Rose loves ramen!  She was chowing down the other night and Noelle said, “Mommy, don’t know want to remember what it looked like when your baby ate ramen?”  i.e. go get the camera.  It was too funny!  Noelle was really enjoying her!

Now we’ve got it documented, thanks to Noelle… sweet baby Rose and her love for ramen!  Love you, baby girl!

Malia, Anna Kate, and Avery… this was the best I could get with action everywhere!  🙂

We had a Pump It Up back to school party for junior PTA… the girls had a blast catching up with all of their friends (and I did too)!

Noelle is an old pro at the first day of school thing!  She got up and got right back into her morning routine.  She said, “I can’t believe I’m already in the first grade!” From the moment she woke up, she couldn’t have been more excited!

This is her arriving at school and getting situated next to her desk buddy, Hanna.

I took one last picture of Noelle’s table before I left, and right then and there, our first daughter started the first grade!

Fast forward 8 hours, and the anticipation for this Mommy was building… my heart always gets so excited to see her walk off of the bus and into my arms! 

I made her a big snack, and she told me all about her day!  And as you can see by her face, it was awesome!!!

Anna Kate has never gotten up this early in her life!  She said, “Mommy, we can’t get up yet… the sun’s not even out!”  She was a little confused, but it didn’t take her long to realize it was about to be her turn to go to school too!

Here she is walking up to Mrs. Paula’s, and at this point she was still giggly and excited!  She gave Mrs. Paula a notepad where she’d been practicing her “A’s” and then I took this picture of them together… and then she ran to me and started crying.  She buried her head into my chest and was full-out crying.  I said, “Anna Kate, if you use your words, Mommy can help make it better.”  She said softly, “I just love you!”  It made me feel so special!  We’ve been together almost every single day for 3 1/2 years!  It was a big step for both of us.  I couldn’t stand it, and mid-day, I called in to get a report on how she was doing.  Mrs. Paula said she cried for about 5 minutes after I left and then had a “beautiful” day! 

She couldn’t stop talking about school once she got home… everything she did, everything she said, everyone she met, everything she ate, everything Mrs. Paula said, all of it!  Our girls are sleeping good this week! 

The golden cowboy was a huge hit with the girls!

Even Rose warmed up to him with the help of big sissy!

But they didn’t forget the party star!  The babies were getting sleepy and hungry… (hence the blankies and fingers in mouths, and Noelle was just being silly).  Once we sat down to eat, they perked right back up!

I love when Rose gets tired because she’s normally not a cuddler, so in this picture, Mike caught me in heaven!

And these two pictures of Noelle and Anna Kate are compliments of Mike too!  They sure do smile pretty for their daddy! 

Speaking of, here’s Mikey with his girls!

We got Poppa a swirl cake with a fishing theme.  It was delicious!!!

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Poppa… Happy birthday to you!”  Hope you had a great day, Poppa!  We love you!

We opened presents in the room so Rara could see the pictures and trickets the girls gave Poppa for his birthday… even though she was sick, she adored seeing the girls!

Rara gave Poppa a lovely shirt for his birthday… she’s so beautiful, inside and out!

Poppa and Rara went to the Gaylord for his birthday last weekend.  We met them up there on Saturday to swim and eat dinner… so sad, Rara got so sick, but we still enjoyed the weekend. 

The first thing we did was ride the trolley to the water park!

Then we swam all afternoon!  Rose is awesome when we do day trips and just goes with the flow (skips naps if needed)… it sure makes going places as a family do-able.

I love my little water babies!

As you can see, we had a great afternoon!!!  What a great start to Poppa’s birthday celebration!

The girls did a lot of dress-up (In this picture, Anna Kate was Dora holding Boots and Noelle was her mother), and we took some walks!

We played lots of Polly Pockets! (every time we get them out we discover new treasures since we bought them second hand)

And we even fed the fish/turtles in the pond one afternoon before naps!

This picture cracks me up!  This is real life right here!  We’ve got one last weekend to take the summer out with a splash, and I’ve got the perfect idea!

Here are the girls all dressed up for meet the teacher last night.  Rose was with Poppa and Rara last week, so if you missed seeing her around, that’s where she was, having a good time.  These girls love dolling up and going out!  Mike and I treasure our girls every day of our lives!  What a gift we’ve been given… and we’re doing our best to teach them and love them to the fullest!!!

Ava, Carson, Chloe, Noelle and Ta’Niyah were so excited to all be in the same class!!!

Hanna and Noelle are desk buddies!  Here’s Noelle with her first grade teacher, Mrs. Biggerstaff!  We are so excited and look forward to the best year ever!

Noelle and her friends started playing school immediately.  I guess they are ready to go back!

Noelle had to have a picture with her hero, Mrs. Arnold, and Lesleigh even stopped by Mrs. Biggerstaff’s room to say hello to the girls!  Tonight was fun!!!