Make Your Own Pizza Night!

Today I was at the grocery and I saw individual sized pizza crusts.  I always see them and think "someday we'll actually do that, but I don't have time".  I had been trying to think of something to do with the kids tonight, so I decided to make time to make pizza!  We got individual sized pizzas so each kid could have and make their own.  To get started, we took some pictures of my helpers!  They were being super silly and loving so we had to capture it.

Here are our pizzas waiting for the oven to heat up the rest of the way.  Obviously I helped them, but they spread the sauce and sprinkled the cheese by themselves.

This is her saying "I want PIZZA!"

And......the finished product!  They did good!  And they tasted pretty amazing...

Back to School

 This week was our first week back to school!  The kids were excited to meet their teachers last week and see their classrooms.  This year, Finnegan is in the Elephant Room and Lorelai is in the Zebra room.  They both did really well at orientation and were ready for school on Monday.  That is...until Monday morning came.  Finnegan started getting nervous and said he didn't think he wanted to go to school this year.  Of course I told him that isn't an option and he would have fun.  But he still cried and got really scared as Brandon dropped him off in his room.  He sobbed and begged us not to leave.  Lorelai was quite the opposite.  She started getting more and more excited with every step toward her room.  She got down and ran right into her class.  She was exploring the toys and puzzles and books and didn't even notice me slip out the door.  No tears whatsoever.

By the time we picked them up at the end of the day (well, at the end of 3 hours), they were both having a lot of fun.  Finnegan's best friend from last year (Audrey) is in his class again this year.  He knew quite a few kids and had a great day.  When we asked him about school he said "I want to go back tomorrow!"  Lorelai had fun but we didn't get much out of her about school.  She had some separation anxiety the next two mornings but her teachers said it was short lived and she did really well.  Overall, our first week of school was a success!  We celebrated the end of the week with a trip to Orange Leaf for some after school frozen yogurt.  Good week!

Finnegan's friend Audrey.

Taking a first day of school picture at school.  He was a little upset so they let him have his Mommy Bunny.

Lorelai just hanging out with a friend at school.

Let Summer Begin!

Today is the first full day of summer vacation for Finnegan!  My goal is to plan as many fun activities this summer for the kids to do.  I found a few lists of ideas online and will try to do as many as I can!  Today's activity is "make a fort".  

As you can tell, they are having fun with the tent.  They both just like to sit in there and talk, play with toys, pretend to read, fight...  It seems to be a good, non-television, non-iPad activity for them to do while I work!  Summer Fun Day #1 is a success!

Zoo Fun!

I had been planning to take the kids to the zoo sometime before school let out and we were running out of time.  So I asked GG to come with us and we all drove up for a fun filled day of animal exploration.  Here they are, ready to go in!

This was the first animal we saw.  She was great all day, but she did not like getting back in the stroller after we let her out to see the animals each time.

Finnegan brought is iPod Touch and he took pictures of the animals at every exhibit.  Here he is taking pictures of the monkeys.

How could you not love that face?!

Lorelai looks like she is watching to see when I'm not paying attention...

...and now she is making her break for it!

A big alligator.  Finn was excited.  He was talking about that the whole day.

Taking more pictures!

Penguins!  One jumped in and we got to watch it swim around.  They loved it...well...I loved it more!

Finn taking pictures of penguins.

Ready for nap!  About to leave the zoo with her giant stuffed giraffe.  We had a great day!

Catfish and Feeding the Fish

It's been awhile since I've done a post so I'll catch up on some pictures over the past two weeks.  Lorelai went to her two year check up on May 1st.  She is developing right on track and the doctor loved her!  She looked adorable in one of her birthday outfits (from Monteia and Lewis).

One day we looked out on our porch and there was cat sitting there.  It stayed all day and took a nap on our patio.  Finnegan decided it was our cat now and we needed to feed it.  He named it "Catfish".  I have no clue where this kid gets this stuff!

Lorelai playing with Catfish.

That week I took the kids to feed the ducks at Joseph Beth.  It was fun to see the little baby ducks that had just hatched.  

Giving his sister a kiss!

We couldn't find her and this is where she had decided to hide.

Finnegan went to Ohio ahead of us with Grandma Teena and GG so we decided to take Lorelai out for a fun night with just the three of us.  We got ice cream at DQ, went to Toys R Us and spent her birthday money and then came home to read and play.  She LOVED the full attention from Mommy and Daddy.

Playing with her new toys.  Rapunzel and Flynn Rider from Tangled.