to do that.

After a short break, we were dressed and ready for the party.

Bubbles Academy knows how to throw a party.  The place looked amazing!

Princess Lauren, a good friend of Elsa and Anna's, led the activities.

First on the agenda was a craft to make either an Elsa crown or Sven antlers.

Then it was off to the big play space for a Frozen themed adventure.  We had about 18 friends join us, and it was obvious that everyone had a great time!

Then Princess Lauren led us in Happy Birthday before we got to enjoy the cake.

The girls gave it a big thumbs up!

First Day of Swim and New Dance Class

Finn started swim lessons when he turned 4.  So, with the girls impending birthdays, they joined Finn at Foss for the fall session.  They absolutely love it.  No fear of the water to conquer with these two!

And we also decided to make the move to a new dance school.  We are loving Gus Giordano Dance School so far.

First Day of School!

This school year brought a big change for our family ... all three kids would be going to full day school!  Leading up to this day was very emotional for me.  I teared up multiple times imagining sending my little girls off all day.  Especially because Sabine hadn't been thrilled about camp and a few days I had to leave her off while she was crying and running after me.  So my heart was breaking thinking about how I was going to handle a year of tearful drop offs.  To try to avoid this, I wanted to make the big day as special as possible.  The Friday before, I took the kids to my salon for hair cuts.  It was only Sabine's second or third cut ever, and she adores salons, so she was in heaven.

They clean up well!

The Tuesday after Labor Day was the big day!  The girls had first day of school dresses, while Finn was in his gym uniform.  This was old hat for Finn and he was so ready to start his 1st grade adventures.

The girls seemed so little against those big doors, but they bravely went into school and never looked back.  Even Sabine, who I was so sure would have some adjustment issues, hung her Frozen book bag up and was excited for preschool.  I hate that they are growing up so fast.  But I love that they are getting to experience so many fun things.  My only wish for them is that they love school and learning as much as their big bro.

Labor Day 2014

Even though we had only gotten back from Hatteras a few weeks earlier, I wanted to plan a little Labor Day getaway.  Having heard rave reviews of Lake Geneva, I decided we should check it out and booked us a room for two nights at the Grand Geneva which included water park passes.  Well, Joe's deal that was supposed to close the week before fell through and he was forced to work the weekend.  So, thankfully, Grandma was free and up for coming along.  And we really did have lots of fun.  As soon as we got to the Grand Geneva, the kids were ready to try out the water park.  Much to Grandma's chagrin who would have preferred to stay in the room and watch the opening Notre Dame football game.  Turns out it was a pretty good water park with lots of slides, a lazy river and both indoor and outdoor pools.  We spent at least 3 hours there both Saturday and Sunday.  While grandma can't swim, she could help me keep track of the crazies who were running in three different directions at times.  We also caught a magic show on Saturday night, which the kids loved.  And Sunday we took a boat tour of Lake Geneva.  It was awesome.  Grandma and I loved that the captain told us all about who owned the amazing homes around the lake and how much they cost.  The kids loved that a sophomore in high school had to jump from the boat, deliver the paper on the docks, and then jump back on the boat all while the boat was still moving.  However, the kids favorite part of the trip was on Sunday night when I decided that none of us were really all that hungry for dinner after a late-ish lunch, and so we made a trip to the ice cream shop our dinner.  All in all, a very nice sayonara to summer.  Next time, we must bring daddy too.

Pretty view of Lake Geneva.

Couldn't really take pictures at the water park, as I had my hands full.  But here are a few of the pool in the Grand Geneva where we played on Monday morning before check out.

 Double grandparent fun!  Papa and Gigi came out Monday afternoon to stay with us for a night before catching a train out west for their vacation.  What a great weekend!