Good-Bye Mrs. Carmen!

This Friday we attended a retirement party for Ava's favorite teacher, Mrs. Carmen. All of her past and present students were invited to come. After a slow start, Ava has had a fantastic year with Mrs. Carmen and we are so sad to see her go! She has promised to come back and substitute teach, so hopefully we will still be able to see her around school.

Ava has learned so much from Mrs. Carmen- writing all of her letters and numbers, letter sounds, how to write her first and last name, all her colors, numbers and days of the weeks in Spanish... She has given Ava so much confidence when it comes to learning, which is a priceless gift! We were happy to be there to honor Mrs. Carmen on her last day- I only selfishly wish she would have stayed two more years so that Caitlin could experience her as a teacher!

mmm... Publix cake! :)

Anthony is one of Ava's friends from her class

Ava and some of her boy friends from Mrs. Carmen's class- Danny, Anthony and Cameron

The kids patiently waited for cake! I was pretty proud, they waited almost an hour until it was cut... Caitlin on the other hand kept trying to sneak a finger in the icing (she gets that from me!!)

Good-Bye Mrs. Carmen, we will miss you! Enjoy a relaxing summer :)

Caitlin is 23 months!

Caitlin is 23 months old and about to be a big 2 year old!! While I am nervous about hitting the two's and all the terrible things they are supposed to bring, I am excited to get to know Caitlin even better and all of her opinions and likes and dis-likes. This month, her vocabulary has exploded and she is getting really confident in asking (or demanding) what she wants or doesn't want. She has started to put together short sentences and majority of them start with "I"... I drink, I have it, I sip, I want... the other ones usually center around the rest of the family- Mommy's jeans, Daddy's shoes, My House, Ava's boo-boo, Heidi's ball. She will repeat anything you tell her to and we have been working really hard on her manners lately. A please still has to be prompted most of the time, but she has gotten really consistent with saying thank you. In fact, I have to laugh because she's learned to say "No, thank you, I'm fine" if she doesn't want or want to do something. If I'll ask her to put on her shoes to go outside, she says "no, thank you, I'm fine", if I ask her to help clean up her play room, she says "no, thank you, I'm fine." I'm sure I lose all credibility because it makes me laugh! It's hard to be a stern parent when you are laughing :)

Caitlin has gotten so much more affectionate. She gives unprompted hugs and kisses to everyone in the family- but in the same token she has gotten more opinionated and stubborn, too. She is very loud about wanting the same toy that Ava has and will take it out of Ava's hands. Just yesterday, we were in Publix and Caitlin wanted to carry her own basket. Then she wanted to carry the ice cream in her basket and then pitched a fit because she couldn't pick up the heavy basket and my offering to help only made her scream louder! I can already tell these next few months are going to be fun ones filled with two year old drama :)

Ms. Independent sleeps really well- she wakes up happy and babbling for a few minutes before she starts calling "Mommy, where are you?" If I don't get to her fast enough, she moves on to "Daddy, where are you?" she has even occasionally gotten to "Sissy...?"

She still loves carrying around her dolls, but is not attached to any particular one- it changes from Mickey Mouse to lamb to Elmo. However, if she falls and hurts herself, she only wants snuggly and then she asks for "ice pack... ice pack!" Apparently, Ariel ice packs make everything better!

My sweet girl loves to dance and sing just like her sister- her current favorite is "If your Happy and you Know it" and a song called "Tractor, Tractor." She dances around the house singing both of these songs, doing the hand motions and as soon as the car is started we flip back and forth between CD's to hear both of the songs. That is my favorite time with Caitlin- when she is dancing and singing and jumping and squealing with laughter at something her sister did. When I hear Ava and Caitlin giggling or chasing each other, it takes my breath away at how fortunate I am to have two happy and healthy beautiful girls.

Caitlin~ your good moments FAR outweigh your bad ones and I love each and every part of you. You are my Sunshine! Love, Mommy

Lauri's Bridal Shower

All of us bridesmaids threw a gorgeous shower for Lauri this Sunday and it was a big success. We had such a fun time celebrating Lauri and Marc's upcoming wedding!! Everyone had a wonderful time, Lauri truly enjoyed herself and received some amazing gifts and it was a great way to meet some of Lauri and Marc's friends and family before the wedding. Only 6 more weeks to go until her big day- I can't wait!

After knowing Lauri for over 20 years, it is going to take me a while to get used to her new last name! :)

The cake was gorgeous and delicious...

We had enough food to feed all 40 people and their neighbors... but next time we will know to just order a double order of the chicken salad from Zoe's Kitchen!

Me, Lauri, Kelly and Julia

Lauri and the Mother of the Bride or the Matron of Honor

Lauri's sister-in-law Jennifer and her sister and sister-in-law...

Did you get all that??

Lauri, her mom and her mother-in-law to be!

Can you tell which two are related? :)

All the hostesses with the mostest-es...

The future Mr. and Mrs. Teitelman!

Marc showed up right at the end of the shower... you could tell he did not like being the center of 40 people's attention, but everyone was happy he came. I can't wait to celebrate on the big day!

Lauri's Bachelorette Surprise!

Yes, that's right... Lauri's bachelorette party was a complete surprise! Lauri had told all of us that she didn't want any kind of a bachelorette party and her mom decided to throw one for her anyway! It was pretty fun watching Lauri squirm and send dirty looks to her mom throughout the night :) Lauri and her mom and sister-in-law went to get their nails done and then in walks all of us! It was a great idea to meet at the nail salon and relax and chat with all of the girls... I felt bad for the other patrons of the nail salon who definitely picked the wrong time to get their nails done- we were monopolizing all of the manicurists time and attention :)

I bought this "Soon to be Mrs. Teitelman" sash as a gag gift for Lauri. I was very surprised that she wore it most of the night! Ok, her matron of honor forced her too, but... Lauri was a good sport!

After mani's and pedi's, we went to Pappasitos for margaritas- yummy!

And then on to the strip clubs!

Just kidding... not that kind of night :)

I loved having some good girl time and even though Lauri may not admit it, I know she loved the evening too, surprise and all...

Does it get any better that mani's and margaritas??

Caitlin's Gymanstics Awards Ceremony

This morning was Caitlin's last class in gymnastics. We have truly had fun in the mom and me class with Ms. Jennifer. I have really enjoyed having this special time each week with Caitlin. She started in January and has really improved in 5 short months. When we started, she never wanted to stay on whatever apparatus we were working on, she always made a bee-line straight for the trampoline. Now, she only gets distracted by the trampoline every once in a while- I don't blame her- the trampoline is my favorite too! This summer she will be moving up into the two year old class all by herself... sniff, sniff...

Caitlin knew exactly what to do when she got her medal... hands in the air and TaDa!!

Giving a big hug to Ms. Jennifer

Caitlin loved being clapped for... so she kept her hands in the air... so everyone kept clapping

This is her best friend at gymnastics, Berkley. Her mom, Katie and I are hoping to keep the girls in the same class in the summer. And yes... their hands are still in the air :)

I am so proud of my sweet little girl... she is definitely a natural!

TaDa!!