Will's last day of school

I cannot believe Will is finishing first grade! ALREADY! Wasn't he just born?! Golly, time flies by so fast. And I'm so upset I can't be there for his last day!

In Kindergarten I pretty much spent the entire last day at school. It's always a half day and I spent time in Maggie's pre-k class. When she dismissed at 10am, I went down to Will's class and hung out until 11:30. I took all his pictures in the morning then did his measurements. And this year I have to miss it. :( On top of missing Daniel's birthday yesterday, it's not a great week for me emotionally. Daniel took pics for me, so I'll be able to put something together when I get home.

Happy last day of 1st grade, my little man!! I miss you, love you and am so proud of you!

Baby Allie- 9 months

Three quarters of a year. Oh my goodness! It feels like I just wrote your 6 month/half a year post. Geez, time slow down already. Isn't it weird how we feel that way about some things but want others to speed up? Like teething, I mean, get that over with already. Potty training? Bleh, just poo on the toilet, already. But these sweet months of infancy are hard to watch fly by. I love (and have loved with my others) watching Allie grow, learn new things, develop a personality.

The other night the girls were taking a bath and Allie was splashing like crazy. This wasn't her first time in a bath (obviously!) but being in the big bathtub with her big sister is still kind of new. As I watched her splash around in pure enjoyment like it was the best thing ever, I relished the moment. This time, all the newness. All the firsts. I explained to Maggie how this isn't new to us, but it is to her and that's what makes it so great. And why firsts are such a big deal to me. There's nothing like the wonder of a "first time." Anyway, here's all about you at 9 months Allie...

• Yep, you're crawling! At about 8 1/2 months, you started moving your legs just a little bit forward and kind of shuffled for a few days like that. Then you started to get moving. You're still not super fast yet, but you definitely get around and you crawl like Will did :)
• Lots of sounds this month- mama, dada, baba, yaya, bthpffffff- you like to blow bubbles and raspberries. Mama seems to be the only word with meaning so far, but you don't say it all the time. Yet.
• You love to play! You just crawl all over the place while Maggie's in therapy, playing with whatever you find and I'll let you:)
• Puzzle pieces are a favorite, you like to pull them out and scatter them across the apartment, lol, or play with them on the bottom tier of the coffee table. A couple times you put them back in there place on the puzzle board
• You are pulling up to on your knees and sometimes will push your bottom in the air with your head to the floor- like an A- so you're readying yourself for pulling to stand
• You had your first sitting in a big bathtub bath this month and with big sister
• Self-feeding has begun with mashed bananas and puffs- you're doing good with your pincer. I still feed you most meals
• You still eat about 4 times a day- 3 of which include a fruit or veggie plus snacks like puffs or rice rusks
• You'll do "so big" just a little and clap your hands some (I forgot about these until I looked back on some of Jake's posts and started showing you)
• Sleeping is not great- you wake up a couple times a night, several times some nights and naps are infrequent between trips to the clinic
• Teething. Still. But nothing to show for it yet. Sleeping struggles are a result of this
• Wearing 3-6 month clothes, at least in part b/c I didn't pack 6-9month before leaving home and asked daddy to bring more 3-6. It's fine, though, we'll get 'em. :)
• Sometimes you can be so quiet and others (like right now) you're such a little chatterbox, enjoying all the new sounds you're learning to make.

Oh my sweet pea, precious little baby girl! I love you sweet Allie! Some more cute pics:

One very special decade

Sometimes it's still hard to believe that I'm "old enough" for anything substantial and memorable happened twenty years ago, fifteen years ago, ten years ago...

Yet here I am looking back on one of the most significant days of my life. One that happened 10 years ago today. A whole decade. My wedding day. The day I chose to unite my life with a wonderful man, my best friend, my earthly rock, my leader, my baby daddy, my love, my better half. My Daniel. A man I love more and more deeply with each passing year and who I'm grateful has stood by my side these past 10 years.

We've had our share of ups and downs, survived relocating across state lines twice, bought two houses and sold one, lost two dogs, two cars, a lot of sleep, enriched our lives four times over with our 4 amazing little blessings and everything in between. We've even lived in two separate countries for a combined 17 weeks and counting.

I don't think we'll get a chance to have that big 10th anniversary trip I've been dreaming of.  Mostly I'm sad we'll be apart today, separated by physical distance and unable to share our big day together, to take a picture, hold hands or even hug. But God willing, we'll have many other years to celebrate and make up for the "lost" one. Even though 10 is big and worthy of a big to do (in my humble opinion), I celebrate still. For the man you are, the love we share, and the open arms waiting for me when I get home. I love you with all my heart. You, Daniel, are one of my most favorite people in the world of all time, ever.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Babe. And to quote you: "I'm madly and desperately in love with you."

Ten! Wow, it's still hard to believe.

Mother's Day Weekend

Choosing back-to-back sessions in Toronto this time of year was not my first decision. But for many reasons, mostly other months being booked, May was just one of the months I had to be here if I wanted to stay more than one sessions.
Of the many things our little family of 6 has going on in May, Mother's Day is one of them. Daniel and I decided to meet halfway- in Ohio- for the weekend. Everyone was very excited to see each other, it's been over a month!

Saturday we had breakfast, played at the park, saw a movie, then went to dinner

and went swimming in the hotel pool

 While I was taking pictures of all the kids, Jake started saying "cheeeese" so I just had to get this

Then came Sunday. I was grateful for the chance to be with all my kids, but the bad part was we only had a few hours then I drove the rest of the day. We had breakfast, hung out a little, then loaded the car and said a long goodbye. It made me happy and so sad all at the same time that Will was crying about missing me and not wanting to leave. This from the child who rarely wants me around :)

As sad as it was, I'm still glad I got to see them and enjoy a nice weekend that went by way to fast.

I love you millions and billions my littles and am so grateful to be your mommy!

Jake's 1st movie

It finally happened. Well, Jake has seen plenty of movies in his lifetime but we like to mark the first movie theater movie for this "milestone." And it's quiet by accident we waited this long. 

I know, I know, 2 1/2 isn't that old, but the others were much younger. Will's first movie was Kung Fu Panda and it just so happened that Kung Fu Panda 2 came out when Maggie was little, so I was certain a KFP3 would be in the works and it would be Jake's. But it never did, or at least hasn't yet. Life moved on and we never really had a chance to take him.

So what was his first movie?! The Avengers: Age of Ultron. *Sigh. This certainly would not have been my first pick for Jake's 1st movie theater movie- not because it's a bad movie- I quite like the Avengers. Or even that it's PG-13, seeing as I generally like to follow those guidelines 'cause Hollywood is much more liberal than I am. But mostly because it wasn't a cute little cartoon movie more appropriate for his age. However, sometimes, you (and your husband more accurately) are dying to see a movie and a babysitter just isn't in the cards. Daniel, of course, thinks it's a cool 1st movie. 

Couldn't really get a good pic, but at least it's recorded. Jake definitely liked the popcorn, other than that, I don't know. He did take a nap...

I'm most upset that it was also Allie's first movie. Aside from all the obvious reasons, I stood in the breezeway most of the movie to keep Allie from making noise and being a distraction. Which I knew would happen. Refer to aforementioned lack of babysitting. :)