Olivia's First Day of School!
What a bitter-sweet day for me, Olivia is off to school! The past 3 years with her have gone so fast, I can not believe that we are now in school with her too. She has been so excited to go, and was more than ready this morning, too bad school wasn't until the afternoon!! She did great, I guess she got a little sad (she said she missed me, not sure if this is true or not but I sure missed her!) during gym time, but came around a short time later. This evening however has been a LONG one, Joseph is the only one who got a nap today!!! Olivia will be going to bed early, but she is looking forward to going back to school on Thursday.
Olivia enjoying her breakfast with her flowers from Daddy.

Olivia standing outside her school

Walking down the hall to her classroom, she looks so small...

Hanging up her backpack and on her way into class.

Eileen's first day of Kindergarten!

Yesterday was Eileen's first day at Shady Lane Elementary. We walked her over and she joined all of the other kindergartners on the playground before going in without a problem. She LOVES kindergarten and has asked me already at least a hundred times when she can go all day! She is in such a hurry to grow up and I am doing my best to slow time down, right now we just have to find the right balance that will be the best for her.

Eileen eating her breakfast by the flowers Daddy got her for her first day. She was up bright and early (before me or Bryan!), ready to start her new school year. When I came down to get my coffee (thinking I would have a few minutes of quiet before the day started) she greeted me and told me that she had been up for a LONG time, had cleaned the playroom and opened all the shades!!

Standing in front of her new school

On her way in, backpack on and ready to go.

Papa's Garden Party
On Saturday we went down to Chicago for a party at "Great-Papa's" house. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins, and all the good food and drink! It was wonderful to see everyone, as it doesn't happen too often anymore.
Chatting under the tent

Papa and his children, "Go Schultz!"

Four generations of our family

Uncle Jack (a Papa in training) getting the kids their drinks

Happy Birthday Daddy!
On Sunday Bryan turned 34! We celebrated all weekend though (we got off easy Bryan's cousin Mary Jo celebrates the entire month, sounds like another Matoka!). We got a baby sitter for Saturday night so Bryan and I could go out for dinner, after driving around in the rain and one bad stop we ended up at Jerry's, it was great!
Bryan got the ribs.
After dinner we met up with friends for drinks and we got home right when we told the sitter we would be (usually we are a few hours early!). The best part is all the kids were sleeping and were good for her!

On Sunday after a quick shopping trip we decided to stop by Grandma and Grandpa's house to see the floor Bryan put in. We ended up staying for dinner and had a lovely afternoon with them. When we came home we had just enough time for cake and opening gifts.
Singing Happy Birthday, Joseph even joined in the song!

Joseph really liked the carrot cake and wanted more!

After cake the girls each read Daddy a book before bed, what a wonderful end to a special day celebrating a wonderful husband, dad, and friend. Happy Birthday Bryan, I hope 34 is full of happy days!

Summer is coming to an end...

With the start of school quickly approaching and all the rain we are having, most of our summer activities are done (which gives me time to update!).

T-Ball ended a few weeks ago with a final game. Eileen has had the most wonderful experience with t-ball and was so disappointed when it was over, we have played quite a few game in the yard since!
Eileen getting some positive reinforcement from Coach Carol after getting on first base.

Off and running!

Eileen playing first, she had one amazing catch (other parents were clapping too!), but of course I didn't get a picture of that!

After the game we had to come home and cool off, it has been so hot at times this summer!
The girls got a water hop scotch for their birthday, they had so much fun playing with it...until it broke after only two uses-stupid Disney!

I love this picture of Joseph, he is walking with such determination!

Eileen has finally gotten the hang of the slip and slide, now if she just weighed a bit more she could make it all the way to the end!


Swimming lessons have also come to an end for summer.
Olivia is getting ready to go down the slide.

Olivia showing off her certificate of completion and her treat!

Eileen getting ready to swim to Daddy, with NO NOODLE on!

Eileen showing off her certificate of completion (she can now take swim lessons with out a parent in the pool!), and of course her treat!

Looks like it will end up being one of our final trips to the park this summer
Eileen was so excited to show me that she can do the "Monkey Rings" all by herself!

Olivia climbing up to the play set

While we were at the big kid playground Joseph had to pretty much just walk around, only a short time later we went over to the little playground so he could climb too!

Olivia showing off some of her climbing skills (this is what spider looks like now! Not much like the old metal one at John Muir!).

One of our MOMS activities this summer was a story hour at Pottery Barn Kids, we got lucky and we got to see "Rock and Roll Dad"!
Eileen and Olivia enjoying the Rock and Roll Dad show

Joseph Rocking out to the live performance!

Back to School Shopping!
Auntie Krista and Grandma took the girls shopping for back to school clothes (and a toy!). The girls were so excited for their big girl shopping trip, we talked quite a few times about the rules and expectations of going on an outing with out Mom or Dad, we can only hope they were good since none of these lovely ladies was going to give me a straight answer! The girls got some great outfits (WAY too generous Auntie and Grandma!), in fact they were so excited they invited our neighbors over to show off their new clothes! I will have to post some shots of the girls showing off their new outfits!
Getting ready to go, they had their purse, water, snack, and money-all set!

Finishing up our summer with back to school hair cuts.
We went to an adorable kids salon in the falls, the girls got to sit in a car, watch Dora, and after the cut they got a style, a hair clip, and glitter!
Eileen was very proud of her new style!

Olivia loved getting the Mango Mouse in her hair!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update our summer, we are on our last week of summer so we have been cramming in as much fun as possible plus all of the back to school shopping!