Elijah's First Day of Preschool

Our little guy headed off to preschool today! Last night he picked out a "handsome outfit", so he was ready to go today!It's hard to believe that all three of our kiddos are in school now!We caught Elijah's big friend, Thomas, before he headed off to seventh grade this morning.
Our handsome big boy!!!
The start of a new tradition... Adam and Elijah's official first day of school photoElijah, Adam and Anna are ready for action!Sienna and Isabella were able to send Elijah off on his first day!Elijah led the way down the hall and didn't even look back!He found his cubby and knew just what to do!Four alumni look on as the little guys head in to class.Elijah found a seat and got right down to business.Time to be dismissed!Elijah and Sammy made it through their first day!

Another Soccer Season Begins

Today was Opening Day for another soccer season for the girls. Mike is coaching Sienna's team this year, and he's the assistant coach for Isabella's team. Since he is away this weekend, I assisted our friend who is coaching both teams with Mike. It was fun to work with the girls, but I have a whole new appreciation for coaches. It's challenging to juggle the line-up and assure that all of the girls get equal playing time-especially when someone doesn't show up which alters the line-up. I'm happy to just be a soccer mom cheering from the sidelines most of the time!

Isabella's team has been dubbed the Tigers and Sienna's team is called the Cheetahs. As one of our friends pointed out, Sienna's team could be mistaken for the Cheaters (or Cheetahs-when said with a Boston accent). I don't think that Mike considered that when he came up with the name. I hadn't thought of it either, but that's funny!
Unfortunately, Elijah isn't old enough to play soccer yet, but that didn't stop him from wearing a uniform, too! Isabella dressed him in one of her old jerseys, gymnastics shorts, and black dress socks. He'll definitely be happy to play next year!

Elijah's Preschool Open House

Elijah had his preschool open house this morning. He and his friend, Adam, were ready and raring to go!!Elijah caught up with his playgroup friends, Sammy, Anna and Adam once we got to school.He has the same cubby that both of the girls had!Elijah wasted no time getting busy at school. He started out at the sand table for a while before he tried this puzzle. He thought it was silly to mix up the colors.Of course, Elijah had to use his favorite color, orange, to color this entire picture.And more orange... Elijah sticks out his tongue when he's concentrating just like Mike and Isabella do!The girls taught Elijah how to sit "criss cross applesauce" which he demonstrated for his teachers, Miss Monica and Miss Diann. He's ready for school!!I just looked back at my post from Sienna's preschool open house three years ago and it looked pretty similar to Elijah's! You can check it out here.

Six Years and Counting...

Every year I love to look back at all of the first day of school photos over the past six (!!!) years. We have been photographing Isabella and her friend, John, on the first day of school since they started preschool. It's amazing to see how much they have changed!

First year of preschool-2006Second year of preschool-2007Kindergarten-2008First grade-2009Second grade-2010Third grade-2011Next year Isabella and John will move on to the intermediate elementary school in our town. Whether they like it or not, they will pose for this picture for the next 9 years!

First Day of School!

Today the girls headed back to school after a fun-filled summer that went by way too quickly. For some reason, I'm having a hard time sending them off to school this year. Maybe it's because our baby, Elijah, is heading to preschool for the first time. I love my time with them and it's going by so quickly. How is it possible that Isabella is starting third grade and Sienna is starting first? An article titled Bittersweet Song of September by Beverly Beckham on Boston.com sums up my feelings exactly. Click here to read it.
Isabella is ready to have her hair and nails done before school.Now it's Sienna's turn!The three amigos.School girlsReady with their over-loaded backpacks!Isabella, the third grader!Sienna, the first grader!Unfortunately, it was a little rainy this morning.Hope and Isabella wait for the bus.Sienna, Luke, John & IsabellaAlmost the whole gang. We manage to fill up the bus with the kids from our neighborhood.John, Sarah, Hope & IsabellaThird graders (9 out of 11 in our neighborhood)
First graders (6 out of 9 from our neighborhood)And they're off!A happy first grader coming off the bus. When I asked Sienna how she liked first grade, she said, "I love it!!" She has a sweet first grade teacher who is so warm and soft spoken but has been at the school for a long time and has a lot of tricks up her sleeve. I know that Sienna will have a great year!Isabella has had a great start to the year, too! After open house last night, she said, "I think Miss A---- is going to be my favorite teacher!" I'm so happy that she loves her teacher and seems to have a nice class. She's looking forward to doing projects throughout the year and participating in the Science Fair in March. Their desks are separated into four clusters and each one represents a "house" from Hogwarts in the Harry Potter books. Isabella is starting out as a Slytherin!

Sienna's Second Lost Tooth!

Sienna lost her second tooth today just in time for the start of first grade tomorrow! After the tooth was hanging on by a string for a few days, Sienna finally let me pull it out this afternoon (after Isabella offered her a dollar if she let me pull it out).Sienna let me pull out her first tooth back on June 22nd, just days before she finished Kindergarten.We did the whole dental floss trick, and it worked like a charm! So Sienna started and ended the summer with a lost tooth!

Trevor is Off to College!

Just when I think my kids are getting old because they are heading off to third grade, first grade and preschool, our nephew, Trevor, heads off to college!!! How is that possible?!? After growing up in Atlanta (for a couple years) and then Ohio, Trevor just moved into his dorm room at Brown University in Providence, RI last weekend (right before Hurricane Irene hit). We are thrilled that Trevor is only 20 minutes away from us now!! Even though he'll be busy with his new friends, school work and activities, we hope to see him every once in a while! Also, we know that our niece, Sydney, (who is now a Junior in high school) will want to come visit more now, too!

Trevor is all settled in to his dorm room!
Tracy and Jeff with Trevor on Thayer Street Our kiddos are happy that they'll get to see their oldest cousin more often now! (Unfortunately, Sydney couldn't come out this time since she already started back to school last week. Boo!)

And now for a little walk down memory lane...

It's hard to believe that this was Trevor and his Uncle Mike 18 years ago! (1993)I first met Trevor and Sydney (and Tracy and Jeff) while they lived in Atlanta. Mike and I were dating and still at Boston College, and we spent New Year's in Atlanta. (December 1996) Trevor and Sydney were the most well-behaved kids at our graduation from Boston College. (May 1998) People asked us if we rented Trevor and Sydney for our wedding since they were the perfect ring bearer and flower girl! (August 2000) Trevor held Isabella for the first time when she was three months old (September 2003). Trevor and Sienna (October 2005) We enjoyed several visits from Trevor and Sydney during the summers! (June 2007) The oldest cousin meets the youngest cousin, Elijah. (March 2008) Another fun summer visit from Trevor and Sydney when Trevor came to check out colleges on the East Coast. This was when he visited Brown for the first time! (June 2009) A Spring Break visit with Tracy, Jeff, Trevor and Sydney after Trevor was accepted and decided to attend Brown! They may have bought one of everything from the bookstore! (March 2011) Trevor and Sydney at Trevor's graduation party. (May 2011) Trevor was the salutatorian of his graduating class and gave a great speech at his graduation. All of us after graduation. We are so proud of all of Trevor's accomplishments and we can't wait to see what the future holds for him! Luckily, we'll be able to be part of his college experience! We're hoping that Sydney will end up on the East Coast in another two years, too!