First Sleepover

Little Miss A had her first sleepover!  She and T had so much fun!!! The girls played barbies, babies, puzzles, crafts and games then called it a night with a movie, popcorn and a prize!  :)

Mr. D definitely makes up the 3rd part of this trio and was trying to figure out how he played into the scenario on a sleepover night...here's what we came up with

Mr. D has already decided we need to have his friend D come over for a sleep over as soon as he gets back from San Diego. :)  Meanwhile, Little Miss A is aready planning her next sleep over as well.  Let the sleep over games begin!!!!

Our Special Day

In preparation for our special day, we picked Grandma and Grandpa B up from the airport Saturday afternoon. :) We are so thankful they were able to fly in to celebrate the weekend with us!

We began our special day with our official entrance into the church.

After a year of learning and growing in our new faith, J and I made our profession of faith in front of the whole congregation.

To make the day even more special, our sweet little angels were baptized too!

Deacon Tom, who has made this journey so special, did the honors of baptizing our little angels for us.

With amazing Godparents too, our sweet little angels are in great hands all the way around! We are so thankful for our amazing family and friends that shared our day with us!!!!

13 Years

J and I celebrated number 13 today...over 18 years together. (We've officially been together longer than not in the span of our lives...WILD!!!) We spent the day low key with the kids, then went out to a nice dinner together as a family. The kids were great! Glad we could have them tag along since all of our sitters are out of town for the holiday. Guess we'll have a have a re-do sometime. :)

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Tying One On

The kids are earning feathers for their Thanksgiving headdresses at school. In order to earn a feather, there are certain tasks that they each must do:

read and write their sight words

know their phone number, address and birthday

tell the days of the week and months of the year

AND

tie their shoes!

Now, Little Miss A has been tying her shoes for a while now, but Mr. D was having some major troubles. A lot of it was due to the fact that so many of his shoes do not need to be tied, slip-ons and velcro haven't helped him advance his skills. However, this was just the challenge he needed. As soon as I read him his "checklist" including the shoe tying bit, his eyes lit up and he ran upstairs to get his old lace up sneakers. He brought them downstairs and I repeated the same shoe tying technique options we reviewed in the summer before school started. This time he had incentive and that was seriously all he needed. He picked up his shoe and after seeing one demo from me and did it on his own...PERFECTLY! So glad to finally have that battle conquered. Through practice he'll get to be as fast as his sister. I think my shoe tying days for my little monkeys are finally a thing of the past. :)

Six Years Ago Today...

6 years ago today our lives were changed forever in the most amazing way!!! I can't believe that our sweet little punkins are six!!!!! Where does the time go? Although, having said that, I think back and can't really even remember what our lives were like before their arrival November 3, 2004.

Little Miss A is the sweetest girl. Always so caring of others, super kind and considerate. She loves to take care of her family and friends...wanting to make sure everyone is happy all the time. She is so thoughtful and always wants to do the right thing. We are so lucky to have her!

Mr. D is our little funny man...he has the most amazing sense of humor. He loves to laugh and make others laugh as well. His laugh is contagious...completely infectious! Like his sister, he loves for everyone to be happy and is more than willing to share his laugh and silliness to make people smile. We are so lucky to have him!

I am happy to report that the bug they had yesterday was completely gone by the afternoon so they were able to spend their special day as we regularly planned. We had an early release day at school, so the kids had the best of both worlds...school with friends and a nice long afternoon of fun as well.

The kids woke up in the morning to the traditional birthday song. We learned when we split them up to their two separate rooms when they were 2, that we needed to sing loud and have them both come to the great room for presents together. (Not quite the same as my childhood where the whole family walked into my room singing the birthday song carrying presents, but we can't be in 2 places at once.) After a shower of gifts, the kids began to get ready for school. I headed out to Starbucks for our traditional birthday morning pick me up...hot cocoa. A little bit farther drive in the new house, but a tradition we can't possible give up. :)

At school the kids had their names called on the announcements...birthday wishes from the principal. As all of my students heard their kids names, they came to my class passing on birthday wishes, some of them even made cards for them...how sweet is that? Little Miss A and Mr. D thought that was so cool! They were both line leaders for the day sporting their birthday crowns from their teachers for the day...

