Birthdays

Julia's 2nd birthday 2009
Thomas's 6th birthday in April 2010

Matt's 4th birthday in Feb 2010

For a while I was abandoning the blog-I do everything on Facebook now, upload all my pictures there. So become a Facebook friend and check out my latest pictures, though I'll do a better job of updating our blog here.

First day of school for Julia!

Julia started school this year! She's in the 2 year old program at St. Benedict-she goes Tues and Thurs mornings from 930am to 1pm. For a long time, I was picking her up at 12noon because she wasn't quite ready to stay the extra hour and have lunch with her classmates. Her teachers thought she was too tired by noon, the tell-tale sign being her putting her ring and middle fingers in her mouth. That's her thing when she's tired or even just relaxing. I tried to tell them she was ready, that I couldn't take her home for a nap anyway when I had to pick Matt up at 1pm (he goes Tues/Thurs/Fri) but she still didn't make lunch bunch until Nov. And that extra hour is a godsend! I can get so much done now that I have 3 1/2 hours to myself every Tues and Thurs!

First day of Kindergarten

This is Thomas's first year of real school! He's a kindergartender!! He loves it-his favorite part of his day, every day, is the bus. Of course. It was a fun day-Jen and her kids were still here, so were Grandma and Scarlette. We got some fun pictures! It was adorable-all the kindergarteners wore colored bandanas depending on what class they were in.

Thomas loves his teacher Ms. LaRoy, too. He's going to do very well, I can see it. He's enthusiastic about it and loves going. And I love seeing him there, I go every other week, it seems, to have lunch with him in the noisiest cafeteria on earth. Those kids are so loud. It's funny to see the dynamics of the kids. I don't know if Thomas is always mellow in class, but he sure is at lunch time, maybe it's just a little down time for him. And his classmates recognize me, too! I'm Thomas's mom!!

Thomas hugging Matt after having ridden the bus home for the very first time! He was so excited, he just loves the bus and Mr. OD.

The boys in front of the school on Thomas's first day. Thomas picked out his pirate shirt, thought it was appropriate for his first day.

Catching up

I've been updating my photos on facebook and haven't done a great job of updating this blog, but a girlfriend of mine has re-energized my blogging passion. Here are some pictures from our summer vacation on the West coast.

The cousins (minus baby Oliver) with Grandmas at the Chittenden Locks and Botanical Garden in Seattle, one of our favorite stops to play and see the salmon running. Not too many salmon running, but there was plenty of running being done by the kids.

My kids on Anacortes Island. We spend a few nights here. During the day we would explore Anacortes and Waldron, where brother-in-law's parents live. We picked blueberries and blackberries and ate fresh crab and played on the beach and rode around the San Juan Islands in a boat...love this part of the country!

February fun

Some misc pictures from February, including Valentine's Day. There's Thomas showing his loot.

Matthew and Julia on Valentine's Day. Note the height difference.

This is Julia's little Valentine's Day outfit. Love the bobby socks.

This is just a fun picture-they're all fun of Julia! She has on Aunt Karen's reading glasses.

Matt's 3rd birthday

Love this picture-Tim is getting ready to read to Matt's class for his birthday. Tim was the Mystery Reader!

We went to a jumpy place again! Here's Matt all ready to fight.

New Year's in California

We spent New Year's visiting my family again. This year we ventured out to Disneyland and it was crowded! And cold, the only cold day of our visit.

Julia eating her churro, waiting for the parade to start.

Cousins Scarlette and Colleen in the blue car, and cousin Christine with Thomas in the orange car.

Matt drove the yellow car. Tim helped a little, mostly with the pedal.