Staying Active with the ABC Kids!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Cassie starts preschool!!!

I just can not believe that time has flown by so quickly, and our oldest daughter is already going to preschool. It feels like yesterday that I was pregnant and getting excited to meet our new baby, and then we were bringing home this tiny little six pound baby girl to join our lives. And now, three years later, we are watching our little girl start her first preschool.

This past Thursday was Cassie's first day, for her to meet her teacher and her new classmates. It was an hour long class called "visiting day" where parents stayed with their children to learn the daily schedule, get a tour of the building and facilities, and help with the new adjustment to preschool. Cassie was pretty tearful on her way to the school, which I really think was because she had gone to bed a little late the night before and was still tired. She had wanted to bring her play makeup to class with her and was pretty disappointed that she had to leave it behind. She was a little tentative as we arrived at school, and stayed close to Dawn and I as we waited in line to meet her teacher. Once inside her classroom, she headed to the home play area with three other children and pretty much forgot that Dawn and I were even there, no tears or fusses! We let her play a bit and then headed with the assistant teacher to see the gym area where Cassie loved running around with her new classmates, and seemed to really enjoy being there with other kids her age. After heading back to the classroom, all of the children sat down for a story from the teacher and then were dismissed. Cassie wanted to stay and play on the playground with some of her new friends, so we gave her a few minutes to play before heading home to relieve my sister who had been watching the twins for us so the we could enjoy seeing Cassie off to school together.

Tuesday will be Cassie's first day of school on her own, which will be only an hour long to help with the adjustment of the kids. I am really hoping that Tuesday goes as smoothly as Thursday went, as Cassie seemed so excited to be with other children and playing with new toys. Here are some photos that I managed to snap from our "visiting day" last week:

Walking down the hall to her classroom to meet her new teacher

Using the "Cassie sized" facilities for the first time, and yes, it took me at least 15 minutes to get her out of the water in the sink.

Enjoying some playtime with some new toys

Dawn and I loved that we were totally observers in the room and Cassie went about her own business doing her own things and finding new toys and friends.

Putting the dolls to bed...

Do you mind, I am relaxing here!

Enjoying a story with the rest of the class

Time to line up for dismissal

Even the day's events seemed to take a toll on Brookie, who passed out during lunch (and she stayed home to play with Auntie Trish and Jake!!!)

From the new album: Its september

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

We are Blessed (with photos this time)

Oh my how the the summer has flown by.....

I have just realized that the entire month of August is gone in a blink, and it is hard to believe that September is here already, and Cassie will be starting her first day of preschool in just 9 short days!

I chose the title for this post, because it seemed perfect for how amazing the last month has truly been, and a perfect reminder for how lucky we are to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives who continue to make this journey so much more rewarding. We finished up the month of August with a Christening for our three miracles at the Third Congregational Church in Middletown on Saturday August 22nd. Both Dawn's parents as well as her sister belong to the church and were excited that we had decided to have them blessed in the same church as my nieces. We chose to have them blessed on a Saturday with just our close family and two best friends, and followed up the ceremony with a picnic at our house. Dawn's mom did an amazing job making all of the food for our celebritory picnic, the weather was warm (okay, hot!) and sunny, and the kids were absolutely amazing, I don't think that Dawn and I could have asked for a better day. My cousin Brittany and her 3 year old son Lucas also made the trip from Syracuse, NY to join us for the weekend (and take wonderful pictures as well!!) which was an extra special treat for Cassie who loves playing with Lucas. As we both look back on Saturday's events, we realize how truly blessed we are for having such amazing family and friends in our lives, who have supported us so much in our journey of raising a family.

Our beautiful family

check out these little hams!

beautiful Brooklyn

Mama and Austin

our grown up princess Cassie

Cassie and her little brother

Brooklyn and her Godparents, Auntie Kris and Auntie Terri

Austin and his Godparents, auntie Trisha and cousin Zachary

Cassie and her Godparents, Auntie Arlene and Uncle Dan

These photos and LOTS more are here: august recap

Friday, July 24, 2009

Yikes! I'm way behind!!!

Please can there be just 15 extra minutes in every day so that I can update my blog more???

Yeah right, who am I kidding - if I had an extra 15 minutes I'd be using it for sleep and still begging for 15 minutes more... ah well.

The update from our neck of the woods - this has been the rainiest summer ever! Please, no more rain! However, despite all of the rain, we are still managing to get out and have a fun time, going to the pool at Addison Park in Glastonbury, my sister's pool club, the S. Windsor pool, and yes, one silly-definitely won't ever return-what the hell were we thinking- trip to the beach.

As of about 2 weeks ago, I would consider both Brooklyn and Austin to officially be walkers, although Brooklyn is using her two legs far more than her brother is. Austin still prefers to cruise as much as possible, but will take very slow unsteady steps when necessary. Brooklyn, non the other hand, has pretty much progressed to wanting to walk as much as possible, which is great for her little knees that have been so scratched up from all the speed crawling she does. She still does know that she is much faster at crawling, and when she really has her eyes on something, she drops to all fours and flies across the floor, it cracks us up.

Cassie has become out little story teller, who seems to love telling us about everything that happens throughout the day by starting everything with "one night," that too cracks us up. Cupcake has settled in very well (and is dive bombing me as I type this) and has become a big fan of teasing the twins and then running to hide, but still trying to play with them with her paws, I think that she knows she can get the better of them.

That is some of the basics from here, I am sure that there is far more to talk about, but I am way to tired to remember half of it (I know, big shock), and know that you all are just here for the photos anyway - ; )

This is the hottest bikini ever!

How many wee-ones can you fit in one of these inflatable pools anyway?

Are you kidding me, is that camera everywhere?

Contemplating.... that is our little sparkplug

Here are a few photos from our long weekend to New Hampshire on July 10, 11, and 12, we went up so that I could do the Black Fly Triathlon with my friend Kris. We had a really great weekend, the weather was wonderful, the race was amazing (a 4 mile cycling time trial on Friday night, an international distance triathlon on Saturday morning and a spring distance triathlon on Sunday morning). The little beach was right outside our condo practically, and I think that Cassie really loved playing there. We also met another family, who happen to live only about 25 minutes from us, who are also two mommies raising two cute little girls. Cassie really hit it off with their girls, and we have been able to see them again since returning from the race. I am definitely looking forward to going back to do this race again next year.