First Day of school

August 18th (I think) was the first day of school for Maya and Luke . Maya started 3rd grade and Luke started Kindergarten. Here Kindergarten is only half a day, which works out well for Luke since he never did any preschool. (In Texas, Luke missed the cut off by 1 day - the cutoff being the 1st of Sept and Luke's birthday is on the 2nd. If we had stayed in Texas, Luke would be only old enough to start preK and would have to wait another year for Kindergarten. Here in California the cut off is in December, so Luke is old enough to start Kindergarten. My own little soapbox - they need to make the age cut off the same date throughout the country. So many families these days move around for work and it's confusing to have everything be so different state to state. It caused me a lot of stress in Texas because we knew there was a chance we would stay and a chance we would move to California and I wanted Luke to be prepared for either scenario which would effect his education schedule by an entire year. Anywho - it's all worked out and everything is fine.)

Here are some pics of the kids on the morning of their first day at Cambridge Elementary School.

Here's Luke waiting outside his Kindergarten classroom. At the end of the day he came out and I asked him how his day was. He excitedly told me they got to play on the playground 2 times! These are the important things in life, right?? That's my boy. Recess was always my favorite, too. Followed by gym.

Ready for our first day in the classroom.

Just look at that excited smile. As ready as I was for Luke to start school, I have to admit I was surprised at how hard it was for me to walk away and leave him there that first day. It's hard for a mom to let go and let her kid do some growing up without her.

Luke has such a great time and I love picking him up at the end of his school day and seeing that big smile on his face. He's growing up so fast.

Maya is doing great once again. Throughout her years of elementary school she has never had anything but green days. (Green is good, yellow means there was some trouble, and red is a bad day) She's so easy when it comes to school.

A funny note: Maya's teacher and Luke's teacher are married to each other. Crazy coincidence, huh?

Balancing act

On our way back from San Francisco we stopped to for lunch. The restaurant gave the kids dough to play with (I love when restuarants do this) and Seth got a little silly all on his own. I love watching his personality come out. He can be quite the little cheesball. He cracks me up every day. I love his face, especially his eyes as he concentrates on balancing the dough.

The other Giants

I am from New York and so when I hear "The Giants" I automatically think NY football team. But out here on the other coast they have a Giants baseball team. We've heard that seeing a game here and experiencing the stadium is a must. Matt had a chance to go with the guys back in July and it did not disappoint. Here's a view of the stadium with one of the most scenic views around.

Milestones - Walking

Seth turned 1 last March. He is very smart but has always liked to do things on his own schedule. He was my first baby that let me see and pass my due date. My others came a few days before their due date. Maya and Luke were also walking right around their first birthday. Seth was content with crawling - he was a pretty speedy crawler after all. Through the spring and beginning of summer he would take a step here or there, but much preferred to crawl where he needed to go. We moved at the beginning of July and during that month he became a pretty good walker. Now he's running all over the place trying to keep up with his brother and sister. He wants to do whatever it is they are doing.

(As you can see from the pic and video - he loves to where his sunglasses. Also a first for one of my babies.)

Below is a video from this past week. As I said, Seth likes to be doing whatever the big kids are doing (my husband is included in the"big kid" category). Luke and Matt were working on their super hero fighting skills and Seth decided he needed to show his off as well. It was pretty cute - er, I mean, amazingly tough.

My 31st Birthday

For my birthday this summer we decided to check out the Exploratorium in San Francisco. ( My birthday was at the end of July - still catching up on blogging about the summer) We were still living in the TLF (temporary lodging facility) on base and didn't have a babysitter, so we needed to do something kid friendly. We were originally gonna go check out a California beach, but honestly, after driving from Texas I didn't want to make a several hour car trip and we were having a cold summer anyway and I knew I wouldn't be able to relax on the beach cuz I'm a mom and need to have my eyes on my babies at all times in a place like that.

Anywho, I thought since we live to close to San Francisco we should check it out. Went to some tourism websites and found out about the exploratorium which is a really cool hands on science museum. So on my birthday, we hopped in the car and headed to San Francisco.

As we got close to the bay area, you could see the wall of fog/clouds wanting to break over the mountains to our side where it was completely sunny clear skies. The picture below doesn't do the wall of clouds any justice. It was really cool looking.

