Catie is a Kindergartener & Andrew is a Third Grader

We kicked off the first day of school with a book breakfast. The kiddos ate pancakes and raspberries and then we took photos and raced off to school. Catie got the most adorable back to school outfit from Boden for a project (giveaway) I was working on with them. Andrew's outfit didn't arrive in time, so he wore his another day. 

Andrew ran off to find friends once we arrived at school and I went with Catie to the kinder yard.

She LOVES her new teacher and her new classroom. She also was so excited to see several friends from TK and church at school.

I went into the classroom with Catie for the first little bit and we followed a little checklist. Then I said goodbye, went home for an hour, and then went back and got her. It was a short day!

After school we played and then picked Andrew up at 12pm and headed off for lunch and a trip to Mrs. Fields and a park. After some park time the kids got some down time and then we ended the night with a family dinner to CPK. We had several grumpy kids at dinner, which was to be expected since we were all a bit overtired, so it was nice once every one went to bed!

Catie is sure that she got the best teacher ever and Andrew is excited about his teacher too!

We made it through the week without too many meltdowns so I would call that a success!

Andrew's in First Grade! {Minecraft Back to School Dinner}

The night before school starts we have a tradition of having a Back to School Dinner. This year we are going to have two different Back to School dinners since Andrew and Catie start school two weeks apart!

Last year we had a Back to School pizza picnic at the park and the year before we had a silly pirate themed night. Andrew currently loves Minecraft, so it was fun to add that to the mix. I made a super quick banner on the computer, decorated the table with some Minecraft toys and Kevin made us green waffles! We added dark chocolate chips to help them fit with the theme.

During dinner we talked about a few goals and some things Andrew is looking forward to about 1st grade!

After dinner Kevin gave Andrew a father's blessing that was super sweet! He had such a hard time going to sleep last night because he was SO EXCITED to be a first grader!!

Can't wait to hear how his first day went!!

Update: Catie never remembered about her Back to School dinner and I was too tired... so we'll try again next year with her. :)

So long September!

September was a great month. I have really really enjoyed getting into the routine of school. The late bird schedule is an answer to my silly prayers... and Andrew has been seriously blessed with a great teacher and lots of new friends.

It is so fun to have school events to go to! Last week we went to the Bike Rodeo and learned all the rules of the road for bike riders.

We are also training for the school Fun Run that is this Friday. I am Andrew's class coordinator for the run... and although I'm not doing anything super awesome for it (I'm too lazy), it is nice to have a reason to get to know other parents in his class better.

Catie is still loving her little preschool. Everything that is good that she talks about she says, "I learned it at preschool." Every song we hear in the car she says she learned it at preschool, every book we read at home she says she read it at preschool, etc... she seriously is in love with her preschool. She tells everyone about it.

I am slowly making progress on organizing a new little creative space for me and the kiddos- adios guest room (aka "room we piled stuff in")! I need about a week alone to make any more progress, but at least now you can enter the room.

We created a Fall activity tree. One goal we set was to have lots of play-dates to help us get to know kids in Andrew's class. It has been really fun to invite new kids over for 1:1 play-dates. I love the chance to get to know the kids and moms outside of school. I think we've had at least 6 kids over now and Andrew keeps making new lists of kids to invite. He keeps me busy!

I decided to sacrifice one afternoon nap a week (for Ryan) so that Andrew can go to basketball. Today was his first day. It was intense. The age range is kindergarten to fifth grade with one coach and about 30 kids. Andrew LOVED it. He did not stop moving for an hour. He ran and ran and ran and then ran some more. I convinced two other moms from his class to sign up their boys, so it is fun because he has two friends in class and I have two friends to chat with while they play. Catie and the other little sibs just run around on the playground.

October is always my favorite month. We have our annual Halloween Carnival, I usually have a girls trip, and we get to celebrate Halloween with lots of chocolate... and this year we get to celebrate Ryan's first birthday!! Wahoo!

Bring on October!

Back to School BBQ

Last night we had our annual neighborhood Back to School BBQ. It was so much fun and honestly didn't require that much work other than collecting lots of money and orders over the past few weeks. I love being the social director and getting to meet all the fun people who live in our neighborhood!

We hired Fuddruckers to bring their catering truck again and it was a hit. My favorite part was that this year they also made grilled cheeses and had their special nacho cheese sauce for the french fries. I was IN HEAVEN eating unlimited french fries. If only they'd had a diet coke fountain drink machine... (next year)

Kids swam in the pool, played at the neighborhood park, and jumped in the bounce house that we rented... and the adults just had fun chatting.

We enlisted some special kid helpers to monitor the bounce house and enforce the rules (so we could enjoy the party)... and I made sure that every once in awhile there was bouncing time just for the 2-3 year olds... which meant that Catie got several opportunities to bounce with only 1-2 other kids inside.

We had a dessert potluck, which meant that we had tons and tons of dessert options. The kids were in heaven. 

Ryan had fun roaming around with me, stealing my food, trying to eat tan bark, and saying hi to lots of guests. I didn't keep a close watch on the welcome & check in table, but I'm pretty sure we had well over 200 people at the party this year (compared to about 160 last year). It was cool to see so many kids of all ages having so much fun! 

Once the clock struck 7:45pm... Kevin took the littlest kiddos home and Andrew got to stay to hang out with me till the party ended. He had a blast roaming around with his friends and hanging out in the hot tub with some older kids just listening to them chat. He thought he was pretty cool. It was adorable.

(ignore the fuzziness... someday I'll figure out how to use my camera at night properly)

After I paid the Fuddruckers guys and bounce house guy and we picked up tables and trash... we finally made it home around 9:30pm! Man was I tired! 

So fun to host another successful event! Kara, Sahar, and I never managed to grab a photo together since during the daylight I was chasing my crazies around... but I really appreciate having such helpful friends as my party buddies!

Getting Ready to Go Back to School

This weekend we said goodbye to summer with a little celebrating. We had a "Kindergarten will be a blast!" rocket party for Andrew and some church/neighborhood buds and we headed down to Santa Cruz for some fun at the beach.

You can read all of the party details over on my blog Toddler Approved.

Our favorite spot in Santa Cruz is Natural Bridges. The weather was exquisite and baby Ryan was in heaven climbing mounds of sand.

The beach trip was awesome other than when Catie almost cracked her head open at our favorite ice cream place- Mariannes. If you haven't been there... you must go... just make sure your kids don't act like crazy like ours did.

I have about a gazillion more photos from the beach that I need to share on here... but the ones above are my favorites. We also hit up Upper Crust for some yummy pizza in between the beach and ice cream.

On Sunday I attempted to orchestrate a cute Back to School family dinner celebration that was a bust. The kids acted crazy and couldn't sit still or eat... so we made no family goals for the school year or did anything special. Instead we scrapped my plan and just made chocolate rockets to blast Andrew off to Kindergarten. At least we kept with the family motto-- "Enjoy the journey, stop for treats."

On Monday night we celebrate the last day of summer with a trip to Shark Day at school (to find out Andrew's new teacher and get a tour of the school). Then we dropped off some treats to friends and got slurpees... and then we headed to the park for a family pizza picnic.

We ended the night at home with stories and Andrew got his first Back to School Father's blessing before he hit the sack.

It was a great weekend and I think we managed to have an incredible summer.

I have been telling everyone that this is OUR year. It is going to be a fabulous one. I'm so lucky to have Kevin and my cute kiddos so that we can make it an excellent year together!

If you want to see pictures of Andrew's first day of kindergarten, check Instagram. I'll be overgramming over there all week long :)