Isaac's First Day of School

This post is a little out of order, since the beach trip actually came first, but there are too many great pictures for me to do that blog quickly, so first day of school goes first! Before school started, we begrudgingly heeded the grandmothers' pleas to cut Isaac's hair. He was a good sport about it (with a little help from a lollipop bribe and the ipad), and while I miss his goldilocks, I think he still looks adorable.

Isaac was supposed to miss his first day because we planned to be in the Outer Banks, but thanks to a mandatory evacuation courtesy of Hurricane Irene, we cut our vacation a couple of days short, and he made it to school for the first day. The early childhood grades started half the class on Thursday and half on Friday, so there were only 7 kids there. He was both apprehensive and excited, but he looked super-cute in his yellow and navy uniform. Cesi came to watch Caitlin so Bill and I could take him together in honor of the momentous occasion. Isaac's new school, the Tyler School, is pre-school through 5th grade, so it is huge (especially when seen through his eyes) and there are big kids running around along side of the little kids. A bit overwhelming for all of us, but he was a good sport and carried his backpack and walked directly into Ms. Rodriguez's classroom and found his cubby. He sat down at the table to eat his breakfast sandwich and apple - both breakfast and lunch are provided FREE at Tyler by a company called Revolution Foods which specializes in organic and whole grain foods (they are a partner of Whole Foods) --could we be luckier?? He started getting weepy at this point realizing we were leaving, but Ms. Rodriguez held out her arms for a hug and he went right to her, which made me feel a lot better. When we left, both he and I were crying.

I waited eagerly, counting the hours until 3:15. I'm so spoiled with constant updates and pictures from Cesi, that going the whole day without knowing what he was doing or whether he was having fun was really tough! I arrived at his classroom and he greeted me with an excited "Hi Mommy!" and seemed to be happy. I asked how his day was, he said good. I asked whether Ms. Rodriguez was nice and he said "Very Nice". We played on the Tyler playground for a little while and then met Lusa for celebratory cupcakes (she started at a different school, unfortunately she didn't get into Tyler). The two hadn't seen each other in over a week, and after spotting each other a block away, they both screamed and ran toward each other laughing. I caught their embrace with the camera, and they proceeded to giggle and scream excitedly, running hand-in-hand to the cupcake store and having a blast and making a mess with cupcakes.

Here are a couple of pictures from today, day 2 at school. He was a little hesitant and cried a little, but reassured me that he stopped as soon as I left. I think we'll have some issues convincing him that he has to go back every day, but he loves the playground and seems to enjoy it once he's there. Definitely a change from having Cesi or me with him and getting to do whatever he wants every day. The first picture is of his classroom through the window (I tried to spy on him during circle time at the end of the day, but he saw me almost immediately and screamed my name repeatedly until I had to duck into the room and grab him) and the second is on the playground in his Tyler School t-shirt.

Birthday Party

Since they are still too young to demand their own party, we decided to throw a party for Isaac's third birthday and Caitlin's first birthday together halfway between their birthdays. When we heard that Lusa's party was going to be on the same day (she is 10 days older than Isaac) we decided to combine all three kids' parties into one. We threw the party at the Family Room, an indoor playroom on the Hill and invited our families and all of their friends and their parents, which turned out to be a lot of people! The venue was great though, and while it was a little chaotic, it wasn't too bad. The kids got their faces painted by the renowned Adondra, ran around and played on the equipment and toys, and chowed on Italian Store pizza, sandwiches, and Grandma Jo's delicious sausage and peppers. The adults enjoyed the chowing too.

Isaac saw a Sesame Street episode about birthdays that included a pinata so he had to have one at his birthday party. Cesi bought Isaac a train pinata and Lusa got a Lion pinata with the plan that they would each want their own. In reality, none of the kids could break open the Lion, so Bill had to do it, and they all hoarded enough candy and lost interest before the train!

Finally, we let the kids decorate their own cupcakes before singing to Isaac, Lusa and Caitlin. My mom and I were up until 1am baking homemade cupcakes, but the sprinkles and the icing were the big hits :)

Overall, everyone had a great time -- what will we do to top it next year??

In Memoriam

My wonderful grandfather passed away this week. He lived a charmed life, playing golf, tennis, and shuffleboard and riding his bike up until his late 80s. His 2 children, 6 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren will miss him terribly, but we all hope to leave such a legacy, including 67 years of happy marriage. We were blessed to have spent his 90th birthday with him in Florida in June, and I couldn't be more grateful that both of Isaac and Caitlin knew him. These are some pictures from the last few years of him and the family, including him playing the violin as each of his granddaughters walked down the aisle.