The kids picked special cupcakes to share with their classmates:

(Princess)

(How to Train a Dragon)

We celebrated both birthdays in the cafeteria as one great big group. Which meant the boys in Little Miss A's class were able to enjoy dragon cupcakes/rings and the girls in Mr. D's class got to have princess cupcakes/rings. :)

With an early out at noon, I took the afternoon off to spend A & D's special day with them doing something exciting and fun! After a few changes in plans, we ended up at the Main Event. (A fun indoor play land.) We ironically bumped into some of our old playgroup friends, so we were able to join lanes and bowl together. :) After a few hours of bowling, the kids and I headed to the arcades to play some more. What a fun afternoon.

We left the Main Event and met Daddy for dinner...A & D's choice our old traditional Mexican favorite. I think we've celebrated their birthday dinner there for the past 3 years now even though we've moved. :)

In maintaining that tradition, the kids fell asleep (AGAIN) on the way home and we ended up having birthday cake the next day instead...

What a great day with two AMAZING kids!

Happy birthday "babies" we love you!

REPORT CARDS!!!!!

The first report card of many to come over the course of the next 13 years! The kids did great...both above average in all areas! :) Then on to the citizenship section...

Little Miss A has S marks (satisfactory) across the board.
Mr. D has an E (exceeds expectations) in Music and an I (needs improvement) in PE and S marks in all other areas. How is that even possible? Shouldn't it be the other way around? If a little boy has trouble sitting still, shouldn't that affect his overall behavior scores in music and not PE? Just wondering...

The First Day of Kindergarten!!!!

Morning wake up was a breeze!!! Let's pray this a trend that continues throughout the year. :) We walked to school as a family, taking pictures all the way. I swear this one wasn't posed. They were seriously holding hands as we walked up the hill, talking the whole way. Too cute!

We all walked Little Miss A to her class first simply because her classroom is right before his. Mrs. H is super sweet and A's friend T was already in the room getting ready for the day. Little Miss A's cubbie is right next to T's so they put their things away together, then headed off to their seats that were back to back and began coloring away discussing color choices with one another to complete their first Kinder picture. (Both girls completely oblivious to the 2 teary Moms looking on at their rapidly growing up daughters.)

Then it was off to Mr. D's class. D walked in, put his things in his cubbie and set out to find his seat. He quickly realized it was at a table where 2 girls were already sitting...no boys. Little Man started to pout. I knew exactly what was going on and began to explain that the 3 empty seats at the table were all for other little boys, but they just hadn't gotten to school yet. Ms. A is amazing, totally picked up on the situation and was jumping in to help. :)

Fortunately, I was one of many on duty to help with Kindergarten lunch for the first day of school!! :) The kids were so cute as they walked into the cafeteria. Of course they had eaten breakfast and lunch in here everyday last school year, but walking in with one teacher and 19 other kids is so totally different. Last year their class and the 3 teachers barely took up half of a huge table, now these little kinder kids are squeezing together to make room for all the other friends in class. I spent quite a bit of time helping their tables specifically, but did make the rounds. Every time I went to another class table however, Mr. D was calling across the cafeteria for me. Uh oh! Glad this was just a first day of school job, so he can learn some independence at the lunch table. I think it was more about me spending time helping other kids, he doesn't share me very well. Not that I would ever complain about that. :)

Asking the kids about their day:

Little Miss A said she liked music the most. "Mr. S was so silly...when he cried, we laughed." It was part of the song they were singing, and I'd already heard about it from him at the brief faculty meeting after school, but it was fun to hear her version. :)

Mr. D was so excited that his class was earning candy. "When the cherry goes on top of the ice cream, we get candy!" Most likely a class wide behavior incentive, which obviously is already working on Mr. D. :)

We are so lucky to have such great teachers for the kids' first day of SCHOOL. (The start of the next 17 years!) Beyond elated at the success of the first day, we met Daddy at our neighborhood steakhouse for dinner to celebrate. It's going to be an awesome year!

