Riding the Bus

First day of kinder went great! Austin likes his teacher and was very excited about riding the bus on the 2nd day.  Mr. Raymond is the bus driver for bus #265.

When I asked Austin what he thought of it that night, he said he was scared at first, but he was sitting next to a big kid, maybe a 1st or 2nd grader he said.  That kid was playing his Nintendo DS, so Austin watched and it made him feel better:) 

Aug 23, 2010 – Austin’s 1st day of kindergarten

There were moments when I wasn’t sure we would make it to this day, then I think back and it seems as if the years have flown by.  Today was your first day of kindergarten buddy and we are so proud of you! 
We got to go and meet your teacher, Mrs. Jennifer Segura last week.  You are going to Wilderness Oak Elementary, the same school you played YMCA basketball at last winter.  Since you had been there before so you didn’t seem scared at all.  It is a huge school, over 2000 kids, but they keep the kinders very well separated.  Luckily you already knew one little boy, Clayton, from your summer blast program, and you guys became cubby buddies. 
When asking you how you feel about this all, you say you are nervous, but excited.  Grandma Chris stayed with Ella and Reese so daddy and I could both go and drop you off this morning.  You were so brave, and were playing before we could even get out the door. 
There are no words to say how much we love you and how proud we are of you.  I am sure the rest of the years will fly by too (Jeff has already calculated you will graduate in 2023 and he will be 46, which he thinks sounds old.  I think we will have a different opinion when the time comes.)  I have loved watching you grow from our first born, to your first words calling me “DOG” (instead of mom), to your first soccer and tball games, and now your first day of school.  We can’t wait to see what the year has in store!
In our hearts, it seems like this was just yesterday, April 18, 2005:
 
Now here you  are, 5 years later!

Splushies

It has been ridiculously hot lately and we have been cooling off with slushies from Sonic.  Ella however refers to them as her “splushies”  Amazingly she usually does a better job of not spilling them than her big brother.  

Sunday before kinder started and we closed out the summer with some splushies (apple for the kids) and swimming. 

Austin’s favorite current song is “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus.  He also still likes “Hey Soul Sister” by Train, but he passed that on to Ella as her song now.  It is so cute to catch him singing along when he doesn’t know you are listening.  Reese was “talking” in the car while the music was on and Ella said in the sweetest voice, “Are you singing Reesie?”

 

Reesie moves to the high chair

It was Saturday morning, our last weekend before Austin started kindergarten.  We had been feeding Reese her cereal in the bumbo, but she keeps leaning over and sticking her foot in her mouth, thus getting cereal all over her feet.

We decided it was time to break out the high chair.  She still looks small in it, but seems to love it. 

Austin making her laugh.

 

Ella coloring after a little oatmeal.

Here was Ella, Aug 11, 2008, her 1st time in the high chair.  She also looks so small.

 

Here was Austin 1st in the highchair, Aug 27, 2005.  How fast it has flown by, 5 years later and now my little boy is starting kinder.

Austin’s 1st sleepover (sort-of)

Drew Sharpstene  is Austin’s best friend.  They started Concordia at the same time together and have been two peas in a pod ever since.  The boys kept asking for a sleepover and although we thought they were probably too young, we gave it a try.  We were right, poor Drew was not ready to spend the whole night at our house, but he did have a great time coming to play till 9:30 at night. 

I am sure eventually these boys will make it through  a whole night together and have many firsts together. If you look closely you can see Drew’s band-aid over his eye.  That would be thanks to an accident and Austin getting a little too close with the Tball bat in our backyard during a dinner with both families.  It was pretty scary, but a lesson for both parents that these are definitely boys and I think we have a  long road ahead of us of bumps and bruises. 

Drew is going to another elementary school and I know both boys will have no problem making new friends, but we hope they stay close for years to come.

Reese is 5 months!

Turned 5 months and started Concordia in one week.  She is doing amazingly well.  Her teachers are Ms. Linda, Ms. Lorena, Ms. Margarita, and Ms. Maria.  She actually sleeps a little, and is taking her cereal and bottles very well. 

They say she loves walks and sitting at the table with the big kids watching them eat.  We played peek-a-boo on the airplane ride to Dallas for the first time, she just laughed and laughed.  I love this age.  She is becoming so interactive, always “talking”, loves her excersaucer.  Still needs to be swaddled, and sleeping horribly!  We have even tried to let her “cry it out”, but that resulted in an hour of her screaming from 2am to 3am.  Oh well, we will sleep again someday.

She is not a huge fan of tummy time and usually rolls her self over as soon as you put her on her stomach.

This is my favorite shot because you can see her beautiful BLUE eyes:)

I am loving looking back at Ella and Austin at the same age.  All three are starting to look more alike. This is Ella on her 5mth bday, but she looks so much like Reese.

   

I don’t know what it is with babies and feet, but they are obsessed.

More Ella 5mth shots.

 

Giving other 5mth old babies Hair Envy:

Here are Austin’s 5mth shots.  As he gets closer to kindergarten I am more and more amazed at how the time has flown by.  It is so bittersweet.  We are excited for him, but at the same time it seems like yesterday that he was Reese’s age and in our arms.

  

Reese is almost 5mths

Reese has had a great few months with Mimi and Aunt Leslie & Uncle Joel.  She is finally taking a bottle, and will even get  a few good naps in on a good day.  About to start Concordia in August.  We are so grateful that you guys loved her so much and watched her for these last few months. 
It definitely made it easier going back to work knowing she was with people who loved her!

She is still not sleeping well at night.  The best we had was an 8 hour stretch before I went back to work.  She still needs to be swaddled, but this was the first night I actually got her down for a few hours un-swaddled.

 

She is getting big so quickly and LOVES her big brother and sister!

 

I love this onesie for sentimental reasons.  When Jeff and I were in Chemistry class together in high school, before we even started dating, we sat next to each other in class.  We were joking around one day and he drew me a picture of two fish kissing.  Melts my heart to this day to see anything like it:)

 

F-A-M-I-L-Y

The Madrid side of the family all gathered at Grandma Chris’ house for her birthday.  It was an L-Y afternoon as Ella would say.  (Her favorite song is F-A-M-I-L-Y by Laurie Berkner, but she calls it L-Y).

Reesie playing with Great Grandma Jeanne.

Girls with Great Grandpa Ozzie and Great Grandma Jeanne.

This was the first time Grandma Liz had held Reese.  She has been so strong, and continues to recover!

 

Aunt Leslie has been watching Reese for part of the summer and has gotten some great auntie love:)

She is so fun to snuggle and laugh with now - baby belly laughs are the BEST!

Summer Fun

Well, movie nights continue on at the Madrid house.  The kids still aren’t really watching movies, but they are loving the popcorn treats they get to eat:)  As you can see in the picture, Ella now lays out her lovey on the pillow and lays on it.  She does this every night in her bed too.  It is so interesting to watch their eccentricities and personalities continue to develop.

 

Austin got to go to a Missions game with Grandma, Aunt Leslie, Uncle Joel and Joel’s family.  I’m not sure how much baseball he watched, but he loved the food and fireworks.  (Hmm, there seems to be a trend with yummy food:)

 

It has been ridiculously hot, so we continue to break out the kiddie pool.  They actually enjoy it for a little while.  Check out our little swimsuit model:)

 

Most of this summer is spent watching Reesie grow.  This was her mid-July, 19 weeks, trying to get in some tummy time and sister time.