Girls, girls, girls

Charlotte asks quite often if she can have friends over. When I say yes to one friend she usually asks for another, then another, then another. I think everyone (me included) usually has more fun when it is just one friend, but this day we had a bigger group. I snapped some pictures of the girls making pizza, which was a big hit with them.

1st Day of School!

These kiddos were very excited to start school. Even Aaron finally got excited there at the end of summer. Aaron was excited to see all of his friends, and excited that he finally wasn't going to a new school this year. Charlotte was thrilled to be joining Aaron at his school along with quite a few cousins and a friend from her class last year. Elsie was happy that she was finally old enough to start kindergarten!!! We got all of the teachers we requested and we were very optimistic about the new school year.

Aaron refused to look at the camera, so Nick felt it necessary to yell out and embarrass him :)

Doesn't Charlotte's class look so fun!

Elsie has afternoon kindergarten so after we got Aaron and Charlotte off to school we had time to curl their hair. We were hoping to find a PM preschool for Lila, but no luck. I'm not worried about it though. The age requirement for starting kindergarten has changed in California to September 1st, which for us means that Lila has to wait another year to start school. I am glad they made the change because it means that I don't have to make the decision myself! All of our kids have been on the older end in their classes and they have all done great in school so far. Also, if Lila started next year then she would only be one year behind Elsie in school even though they are 2 year apart in age. Another benefit of the new age requirement is that now our school district offers a transitional kindergarten class for all the kids who would have been able to start before the change. Which means free preschool next year!!

I guess I will just have to spend a year at home all alone with this cutie :)

Elsie was soooo excited to be starting school, especially with 2 friends and a cousin in her class!

But then her teacher showed up and reality set in.

She cried all the way to the cafeteria and through part of lunch (she told me later that day). She had fun though, and didn't cry the next day. She did however cry for the rest of the first week and part of the second :)

Barbie Wedding Set

Elsie first saw this at Target right after her birthday last year. We were shopping with some birthday money that she had and she just about died when she saw this. She was short quite a bit of money and I told her she would have to save up for it. To my surprise, she was happy to do so. She passed up every other toy that she could afford and we went home.

Elsie gets an allowance of 2 dollars every 2 weeks. The saving process is a slow one for her.

But she was never tempted. She was going to buy that Barbie wedding set :)

The time finally came right before school started. The day she had enough money to buy her beloved Barbies I never heard the end of "Can we go to Target yet?" 

Nick finally came home from work and I took her.

From the minute she held the box in her hands her smile was so big and she was so giddy she couldn't help but giggle. I even thought for a minute she might cry tears of joy!

I have honestly never seen a little girl so happy.

Totally made my day :)

Aaron will probably beg me to remove these pictures :)

Daddy's Birthday

Nick was gone this year on his birthday. We knew he would be ahead of time so we decided to celebrate early. Since we were already celebrating early, and we already had his presents, we ended up celebrating 6 weeks early :)

Also, I didn't want to try to hide his presents.

It is always fun when I can surprise him with something that he really wants.

He has been talking about wanting a smoker for about a year more and more frequently. So, I did a little bit of research, asked some professional smokers, and picked out a really good one.

We had our usual birthday present hunt and hid all the other presents in the living room. 

Then when he was finished opening those we surprised him with one last present!!

We hid it really hard and didn't give him any clues :) Here the kids are laughing at him because he can't find it!

He finally found it hiding in Aaron's room!!!

And he was super excited

We also gave him an insulated bag full of ribs, brisket, chicken, tri-tip, and salmon.

He wasted no time putting it together.

Happy 34th Birthday Nick!!!