Our First Day of Preschool!!

Today both Dylan and I started preschool, he as a student and me as an assistant teacher! I am very excited to be going back to work in the profession that I studied for in school and even better it's in the same age group that Dylan is in and his classroom is right next door to mine. Being that I have Friday off and he's there I still get one day a week all to myself! We both had great first days and I can't wait to see what the year brings us! Here are a few pics of my big boy ready for his big day! Hope his teachers know what they are in for! LOL! Lucky he is SO darn cute! :)

And the Oscar Goes To...

AJ MATRALE!!!! In school each week AJ's class has opportunities to win "warm fuzzies" for doing nice things, following directions and doing correct work and whoever has the most at the end of the week gets to go home with the Oscar! SO SO very proud of my AJ for getting it the very first week! Love you baby!

AJ's 1st Day of Kindergarten!

What a amazing emotion filled day August 9th was! AJ was so ready and so excited and couldn't wait to ride the bus alone like a big girl. We were up at 6:45 AM, dressed and ready for breakfast by 7:00 AM and out the door to wait at the bus stop by 7:20 AM! The bus was a little late but I really didn't mind - it was nice to take it all in! When it did finally come, she got on without any hesitation and happily waved by as she pulled away from us. Alex, Dylan and I were all there to see her go on her first day! I of course cried like a baby and a week later I still get a little emotional seeing her ride away without me! Of course I couldn't resist going to visit her at lunch to make sure she was ok and she was doing great! He teacher said she was asking tons of questions and seemed very excited to be there! I gave her a quick hug and left her to socialize with her new friend! After school I was anxious for her to finally get home - we waited for forever since the busses were late due to the rain. When she got off the bus she was just as I left her - happy and smiling! She had lots to tell me about her first day. She has two teachers that she really likes, her main teacher Miss Bergey is even gifted certified! They have 3 class pets - 2 guinea pigs and a bunny! She went to art class and drew a picture of our family! They read a book and then had to cut and paste different pics from the book in order, She had to draw the correct amount of stripes on the raccoon based on the number written next to it and they were learning two songs, one about their left and right and one about the town, state, country and plant they live on! She said they played outside on the playground and she loved eating in the cafeteria for lunch! I am so proud of my baby girl who just isn't a baby anymore - she is growing up into such a confident, secure, happy and eager girl! She amazes me! I am so proud to be her mother!

Love this pic of Dylan anxiously awaiting her getting off the bus-

Happy to have her home and safe in my arms-

Kindergarten Round Up

Today AJ and I were excited to attend her Kindergarten Round Up. The bus came to pick us up and we were off to school with the other Kindergartners to meet teachers and check out the school. AJ's teacher is Mrs. Bergey - she seems great! We were happy to find out that AJ will have two class pets in her classroom, a bunny and guinea pig! AJ was a little nervous about how she would find the classroom all alone on Thursday but I reassured her there would be lots of teachers to help her! Heres to a successful year of school for my AJ - we are so proud of her and know she will do great as a Dolphin!

Patch

AJ has been begging and we finally caved! Today we adopted a little 4 month old kitten! We named him patch because he is mostly black besides one little patch of white on his foot and one under a front leg. He is such a sweetie and loves both kids. AJ & Dylan both carry him around like a rag doll and he just lets them. He likes to be right out in the middle of everything and seems to be used to all the crazy loudness in our house! Welcome to the family Patch!

Beach Vacation 2012

We just got back from a really great week in Surfside Beach which is just south of Myrtle Beach. We stayed at my cousin Jacky's condo there which was a cute place on a golf course with a pool and a gator! We did so many fun things while we were there.

We went to the beach daily and actually saw a shark on our last day - crazy!!! Very happy it was the last day and not the first - LOL! The kids loved frolicking in the ocean, digging for clams, finding shells, making castles, knocking them over, getting buried and going for walks!

We did rides at the Boardwalk in Myrtle Beach which was great - there were so many there they could do and of course they enjoyed them all! After we hit up a Italian restaurant (Villa Romana) that was SO GOOD! YES, I said it, GREAT Italian in South Carolina - kids gobbled up their veal, pasta, soup and salad and Alex and I got to enjoy our meals!

We visited Broadway at the Beach which was SO much fun. We ate a Key West Grill right on the water and got to enjoy watching the crazy boat rides! We went on some rides and walked around checking it all out - very cool place! We came back another night to Planet Hollywood for dinner. We had never been to one and although the food wasn't great, there was a DJ playing loud music we all knew and could sing along to and all the memorabilia around was SO COOL!

After going out to breakfast one morning we went on a Alligator Adventure and saw tons of gators and crocodiles, including the worlds largest alligator! We saw a live feeding which was awesome! AJ got to pet a baby gator and Dylan got to feed a gator (his new sunglasses!) - fun times! After this we went and saw the House of Blues and I stopped in a Christmas shop for a MB ornament and picked up 2 Mountaineer ones as well! There were WV's and Mountaineers ALL OVER MB! It was nice to see so many!

Our favorite place to eat and hang and listen to music on the water by far was Murrall's Inlet on the Salt Marsh Walk. We went twice and had seafood one night which was awesome at Drunken Jacks which had a pirate theme and the kids got pirate hats and lots of gold coins! The next night we hit up Dead Dog Saloon and had a great time out on the deck listening to the band! Dylan loved dancing! The kids got tattoos and bracelets on the Salt Marsh Boardwalk and we took in all the scenery!

Twice we had lunch and drinks right on Surfside Beach at River City Cafe. It was such a cute place that you can go in all sandy and in your suit and sit on the deck and watch the ocean.

On our final night we did a awesome pirate dinner show. It was so cool and the kids LOVED it. They both got cool pirate tattoos and the both watched the action packed show and ate so nicely - we got the premium seats and had such a unclose view of all the action. There were sword fights, divers, a sealion, dogs that swam, mermaids, cannon blasts, fires and all kinds of fun things - it was a great way to go out on a bang!

BYE BYE BEACH! We will miss you!

Almost forgot, I got to go into a Piggly Wiggly!!!! And of course I got a t-shirt because after all, I am big on the pig!