Summer 2013

We know.  We know.

We didn't get an update done before school started and now here it is, almost the end of September and we both have been in the full swing of school for a few weeks now (and we both woke up with colds this morning to prove it).

Here is what we've decide to do... we will update you know on our summer and the start of school.  But, (you knew there had to be a "but" in here...) we are going to skip the update on Europe.  We are working hard on an online scrapbook and will post it here once it is done.  So we will begin our update from after our return and readjustment to the change of time zones.

Ok.  Here we go... SUMMER 2013:

Sienna turned 4 on July 1st (yep, that was while we were in Spain) so we celebrated it with a birthday party with her friends.  It was a Doc McStuffins party (the Disney Junior cartoon).

After the cake and ice cream she got to open her birthday gifts.  The last gift was a BIG surprise.

Ta Da... a Pinkalicious bicycle!  (Pinkalicious is a national best seller children's book character who LOVES pink)

After the party, the Birthday Girl got in some more ride time on her new bike... this time with Baby!

Having a birthday when you are a kid means a trip to the doctor for a Well child Check.  Sienna had hers and got 4 shots and a big hug from Big Brother.

Mom and Dad celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary.  Crazy, but Mom sure was excited about getting our newest addition to the family.  We got to name it and we went with Sienna's name of Tracker.

Can't be summer around here without having a summer fever.  Logan came down with a high fever that lasted for about a week.  No other symptoms, just fever.  Sienna was more than happy to keep him company in watching cartoons and movies.

After kicking the fever it was back to getting outdoors and enjoying the beautiful, warm summer.  We met up with many friends for playdates.  Among our most favorite is our newest little buddy, Kaden (Ethan & Tristan's little brother).  We met up with them at a new park and Sienna completed her hiking look with Ethan's hat to keep the sun out of her eyes!

Apparently we were not the only ones with a travel bug to go to Europe.  A few of the families from Logan's Flag Football team exchanged Dollars for Euros as the flag football season came to a close.  The team got together one last time at the end of July to celebrate their season and get trophies to help keep the memories.  Logan's coaches pointed out how crazy good Logan was at snagging flags off the opponents!

Before we knew it, a National Holiday was upon us!  Yup, Daddy's birthday!!!!  We both made him something... Sienna made different things out of playdough and Logan drew a book about him and Dad taking flying together to Hawaii (sssshhhh... don't tell anyone we have our next trip booked!  We're going to Hawaii).

We made him a cookie cake.

And took a crazy family picture.

Then gave him the best gift of all.

We started swim lessons.  Sienna started taking them at the pool Logan first started learning to swim.  It is a better pool for her -- less intimidating.  She REALLY does not like getting her face wet.  She does everything to avoid it and is very unhappy when water does splash her face.  Forget getting her head in the water.  It's going to take lots of pool time... so SWIM LESSONS... here comes Sienna!

Mid-August brings Soccer.  Logan is on a more local soccer team this year (weird not to be playing with Tristan) and guess what?!  Dad is the Assistant Coach!!!! Logan's friend Oliver is on the team, all the other boys goes to different schools and will be new friends by the end of the season.  Dad has his work cut out for him with this group of boys (and the dirt field we practice on!) but he's up for the challenge.

We took advantage of a day off for Dad and the beautiful weather we were having this summer and checked out a hike/beach that was new for us.  Here we are at the start of the hike, ready to go! 

Logan wrote down landmarks on our hike down and checked off each one as we walked back up.

Mom's two favorite pictures that she took on the hike.

Logan practiced his rock throwing while Dad helped Sienna look for rocks and shells.

A cool thing about this beach are the trains that go by behind us! 

A typical sunny day in the backyard. 

The start of school is almost here!  We all got to go checkout Logan's new 2nd Grade classroom and meet his teacher a few days before the first day of school.  His best friend, Logan P. is in his class and so is Oliver and a few other friends from 1st grade... and we can already tell he will be making some new friends this year.  We found his desk.

Haircuts.  Everyone always needs a haircut before school starts!  Sienna needed/wanted a good chopping.  

Logan got some new furniture in his room to help organize his toys and such.  He even got a desk!

After a Labor Day Weekend that flew by, it was time for Logan's 1st day of 2nd Grade.  Yeah, he thinks this is going to be a great year.

Logan completed his first week of school and celebrated it with his first soccer game of the season.  Look for the orange socks... that's Logan.

Sienna said good-bye to her toddler bed.  We are going to give it our baby cousin that will be born at the end of this year.  It is time for a big girl bed.  This is Sienna's last night in her toddler (was also our baby crib) bed.

After a night on the floor, Sienna's new bed was ready to be slept in.  Wait, what is Dad doing under her bed?!

Then it was Sienna's turn to go to school.  Her first day of Pre-K was finally here!  Mom stays and "works" on Mondays and Sienna gets dropped off on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  There are 23 kids in her class but it sure is going to be a lot of fun this year.

One of here most favorite things about PreK is going to school with her two best friends:  Mikey and Bella

Just because school has started doesn't mean summer is over!  Mom and Sienna took advantage of the beautiful, almost hot weather and went to the beach while Logan was being a good 2nd grader (don't feel too bad for him, he got to have lunch with his class outside on the super warm days!).

Monday - Friday Logan is in school (learning what 2nd graders learn) and gets out a few hours early on Wednesdays for the new Early Release Days the school district has started this year.  He has soccer practice Tuesday & Thursday evenings and games on Saturdays.  Sienna has swim lessons Monday & Wednesdays then goes from the pool to preschool (with lunch in the car) and then has a final school day on Thursday.  Tuesdays and Fridays for Sienna will be fun excursions with Mom and getting stuff done around the house. 

It really was a great summer and a good start to the school year.  Now we just need to kick these colds to the curb so we can keep having fun when we aren't having fun & learning in school.  We've got some fun things planned for the fall and of course there is a big time of year that just can't get here soon enough for Sienna ---- Christmas!  If she could find an advent calendar that starts in October, I think she would find a way to own it.

We really hope to not only get our Europe trip pictures put together in a way to share with you all, but also hope that we can keep stealing the computer away from Mom so that we can post updates on here sooner than months after the events happen.

~ Logan & Sienna