Brindisi babes updates

My mom arrived this past tuesday to begin a 3 week stay with us!! Maren has taken to her almost instantly - such a relief!! - and of course the girls (and myself!) couldn't be happier! Danny leaves on tuesday to travel back to Dothan to attend his brother's wedding - one of the main reasons my mom came out - so I didn't have to be alone :) Ella began ballet again this week (her 2nd year) and she's begun her first year in our church choir. Layla was signed up for a gymnastics class but it was cancelled due to lack of registrants (boo!) so i'm trying to find another activity for her at the moment. I've begun teaching a sunday school class at church and joined the PTA at ella's school. MOPS will start up again next week and we are still attending group therapy with norah, just to help build up her confidence a bit more. i am officially removing the "stay at home" from my job description as a mom, because we seem to be going everywhere but home - but i like it that way :)

night at the museum

Tonight was another free night at our children's museum and this time Grayson came to play :)

my "not so baby" baby!

maren seems to be trying to do something new every day!

Ella

finished our second week of school! i'm definitely still re-defining our routine, but Ella is loving school! We had curriculum night this week and it was a great opportunity to hear from Ella's teacher (Mrs. Fishman) all they do during the day and what to expect the rest of the year. it's amazing to think what she'll be doing and everything she already does! we also attended our first PTA (i'm now a member) event - Bingo night!
ready for school today :)


oh i just love this little girl :)

sisters

hanging out at the American Girl store!

oh, layla!

Sunday Social

Last Sunday we had an ice cream social after sunday school to kick-off all our fall family programs! it was one of the hottest days of the summer!

War Eagle, Maren!

this is maren's first college football season! Let's hope it's a great one!

Waaaarrrrr Eagle, HEY!!

Purpleliscious

still excited on the second day :)

Ella goes to Kindergarten!

Wednesday was Ella's first day of school! She was so excited and did absolutely fabulous! She only goes for a half day, in the morning, and I think that's a good jumping off point for all of us :) She read her first word all on her own last week - "run"! She's becoming very familiar with letter sounds and is so anxious to read on her own, I have no doubt she'll be reading to me at night soon enough :) She can now even tie her own shoes - I know, not the biggest milestone - just something else she doesn't need me for! My mom has always told me that from the moment our children our born we are teaching them to be independent from us and I see it now more and more! I had a bit of a hard time with Ella starting school just because I have been with her everyday for the past 5 years(that's 1825 days), and it definitely feels weird not having her at home with me, but I've tried to remind myself that my job is far from being over! And I am sooooo blessed that she has become an independent, confident, and smart little girl!



wait, wait, come back . . and there she goes!

finding her hook and cubby


finding her desk - she loved seeing her name tag!

after we dropped her off, we were able to go to a "Cheerful Tearful Tea" - a reception for kindergarten parents - no tears there . . i waited until we got home :)

7 months!

Maren was 7 months last weekend and she began crawling this week! she's still working out all the kinks but she's definitely mobile now!

Ella's shadow

After Ella got her hair cut, Layla decided she wanted hers but as well. It was Layla's first time in a salon - she loved it! Ella wasn't too happy about Layla's decision!

Splish Splash!

Notice anything about these pix?!? today was the FIRST time layla got in the pool, on her own, and swam around with danny & ella! yay for layla!!!!!!