YEAH! First Day of School!

Today was a very big day for us! It was the first day of Preschool for William and the first day of Kindergarden for Maddie. I can hardly believe that my babies are growing up so fast. For whatever reason, I'm feeling at a loss for words right now. I can tell you that I was a little emotional dropping the kids off this morning and SO excited to go pick them up at 3:00. I started my new schedule with work as well. Lots of changes in the Ciriza household. Good changes. Exciting changes. A new chapter in our lives. I'm so excited for all of the fun things they are going to do at school and all of the new things they are going to learn. I think it's going to be very good. Maddie said she "absolutely loved kindergarden" and William jumped into Preschool like a pro. He didn't even blink an eye when Mike and I gave him hugs and kisses and left him with all the children. We'll see how tomorrow goes.... :)

Pretend City

I decided to take the day off today. With the kids starting school next week, I'm feeling very...I don't know...emotional about it all and I just wanted to spend the day with them. We had a busy day. We went to a make-up swim lesson in the morning, went to get Maddie's hair cut at Rainbow Kids, and than to Norma's house to bring her the baby gift we got her. After visiting for awhile and holding baby Richard, we headed to "Pretend City" in Irvine. This place was awesome and a ton of fun for Maddie and William. They have all these mini sized places in a city... Post Office, Gas Station, Grocery Store, Doctors Office, Farm, Fire Station, and more. It's all interactive play and they loved it. Maddie loved the stage! When I asked her what her favorite thing was, she said dressing up and performing on stage. She's not dressed up in this photo but she had a sweet getup on a bit later.
The Farm was a pretty big hit too. It was super cute. They had a ton of fruits and vegetables and the kids got to dig in the pretend dirt and plant things.
The Grocery Store was a favorite as well...
Maddie, the Postal worker...

And of course William loved playing with the trucks. We'll definitely be making a trip back to Pretend City. It was a hit. I had to drag the kids out. I was exhausted!

The Bubba's

Sunday evening we went over to the "Bubba's" for dinner. Maddie and William call their baby cousin Lucas the "Bubba's". He is SO cute and they love him SO much! We all do! It's hard to believe he is almost ONE. He's crawling like a champ, eating like a champ and his little personality is adorable. Fun, fun.

Huntington Beach Day!

The end of summer is quickly nearing so we decided to get in a beach day before it's too late. We packed up the car after soccer on Saturday morning and headed down to Huntington Beach. We had our beach chairs, umbrella, towels, sunscreen, sand pails, shovels and cooler with drinks. We snatched up a great parking spot and spent the afternoon playing in the ocean and building sand castles. I can't think of a better way to spend a summer weekend afternoon! Bliss.

Big Surprise!

Yesterday morning we got a BIG surprise! Norma, our Nanny who has been with our family for 4 years, texted me that she wouldn't be able to make it because she was having labor pains and was going to the hospital. Her baby wasn't due for another 4 weeks but he, like William, decided he wanted to come early! I managed to get Sonja's nanny to come for the day so I went to work thinking perhaps it was just a false alarm. I texted Norma on my late lunch break to see if everything was ok and to let her know I was thinking about her and she responds by saying she just had her baby boy and sent a picture of minutes old baby Richard! I was surprised and moved... I started crying in the middle of TJ Maxx! We just LOVE Norma so much and I was so happy for her and just emotional about it all. She's like part of our family. I'm happy but sad because I feel like it's the end of an "era". She was kind enough to let us come see her last night at the hospital. Maddie and Wil loved seeing the new baby. Baby Richard was 6 lbs, 1 oz and 19 inch long. He is adorable! Norma looked fantastic too. Baby Richard and proud Big Sister Diana.
What a precious little bundle. Truly a gift from God! Congratulations Norma!

The Circus

I'm blogging a bit out of order because I "lost" these pictures in my camara for awhile. We went to the Circus again this year with our good friends and neighbors. Thanks to Mike's previous employer MillerCoors, we got a suite for a Sunday evening performance and it was a great show. The kids all LOVED it. They also loved hanging out with their friends, eating chicken strips and potato wedges and of course, the ice cream sundae bar to top it off. Good times.

This is William's good little buddy Gavin who lives across the street. They have really gotten to be good friends. They play so cute together. I just listening to them in their little boy voices... so cute!

Maddie and Jordyn...best of friends.

The OC Fair!

We hit the Orange County Fair on Thursday evening with the whole family. The kids and I headed down with Grandma around 4:00 and dad met up with us after work. Maddie and William were so excited as we parked the car and they saw the looming rides and excitement ahead. We headed straight to the rides. Maddie and I went on the "Crazy Coaster" while William gobbled up a hot dog with Grandma and we hit up the kiddie rides later in the night.

Dad worked hard to win some prizes for the kids. The games are such a rip off!
William wanted to help... I love the way William looks at Mike. He looks at him with such admiration ALL the time. It's so cute.
FINALLY... Mikos found success with the balloon popping game. Prizes for both. Maddie picked out the stuffed 100 dollar bill (should we be worried?) and Wil got a blue platapous. Maddie's has been sleeping with her "dollar" ever since.
William was tall enough to ride the kiddie rides by himself. He met the 36" inch min...
Maddie loved the kiddie bumper cars. Wil, on the other hand, had some difficulty pushing the gas pedal and steering at the same time and sat there yelling at us that he couldn't do it. So sad we couldn't help him. After this ride, it was time to go. We really had a great time but I have to say, it was tiring! So many people, such excitement and so loud... we were all exhausted by the time we got home at 9:30. Very fun night though and can't wait to go again next year.