Bitty Baby is Here!!!!

We registered to host an American Girl Party and Olivia won!  She was so excited to get a "new baby sister."  She named her Lizzy.  Her full name is Lizzy Bizzy Fizzy.  She thought it went well with her other sister's name Lily Silly Pilly. 

 Soo excited!

 Her baby got an outfit...

 2 Books and more...

 Olivia sleeps with "Bear" at night and it was neat that her baby got her own Bear!

 She immediately wanted to read books to her new baby and friends.

 She just happened to do it in the office in front of my backdrop!

 I had a newborn session before this and I forgot to take off the logo setting...oops.  But she watched part of the newborn session and she was kissing the baby like the real mommy did earlier.

 She loves her Bitty Baby!

 Now we have to start planning her tea party with friends! Thanks House Party for the awesome gifts and for making my baby so happy!

Sassy

Olivia looked so cute in her outfit that I had to take some pictures of her cuteness!

Olivia loves to wear accessories and headbands.  She also always puts lipgloss on everyday before school!  I love how she's so girly.

Being her sassy self.  :)

1st Kiss...YIKES!

This week is Catholic School week so at Luca's school they have a bunch of activities.  On Monday, they had a pep rally and Tuesday it was have lunch with your parent/s.  I went to have lunch with Luca and some little girl came up to me and said Luca kissed me on the lips!  I never heard him talk about this girl and I asked him about it and his face got a little red.  He said that she was really nice and that he just wanted to give her a kiss.  I guess she told the teacher and the teacher said no kissing in school!  I also told Luca that it was nice of him, but we don't kiss girls on the lips.  Wow!  I wasn't expecting his 1st kiss already!  Geesh!

Big Girl Bed All Done!

We turned Olivia's toddler bed into a big girl bed about a month or so ago. She loves her new bed and I thought I would finally take some pictures of it. Here's the before.

AFTER We had to move her bed to the other wall.

Today I put on her new sheets and we added the new comforter under the quilt since it's getting colder now.  I also found this cute pillow at Tj Max and had to get it. 

She loves her new bed, but told me the other day she was saving her money to buy a bunk bed.  She's obsessed with bunk beds.  I'm thinking I will get her one for her baby dolls for Christmas or something...

Later, I was doing some work and noticed how quiet she was upstairs.  So, I went to check up on her and she was stretching.  So cute!!  The other day she was talking to me and put her hands up and did the quotation mark sign with her hands.  Something like....Mom can I have some "milk."  It was too funny and I asked her where she got that from and she said the Jessie show she watched over the weekend while I was on a photo session?  P.S. Thanks zia for her shirt, I love it on her it's the 1st time she wore it.

Olivia told me after school today that it was her friend/our neighbor's Birthday.  She said can I make her a card for her Birthday and give it to her?  She worked so hard on it.  As she was finishing it, I was washing dishes and looked out the window to see Ashlin walking her baby doll in her stroller with her family.  I told Olivia now would be a good time to give it to her.  Ashlin LOVED the card and they played a little bit.  She went home and a few minutes later she came back to ring our doorbell and gave Olivia and Luca and I some tea pot shaped cookies.  It was so cute!!!

Luca's 1st Soccer game was today and I was soo excited that I was able to go, especially since I had two photo sessions that were scheduled a long time ago and luckily the game was at 1pm which didn't coincide with my sessions. Luca was excited!

Olivia was ready to cheer on Luca with her new chair and umbrella.  I asked my brother and sister to get her this for her Birthday thinking that we would use it for when we would be at the beach (thinking we'd be in Florida). It came in handy today at the game!  She gets so excited to sit in it.

Luca scored a goal at the game! I was so proud of him!  He's very fast.

All of the parents made a tunnel for both teams to run through, I got a shot of his face, I love this picture!  He's so happy here and this is his genuine "I'm happy smile!"

He wanted to pose like this for the picture. :)

They didn't get to pick their numbers but I was happy when I saw he was #5, my maiden name Cinquemani means 5 Hands so I always used to pick the #5 when I was younger. :)

Luca

Someone from Luca's school put this sign in our yard. The community at his school has been so incredibly nice and very welcoming! Such a sweet gesture.

I realized it was Mid-September and I have no pictures of Luca this month for his book! So I asked him if I could take some pictures of him and he was very willing!

I'm a lucky Mom and he's going to steal someone's heart someday.

He has his very 1st soccer game tomorrow. We are so excited for him.

He always wants to take a picture with Olivia.

"Mommy, take a picture of me on the fire hydrant and put it in my 5 year old book."  OK! I will!

My sweet little girl will NOT wear jeans!  It's beginning to get cooler like in the 60's in the mornings but she will only wear dresses or skirts.  She compromised by wearing a jean skirt with leggings.  She usually doesn't give me trouble about what to wear, it's just that she doesn't like pants unless they are leggings with a skirt underneath.

