Daycare BBQ

We spent our evening at Cathy's house for the Annual Daycare BBQ. It's always a fun night as it gives the parents who only see each other in passing a chance to actually get to know each other...although...for the most part, I still know most of the parents as "Benji's Dad" and "Isabella's Mom". I've never been that good with names...

Emilia and Molly

We had a blast watching the kids interact and I, of course, snapped tons of pictures. It's so interesting to see how Emilia acts around the friends she sees everyday versus the friends she only sees on play dates. She is so much more brave and animated and silly with her daycare friends. There is no "warm up" time needed at Cathy's - she is completely in her element there!

Cheese!

Emilia sat at the kids picnic table with her friends while Jeff and I sat with some of the other parents at a big table. She ate all the food on her plate and then reached over and ate Tommy's cantaloupe :) Cathy reiterated how lucky we are to have such a good eater...and then we all discussed how lucky Emilia is to have such a great metabolism!

Benji, Chiara, Isabella, Angelina, Emilia, Thomas

Emilia and Tommy

After the meal, Cathy presented Molly with her Memory Book - a photo book full of pictures capturing the 5 years she spent growing up at daycare. Cathy always gets chocked up when she presents these books and talks about the memories she has with the child that is "graduating" to kindergarten. It's a happy and sad time...I can't imagine all the little lives she has seen come and go through her daycare in 25 years...wow. Thankfully, Emilia has another 3 years at Cathy's before she is off to school...somehow, though...3 years doesn't seem so far off. Yikes.

Molly's Memory Book

10 Year Reunion Weekend

We headed home to Marshfield this weekend for my 10 year high school reunion. I knew there wasn't going to be a huge turnout, but I was really excited to see the friends that I knew were going to be there :)

On Saturday afternoon, I invited over some former classmates and their kids for a "pre party play date." It was so fun to see the cute little faces we talk about and click through picture after picture of on Facebook. And it was, of course, great to see the mom's of these little cuties too! The kids spent their time playing with some of my old toys that are finding a new life at Grandma's house while the mom's chatted and looked upon our little cuties all playing together. It's hard to believe what kind of changes have occurred in our life over the past 10 years. WOW. We enjoyed lunch together and took a bunch of pics before the play date was over.

Later that night was the actual MHS Class of 1999 Reunion. It was a really small gathering of classmates but, on the bright side, we had AMPLE time to talk to people :) Hopefully we'll have a better turnout in another 10 years...

The next day, my mom and Emilia and I headed over to the Fall Festival at the park. Emilia enjoyed a pony ride and some quality time on the swing with Mama :)

It was a great weekend home, as always! Emilia was so busy having fun on Sunday she skipped a nap and powered through...until we hit the car...she was asleep 15 miles out of town.

Baby's Birthday

As promised, we had a special little birthday party this weekend for "Baby." It was a quaint gathering...just Baby, Emilia and Mommy. We sang Happy Birthday, first to Grandpa (even though he wasn't there) and then to Baby. Baby opened some little presents and then Emilia and I ate our pretend cake.

Jeff missed out on the party at home because he was at the first Gopher home game. Emilia and I enjoyed the game too - sitting on the couch cheering for every touchdown! Emilia kept saying, "He got knocked down!" I would say, "Yes he did!" and laugh. She was just as enthusiastic as I was, clapping and laughing and shouting, "GO Gophers!!" Next up...teaching her the rouser!!

Labor Day on the Lake

We spent the Labor Day weekend soaking up every last bit of summer that we could. It was a fun and relaxing time with family, friends, good food, good laughs and a celebration of Pam's 60th birthday :)

We enjoyed time playing in the sand and water, a bonfire and trips up and down the stairs to the lake...well, some of us enjoyed the stairs more than others. Emilia insisted on walking up and down every last step all weekend while counting them - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13...and repeat...and repeat again and again...