'Twas the Night Before Kindergarten

Today has been a total Kinder prep day! We've packed our backpacks and lunch boxes, picked our outfits for the week, mastered our alarm clocks, reviewed schedules and chore charts and began winding down for the evening. With jammies on and teeth brushed and flossed, we packed into the game room for our evening stories. I pulled a few new ones I've been sitting on for a while...The Kissing Hand and 'Twas the Night Before Kindergarten. With weeks of preparation leading up to this, I have been totally fine. Then I read a few stories and was a total and complete mess. Reading while sobbing is a gift I have not mastered, I could hardly speak. Even as I type this, I can barely see the computer screen through my tears!!! I am so not ready for my "babies" to grow up!! What happened? Where did the time go? Can I time travel to the past and relive those precious moments of infancy, the care free days of toddlerhood? They are both so excited for big kid school, but this is suddenly all happening way too fast for me!!!!!

A few weeks ago I was starting to worry that having them on campus last year would take some of that excitement/anticipation/newness away, but I am actually beginning to think that it helped them realize with even more certainty how much more amazing and "official" Kindergarten will be. I know they are ready and they are both in great hands, but I'll still be peeking in on "my babies" throughout the day. (Another HUGE perk!!!!)

With a big day tomorrow and all the joys of learning that await them, the Caswell Kids fell asleep in no time flat. (These pictures are five minutes after we tucked them in bed.)

Sweet dreams precious punkins!!!! I can't wait to hear all about your first day of school adventures!!! I love you so much!!!!!!!!

Tooth Fairy Time!!!

While bouncing today, Little Miss A's most wobbly tooth got INCREDIBLY loose!! At lunch I noticed it flopping around, which I have to admit, kind of freaked me out. She could push it ALL the way forward, but couldn't push it back in the least.

This is the last picture (just before Daddy provided a little tooth pulling assistance tonight) of my baby girl with ALL of her baby teeth. (Does she look a little frightened, or is it just me?)

Two tugs and voila!!! A total transformation! She looks so much older to me, I can't even stand it. Even as I type this I am tearing up, my baby is growing up WAY too stinkin' fast!!!!!! :(

Little Miss A was so excited to break out her tooth fairy pillow!!!! Yes, the one that traveled with us on vacation just in case. :)

We can't wait to see what the tooth fairy brings her!! :)

Last Week of School

The Caswell Kids had a fun filled final week of school!!! They began the week with a fun splash day with their class. Then had PJ day and FIELD Day!!! Talk about packing it in!! :)

Snow Cones!!!

Snow Cone Tongues!!!

"Pearl" Hunting...

it wasn't long before they started using their hands instead of their toes.

This was a tough one. :)
"Horse" Races

There were LOTS of super fun activities. The kids had a BLAST!!! One of the greatest things about having the kids in the same class is that they get to participate in field day activities TOGETHER!!! So my thoughts of keeping them in the same class next year, for that very perk, lasted all of about 5 seconds maybe. Live it up monkeys...this was your last year in the same class. :)

Can't believe my "babies" are officially Kindergarten Kids!!!! Where does the time go?

Kindergarten Registration

We went, as a family, back up to school tonight when Daddy got home to register the Caswell kids for Kindergarten!!! So official...I can't believe my "babies" are actually enrolled in "big kid" school. Granted, they've been going all year, Kindergarten still sounds too old for my sweet Little Miss A and Mr. D. Seriously, where has the time gone? Like their 5th birthday back in November, they both were under the impression that they would begin kindergarten immediately. Though it's not until August, I already know it will be here TOO soon.

FIVE AND A HALF!!

My precious punkins are officially 5 1/2 years old today!!! Where has the time gone? How is that my "little babies" are now closer to 6 than 5? I can't think about it too much or I'll cry, but my "babies" definitely aren't babies anymore!!!

Sea World Surprise

Our fun today was twice as nice since we kept our final destination a surprise. This was obviously more fun for J and I...talking in code to keep our secret and answering questions with vague and ambiguous responses. The kids on the other hand, were on the edge of their seats (literally) to find out where we were going. So just getting there was half the fun. For the most part, the kids generally know what we're doing in the course of a day...what the plans are. I think we're going to have to do "surprises" more often!!! :)

As we began the initial turn in, Mr. D guessed it and the two of them got SO excited!!!! "We're going to see Shamu?" Well, not exactly. Though we did catch this pic of the kids with Diamond as we walked into the park, we actually just planned a day trip to the water park. (Something J had never actually done.)

