School, Soccer & Birthdays!

School has begun! 

Gino has started his last year at Grace Preschool, hard to believe he will be in K next year.

 

Always fun to be in school with your buddy!

Big day in our house, Giada will be at school ALL day. 3:00 seems like it takes forever to arrive, Gino must ask me 10x a day if it is time to go pick her up yet; he misses his buddy.  She was so sweet to want photos with all of us before school that morning.
 
So we gradually chopped a few inches off Giada's hair to make sure she really wanted short hair.  She kept asking for it, so we really chopped it. So far she loves it.  I love it since it is so much easier to comb. She has such thick hair which is very new to me. She now ONLY ever wants to wear headbands, but that is easy and she can do it herself. I am quickly realizing the days of me being able to guide her on her hair or clothing is long gone.

 Lorenzo is catching up to the size of his buddy Drew.  They boys have had fun hanging out; AKA grabbing each others face and hair, while the girls play soccer. Giada has loved playing soccer this season.  She has quite a few of her best buddies,  and school friends on the team.  Coach Garrett has done a great job with the kids!

 Yeah! Lorezno got to meet Sara at the Paso Robles Olive Oil Festival.

 While Giada is at school we have a few adventures.  We try not to tell her about all of them, or she feels like she is missing out.  Ice cream and silly faces with cousin Stella!

 Mom, don't worry just a few bubbles snuck out!

 Big boy still has LOTS of smiles all day long.

 Somehow we missed the Avansino girls parties and Frannie's was way back in April!
 Happy 2nd Birthday Clara!

 Super fun when you show up with a matching swimsuit as your buddy!

 American Girl Pizza Party for Frannie's Birthday!

 Cookie Decorating consisted of frosting with a side of sprinkles!

Over the summer, Gino did a little soccer too! He needed a little more encouragement to get on the field but this season was better than the last.  He runs all around talking about soccer and then just wants to watch when the games come around.

 

Loves giving Lorenzo hugs even if Lorenzo is sometimes unsure about it!

Mastered the Bumbo chair, and liked the assistance of sitting upright.

 We got a couple visits in with cousin Em before she headed off to Germany.

 Yum, peas! So far he hasn't really spit food out how the other kids did.  He makes a funny face for the first bite and then eats it up.  He also doesn't care if it is warmed up and prefers it cold.  Makes it easy for me!  Eat up little man.

End of summer fun! School starts!

Towards the end of summer we got a couple last minute visits in with friends!

Kids day at Raley Field with Brooklyn

 Lunch with Auntie Linds!

 Park with the Archuleta kiddos!

 Grace Preschool Buddies. Fun day of slip n slide at Williams house.

 The Lorikeets were back again this summer at Micke Grove Zoo. Giada couldn't be happier. Clearly my fear of birds did not pass on to the next generation.  She would go everyday if she could!

 Day at the park with the Clarins.

 If it can be climbed on...Gino will attempt it! It's all fun and games until one of these times, he loses his grip.

 This girl was waiting all day for her clam chowder.

The kids pretty much want a picture with Lucky every day.

  Cousin Love!

 Annual mud volleyball! Kids loved rolling around in it this year. Not the best year for Guys and Dolls.... unfortunately it was a quick day 0-2.  Maybe next year will be our year!

It was a miracle that we had a free day on the weekend. So instead of staying home and doing all the chores, we decided to take an adventure to SF. The kids loved playing on the beach, and didn't care it was about 12 degrees out!  I think the highlight of the day was seeing the Bush Man. Gino asks every day to look at it on You Tube so he can see the Bush Man. He laughs so hard at it, but I think was startled at the time.

 Our poor Syd had to have a massive tumor removed on her leg. She seems on the mend now. She got some extra love before her surgery. She hates wearing the cone, and Gino thinks it is a new hat. Lucky seems to like the cone too!

Giada made Syd a 'Get Well Soon' sign

You should always sleep with your sword, you never know what can be lurking around!

What a fun day on the water.  I think it was all the kids first time and they loved being able to roam around. We stopped for lunch, found a beach to dock for awhile and a dock to jump off from. All the kids were so brave jumping off the top level of this 2 story dock. Aubrey dominated and was a non stop jumping machine!

New chalkboards in the backyard are providing so much fun for the kids!

Both kids started school recently. Gino is off to Preschool 2 mornings a week, and couldn't be more thrilled.  He loves being able to play in the classroom he has dropped his sister off for years. He wasn't really going for my idea of holding the sign. Between his singing and wanting to hang it on the door, this was the best we got!

 

The day for Kindergarten was here. She had her stuff all laid out and ready to go!

 

The day started with LOTS of tears on drop off. I did not expect that and would be lying if I didn't then shed some tears myself.  But when I got there to pick her up she was so excited and has been every day since. She wants to stay longer and eat with her class, and stay until 3pm. That seems SO long to have her gone, but am letting her do it a few times a week. We are all looking forward to this new adventure.  At the end of day the parents got to come in to hear a special song, it was so cute!

Last but not least on this catch up post!  This weekend I had the Kerns kids as well and we road tripped to Tahoe to see Renee, Nico and Pete.  The kids all did great. So fun to catch up with Renee too. Who knew kids could hunt for crawdads for 5 hours!!

Princesses &Pirates en route!