A blast from the past...

So tonight we decided that we are going to have a yardsale and I started the "cleaning" just after bedtime...I found a couple happy surprises from the past...Some adorable video from a couple of years ago and some old pictures still on my old camera cards!

These are my favorite find....Pictures from Kelsi's actual first birthday...They are taken at Friendly's. We went there for her birthday dinner so that she could have them sing Happy Birthday to her...I remember she was in awe...she didn't really react, she just stared...

and then gave a little smile and clap after they left....

I just look at those pudgy cheeks and wrists and wish that I could reach out and touch them again....It is a little bitter-sweet that she isn't this little anymore...

She has always enjoyed her ice cream!

A little comparison 2 years later...A couple of pictures from when she turned 3...

One last thing...Her Thank You card from her birthday!

After watching just a bit of the video that I found, I will be video taping at breakfast tomorrow! We have been slacking in that area for about a year now and I am so sad about it...I need to make up for it now!!

First Day of School...

This week was the first week of school! We have completed the first week successfully and happily! They both seem to love school and we haven't had a tear all week! They do talk about the other kids that have cried, but they are quick to say that it wasn't them! They even cooperated for First Day of School pictures!

Kelsi picked a monkey backpack and Tyler was happy to have a Dinosaur Train backpack...his favorite show (a new one on PBS). He is a "dinosaur expert" after all...so he says!!

Pictures with Mama and with Dada!

I tried to get an individual picture of each of them...Tyler is more cooperative right now than Kelsi..She refuses to look at the camera!

We all walked to school the first day...Dada was doing it for the first time ever! He drove Tyler to school last year (a bunch of times), but never walked!

I love this one of Tyler looking up at me and our shadows in the background!

We arrived right at the bell and Mrs. D. was one of the first teachers that we saw...She was an aide in Tyler's room last year and will be with Kelsi this year!

This is the wall that they wait on while they wait for the line to fill up and a teacher to lead it inside! So cute!! The twins on the left were in Tyler's class last year, and the boy and girl on the far right were also in his class last year!!

This is the picture at the end of the first day...That is Mrs. Sherman, Tyler's teacher. Kelsi gets walked down to Tyler's room at the end of the day so that I can pick them up at one door...Kelsi's teacher brings the rest of the class out the front door...I am kind of sad that I won't get to meet the mom's from Kelsi's class, but several kids from Tyler's class will actually be in Kelsi's grade level...He is in a mixed age classroom.

That little guy behind Tyler is in his class and shares his name! Tyler is Tyler C. in his class...He came home saying "I am Tyler C." When I asked him, "Do you know why you are Tyler C.?" He said he didn't even know why!!! I explained that is the first letter in his last name...Too cute!

I hope the rest of the year goes this smoothly!

Pre-School Orientation

Tyler and Kelsi will both be attending the Early Learning Center around the corner from our house. It is the public pre-school in our town....We will be paying the $140 a month tuition for Tyler but get a discount on the second child....I think the total is $245 with the 25% discount.

A few days ago with had the orientation, "Meet the Teacher" day. Tyler was looking forward to it for weeks and Kelsi was too...until that actual day...She got a bit nervous!! Once we arrived, she was totally fine... She played in her classroom with Tyler, visited his classroom with us, and begged to go back to her room...mainly because she loved the sand table!!

Tyler had to decorate a cake with his name and birthday on it...I am now wondering if there are two Tyler's because there is a C. on his name tags!

This is his teacher Mrs. Sherman. I am quite excited that he has her...She has a Shutterfly website and will be posting newsletters and pictures on there monthly!! I love it!

Kelsi is in Room 2, the same room that Tyler was in last year...She was supposed to have the same teacher, Ms. Gagne, but in August, Ms. Gagne decided to take a new position at the elementary school. They haven't hired her replacement yet, so there were a bunch of teachers in her room! Mrs. G. (on the left) and Mrs. Peterson (on the right) are supposed to be the permanent subs during the rest of September until the official teacher is hired. She will also have Mrs. Whalen and Mrs. D as the assistant teachers...Tyler had Mrs. D last year, so he was happy to see her again!