Coming up on the Golden Gate Bridge. It took us a little under an hour to get there. Not a bad drive at all.

Here are the kids climbing in the geomotry area. There were all kinds of cool things to touch and see and learn about. Up in the biology area they were sitting at a table dissecting a cow heart for all the kids to see and explaining all the parts. There were areas where you experimented with light, air, magnets, heat, gravity, all kinds of things. If you are ever in the area, it's definitely a great place to take the kids. We had a blast.

The day before my birthday, Maya and I went out for manies and pedies. It was her very first time. (I didn't get my first until a few days before my wedding.) We had lots of fun and I told her it could be a once a year birthday thing for her. Here are our super cute toes.

Residency Graduation

Back on June 4, 2010 (the same weekend as Maya's baptism) Matt graduated from his anesthesiology residency.

It's been quite a ride starting in the DC area where Matt attended USUHS (Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences) for his medical education. That was from Summer of 2002 through May of 2006. Maya was 2 months old when he started. Luke was born at the beginning of his 4th year of med school plus a few adventures in between.

From there we were moved to Travis Air Force base in California for a 1 year surgical internship. That year is a blur to Matt - very very long hours. During that crazy time we got the most amazing news that Matt had been accepted into the Anesthesia Residency program (There is only 1 in the Air Force so spots are very limited. It's quite competitive.) When that year was completed, we said "See ya!!!" to his surgical internship and headed to San Antonio, Texas where we would spend the next 3 years.
Matt really enjoys what he does and after 3 years of hard work, he's completed his residency and finally feels like he can tell people he's a doctor (even though he's technically been a doctor for 4 years already). We had and amazing time in San Antonio and made some really great friends.

Now we're back at Travis Air Force base for at least the next 4 years. Matt will deploy for the first time next summer. We'll have to wait and see what adventures await us here in Cali.

Time to catch up

It's time to catch up. I've posted about a few of our adventures this summer; but now that we're set up in our new home, it's time to catch up on the pictures as well.

First up is The Ear Piercing Adventure (Tuesday June 22, 2010). Maya's best friend in San Antonio is Emi. They played together almost every day. (We really miss living down the road from the Neilson Family.) As a last hoorah, they decided they wanted to go together and get their ears pierced.

Maya decided to go first. She hopped up in the chair not giving herself time to get psyched out. So here's the excited before shot.

Getting her ears marked

And here goes the first ear. . .

Now there's a break in the pictures because Maya started freaking out and begging to not have her other ear done. After a couple of minutes of crying (and freaking out her friend Emi) we took a walk around the store to calm down.

Now it's Emi's turn. She's still a little freaked, but it's gonna get done. Maya still only has one ear done at this point. Maya's giving Emi a little moral support.

After getting Emi's ears done as quickly as possible, it was Maya's turn to hop back in the chair.
Doesn't she look so excited??

Followed by more tears, here are some after shots. After about another 5 minutes the girls were on a high and so excited that they had gotten it done. It was definitely a bonding experience.

Important Qualities

Matt and I were sitting and finishing dinner tonight. Luke and Seth were off running around so we took a moment to have a conversation with Maya. Matt asked her if she thought any boys in her class were cute. She blushes and says no. Matt says he'd like it if she didn't think boys were cute for 10 more years. I reassure her that it's okay if she likes boys now. Matt and I both agree that she's not allowed to kiss a boy for 10 more years. This is all said very light heartedly.
So I change the subject to old friends back in San Antonio. I ask Maya if she misses her friend Kola. She does. She says that he's a good wrestler. Matt says, "That's an important quality in a man. . . to be a good wrestler. That's why mommy fell in love with me; cuz I'm good at wrestling." He pauses and then asks Maya if she thinks that's true. He asks her silly questions like these often. She usually looks to me for a response but I was focused on my biscuit. She's not sure if Matt is being silly or not. She explains this to us and then says, "I don't know if you're trying to trick me. I don't see you and mommy wrestle." And then she's laughing and joking very innocently and says, "But maybe you and mommy wrestle secretly after me and Luke and Seth are in bed!"
All Matt and I can do is laugh and that's all I'll say on the subject for now.