School Pics

Well we had school pics this last Wednesday and let me just say it was a huge success. Last year, Van's first year, he was miserable. He screamed during the whole group session and we couldn't barely get him to look at the camera or stop eating his shirt during his individual time. But this year...oh yeah, check out the pic below...seriously, how handsome is this little boy? I mean really, I'm not sure who he looks like more or if he looks like somebody specific in our families, but really he is so handsome, so clean cut. He was so good, didn't touch his hair after we did it and even managed to keep his clothes really clean until after the pictures. Yippeee!!!
And as for Ava, yep she's always included. Ava isn't technically an "enrolled student". However, she does go by "the tornado that comes with Van every Tuesday" and therefore gets a school picture too. This is actually pretty good for her. She's smiling and Kristen, our photographer, managed to capture a pic in between Ava's crazy tree climbing antics. Pretty little girl...oh how we love her.
And just so you can see all of the kids at Van's school this year, here's a group shot. Van was having so much fun. All the kids were smiling then Kristen said "make a silly face"...and if you notice, they almost all make the same face....love it!!

Hope you love looking at my kids as much as I do. :)

B

Trick or Treat....

Well I'm finally back. I know its been a long time but as I always say...we've been busy. But, honestly when I think about what we've been busy with I can't really nail one thing down. It seems like weeks, months just fly by and before we know it time has come and gone.

Well Van has been back at school for a few months now and is really thriving. He is having a great time and making good friends this year. We carpool with another little girl named Kiley who the kids adore. And I really mean adore. Ava is her stalker and everytime we get in the car I hear...Kiey Kiey...yep that's right...she doesn't say her L's very well. And Van, well he's just in love. He told me the other day that he wanted to make a picture saying Van loves Kiley...usually these pictures are Van loves Ava or Mommy or Daddy or some other family member....but this was a first. He said Kiley is his best friend because he really really likes her. Kiley is 5 so this will be his last year at school with her. However they will probably be going to the same elementary school but by that point she may just be too cool to acknowledge this little boy with a crush. She is very sweet though. Last week Van's class had their Halloween party at Irvine Park so I took some pics so you could see their costumes. Van had decided to be a fireman after his initial plan of elephant (for him) and peanut (for Ava) got spoiled by a lack of costumes...and Ava was a witch (thanks Jenny M). He was so excited this year...to dress up and to trick or treat. The kids had a great time at the party and the actual night of...getting candy. Here's some pics.

Ava, Kiley, and Van

Van was really excited to carve pumpkins this year too so Mike went all out. He even made some of these designs himself. I am quite proud. Hopefully you can see it well enough, but the pic below are the pumpkins that Mike made to say Van and Ava...pretty impressive. The other 2 are more pumpkins we carved just for fun.

Overall Halloween was a huge success for us this year. The kids had so much fun getting in costumes and walking around the neighborhood. After Van got what he thought was enough candy in his bucket, he was ready to go home. Really I think he only had a few pieces in his bucket by he has a short track mind...got candy, eat now, done walking. We had to convince him to keep going...just so he could get us some.

I can't wait for the coming holidays. With Van getting older he is so excited about all of this stuff...halloween, christmas, the easter bunny, etc. I swear this is more fun as a parent than as a child...its way more exciting the 2nd time around.

Hopefully I will be back before its been another couple of months.

B