Back To Dance

Today was Claire's first day of dance class.  She was very excited this year.  She loves dancing!!  Also, she is SUPER excited because her best friend Giada is going to be in her class!!

Seriously...can she be any cuter?!?!

Before dancing we had a little time to take some pictures.  Claire was having a blast posing and practicing her moves, so I just snapped away.  The pictures came out so cute I have to post a bunch of them!

This girl's got some moves.

She was so serious!!

Then she requested some pictures of her hugging the tree.

Claire was excited to see her dancing buddies!  She was pumped to introduce Giada to her old buddy Ava.

A little booty shake in class.

HOORAY!

Claire and Giada dancing to the "Hello Song"!

Marchin' it out.

BFFs holding hands while waiting for their turn.

 Stretchin'.

Leaping.

I was so proud of Claire today.  I can't believe how old she is getting.  I remember doing Mommy and Me two years ago and she was sooo tiny.  Click HERE to check her out!  Now she is all on her own and doing great.  She changes her own shoes and listens so well.  I am so proud of her!!!

Unwinding After A Long Week

Well, we did it.  We made it through our first full week of school.  All of us!!!  I have a great class and I am really excited for this school year.  Claire loves her new pre-school room!  She has gotten five stickers all week (except for one day...apparently there was a little disruption during calendar, but we fixed that right up and she is back to five).  Mark loves his new classes and is looking forward to a great year. And Oliver....well, nothing has really changed much for him at school so he is happy as a clam.  He is officially a walker now and off the bottles!! Man, he is getting old!!!!

My kids have been ending up here after school.  Just relaxing while watching a little tv (don't mind all those cords in the corner).

Zoned....out.

I love that Claire was sitting here and Oliver walked over and plopped down next to her.  Best part was Claire didn't even tell him to move, she just snuggled him.

Oliver LOVES TV.  I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing!

But seriously, I am not sure that any other little boy has ever looked so cute watching TV!!!

Silly Pics

I recently entered a few pictures of mine into a "Silly Photos" contest.  I did not win but here are the photos I entered.  They were so silly and fun I just had to post them!!

This was from Oliver's birthday party.  In the treat bags I gave out these sticky mustaches.  They were adorable!

Of course I entered a picture with Oliver and his stash too!

I didn't end up entering this one but it was so silly I posted it anyway!   This was from a long time ago.  We were bored one day and Claire told me she wanted me to draw a mustache on her and this is what we ended up with!

This is also an old one.  When Mark was little he used to make his brother Kevin do a "Face Show" and Mark and Brian would make Kevin do all kinds of silly faces.  So one night Mark and I made Claire have a "Face Show" of her own and this is what we ended up with.  We had so much fun doing it!!

When Oliver was about a month and half old Erin and I put her shades on him and he loved it!!  Here he is Rock Star style!!

This was at Claire's last hair cut and I think it speaks for itself.

This is from Sue's graduation and I LOVE this picture!!!  I laugh everytime I see it!!

So even though I didn't win, I had a blast looking through my silly pictures and laughing as I found these!!  I love my family and how silly we all are!!!!

Goals

A few years ago I did a post with all of our goals for the upcoming school year (click HERE to check it out).  I liked it so much I wanted to do it again.

Mark

1. To live a healthy lifestyle. 
2. To run the half marathon in less than an hour and forty five minutes.
3. To be a positive influence in the lives of my students.
4. To buy my wife lots of shiny presents (I added that, but I know he was thinking it).

 Natalie

1. To make a difference in my students lives EVERYDAY and teach them to be great students as well as great people.
2. To laugh til I cry everyday (I do that one every year).
3. To be the best mother I can possibly be and to show my children how amazing they are EVERYDAY!!  I also want them to know how proud they make me each and every day!!
4. To be a the best wife, mother, friend, and family member that I can  possibly be!

 Claire

1. To read so that I can read stories to Oliver and you and Daddy.
2. To get lots of stickers at school.

 Oliver

1. Truck.

 

 Here are just a few of my favorite people at work who make each day a blast!!!  I don't know what I would do without you guys!!

Me and my teamie!  

I hope everyone has a GREAT school year!!!!!!

Why Not?

So today Mark had about 4 seconds spare time and decided to start this project.....

Why not right??  There is nothing really going on.  Oh no, we are just starting back to school tomorrow and the madness of the school year will begin...no biggie.  But that is how we roll around here!!!!

Mark (sans beard) gettin' to work!

We have been talking about doing this  hallway since we moved in and there is no time like the present to rip down all the wall paper, skim coat the walls, paint them, and put up all new moldings. NO PROBLEM!!

It is going to look so nice when it is finished though!!  Then I can start my long awaited picture wall!!!!  My Aunt Pat had one when we were kids and I would walk up and down her hallway staring at the pictures every time we went there.  I always said when I had my own house that I would do my own picture wall for people to stare at.  And I will soon enough.

And of course, Claire couldn't wait to get right in there and help Daddy out!  Hope she knows how to skim coat the walls because we got A LOT of work to do :)

Kickin' It Preschool

Today was Claire's first official day of preschool.  She was soooo excited! She got a new back pack and she was ready to rock.  When Mark dropped her off there was a few tears (I am thinking more because today was the first day I had to wake the poor thing up at 6am) but she ended up doing GREAT!!  When Claire came home she told me that she learned sooo much today!  She told me that she learned to "equal".  When I asked her to tell me more about that she told me that she learned that 2+1=3 and 3+1=4 and 4+1=5 and 5+1=6.  I was so proud of her that she already got that pattern!!  Then she told me that she learned the Pledge To The Flag.  It was hilarious! She got most of it right (with a few minor errors, that were awesome)!  

Here is Claire with her new back pack! It looks soooo HUGE on her but she loves it!  I was so proud of her today.  She was so excited and eager to learn and she actually came home excited to share what she learned with us.  I hope that she always knows how proud of her I am and how amazing I really think she is!

The Chariot

The other day Mark bought a double running stroller so that he could take both of the kids on his runs with him. We call it "The Chariot" because it is so big!  The kids LOVE to go on runs with Daddy! 

Oliver got a new helmet today to make sure that his ride on "The Chariot" was a safe one.  He loved wearing his new helmet!

Claire is an old pro with the running stroller.  Click HERE to see her back in the day going running with Daddy!  That stroller was great but now we needed to upgrade to a stroller that had room for two.

First Hair Cut

Before we went on our trip I made sure to get Oliver's hair cut. His FIRST  hair cut! Claire didn't need a haircut until she was 3 years old! Oliver, on the other hand really needed one!

Here is the  front before. 

Here is the back before.

Side view.

 Another front view because he is just so stinking adorable.

Suited up, ready to get some hair cut!!

First cut! 

Oliver is not really sure how to feel about this!

Hey!  This isn't so bad!

"Hey Claire!  Can you grab me something to play with?"

"Sure buddy."

All done!  Thanks Auntie Shannon!!

So handsome!

Side view!

Then it was Claire's turn.  This is only her second haircut ever.  But, she LOVES the salon experience.

Here she is soooo relaxed.

Look at how long her hair is when it is straight!

 Almost done.

A little time under the dryer.

Thank Auntie Shannon for two awesome haircuts!!!

Just For Laughs

Just in case you needed a laugh.