I told him to smile without his teeth and this is the look I got.

And this is me when I was 5 but I was in 1st Grade. I think I look like Luca, I always have but everyone says he looks like Corey and that Olivia looks like me. But I've always thought the opposite. Corey and Olivia look a like and me and Luca look more alike.

Olivia's 1st Day at Tumps

Since I already took a bunch of 1st Day of Pre-School pics from the 1st school she was at, I decided not to do it all over again, although, I did get 2 pics on my phone of her at Tumps and in her classroom.  I STILL haven't figured out how to download the darn things. 

Her 1st day on her own without me there on Friday was GREAT!  Such a difference from the 1st school.  She even said "Mommy, I like this school better than the other school."  She was soo detailed about everything she did.  She told me they did a science "experience" she meant to say experiment.  She told me all about it and what happened.  She told me she colored a gingerbread man - self-potrait- (but the silhouette looked like a gingerbread man).  She loves that some of her friends from last year are in her class.  What's even cooler is that one of our neighbors is in her class. She hit it off with Ashlin at school and even said to me "Wait, I have to tell my friend goodbye." She went to Ashlin and gave her a hug, it was cute.  She loves school and is soo excited! I'm so happy that we put her back at Tumps she's definitely needed something more challenging and also the opportunity to play with more kids (15 to be exact rather than 2)!  Makes me very happy.

Luca told me that on Friday one of his teachers asked him to help her put some books away and she asked him to read some of his classmates names.  He told me she said "You can read!"  I think she was doing an assessment on all the kids to see where they are at with reading.  I'm so happy he can read.  I need to start working with Olivia on reading, too!

Best Big Bro Ever!

Lately, Luca has been amazing to his little sister!  The other day we were at the store and as I was putting the shopping bags in the cart, Olivia tried to get out of the cart and Luca came to her rescue and told her "Be careful you can hurt yourself!" I made sure to praise Luca for helping his sister and told them that they should always look out for each other.  I had mentioned that if anyone messes with one of you, you always have to back them up. Olivia said "I'll throw them out the window!"

Olivia started pre-school again at her old school, Tumps, and when I picked up Luca he said "How was school?"  And I thought he was mocking me because that's what I usually say when I pick him up and he said "No, how was Olivia's school today?"  He was genuinely interested in knowing how her 1st day of school went. He wanted all the details and since I was there for the 1st hour , I told him that she painted with a bingo dotter and he said "Oh, I used to do that at Tumps and I do that at Kindergarten, too. What else did she do....did she play on the playground?" 

Another great example of Luca being an awesome brother is that Olivia was playing on the couch and fell backwards on her head.  He immediately asked her if she was ok (which she was hysterically crying). He ran downstairs got the ice pack, put it on her head and then grabbed Lily (her favorite baby doll) and put her in her arms.  How sweet is this little boy of mine? 

She had a coconut on her belly!

I had a newborn session at my house the other day and Olivia came up to me and whispered "What's on her belly?"  I told her it was an umbilical cord.  Later that day she told Corey that there was a baby at our house and she got to feed her a bottle and "she had a coconut on her belly!"

Olivia's 1st Ballet Class

I am so excited that Olivia is FINALLY in a real dance class. We've taken her to a summer dance class before that was 6 weeks, but I've always wanted her in a real dance class where she will do recitals, etc. She was beyond excited, too. I have to admit I watch Dance Moms and I let Olivia watch the performance part since there is too much drama with the rest of the show. She loves watching it. Even Luca is excited for her. When we bought her tights and shoes she just wanted to dance around in it all day.

There is something so cute about a little girl in a leotard and tights with her hair pulled up in a bun, so cute!

Make Up

Olivia loves to watch me put make up on. Today she said "Mommy you always look beautiful." It was very sweet.  I have a Mac Brush Set that I let her and Luca play with and they pretend to put blush and eyeshadow on each other (with no make up on it).  Today, she asked me if she could put make up on and I usually will let her put my lipgloss on but she wanted eyeshadow and I told her no.  She responded "When I have kids, I will let them put make up on." 

1st Day...

I saw this worksheet on Pinterest and had the kids fill it out on their 1st day of school. I spelled it out loud to Olivia but after she wrote it all I decided to write it down on the side so I could remember what she wrote in case I couldn't read it in the future.She was over this worksheet by the last question and started to put dots all over the page.

This is Luca's and it cracks me up.  Look at #11!  He thought very long and hard on this question.  He was able to spell out quit a few words on his own.  I am so impressed at his reading skills, too.  When I put them to bed I usually read 2 stories to them (sometimes more when they beg me) and then Luca will read 2 Level 2 library stories to me, too.  He definitely has most of his sight words down and can sound out words and he's understanding what he's reading, too.  Makes me so proud.  He also knows his multiples of 2,5 and 10!  We've been working on it and he's got those down pat. 

