moving on...

orum just got into loyola law school...YEAH!

he was in new orleans for the enitre month of june attending an admissions program, and all his hard work paid off. he was in the top 10 percent of his class and made it in for fall, so we're moving in 2 weeks.

the kids are excited to move, well renee is and elijah just follows her lead. she only has a few requests 1.that we live in a pink house--suprisingly, there are plenty of those 2. we go to the aquarium and 3. go to the zoo. i'm sure we can handle the last two with no problems, but we're not quite sure about the first one!

we're back...

well, we were last week...following my pattern of late-i'm posting events a few days delayed.






we took another little trip down to the beach, courtesy of melanie again, and had some more fun in the sun! i was so excieted to go again because the kids were asking almost daily to go back! they play "beach" at least every other day. they get dressed up in their swimsuits and go swim in the ocean--our bed is the water and the pillows are the sand! their imaginations have really kicked in! it just so happens that elijah's power wheels jeep is usually parked in front of the fireplace in our bedroom. so they drive their in his ride. it's funny to hear...they play the "are we there yet" game between the two of them...after several "no, we're not there yets" they finally arrive, which is interesting since they actually don't do that on our road trips, but it sure is cute to hear!

when we arrived the kids acted as if they were veterans (this was only their second trip to the beach ever). they went right to work when they hit the sand--they collected sea shells, dug a sand pool (with a little help from daddy--even though they were frequently working against him), and even ventured out to the sandbar! it was nice to actually get in the water this time around! they even got really brave in the pool--especially elijah! he previously, didn't like the feeling of floating in the water and hung out on the stairs the last trip, but after an hour was jumping right in with only his little wings on his arms. he really wanted to "swim like renee" so he just decided he could do it!

and the best news, at least for renee, baby cinderella was rescued! can you believe that she had been hanging out under the palm tree since we left in may!? i guess she knew we were coming--and even better luck, we found her the day before her birthday! who knew!? and since she is obsesed with birthday parties, we had one for her. she supposedly turned 2...hmmm? renee was ecstatic! she carried that baby around the entire trip! although somehow she didn't make a single shot, but she swam in the ocean, dug in the sand, and swam in the pool too. our family is complete again! too bad i couldn't get a good picture of them together looking at the camera...oh well, better luck next time.

oh, i almost forgot...we did manage to loose something else at the beach...the "pa-pa" YEAH! fingers crossed that elijah doesn't end up with coxsacie or a cast within the next few weeks since that's how he got it back the first 2 times we took it away! he still misses it, but is handling it well. he asks for it everytime he gets upset or is very sleepy--he's 2 he can survive!

what you never want to wake up to...

"mommy, i have poopoo on my foot" -elijah

so i've been cleaning poop for a while, but on the foot is not a good sign. he walked from somewhere! thank goodness it wasn't as bad as i initally imagined and that besides a few rugs, the entire house has hardwood floors! after a month-long strike of not wearing pajamas, elijah has slept in pajamas without stripping for 2 consecutive nights. the pajamas caused the mess, but since it was minimal i will stop complaining. but waking up to that phrase only means that the mess will most likely continue...

renee also took it upon herself to sleep in panties without telling me--yes she has been potty trained since she was 21 months, but when you sleep 12-14 hours a night and go to bed with a cup of water by your head you still need a pull-up. well, she woke up soon after the first mess was cleaned up to say that her bed was very wet...her bedding had all been washed 2 days ago, due to a full, leaky pull-up. so back into the washer it goes...only this time she had a daycare in her bed, so hopefully all the baby dolls will come out ok too!

don't worry it doesn't end there--as i was taking the bedding to the washer, i heard elijah say, "tee tee" and was walking to the bathroom. i went to supervise, only to find that he was emptying the minature bathtub from renee's doll house that he had peed in! thank goodness again for hardwood floors and easy clean up! i'm hoping that it ends here, but if anyone is in the mood to get their hands dirty feel free to join us!

hey mo...look what i did!

so i know it's not the best layout ever, but i did it! i finally started scrapbooking elijah's pictures-he is 2 1/2...it's about time! i've been so terrified of making boy pages that i never started...i took a cue from melanie and just used some picutures that i already had printed (no pressure to start from day 1!) i was at her house today and was so envious of the 11 layouts she had made in the past few days, so i came home put the kids to bed and went to work! it actually wasn't as bad as i thought it would be! more pages to come for that little baby!

another rectial!

Renee had another recital a few weeks ago (just a little late getting it posted) and she danced so well and had so much fun! Their class has grown up a lot in one year! Renee once again had some major "leader" responisbilites...she had to lead her half of the class around in a circle in the middle of their ballet dance and off the stage too. She, of course, was "the cute little girl on the end!" (what i always wanted to be, but instead was the tall girl in the middle...well, it doesn help that she started dancing early and is a year younger that the other girls in her class...otherwise that might not have been the case)

Here she is dancing away with her partner at dress rehearsal during their tap dance...they danced to Alvin & the Chipmunks singing, "funky town." notice her cute little bun! For ballet they danced to a Cinderella song, and of course she loved that! She even got to wear a little tiara!

Renee is known for being VERY possesive of "her number" (they each dance on a certain number on the stage). Last year she was number 14--even being the youngest in the class she was always the first to find her number when it was time. Well during summer dance last year and the beginning of this year...she still thought that she should be on 14 at all times! There were even reported pushings of other little girls to protect her number. She eventually accepted the fact that she could not dance on 14 this year...the class was larger and she was moved to the other end. Her number this year was 0.

Well, her number protection just shifted...during the finale..when all the dancers in the show come out class by class do a little dance, bow, and then back up for the next class to come out. She did her dance, bowed, and backed up, but when she did there was a "big girl" on her number. (each class has a helper on each end to help them find their spots...there are a lot of girls on the stage) well, she had a little debate right on stage for her number! she was not going to dance unless it was on 0! it was quite funny!