Our (raw) dinner with Bryce and JR

On August 26th, my kids started their first day of school together.  Collin is in a four-day pre-school at the daycare/school he's been attending since he was 8-months old.  And Maya goes twice a week with a sweet little class of toddlers.  

First day photo, post-school - 

One of the hardest parts of school for Maya on day one was that her classroom has big windows that open to the playground, and anytime she'd see Collin but wasn't allowed to play with him was upsetting.  She loves him so!  And he, in turn, is a great big brother.  On Sunday we had dinner with some friends where the kids sat in a different room at a big kid table.  We heard him from our adult dining room asking Maya, "What does a duck say?" to let her show off her skills!

After school, Grandma Jewell Rae and Bryce came for dinner.  The boys played outside while Cas grilled, and the two girls - the matriarch of the family and the newest member - played together inside.

Then we waited, and waited, and waited for dinner.  It turns out the grill had run out of fuel and shut down, but it took us at least 45 minutes of waiting for the shish kabobs to cook to figure that out.  So we moved the raw food to the oven, and by the time we got dinner on the table, it was well past Maya's normal bedtime.  Though she was melting down for us, she gave cousin Bryce a few parting smiles and hugs before he left for medical school.

Last year before kindergarten

With just a year's worth of Mondays and Fridays with this boy before he's in kindergarten, we're enjoying everything from lazy mornings at the house to parks and splash parks to play dates and children's museum visits.  

Cuddling on the ottoman, which was surrounded by all the couch cushions for a pillow mountain climb - 

My daredevil climber -

Happy big brother -

Posing for the camera with a little leftover breakfast on her cheek -

Showing off her belly button.  Maya's great with "show me your . . . eyes, ears, mouth" or "pat your head, rub your tummy, swing your arms, wiggle your fingers."  It's how we distract her while we change her diapers.

A Monday play date that almost wasn't.  We pulled up to the Children's Museum, and I noticed a smell as soon as we parked.  Poor Maya!  I think she ate some bad yogurt . . . or just got car sick with a belly full of milk, but she had thrown up as soon as we arrived.  We played outside the museum for 40 minutes, and after she was acting normal and we were all sweating, decided to go inside.  Thankfully she was fine the rest of the day, and we got to meet up with my friends and their children.

Checking out Collin, who stayed downstairs with my mom, once we left the tot spot -

My friend Kelly had made the same adorable outfit her daughter Katelyn is wearing for Maya, but though we didn't get cute matching photos at the museum since Maya's was in the car covered in puke, we still ended up getting to spend some time together and pose for one picture before heading home.

Looking forward to gymnastics on Mondays and adventures on Fridays with my sweet kiddos in the year to come!

Maya's calm and crazy bedtime routine

Saturday night the grandparents came over for some Maya and Collin time.  While Collin finished eating dinner at his normal, snail's pace, Maya was bathed and began her bedtime routine. 

Plopping in Brownie's lap to read a book - 

Hugs and kisses from all -

She's a sweet cuddly girl, giving hugs and patting your back coupled with open mouth kisses -

Look of mischief, look of craziness when she spotted my phone within her reach -

Happy . . . but not so calm . . . girl at bedtime -

This is how Bruno feels about all this excitement.  Get the camera out of my face and open up the master bedroom so I can go to sleep on your bed.

Swim and Silly String Saturday

Friday night after Bryce and Cas played basketball outside in August, the only way to remotely cool down was to jump in the pool.  Collin didn't pass up the opportunity to jump in with the big boys.  It was his first time jumping from the top of the grotto.

Collin's brave leap.  It feels higher than it seems.  We've had the pool all summer and this weekend was the first time either Cas or I attempted to flip off it.   

The next morning, we had a few friends over to swim and play.  I grabbed the camera too late to catch Maya in the pool, but enjoying a picnic on the porch before crashing for a long post-swim nap.

 Our swimming boy - with goggles on he can make it all over the pool -

Some positive peer pressure.  Ethan and his younger brother Isaac came to swim in May.  They, along with my friend Amber's kids, were swimming all over while Collin stayed on the steps, and eventually watching them, found the courage to take the plunge.  So in August, watching the boys' delight with being lifted above their dad's head encouraged Collin to try.

Flying high with Daddy -

Our friend Bryce with Collin and Cas - 

The promise of a silly string battle was enticing enough to get the kids out of the pool -

 The two dads seemed to have as much fun - if not more - than the kids!

 Victory -

Delayed reaction -

Silly boys -

Cas hosed everyone off before lunch, but missed a tiny spot on himself - 

We had a great morning with friends, watching everyone have fun in the pool and yard!

Even Stronger than the Ninja Turtles . . . and other random iPhone photos of the summer

One of Maya's favorite activities in our house is to splash or dump things in the dogs' water bowl - from toys to baby dolls, it's an open water container at her level just asking to make a mess.  So while we normally pick up their water in the morning as soon as Maya beelines for it, we leave their empty food bowls.  On this day, even the food bowls were tempting - 

Most of the time, she is a happy, exuberant girl.  But this is what happens when we tell her no.  Drama queen!

We lay out Collin's clothes on school days, but let him wear whatever he wants on Wednesdays when he's home with Grandma Libia.  I've come home to these outfits this summer - long sleeve sweaters and striped socks, too short shirts mixed with wool dress pants.  This is why we lay out his clothes when he goes out in public!

 

Of course he has to collect some sticks before he goes swimming -

Pre-swimming swing time -

When he wakes up in the morning, she rushes to him, on this day to sit in his lap.  Sweetness!

Our climber - we can't use the lego side of the table (since she pulls herself up with the center lego hole) until she learns not to fall!

A happy weeknight - dinner with B!

When in Austin for a girls weekend, I came upon my daughter's namesake boutique -

The first Saturday in August, our church participated in a family service project where we packed bags of food - rice, vitamins, dried vegetables and soy protein - to give to families in need across the world.  Collin and I attended and he did great.  By great I mean wherever he and I were positioned in the assembly line, we were always the bottleneck, he spilled his fair share of whatever he was packing, and he took several breaks.  But we packed food bags for 1 1/2 hours and he didn't complain, he didn't quit.  I was so proud of him and look forward to more service projects in the future!

In the weekend event, Houston volunteers packed over 1.25 million meals for families across the world.

Later that Saturday, we went to Lorenzo's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party.  Collin had been into the turtles for a few weeks before the party, and my mom tracked down my brother's old turtle toys that had been passed down to my cousins and were in my uncle's office.  They were dropped off at Aunt Debbie's house, which gave us an excuse to visit Debbie, Bryce and great grandma Jewell Rae. Maya had great fun -

And Collin was DELIGHTED by the new turtle action figures!

And speaking of Ninja Turtles, last Wednesday Grandma Libia noticed that a little gecko lizard snuck in the house when the door was open.  Collin was distraught at bedtime, so Collin's prayer ended like this:

"Dear God, we pray that You would fight the lizard.  You are the One, You are the strongest, You are even stronger than the Ninja Turtles, even stronger than Superman!"