kindergarten!

yesterday my sweet baby girl started kindergarten! i kind of can't believe it. i didn't cry or anything (surprisingly), but it still feels like a monumental thing. she is in the system now - a kid and not a baby anymore.

sunday we had a fun, mellow day. breakfast tacos and puzzles, then jb took the kids to a movie while i went to a friend's birthday brunch. for dinner, i let the kids make their own pizzas which they loved. we had bath time and i gave them a little melatonin so they were ready for their early bedtime. i've been trying to move their bedtime up a bit every night for the past week or so, and that was a huge help.

i woke up around 6:15 and a few minutes later i heard her little footsteps heading up the hall. she asked for cereal for breakfast and got dressed easily. then we all walked to school together and took about a million pictures. she was a little freaked out heading in to class, but tough too. no crying.

jb and i picked her up a little early and she was super happy - she told us all about everything, including that she "made 11 new friends but i don't remember any of their names". ha. she was happy about her after school program. she was less happy that her teacher wanted them to be quiet a lot. but, all in all, a great day.

we capped off the first day with a trip to get ice cream before dinner. then, a low key evening and easy dinner. i was asleep by 8, so i guess we were all pretty wiped out.

we are so proud of our big girl - this is going to be a great year!

breakfast request.

yesterday, on the way to central market for our typical sunday morning there, hollis said:
"mommy. for breakfast i want a bagel. and then a taco. and then chicken and fries. and then a cheeseburger with fries and ketchup."

fourth of july.

fourth of july was super fun this year. hollis's class had a parade/party celebration; we had our neighborhood parade, complete with bagels and lox at the bowmans; and we rounded out the actual day with another neighbor party and an evening at the koens. the kids loved sparklers, but the louder fireworks were not a hit this year. it was also a pretty exhausting day - three blow-outs is a lot to cram into one day, especially for the 10-and-under crowd.

the rest of june.

the rest of june is pretty much a blur at this point. probably because it was almost two months ago. woops. anyway. there was a lot of swimming, some breakfast dates, a finding dory adventure (which ended with an epic hollis meltdown, but let's not dwell on these things), some brownie baking, and about a million trips to central market.

cousin visit and work trip.

after school got out, we had a visit from the colorado cousins - justin's brother and his family. the kids absolutely adore each other and they all play together really well, so it was super fun to watch them all play so hard. i took pitifully few pictures, but it was a great weekend. we ate a lot - salt lick bbq, lick ice cream, chuy's for mexican food, i made jambalaya one night - and did some swimming and slip n sliding too. rose and i even snuck away for a quick yoga class.

the following week, in mid-june, i had to head to california for work for the whole week. i hate being away from my family, but cali was really nice and jb took great care of the kids. i'm pretty sure he wins for most likely to be goaded into getting ice cream or going for a weekday swim...

end of school.

oh. hi. remember when i used to keep track of our lives with this little corner of the internet? yeah. me neither.

way back at the beginning of june, ek wrapped up her preK year! it was such a great year - she learned so much and i feel like she will be so much more comfortable going into kindergarten after being there all last year. mr. butler was such a great teacher for her. they really loved each other and i hope he continues to be part of our lives. her early reading and math skills are really amazing so far - i could not be more proud of her. she made all 4s, demonstrating "mastery" in all the areas they measure, but more than that, i think she is really learning a lot about how to engage with the world and what kind of person she wants to be. i can only hope kindergarten is as awesome.

fourth tooth and field trip.

kk and jj came to town last wednesday night for a quick mid-week visit. it was super fun. on thursday, they went to hollis's school and had lunch with him. friday, they were able to join me chaperoning ek's metrorail field trip where her class and the other preK classes got to ride the train to the east side and then play at an awesome park for a couple of hours. super fun.

friday night, the kids were dancing and going buck wild in the living room. hollis was flinging one of his blankets around during a prince song (they are obsessed with prince right now), and ek grabs her mouth, holds up a hand and says "hollis just knocked out my tooth!". so, the final front one is down! and thank goodness. it was so loose it was really freaking me out, but she was being super squirrely about pulling it for some reason. anyway - it was clearly mega-loose if it got knocked out by a blanket. ha. we obviously continued the ice cream tradition and everyone was happy.

saturday, my parents left after breakfast. the kids (especially emme) get super duper sad when they leave, so this time, i took ek to yoga with me right after they left. it was a great distraction and helped with the big feelings.

on yoga.

hollis: "mama. i like to do yoga. at school sometimes i do downyour dog."

summer cuts.

i took the pups to the groomer yesterday. i never get them groomed because it's expensive and they are giant mutts who don't really need it, but i thought to kick off the summer, they could use a little sprucing. etta got trimmed and ollie got furminated and they both got nails clipped, teeth brushed and baths. they look so great! i love these dogs, even if they are so weird when being photographed.

missing teeth!

i haven't been posting much - just a lot going on, i guess, as usual. but ek has lost two more teeth and the fourth should be gone today (i hope! that thing is hanging by a thread). the checkerboard smile of alternate top/bottom tooth missing was the cutest thing i've ever seen, but only lasted for a week before the other bottom tooth came out. i'm excited to see what she looks like with both front teeth missing - and to hear her cute little lisp! we are all ready for our next ice cream endeavor when she finally pulls this one out.

first tooth (top left): april 6
second tooth (bottom right): april 28
third tooth (bottom left): may 5