First Day of School

Time for First Grade! Mom has realized that she is terrible at capturing pictures on landmark events in our lives. A random sunny afternoon playing in the back yard? Got it. Posing for the first day of school in the morning half-light and lens-fogging humidity? Here you go.  

We need a beautiful calligraphy sign to hold up that marks the significance of the day. Or a trademark pose that we can do each year.

Or a tool that offsets the reflection that makes us look like we are glowing in the dark.

At least we'll always have the dolphin!

I am crazy excited and not nervous at all about going back to school. My teacher is the cutest, sweetest person in the world. And this year we get to do specials, like music and PE. 

Mom is hopeful that I will love school as much as she did as a little girl. So far, I do!  

Yellow Belt

Little Man Ryan and his BFF earned their karate yellow belts in the most adorable karate ceremony of all time.

They kicked and nunchucked their way through a series of tests by the Master.

Then Ryan wowed us by breaking the real wood board with his Hammerfist strike.

He was as surprised as we were!

 

Young grasshopper was proud of his accomplishment.

We're hoping he picks up the lessons of patience, discipline, and respect along with the ability to chop a friend on the head.

Tooth Fairy Take Two

Finally. I lost another tooth! My dedicated wiggling paid off! Mom had to calm me down when I panicked over the hemorrhaging that happened when it got loose. You can see the crime scene here, on my shirt where I'm pointing. 

We texted pictures to Dad of my Nanny McPhee tooth.

To gross him out.

Look at my big girl face now!

It happened while I was home sick with a fever, missing the first day of Zoo Summer Camp.

But it was totally worth it to suprise my friends the next day and compare our toothless faces!

Batting Tee

For Ryan's 3rd birthday he got a batting tee. Since Mom declared football is completely out of the question for the sake of his brain matter, and Dad ruled out lacrosse for obvious reasons, they are trying to instill an early love of baseball.

I'm starting tennis right now, so I wasn't interested in batting practice on this day. I like to keep my skills pure. Playing outfield is fun, too. Except when Ryan fires one straight at me!

It is hilarious to watch how serious he gets.

And to hear Dad start early with keep-your-eye-on-the-ball.

Sometimes little slugger shocks us with a power hit. Dad's reactions are priceless.

I think he just flashed to visions of a future on traveling baseball teams.  

Ryan seems to love it too.

For the record, we refuse to become that obnoxious family at ball games that acts like their 10 year old needs to specialize in order to maximize his potential for pro ball. It is supposed to be fun.And, it is really fun when Ryan says "O. M. G." every time he hits the ball! 

AMI Until Next Year

There were so many great memories from our vacation. One of Mom's favorite was having her big 40th birthday. She said 40 is the new 30, and she doesn't feel "old", so it wasn't a big deal. She and Dad had a date dinner at their favorite restaurant.

They loved walking back to the house to find the babysitters snuggled up sound asleep with me and Ryan.

We were happy to simply spend time with our Boston family.

Mom was incredibly relieved at how well the week went. She still has PTSD from our spring break trip to New Hampshire when Ryan was sick, not sleeping, and evil. And she refers to AMI 2013 as Sleepless Croup Week. We've learned that the key to any "good" "vacation" with kids depends on how the week goes for the youngest of the bunch. 

First of all, Ryan can't help the fact that he is in the volatile 3-year-old phase. So it's not his fault when he spews hot molten lava rage any time he is sick, tired, or hungry. Luckily, this week nobody got sick, and everybody slept well in their cool bunk beds. It was miraculous, really. 

Ryan was an angel. All of the swimming and beach play helped him nap well during the day and sleep like a rock at night. So, we got to spend the week with sweet, funny, awesome Ryan. And, of course, I was my usual sweet, funny, loving, awesome 6-year-old self. 

This week made us hopeful that our future family vacations can all be this fun. Until then, we will keep looking at these beach pictures and cracking up.

Nobody has more fun than these people!

We love them so much!

#QuinnChristmascard2014

We love them for being silly with us,

and we can't wait to see them again!

AMI Hav'Anna Hideaway

Thanks to the bounty of Pinterest and The Dollar Store, we had crafts every day. We loved the marshmallow toothpick skyskrapers, and Christmas ornaments and frames decorated with shells. You know it's going to be a good week when your Mom packs the glue gun.

We decided to have a big birthday party to celebrate the kids since we can't be together on all of our birthdays during the year. 

We can't wait to add Baby Quinn to the family birthday list in December! Both Ryan and I hope Joy Joy and Mike have a boy, just to balance out all of this estrogen. 

My personal favorite game at the house was our Cheese Puff Toss. 

It was seriously awesome. 

You just spray shaving cream all over your head, 

And see which team can toss the most cheese puffs onto each other's head.

It only works if you can stop laughing long enough to aim the Cheese Puff!

Aunt Julie discovered a new adventure hobby that we are excited to try next year. Paddle boarding. It's officially a craze down here. It's like the 2014 version of in-line skating.

You have to have serious core strength and balance to make your way across the currents.

We're hoping Julie will take us all for a ride on the paddle board next year!