1st week of 1st grade done!

It was a week of firsts for Austin and Ella.  Austin finished his 1st week of 1st grade with Ms. Armstrong and Ella moved up to the official Pre-K room, Ms. Nancy.  To say she was excited would be an understatement.  Ella views this room as the BIG girl room and was ecstatic to go.  She was also reunited with Ella Perkins.  I always ask the kids who they played with during the day.  On Thursday she answered, “Ella Perkins.”  I asked if she played with anyone else and she said, “Ella Perkins is my best friend.  I only play with her!”  I know this isn’t actually true, but it is great to see these two together.  Although they are missing Addie Brown, we know she is doing awesome in her own new class.  The other thing Ella proclaimed this week was “Ella has the same name as me, we are both Ella.”  Simple I know, but it was the first time it registered with her that yes, they have the same name, and what that means.  I love watching the kids grow, learn, and understand.

Ella wasn’t as happy about her taking new school pictures, but she obliged for me.

 

What better way to celebrate in San Antonio than with Mexican food.  We are making it an annual tradition as we also went here after the first week of kinder.

Dr. Pepper (a rare treat) for Austin and margaritas for the grown-ups.

We had a great time catching up with Aunt Leslie, Uncle Joel, Grandpa Al and Grandma Liz.

Ella made a dash for Aunt Leslie’s purse.

The rest of the weekend was spent trying not to melt.  My car actually said 110 degrees.  This cutie pie said her first three word phrase, “No, MY babeee!”

But, she said it with a smile:)

Austin starts 1st grade

No more kinder, 1st grade here he comes!  We met his teacher Ms. Armstrong last week.  Rule of parenting #109- don’t take the 3 year old and 17 month old with you to Meet the Teacher night, it was a disaster. 

C'est la vie.  Anyway, there were none of the kids from his kinder class for the new year, but he didn’t seem too bothered.  Jeff took him to school for the first day instead of the bus and said he was a little hesitant walking in, but was brave and did just fine.

Off he goes!

When I picked him up, he came running up and gave me a big hug.  (He isn’t yet embarrassed of me in front of his friends, I am savoring this.)  He first told me that he wanted to cry when daddy left, but he was brave and he didn’t.  He then told me he made new friends.  He made friends with Peter…they high-fived.  Life is good as a 6 year old, because that is all it takes to make new friends.

Have a great year bud!  We love you!! 

Slip N’ Slide

It was HOT! What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than with a Slip N’ Slide.

Austin had to teach Ella how to properly slide.   Reese gave it a try, but decided she was happier playing in the baby pool and dumping water with her cups.     They ended up having a blast, it was $9 very well spent:)

Reese was sweet and kept me cool and kissed my boo-boos.

We dried off, had dinner and headed to bed, ready for 1st grade in the morning!

Friday before school starts

For the 2nd year, Jeff and I both took off the last Friday before school started to spend the day with just Austin.  My parents used to do it with me when I was little and I loved it. 

We started the day off with some miniature golf and video games.  Austin and Jeff both got a hole in one.  I on the other hand hit the ball in the water on my first swing.  I only had the iPhone for pics with me for the day.

It was incredibly hot, but we had a lot of fun.  Austin said his favorite part was watching Jeff hit at the batting cages.  We then hit Pappasittos for lunch.  We actually sat and enjoyed a meal, it was AMAZING! I saw the bright light at the end of the tunnel.  In 5 years we will be able to eat and ENJOY a meal at a restaurant with the whole family and not have to get in and out in 30 minutes! 

We tried to take him clothes shopping and this boy could have cared less.  Managed to get a new pair of tennis shoes that lace, no velcro.  We are practicing and he may be sporting them soon. 
The rest of the weekend was fairly mellow, we did have a great time at a Sarah and Danny’s house, but it was too hot to take pictures. 

I am just rambling now, but at Sarah’s house, there were some people there we hadn’t met before.  It is a very small world, and our professional lives overlapped.  I had this odd feeling that , wow, I must be getting older and this city isn’t all that big because almost everywhere we go this seems to happen.  It isn’t a bad thing, just one of those times that you get slapped in the face with reality that you are no longer 22.  Not that I want to be 22, but my youngest brother has now headed off to college and in my mind it seems like it was yesterday for me.  We had a Kantor/Madrid family lunch at our house on Sunday to bid farewell to Uncle Jacob (or little bro to me)  I meant to take a picture and life got in the way.  After 33 years my parents are finally empty nesters, and it was a bag of mixed emotions.  I started dating Jeff not too long after Jacob was born!

As we were wrapping up Sunday and getting ready for Austin’s 1st day of 1st grade the next day, it kept coming to mind that someday we will be taking Austin to college, and it is going to come more quickly than I can probably imagine.  But hopefully it won’t be to College Station, my burnt orange blood just can’t take it:)

Good luck Uncle Jacob, we are gonna miss you!