Having had Six Flags season passes last year, the kids and I hadn't been in the Lost Lagoon since they were 2, so today was a completely different experience. It was awesome!!! The last time we went, we pretty much just stayed in the Lil Gators area away from the crowds and chaos. The rest of the park was great. I wish we had a waterproof cover for our camera or had at least bought a waterproof camera for the day...I didn't get many pictures. :(

Little Miss A is like "Ariel" our little mermaid. Her swimming lessons have definitely built her confidence in the water. She is a beautiful swimmer...very graceful.

Mr. D is like "Flash" a blur in motion. That little man has NO FEAR of anything and was all over the place in no time. Wanted to run around the place like he owned it.

Our first for the day was...WATER SLIDES!!!! We started the day with the double-seater racing tubes. They both LOVED it so much that it was hard to convince them to try other water slides in the park, but with some convincing we headed to the monster family slide where all 4 of us could ride in the same tube together. By the end of the day, they each were riding in their own tubes all by themselves. WOW!!!!

Another favorite of the day was the wave pool. The kids, well I, hadn't braved the wave pool since the then "babies" and I almost drowned 4 years ago in it. (I'm pretty sure I posted that disaster in one of my way back when emails.) Little Miss A and Mr. D loved it. They were far more adventurous than I was willing to let them be...yes still memory scars from all that. It was so cute to see them simultaneously jumping with their hands in the air over each wave as it approached. Every time they heard the wave bell, they turned and headed in that direction if we weren't already in line for another slide. :)

What a great day!!!

Monkeys at the Park!!!

We went on a typical scooter ride around the block this afternoon. (I didn't take the camera OR my phone, I'm still kicking myself for that.) The kids decided they wanted to stop at the play scape at the school and play for a bit. Again, nothing out of the norm. BUT today Little Miss A and Mr. D decided to REALLY try out he monkey bars on their own. A went ALL the way across...first try TOTALLY by herself. I was shocked!!! I think my mouth literally fell to the ground. WOW!!! After that we had a little competition going...D had to show his sister that he could do it too. Before we left, he did it too!!! Poor A, in all her work on the monkey bars she ended up with her first hand injury...horrible water blister that burst on her last slip. That incident had us racing home for reinforcements (a.k.a. band-aids). As we were leaving A started saying it hurt so bad she wouldn't try it again. So I started recounting how many times I used to get blisters on my hands from playing on the monkey bars, but reassuring her that it was so much fun I couldn't let those blisters stop me. Hopefully she'll get back up there the next time we go. :)

Growing Up/Letting Go (a little anyway)

Little Miss A went to a birthday party last week...no big deal right? Well, her friend's Mom picked all the girls up at school in the middle of the day and took the girls to lunch, then out for pedicures and then back to the little girl's house for cake and tea. (Or so I'm told...I obviously didn't get to go.) Thankfully A and I have been out several times for pedicures together over the past few years, so I didn't miss that first thing, but man I wasn't ready for her to go anywhere without me yet especially with someone else driving. I had the biggest struggle with this one...how could I keep her at school while the other girls left? That was a really big step for us.

Anyway, my daughter had a blast. She came home with the cutest little toes and was just beaming.

My son, on the other hand was VERY confused as to why he didn't get to go. So, I went and had lunch with him and played on the playground with him at recess. Then picked him up early for some Mommy/son time before Little Miss A got back. I hope that made up for it in his mind. However, like me, the whole time we were spending time together he was thinking about her. "Where is she? When is she coming back? Why can't I go?" I just replied if she hadn't gone, I wouldn't have been able to spend time just with him. It was only then that he thought it was pretty cool.

Growing up!!

Our "babies" upgraded to booster seats yesterday. What a trip. Our regular car seats convert to boosters so the seats themselves aren't "new". Upon inspection of the seats, D says "These aren't new seats." My reply was "No, but the buckles are new. Watch." After doing their "new" seat belts, A comments "These are just like Mommy's and Daddy's!! We ARE big kids!!!!!"