Kate's First Day of Pre-K!

Kate's turn finally! First day of Pre-Kindergarten at Ward Parkway. So excited, "but a little nervous, too, Mom."  She requested, "This Girl is on Fire" by Alicia Keys for the drive to school song. She picked out her own dress, shoes and headband - all previously worn by big sister, Molly. 

Love her teachers this year! Mrs. Beck and Mrs. Waldrup (pictured). 

Have known them both for years! Hope they have a quote board ready . . .

So hard to leave - have a great day sweet Kate!

Last Few Summer Days with Kate

While Molly has been back in school, Kate and I caught up with some friends and had some Mommy/Kate time . . .

We met Charlee & Jack at the park for a little soccer . . .

Kate loves to sweep! Going to miss her sweeping the porch for me while she's at preschool!

One last lunch together before school starts . . .

Wishes in the fountain - 

Looking for butterflies . . .

Found one!

Dress up days - 

Kate - Riding a Big Kid Bike!

In an effort to not be overshadowed with all the hype of Cure' of Ars Back To School (her preschool doesn't start for another week), Kate decided tonight she wanted to ride her big sister's bike for the first time.

I was making dinner inside with Molly and Mike ran in and said to come out, that Kate had asked him if she could ride Molly's bike.

This girl is FEARLESS. She told us that she thought it would give her the same "feeling" as riding a horse, "Pretty close", she said after riding down our hill 10x in a row.

Molly's First Day of 2nd Grade!!!

Molly's first day of 2nd Grade!  She was so excited and was up and dressed bright and early! She chose "braids with bows", Mom! She picked out new turquoise Converse but they are still a little big, so wearing last year's shoes still. Turquoise is her very favorite color these days!

With "Lacey"

With her teacher, Mrs. Clayton

So many keychains on her backpack!

We could hardly wait to pick her up after school!!!!

Ice-cream to celebrate!

Little sis loves this tradition!

Twas' the Night Before 2nd Grade

Tomorrow is Molly's first day of 2nd Grade. She is SO excited to see her friends and catch up with everyone! Kate and I will certainly miss her - we've had such a fun summer, a little sad to see it ending - but so excited for Molly's big "sacarament" year this year!

Went up to check on her tonight and cover her and saw she has her uniform all ready to go as well as her doll dressed and ready with tennis shoes and backpack too. She asked Kate to teach "Lacey" school while she is gone tomorrow. 

 

Solar Eclipse From Our Backyard!

Back from Colorado just in time to catch the Solar Eclipse in our backyard! We made purple (lunar) milk to celebrate the "once in a lifetime" occasion!

This was our view - pretty amazing!

The coolest part was seeing how dark it got outside - all the streetlights came on, the cicadas got louder and the birds were freaking out!  So fun to experience together!

Last Night In Colorado

We drove back to Breckenridge for mass and dinner with the Provinos! We had missed the girls SO much - even though we were only gone 24 hours! Of course, they had a blast with their cousin while we were gone!  Here are a couple pix Sarah took of the fun they had while we were gone - 

Up to Peak 8 in the Gondola!

Love my sister! Check out the monkeys behind us-

So silly.

Driving home on Sunday . . . best family vacation yet!

So hard to come home!!!

Vail Excursion - Mike & Me ❤️

Friday late afternoon, Mike and I drove to Vail and left the girls with Mark & Sarah for the night. We stayed at one of my all time favorite hotels, the Sonnenalp and had such a romantic and fun get away together!  

We walked around and had drinks and appetizers and then a late dinner . . . 

Best part - we SLEPT IN!!! And found this adorable little French Patisserie for breakfast - we picked up macaroons for the girls to bring home too!

Mike motivated me into hiking to the very top of Vail mountain after breakfast. No big deal, just 5.3 miles and over 2000 feet in altitude climb up!

It was so fun though and took us about 2 hours to climb up -

Amazing views along the hike - 

We made it! It felt AMAZING and then we took the Gondola down!