Orange Leaf to celebrate the end of summer blast

Yum!

Ice cream, baseball, and heels

Just a Thursday night at the Madrid house.  Austin was up playing the Wii, I think he had the right idea.  It is way too HOT out!

I got inspired and cooked dinner tonight.  I mention this because it doesn’t happen all that often.  Sesame Brown Rice Salad with Shredded Chicken and Peanuts -I surprised myself, and it was actually fabulous.  Anyway, a hot summer nights just begs for an ice cream sandwich.  Big sis even shared.

Burn off that ice cream with a little baseball. 

I mentioned Reese and her current bAbeee discovery.  Well, she has found one that she claims as her own and is never allowed to be too far away.  For the first time, as soon as we got home she ran up, grabbed this little monkey and said, “my bAbee.”  I squealed and clapped for her, which pleased her even more.   My girl is rockin two word phrases now!

As Ella was off playing football with Jeff, Reese swooped in and took her heels. 

 

Ella’s 1st Pedicure

As a reward, Ella got to pick something special to do.  Being the little lady that she is, she wanted to get her toes painted.  We ventured down to the nail salon and got this girl her first pedicure.  She LOVED it.  She wanted pink on one foot and red on the other.  She also wanted me to get blue since that is my favorite color, but I stuck to classic OPI red.

The pictures don’t seem to show how much she actually she enjoyed it.  She had spent the night at grandma’s the night  before and we had come from a swim party.  All of which make for a tired girl.

Little girl, big chair.

She asked a LOT of questions.  She wanted to know everything they were doing and why.   The best part was after she had hers painted, she climbed in my lap while I finished and I got some great snuggles. 

I still get sad that my kids are growing up and I don’t have any little babies, but there are definite advantages.  I look forward to the day when there will be 10 more beautifully painted toes in this picture and the three of us girls can get our pedicure groove on together. 

End of Summer Sleepover

Summer is officially coming to an end.  (Ok, not the actual season, it is still 104 degrees out)  Another successful year of summer blast has come to an end and 1st grade starts on Monday. 

Austin and Drew go to different elementary schools, so summer is when these two get a little spoiled and get to see each other every day.  They have made some fantastic friends at Concordia!

To celebrate, Drew came over for his 2nd sleepover.  I think this is the first picture I have of the boys, taken in April of 2009.  They look so much younger!

I think it is cute, how a few years later they have the same pose.

Just like sister

I am finding that things are much more accelerated with Reese than they were with Austin and Ella.  I don’t recall Ella really getting into dolls until she was 2, but that may be because they weren’t readily available to her until then.  I am trying to teach Austin and Ella that they must make good choices and lead with good examples.  Most of the time it works, but who am I kidding…I am sure Ella (who learned from Austin) will be teaching the other 3 year olds in her class how to armpit fart in no time.

A few weeks ago Reese found  a new obsession…bAbeee.  She now adorably, identifies any sort of doll or stuffed animal as a bAbeee.  Ella has been incredibly understanding and lets her use the stroller.  However, she is clever, and she carefully manipulates the situation and guides Reese towards whatever items she wants her to use at the time. 

I love how Ella decided her baby needed a little nuke in the microwave, and in heels, of course!

Hilton Head – Part 3

Back to the beach.  The beach, the pool, eating and drinking were pretty much what we did this trip and I couldn’t have been happier. 
I don’t know why, but I love these little girl tush shots.   
        
The trip was wrapping up so we needed to try and eat what was left in the house.  This meant we let the kids have free rein on the popsicles, of which Austin and Ella proudly ate 4 in one day.
Headed out to dinner and the lighthouse for the last night.  It started off a little rough as dinners out with three little kids often do.  But, the Crabby Crab (even as we were still in the restaurant I couldn’t remember the real name and thus named it myself) surprised us all with great food.  Even Austin ventured out and ordered fried shrimp, and loved it.  With a full stomach, some shade, and a guy playing music - my girls started dancing, and all felt right in the world. We climbed to the top of the lighthouse as we did last trip.  

Then we headed home, packed up and left in the morning. 
When we left for the trip, I was a little nervous that the travel and everything that comes with a week of all of us together might be a little stressful.  I am not ashamed to admit that I was WRONG!  Sure, there were moments when we got a little frustrated (I will never again not double check whether or not we get everything off of the plane and I hope someone else is getting good use out of Austin’s Nintendo DS)  But…the trip was amazing.  Yes, the beach was beautiful and it was great not to have to go to work, but the very best part was getting to spend time together.  No errands to run, no birthday parties to go to, just hanging out, getting to snuggle and play!  It was awesome, and definitely recharged me.
When I asked Ella what her favorite part of the trip was, she said “grandma”  So, thank you grandma, for giving us all such an amazing vacation that we will never forget!