Tonight was the last night before kids begin school… and the real work begins for Mom. We spent the night hosting, a now hopefully annual… if not sooner!, tradition of a Block Party. Pizza and lots of treats were served. With special thanks to Jess’s peach crumble and homemade whipped cream… soooooo good! Anyway, the kids had an amazing time between the Power Wheels, push cars, trampoline, chalk, instruments, baseball tees and tent. And the parents had fun hanging out with a margarita or two… or three.

It is tricky to share pics as I don’t want to put up anything with any of the kids’ faces showing… but trust me when I say everyone had a wonderful time! (For those who were there, perhaps we can get Craig to set up a private album with all of his shots and mine.)

Getting ready for the girls’ birthdays so that I don’t have to plan everything when I go back to work. Lily is having a Make-Your-Own Pizza party with her friends and Emilie’s party, well, here is a hint…

Well, technically there are still a lot of days left in summer, but with school starting up again in a week it really feels like the summer is just about over.

We haven’t updated much lately because I have been trying to enjoy every last moment of my time home with the girls. However, we have been up to a lot including some very exciting news…

Lily is fully potty trained… after a few accidents (Sorry, AGAIN, Nate & Diana!) and many many many reminders to use the bathroom… Lily officially is using the potty all on her own. She no longer needs reminders and is officially in underwear 100% of the time (even at nap and bedtime as of this week!). As a special treat, Aunt Mynn took her to see Ponyo and now that is all she talks about.

Lily is also about to start preschool… I can’t wait to take her on her first day. She has a whole new wardrobe (thanks to her Aunt Lynn who bought half of Target for the girls!) and we are picking out a new backpack this weekend. We decided to put her in the 3’s class, even though she will be the youngest, because the teacher thought she would fit better there. I am a bit nervous about that but I am sure she will be fine. So she will take the 3’s class twice, but will be with older 3’s the following year. This will give her an extra year of preschool and with schools running Kindergarten likes it is 2nd grade these days, that is not such a bad thing!

As for Emilie, she is continuing to find and cause trouble. She likes to growl at people, especially if there is a good treat to eat that she wants you to share. Her newest “trick” is to scream loudly and hysterically every time Lily grabs something from her. She seems to enjoy getting her sister in trouble. I relate to this.

Despite the occasional fight… the girls love each other more than anything. When one naps and the other is awake… you can tell they are lonely. They seemed to have come up with their own solution for this…

I am not complaining.

Aunt Tiner is married! It was a beautiful wedding and Lily did a great job as the flower girl. She had a blast at the reception and danced the night away. Check out some pictures on Flickr!

We (Seth, Lily, Lynn and I) are heading out to P-burgh for Aunt Tiner’s wedding. I am Matron of Honor (how old is that?) and Lily is the flower girl… so we may actually get a nice shot of us all dressed up! Em will be sitting this one out and staying with Grandma Pat.
Come back at the beginning of next week for some pics… and in the mean time check out our finger painting party we had with Kory and Brennan in August’s Flickr folder.