That's Amore!

My kids were so excited to hear that Nonno and Nonna were in town and I was so excited when they told me they were going to make homemade pasta!!! The kids love it and enjoy making it with my parents.

Luca loved this part!

Olivia was a good helper and put the pasta on the tray.

It's like the Italian version of Play-Doh, but edible!

Family pic bummed it's blurry but oh well!

The picture does not do it justice, this is soo yummy!

Luca asked if he could have it for lunch tomorrow at school.  I bought him a thermos so I wouldn't have to just pack boring sandwiches and now he can bring warm stuff like soup, pasta, etc.

Olivia slurping the pasta!

The typical Sunday Italian meal!

Olivia whispering to me "Can we eat now?"

Spikey Legs!?

Luca touched my leg this morning and said "Why do girls have spikey legs?  So boys won't touch them?"  Have to put this in his book for sure!!

Kindergarten Rocks!

I had to write this all down before I forget all the details but I'm so happy that Luca's 1st day was a huge success! He loved Kindergarten!! YAY!

His school starts at 8:05am so we couldn't take too many pictures.  But the ones that I did snap I couldn't pick he is just too handsome in all of them!

Corey and I both wanted to be there when we dropped him off.  Unfortunately, he won't go on a school bus because our school district won't pick him up and drop him off because the private school he goes to is in Arlington.  So I think I would've been teary eyed if I had to see him go all by himself on a bus.

He was very excited.  I checked out about 30 books about going to school, kindergarten to get him pumped and prepared for school.  I pinned a lot of those books on pinterest.  I would highly suggest reading the book to yourself before reading to your kids.  A lot of them had the word "Hate" which I don't like to use that word and also some of the books weren't motivational but seemed like it would give them more anxiety.  But there were also some really great books we liked, too! I think that helped as well as us talking to him about school to him, too.

He was very excited to bring his lunch.  I was very nervous because they only get like 25 minutes for lunch and he's a slow eater.  I have been telling him everyday for the past few weeks that he has to eat fast or he'll be hungry at school.  The 1st thing he told me when I picked him up was I ate all my lunch...I ate my crackers for snack, then I ate my sandwich for lunch 1st and my fruit, yogurt and chips last.  He also told me he opened his yogurt and crackers all by himself, too!

This was at school.  I felt awful we were 2 minutes late.  We passed 3 different schools to get to his school and with buses and school traffic it took us way longer than we planned.  We definitely know to take a different route so we don't have to pass any schools. He looks pretty happy to be at school!

Last night I wrote out the chalk which he wamted because Olivia got to take a picture with chalk.  I was planning on it anyway, but this morning it was washed away from the rain!  He was a little sad and I told him I would re-do it while he was in school and that we could take the picture after school.  He was happy with that but it was soo bright they didn't turn out and he's squinting in all the pics!! :(

He insisted on this pose and I told him he need his glasses on!!

Smooth!

I asked him what his favorite part about school was and he told me recess and playing and that he met a new friend but he didn't ask his name but it was on his name tag and he couldn't read it.  He told me he didn't like quiet time (they have 15 minutes of that after lunch). But he told me that the teacher played a lullaby and turned off the lights during it.  He went to the school library and they read Kindergarten Rocks which is one of the books we've read to him and also a Pete The Cat book about a school bus or going to school. He told me that next time he can pick out a book and check it out for a few days.   He said he went to Spanish class and that he learned "Como Estas and Buenos Dias." He also mentioned when he sees a friend in the hall he can say Olah." He also told me that they did a fish craft and a lot of the kids complimented him and said his looked cool. He also told me he went to the bathroom and the kids in his class waited for him and he didn't know how to turn on the water because you had to step on a bar to turn it on and someone helped him. He also told me his "bin" was the 1st one and his backpack hanger, too.  (Most likely because of his lat name).  He was very happy and said "Mommy, Kindergarten does Rock!"  It made me very happy to hear that!!!

What is also sweet is that he said "Mommy, I want Olivia in the picture with me."  Look at him giving me a thumbs up!  Love him.  P.S.  I didn't edit this pic and look at how you can't see the chalk that's how the other pics looked, too but I had to saturate it with more color which I don't like that it looks too processed but oh well!  Kindergarten Rocks and that's all that matters!!!!

He had his 1st homework assignment which is for him to think about what he wants to learn in Kindergarten.  The teacher will discuss it on Monday.  He doesn't have school tomorrow because today was a full day with just half his class.  Tomorrow the other half gets to go and then on Monday they will all be together.  So when I asked him he told me this "I want to learn how to paint like that guy on TV (he is referring to Bob Ross on PBS!) and I want to learn how to read. I want to be able to read to Olivia at bedtime without your help."  I thought that was a great answer.