Decorating time!

We decorated the tree over two nights since the kids go to bed so early, and it seems like there is very little time to do anything the evenings.

I like my post about this last year better. Oh well. Anyway, here are just a few shots.

Hannah making sure it's perfect

Look! A little present!

Wow--Sammy looks so grown up to me in this picture!
Where is my little boy?

Helene was having a blast!!
(Just ignore the sweet potatoes on her face and shirt.
You would think I could clean her up better, but apparently not.)

Silly face...
Obsessed with the lights, of course.

This is Jack.
He LOVES the tree.
He sits here all night after the kids have gone to bed
and is still there in the morning when I get up.

The finished product.
(Looks the same as last year.
I could have just used that photo instead of taking a new one, huh?)

Last few days of summer

Well, summer is officially over as school starts tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about it since I am not happy about the school Sammy will be going to (not the same one he went to for Pre-K the last two years)--and even more upset about it after I found out his teacher is one whom I've not heard good things about.

However, I am excited for Sammy to start Kindergarten and make some new friends. He loves school and I hope that being at a new school doesn't change that. He has asked several times if his friends from his Pre-K class are going to be there too and it breaks my heart to have to tell him no, that they are all going to his old school.

Hannah will be going to the same Pre-K class that Sammy went to the past two years. It had a waiting list, so I wasn't sure we were going to get in, but I got a call last Monday that there was a spot available, so I took it. She has to be potty trained before school starts, so we've been working on that all this week. It's been okay. She totally gets it--and has for almost a year now, but as everything is with Hannah, it's a power struggle. So she'll do it when she wants to, but not necessarily when I suggest she go.

Anyway, here's what we've been up to the last few days of summer.

We met up with Danielle and April at Descanso Gardens and did some exploring.

There happened to be an exhibit of Ford Model-A cars that day

Helene was pretty content to just hang out in the stroller

We also took a little road trip out to Ventura to visit Kristen and her two adorable boys, Noah and Milo. Little Milo just turned three months old--Helene loved having someone her size to hang out with for once!

The kids had fun playing at the park while Kristen and I gabbed for almost 2 hours. The time just flew by!

They made a few new friends while they were playing

Hannah and Noah hung out in the bark--what was I thinking putting her in white pants?

Sammy has been doing his Physical Therapy for almost a month now. We really like his therapist Jill and they have a lot of fun together. Here are a few pictures from one of his sessions. I forgot to bring my camera on the day that they did some really fun stuff--he got to ride this special bike around the hospital and outside in the courtyard and play a little soccer and wiffle ball.

Here he is doing a few "exercises"

And Helene has been hanging out with the most tolerant cat in the world.

Here's hoping it all goes well with Kindergarten tomorrow and getting Hannah fully potty trained by Monday when her school starts.

Kitties like fresh breath too!

I was walking by our bathroom and noticed this.


I came back later to see if he was still there and he was chewing on my toothbrush instead. I wonder how long THAT has been going on... I'm headed out to get a new toothbrush as we speak.