Meet the Teacher

Emily will start preschool in a few weeks and she, as you can imagine, is really excited!! This morning her teacher, Mrs. MacDonald, came over to meet Emily and spend a little one on one time with her before the school year gets started. Emily opened the front door to welcome Mrs. MacDonald and gave her a hug before Mrs. MacDonald asked if there was a place they could sit and read a story together. (They read The Kissing Hand which was always a first day of school book for me and my classes.)

Once they finished the story, Mrs. MacDonald took out their class friend, Chester the raccoon (just like in the story if you aren't familiar). Emily was very happy to meet Chester and learn that Chester will sing the morning song and good bye song every day at school. He also goes around and kisses all of the kids on their ear each day and is available for snuggles any time the kids choose. Emily experienced her first Chester ear kisses and is a big fan of his already!
Chester had to go back to sleep after a few minutes though, he IS nocturnal and all, so Mrs. MacDonald took out some stamps and stickers to share! Emily chose to put the bear sticker on her dress and her girl stamp on her right forearm. Then Mrs. MacDonald offered her a bear stamp with hearts but Emily said she wanted the boy stamp on her other arm instead. She told Mrs. MacDonald that she is a girl and that she has a daddy (the boy stamp I guess).
Before Mrs. MacDonald left, Emily wanted to show her the playroom and I snagged a picture of the two of them together!
So far it seems like it will be a good year! Emily's school orientation day is September 13th - Mama, Daddy, and Everett get to go too!

Reunited...

It had been a while since Emily and Liam saw each other last.

So, Emily was really excited that the same day we took Victoria to the airport we were getting more visitors!!
They arrived late that night so greetings were made the next morning in Emily's bed...
and hugs shared downstairs...
in between Liam's "rides" around the Around We Go courtesy of Emily.
And of course, wherever Liam goes, so goes Uncle Ryan! Emily was happy to see him, "help" him feed Liam,
and play with him.

A LOT!
On day two of their trip Emily showed Liam the park and he got to swing for the first time!

It's too hot in Texas for this kind of fun but it was only warm here - comparatively speaking.

That night Emily had sweet dreams about all of the fun she was having and would continue to have.
Like, dancing with Uncle Ryan while being chased by Liam...

and getting an unexpected visitor during dinner...
and story time.
She also had fun being the "BIG" kid in the house...
and taking Liam to the Pacific for the very first time!


He loved it as much as Emily does!



As they say, all good things must come to an end, so on Tuesday morning there was one last gathering in Emily's bed...
and group pictures on the couch...
before our final kisses good-bye.

What fun to be reunited after so many months!

Thanks for coming Liam! (and for bringing your mommy and daddy too!)

Victoria's Visit

On August 12th everything was ready at the house...

as we excitedly drove...
to pick up Victoria from the airport!!
The next morning (Saturday), Emily sucked Victoria right into the playroom for some fun...
and both girls were surprised when Daddy came home from work that afternoon with shakes! Cheers!
It was the perfect pairing... chocolate milkshake and iPad play.
On Sunday we spent the morning hanging around the house...
but went for a walk along the beach in the afternoon.


It was a grey gloomy day at the beach but not too cold and the girls were excited to get their feet in the sand.
Victoria may have been a little shocked by the "cool" Pacific temps...
but they had a blast.

Everett didn't sleep during the walk but finally conked out on the beach.
On Monday morning we loaded up a ton of stuff and were off to the beach - for real this time!
It was cloudy again (lifeguard said it was the 4th day - so strange that just a few miles from our sunny house the sky can be SO different!) but the girls were ready to get in the water...
and apparently Emily was in the mood to be dragged out to sea! Thanks for grabbing her, Victoria!
They spent much of their time doing this...

but Emily did find another Emily to play with for a little while.
The sun finally came out about 30 minutes before we were leaving. But, while the girls were happy to see it, I must say that I was happy it hadn't been out the whole day. It got VERY warm with a baby strapped to my chest VERY fast!
Before heading out - while I packed our things - Everett got some time to chill. We both enjoyed the break.
On Tuesday morning, Emily opened a gift that Victoria had sent in the mail (The Princess and the Frog figurines) and we ran an errand...
but that afternoon we went to a neighbor's house to swim! (Emily was so excited about her new water wings that she insisted on wearing them as we walked. The water wings were my way of taking a load off of Victoria in the pool since Emily is a fish and I wasn't getting in. They lasted about 10 minutes but both girls had a great time.)
Wednesday morning was spent at the YMCA swimming again! Thankfully both of the girls LOVE water!


Everett was even happy to be there - napping most of the time. :)
After nap I surprised Emily with The Princess and the Frog DVD! If you ask her she says that Tiana is her favorite (because to her, "favorite" is strongly tied to color and green is her favorite color - Tiana's dress color) but she had never seen the movie.
Emily grabbed her figurines, I popped some popcorn...
and the girls had a fun afternoon.
Okay, not just the girls. Everett was sneaking some peeks too.
That night we celebrated Victoria's 13th birthday a little early...



and fittingly, gave her an iPad cover. (Emily asked to play with the iPad every day.)
It's crazy how fast 6 days can pass! We had a great time, thanks for visiting, Victoria!!