The First Day of School 2010

Well, here we are! Summer is over and Adalin and Kira are both in school. Wait! Seriously? I only have a baby at home in the mornings? Yes, it is unbelievably amazing, actually. Even though today was only the first day of many where this will be the case. As great as it will be for me to have some mornings only with Ava, it will be even better for these girls. Summer was fun, but summer was exhausting and in the end, downright made my girls irritable. They need more structure than what summer affords them.

Adalin started Kindergarten two weeks ago and is absolutely loving it. She is very grown up, is reading sight words, is making lots of new friends and is still working on the attitude she throws around at us on a regular basis. :)

Kira's first day of preschool was today! Oh my. I can't really express on paper (or on computer screen, rather) how good for her this is! She has been Adalin's shadow since she was walking. What Adalin wants for lunch, Kira wants. Adalin says she doesn't like something, Kira doesn't like it either... not always a bad thing, but this will give her a chance to have her own life. Be her own little person. Make her own friends, have her own opinions and develop her own talents.

Is it just me or do they both look so grown up?!

The Last Trip to the Beach

It was a school night, but it was 79 degrees and sunny that day and I couldn't pass up what could have been the very last absolutely gorgeous day of summer weather. So we hit up the beach. I tried really hard to take the kids to one of the many gorgeous beaches by our house as often as I could this past summer. It's a free excursion and they LOVE going. I would love it more if 1.) I didn't have an infant to keep out of the sun and fed and happy and 2.) if there weren't so many things to carry down to the water and 3.) if it wasn't so dang hard to pull them out of the water and get in the car without a significant amount of whining and complaining. So, yes, I went as often as, uh, I had the energy for it!

Adam was out of town, and for some reason I tend to go out and do more when he's not around. For some reason, actually, I know exactly why this is the case... When Adam is home (which is seldom) he likes to stay home. (I don't blame him.) And when Adam is home, we like to spend time with him (which is seldom). So that's that.

But, when daddy's gone, it's party time! We did the beach, park & apple orchard all in the 4 days he was gone. I guess keeping myself busy is remedy for single-mom-idness. {yes, I made that word up.}

Multi-tasking

The life of a resident requires some major multi-tasking. For example, while one's wife cleans up the dinner mess, one does not have the time to watch said's infant daughter without mowing the lawn simultaneously.

Diva Isis

I think Kira got kind of bored at home with no Adalin while she was waiting for her school to start up. So, instead of playing with Adalin, she played all morning with Isis, our dog. Isis was literally dressed up and dragged around for an entire day. It was cute though.

First time on a swing!

The Track

Adam has been running faithfully since April, training to run a 5K in under 20 minutes. Sometimes his workout schedule (created by his old friend and track coach extraordinaire, Jeremy Smith) demands a track though, like when he does 8x200's on the minute or something crazy. In his effort to get me to run on a strict schedule as well to train for a 5K in some yet-to-be-determined amount of time, (just so you know, that didn't last very long. I like to just go out and run. Forget all that timed distance mumbo jumbo...) the entire family went to the middle school track one lovely evening. It is a good thing, because Adalin and Kira hadn't a clue what a track even was.