First day of school is 2 days away on Tuesday...Tyler has had a countdown going!

Kelsi at 3.1...

Time is flying by and Kelsi is already 3! There are so many changes that I don't even notice until I look back at pictures from last year at this time and realize..."Where has the time gone?"

Kelsi had her party back in July (It is September now) and loved every minute of it! Here is a picture and the Thank you that I will be sending out this week....

At 3 she was already potty trained but was still in a diaper at night....Not anymore though! She has just completed her first full week of big girl underwear at night and has not had any accidents!! So happy for her!! We put this off because of her internal reflux that she was diagnosed with in Feb. 2010. She had two UTI's so we had to go to Children's Hospital in Boston to have her tested...It was a long morning of testing and catheterization but she made it through! The original thought was to put her on daily medication for the next year, but I asked if it was absolutely necessary...The doctor said that the risk if her getting another infection that would be so bad that it would damage her kidneys is extremely slim, so he agreed that we could wait to see if she gets one more....If she does get another one, then we will have to put her on the medication....but so far so good! My fingers are crossed that when we go back this February for more testing that it will show improvement. If not, then we will be back in another year and possibly end up with surgery to correct the problem....I am very hopeful though!!

Here is some more details of Kelsi at 3.1....

• Tomorrow she meets her first pre-school teacher and we don't even know her name yet! She is in the same classroom that Tyler was in last year, but Ms. Gagne has switched schools, so they are hiring a new teacher for that room!
• She is excited to go, but I think she will be a little shy and hesitant tomorrow!
• She LOVES her brother still, but also loves to hit him and push him...I think that she has learned these behaviors from him and is not just using them on him!!





• She leaves off a lot of beginning sounds of words and some endings too....Tyler is Kyla, snake is nake, etc. The screening speech pathologist noticed and so didn't Dr. Dennis...We will see if she self corrects this with out help and just being in school! Fingers crossed on that one too!





• She wakes up BEFORE Tyler now...6:30am most days...






• She isn't a big fan of breakfast...she likes to snack all day and eats a bit more at lunch and dinner (not a ton though!).




• She wipes for number one, but still needs help with number 2....




• She is FINALLY watching TV....mainly in the last week! She will sit and watch a little TV...usually not the full 25 minutes, but a chunk at least! Blues Clues was a hit yesterday, Hi-5, and our Little Tykes Video, and Barney so far!

• She watched every minute of the fireworks in July but had this look on her face during every picture that I took and of course wanted me to sit right next to her (Tyler just loved every minute of it!).

• She now asks for Dada at bedtime...she used to only want me to do everything every night, but now she wants me to do books and dada to do songs...or vice versa...It started after Noni/Nono's last trip where she would get to request who she wanted to put her to bed and she would split it up!
• She still loves her babies and playing with the kitchen/food. She also likes to build with blocks and play on the swingset...being pushed on the swing is definitely a favorite.

• She LOVES buffalo wing pretzels....not a typical kid food!!
• She had her first hair cut back in July...just a trim all around to clean it up a bit...I was afraid that we would lose her curls, but they are still there!

• She wears a size 7 shoe now (and Tyler is only an 8)!

• She still allows us to pick her clothes....once in a while she will request something but not usually! If I wear a dress, she wants one too...

• She is really in a testing phase...When we ask her to do something she will sometimes say NO. It has calmed down in the last month or so, but has transitioned into actions that are pretty much still saying NO....She will make a funny face, and dilly-dally to the spot we asked her to go OR drop to the floor and SLOWLY crawl like a baby...

• She loves Kallee and Trevor...Tyler and Kelsi went over there for a playdate/babysitting this summer and we have gotten together a few times lately too!

A few final fun pictures from June and July...