Summer at Rise

Today is my first day of our second summer break!! Yay!! Even though I work in a school, we have a different summer schedule so the kids aren't away from the structure of school for too long. It helps with the transition back to school in August. SO....we have had school all through the month of July. Even though we are in session, we still try to incorporate fun summer activities throughout the month. We had an ice cream social, "splash day", graduation (complete with "Elvis" theme), and end of the year parties. The best part about it was that Will was able to come with me to work--he was in our Toddler One class and loved it!! He made lots of special friends. Even though we had fun this summer at Rise, we are looking forward to our break in August. :) We are going to visit family, go to the pool, and eat lots of sno cones!!

Will's first day at school--taking a walk with his new friends

Having fun with his class at the ice cream social!

Somebody LOVES strawberry ice cream!!!

One of the many slides at Splash Day  (Will is climbing up the slide on the left)

Matt was able to come swim with us too! Everyone loved the Popsicles!

His favorite was the tunnel

Graduation 2011

The graduating class of 2011

Video of the Graduation Performance--they did great!

Will's end of the Year party

His teacher--Miss Tiffany

We love Rise!!

Vail

At the beginning of June, we had the awesome opportunity to have a family vacation with my parents in Vail, Colorado. It was wonderful! The highs were in the 60-70s during the day, and it would go down to the 40s at night. What a refreshing break from the Texas heat! We had a wonderful time with my parents and enjoyed every minute.

We kicked off the visit by going to the Teva Mountain Games. It was so much fun! We went to several dog jumping competitions, a kayak race, and it was a great place to "people watch".

Then, we all rode the Gondola and had lunch at the top of the mountain--definitely a highlight of the trip!

Later in the week, we had a great time at a park that was close by...

Matt and I had a date night...

And we had fun relaxing and playing at the condo!

Will loves playing with GJ...

Reading the paper with Popa....

Wrestling with Dad...

And playing in the pool!

We had a wonderful trip, and we're missing the cool air--especially on day #18 of 100+ degree heat here in Texas. We can't wait to go back!!

21 Weeks

I'm not a huge fan of the belly pictures--I feel like everyone else looks cute & I just look huge--but I'm going to try to document this sweet baby girl whenever I get the chance. I didn't do a great job of writing things down when I was pregnant with Will, so I'm hoping to do better this go around...

How Far Along: 21 weeks (22 tomorrow)

Size of baby: 8 inches long and 1 pound

Maternity Clothes: maternity pants/shorts/some shirts + some of my regular shirts/dresses 

Gender: A GIRL!!! 

Movement: I'm really starting to feel her kick more--especially at night before I go to bed. For the last two days, I've also been feeling her move right around lunch time and after I drink a cold glass of water.

Sleep: Sleep started to be a challenge this week. Up until now, I was sleeping pretty well, but I've woken up at 3:00am the past few nights. :(

Symptoms: Mr. Reflux has reared his ugly head again, but mostly just at night before I go to sleep. I'm feeling some ligament stretching/pains; mostly in the afternoon. I'm still really tired--probably from chasing Will all day!--and take a nap on the days I'm not working.

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach!

Cravings: Mostly salty things, but a few sweets every now and then (Hooray for the return of Chick-Fil-A's peach milkshake!!). My cravings seem to change from day-to-day. Something that sounds great one day, makes me feel sick the next.

Best Moment this week: Starting to feel her kick more.

What I am looking forward to: Starting to get things organized--the nesting phase took over this week!

Fireworks & Fun

We had a great 4th of July this year! The day started off with a yummy family breakfast before Matt went to work, and then Will  & I had the day to play together. We are trying to get on a 1-nap schedule, so I'm trying to do really fun activities during his old morning nap time to keep him awake and engaged. SO...we pulled out the sprinklers and baby pool and had a big time in the back yard. The boy loves water and was happy as could be--even though I'm sure it was almost 100 degrees already.

After a great afternoon nap, we went over to the Tramonte's for some family fun. Even Lucy came along! We had fun playing games, cooking out (eating the best homemade fried apple pies ever), and watching fireworks with our community group.

In the past, we've gone to a really fun fireworks show here in town, but decided this year that it would be too hot/difficult with the little ones. So we had fun watching it on TV and thought that we might try it next year. To our surprise, we saw a huge group of people gathering at our neighborhood park on the way home. Turns out that you have an awesome view of the fireworks, just right down the street! We pulled over and had a great time watching the show. Matt even turned on some patriotic music on his phone for the full effect. Will loved it--especially since they were far enough away that they weren't too loud. We were able to have our fireworks after all! We decided that it's definitely going to be a new family tradition.

Hope you all had fun celebrating!