Meet the Teacher

It is that time of year again! Back to school. This year is hard because William is entering pre-kindergarten and going to school four times a week. I'm going to miss him! William and Grace are both excited to go back and this past week had the chance to meet their new teachers. 

William's meet the teacher was on Monday. This year he has Mrs. Holland. 

On our way to meet Mrs. Holland

William's classroom is very nice. One of the biggest classrooms in the school and really nicely organized. This year all pre-K classes will have Spanish once a week and they'll work a lot on the alphabet, numbers and beginning to write and read. His other assistants are Ms. Cecilia, Ms. Spangler and Ms. Voll. The kids in his class are very sweet and we already had a class play date. We all met on the playground on Thursday and the kids hit it off immediately. William knew several of them from past classes and other play dates.

Excited to be a Busy Bee!

Grace is in 3 day 3's with Mrs. Carter this year. She's a monkey! We met Mrs. Carter before Meet the Teacher Day because she came to our class play date on Tuesday! So sweet of her to come and meet everyone early on. Grace is in a class of 10 GIRLS and 4 boys! I'll be interested to see how that goes with so many girly personalities. She knows four of the kids in her class already and got along great with the other new kids, so we are all excited about the new class. We went to the classroom on Wednesday to see the other assistants and the room. Ms. Patricia and Ms. Cambron are the other assistants.

There's her name! Grace the Monkey!

Getting down to business... what toys do we have here?

Happy to get back in the school swing

Grace's decorated family frame

What a BUSY week! School hasn't even officially started and I feel like we are already in full swing. We decided to go to Disney on Friday night as a last summer hurrah and celebrate the beginning of the school year. Miss Clare stayed home because we made it a late night. We saw Belle for Grace, went on Splash Mountain - William's first BIG drop on a ride (Grace was a smidge too short and couldn't join), rode the Carousel and watched the Electrical Parade. William passed out in his car seat before we even left the parking lot that night! A very fun night!

Grace on the carousel

First time on Splash Mountain! Big boy ride!

First ride on Splash Mountain! Haha!

Went again with Matt! Front row :)

In the spirit! Go William!

School starts on Monday... I'm going to miss them so much. We are proud of you guys though! And so excited to watch you both grow and learn this year.

School's OUT for Summer!

Last Day of School

The 2015-2016 school year has come to a close! Summer is here for the kids. Last week was their last week. Grace ended on Tuesday and William ended on Wednesday. They both had a wonderful year and grew so much from August till May. If you don't believe me, look at these before and after shots from the year!

First Day -- Last Day

First Day -- Last Day

I can't believe how small Grace was in August! She looks like such a baby and now looks like a little girl. This spring in particular she seems to have grown the most. And William looks like a second grader here! He's huge! So mature looking and he's grown a lot this spring too. He wants to know everything about letters and reading. Two smart cookies! I'm proud of everything you both did this year!

Grace breaking it down before school

Last day picture

Class party

Your future is bright ;)

Friends from class

Mrs. Langholz

Grace's favorites: Brynn and Mrs. Kest

 William also had a fun end of the year party. Me and another mom organized the party.

The big man!

He was excited for the mini beach ball

Food and treats for the class

Signing bags for the teachers

Shell necklaces for the craft

William LOVED his shell necklace haha!

Theo and William

Mrs. Herman and William

Mrs. Massengale and William (Jack photobomb)

Both William and Grace loved their classes and their teachers. William is going on to PRE-KINDERGARTEN in the fall (waterworks time!) and Grace will be in 3 day 3's. Clare will still be home :) Next year is a big year since we will figure out where William will go for kindergarten. I want him to stay at this school forever... it's been so much fun to watch them grow and enjoy being little.

Thankfully we aren't gone for too long. Summer camp started today at school! 2 weeks of fun summer activities with their favorite teachers and friends.

Great job you two! We're proud of you!

Daddy is Special Day

February 6 was Daddy is Special Day at school. Matt went with both William and Grace and I had the pleasure of going to brunch with some friends to celebrate my birthday! Grandma Orosz watched Clare. 

The school arranges a fun morning for the dads. There are crafts and lots of reptiles. Thank goodness there are no reptiles involved with mom events... ick. 

