First Day of First Grade!

School started today! Ava is now in first grade. Her teacher is Mrs. Hedgecock. Ava also has lots of friends from kindergarten in her same class, which I thought was fun and eases the first-day jitters. Again, I love, love, LOVE the fact that we are across the street from school, which makes drop-offs and pick-ups a breeze. Here are some pictures (Ava of course still has her My Little Pony backpack):

Stay tuned for Norah's first day of preschool!

Seattle

During July I had the opportunity to travel to Seattle to see some good friends and fellow college roommates. Sans kids to boot! (Don't worry - I do miss my girls when I'm away from them, but it having the time to myself did wonders for my sanity).

It was great to see Lisa's lovely home, as well as to finally meet her kids as well as Camilla's kids. Of course it was almost like no time had passed - we even played Ligretto!

Sadly I don't have too many pictures from the trip. I'll have to bum some off of Camilla's FB page.

I just hope the next time we have a roommate reunion that we can ALL be there! Kat, Wendy, Steph, and Becca - you were missed!

Serena - Two Months

Last Thursday was Serena's two month check up. (She was really 10 weeks, but whose counting, lol!).

Here are her stats:

Weight: 11 lbs, 6 oz (55th percentile)
Height: 23.5 inches (88th percentile)

She is by far our biggest baby out of all four girls. I think she'll take after Ava in the height department.

We also had Serena's baby blessing today, which is always a wonderful event. We love being surrounded by friends and family for the special occasion.

While we love Serena to bits, she really isn't doing a whole lot except eating, sleeping, and pooping. She has smiled a few times in the past week. I don't care if it's gas or not - her smiles are adorable! She is a champion sleeper though. At night when she goes down, she'll stay asleep for 9 - 10 hours. That gives me my much needed rest! Keeping up after four kids is very energy-consuming.

Ava, Norah, and Keira are all great big sisters. They will put Serena's blanket back on her if she kicks it off, and put her binky back in her mouth if she spits it out. Keira though will tease her by putting the binky in, then taking it out again.

All in all, life is good! Busy, but good.

Kindergarten Open House

Tonight we went to the open house at Ava's elementary school. Open House is where all the classrooms are opened up for family and friends to see what the students have studied during the year, and to view various projects. It was fun to see what Ava has done during the year, as well as to see her friends and her teacher (who has been on bedrest for the past few months). It brought back memories of when I was in school and was excited for my family to see my classroom and all the work I had done during the year.


Ava's teacher, Mrs. Yu




Ava's kindergarten memory book. It contains projects and pictures from each month




Photo wall (and Jimin, one of Ava's friends)




Classroom whiteboard




Self portraits




Ava showing us more projects




Ladybug project

Keira turns 2!

On Cinco de Mayo our third daughter, Keira, turned 2. We celebrated with dinner at Chevy's, followed by cupcakes and opening presents at home. She is definitely a force to be reckoned with. She's fearless - she climbs on and over anything and everything, and can hold her own with her two older sisters.

Some stats on our little firecracker:

Height: 32 inches
Weight: 25 lbs

- loves to say "Don't be late!"
- favorite toys are her baby doll and stroller
- will often walk around the house wrapped up in her blankie
- when she wants to be held, she will back up into your legs
- loves to pat baby Serena on her head
- will eat almost anything
- enjoys building towers on the Lego table



Fun times at Chevy's!! We always knew Keira was a party girl.

Introducing Serena Christine

Our newest member of our family, Serena Christine, was born on Thursday, l April 14, 2011 at 2:26 am. She weighed in at 8 lbs 7 oz and 19.5 inches long. And she has dark hair, and lots of it!

I went in to see my doctor on the 12th, which was my due date. I had been dilated to 5 cm for nearly a week, and my OB was quite surprised I hadn't gone into active labor yet. So at my request (because I was done being preggo!), she put me on the induction list at the hospital for that evening.

Well, the hospital was extremely busy with other women having babies, so they didn't call me in until the following night at 9:00 pm! It was around 11:00 pm by the time I was hooked up to the Pitocin. A few hours after that, my water broke on it's own, and around an hour later Baby Serena was here! Again, I didn't have an epidural. I just prefer not being hooked up to tons of IVs. Plus, I feel like the recovery is faster (and I really don't like having a catheter).

We just love having Serena in our family. Our other girls love her too - they like watching her sleep and putting stuffed animals into her bassinet.

Onto the pictures!

Couch Potatoes

So maybe I shouldn't let Keira watch TV, but they all looked so cozy while they were watching "Go Diego, Go."