The First Day of School and the End of Summer

Wow - the summer is over for us - I can't believe how fast it went! Natalie and Owen had their first day of school today. For Natalie, it was the first day of 1st grade - she's no longer in the safe kindergarten zone (apparently there's a rude awakening in 1st grade with homework and teacher friendliness). For Owen, it was his first day of Pre-K at "big school." He's at the elementary school with Natalie now, not at the neighborhood pre-school. They both had great days and were very smiley and excited when I picked them up, so that's good. Henry is still at the pre-school, and they've moved to a new location, which is very nice. He moved up to a new class last week, and he's doing great! He's with a group of older kids and a few of his former classmates, so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. I think he'll do fine - he's used to older kids with Nat and Owen at home. He's growing really fast right now, both socially/emotionally and physically. He got really tall and lost some baby fat overnight it seems, and he's really doing well using his words and behaving. We're so proud of him. Colin is growing too. He finally got that first tooth on the bottom that seems like it's been coming in for weeks. It's officially through the gums today. He's very happy and really curious. Ready to be on the move. He's starting to lean forward and put his knees on the floor, I think he's trying to figure out crawling. I've posted some pictures from today, and some random pictures from July and August - I didn't take very many this summer, guess I was busy. Also, I took Natalie and Colin to visit Karen and Brian in New York the weekend before last. It was a lot of fun, and it went by too fast. We were busy - visiting a new playground/water park in Brooklyn and several good restaurants in Brooklyn, taking Natalie to the American Girl store in Manhattan to get a doll and going to tea there, meeting up with Eve and Karen and meeting little Charlotte, and going for dim sum in Chinatown and wandering into Little Italy. While we were gone, Ike took Owen and Henry to an Astros game and enjoyed the Friday night fireworks, and they had some quality bonding time doing yard work. So our summer is over and we're looking forward to Fall and planning the boys' birthday parties.

Natalie Bar Routine - Gymnastics

Here is Natalie's bar routine for gymnastics. She's been working so hard!