Matt said Grace touched some of the reptiles, but William wasn't into them. 

Daddy is Special!

Funny faces!

William's class made artwork for the daddys, and the daddys got to pick it up at the event. This is Matt's and it cracks me up! It reads: 

William's Daddy

His real name is Matthew Orosz but I call him Daddy. He looks like tall, he has brown hair and brown eyes. I have eagle eyes. For work he makes paper. I like to go to Disney with my Daddy. I like Daddy to take me to Chick Fil A and there is a slide there and I play. When I get out of the bath he turns off the lights and I throw the towel at him. Then he falls down. He helps me get my pajamas on and brush  my teeth. Daddy reads a Thanksgiving book to me. He kisses my cheek and says goodnight. I love him so much! 

So funny! I can't wait for my Mother's Day version to see what comes out of William's mouth haha! :)

Merry Christmas from the Orosz Family!

Merry Christmas from the Orosz Family!

Our Christmas card from this year. We took the photos in Old Town Alexandria back in October. 

Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas! 

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Day and so far it has been a relaxing and beautiful day. No Clare in sight at this point, but it was very nice to enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas morning all together (instead of a hospital visit). I got a little worried the night before Christmas Eve that I would miss all the Christmas action when I was feeling sort of funny, but Clare has held on and we are home relaxing now. 

Christmas Eve we sprinkled our reindeer food out front in the morning. Buddy the Elf made his last appearance for the year and left the kids a nice note. William and Grace really love the Elf. He's a very fun addition to the holiday season. Then we had a delicious dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Orosz at their home that evening. And when we got home we watched a Mickey Christmas movie and prepped for Santa's arrival. We put out chocolate milk, gingerbread men and carrots. Half of each cookie was missing because Grace insisted on biting the head off of every single cookie. William stirred up the chocolate milk. Both of them hit the hay with ease that night knowing that Santa doesn't deliver presents until everyone is SLEEPING!

Buddy's last day

Sprinkling reindeer food

Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's

Setting up Santa and reindeer's tray of food

Christmas morning I was up at 4:30 a.m. Oh boy. I prepped for breakfast, had a cup of coffee, watched the Homeland finale... I thought for sure William would pop out of bed early, but he stayed in bed until 8:30 a.m. Grace slept in too. It was a foggy and dark morning - very much a sleep in day. Matt and I had breakfast bread pudding together before the kids even got up. So it was actually a very peaceful and relaxing early morning for the adults. 

Breakfast for two!

Present time! William and Grace got a lot of wonderful goodies. The big Santa gifts were a tricycle for Grace and a bike WITH pedals for William. We bought William a balance bike several months ago and he hasn't been able to get over the fact that there are no pedals... the reviews are spectacular... I thought it would work. SO bike with training wheels it is. I'd say their favorite gifts were random though. Grace loves the Made in China Elsa and Anna plastic toys in her stocking and then William is loving the Batmobile Plane that shoots Batman out the front. 

Grace loves her Elsa and Anna

Batmobile plane for William

Spin on the bike

Tricycle with streamers!

I went back to bed at 10 a.m. (4:30 a.m. wake up call had me wiped). Took a Kat Nap for an hour then we all headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Orosz's house to open presents with the aunts, uncles, and cousins. I wish I had the energy to take photos over there, but you know I'm totally exhausted when I can't summon the energy to wrangle the kids for more pictures. They all had a lot of fun and came home with even more wonderful goodies. 

Christmas morning the four of us

An amazing Christmas and the excitement continues... when will Clare join us? 

Teddy bear and baby Jack Rogers for Clare

Last Santa Sighting

This past Sunday we had our last meet and greet with Santa Claus! No more plans to see the big guy before he leaves the North Pole to hopefully deliver presents (no coal!) on Christmas Eve. 

Friends of ours hosted a story time with Santa and it was the sweetest thing. When Santa first walked into the backyard where all the kids were eating cookies, they were in complete shock. The looks on their faces = priceless. 

Santa read the Night Before Christmas and then took pictures with the kids. Such a fun evening!

Santa reading Night Before Christmas

All the kids with Santa

Family picture with Santa

All the mommys are on the nice list :)

Brynn and Grace - always barefoot, holding hands