Katie's First Day of First Grade!

Our baby is growing up!! Monday was her first day of first grade! Hard to believe! Her teacher's name is Mrs. Randall! (no relation) :) We both started at a new school this year. It's called Puckett's Mill. Scott was dissapointed we wouldn't be cardinals anymore! She loves her class, especially since her good friend, Katie L. is in class with her! Our new school starts a bit early, as you can see from the picture, it's not quite daylight yet!! We'll get used to it, I suppose. Ellie is staying with "Nana" who lives in our neighborhood. She loves it there! Here's hoping for a wonderful school year!

Ellie's first haircut!

Well, we were trying to let Ellie's hair grow out, but she wouldn't leave a barette in her hair, so... as you can see in the first picture, those bangs were hanging down on her nose! Bangs it is! They still tend to go off to the side a bit, but maybe when she's old enough to leave something in her hair we can try again! She wasn't too happy about the whole thing in the beginning, but the hairdresser gave her 2 brightly colored combs to hold, so that helped! We think she's cute as a button either way!

new additions to the family (sort of )

Katie had been begging and begging for a hamster, so we got one. Well, it was very unfriendly, so we opted for 2 friendlier gerbils! Their names are Midnight and Cloudy. If you look closely, you can see that cloudy only has three legs! She manages to climb the tower and run on the wheel just fine!

Katie's date with Dad!

Scott and Katie had a date to the Braves game...or should I say the Cardinals game! They played here in Atlanta, but as anyone who knows Scott knows, he was there to see the Cardinals.

Katie had her face painted, ate Italian ice and cotton candy, ran the bases in the kids area, and didn't even complain about actually watching the game! It seems like yesterday that we took Katie to her first game, and she fell asleep! That was 4 years ago! How time flies!!Scott will go again with a friend on Thursday night. Hope they don't get rained out!

Ellie's 1 1/2 birthday!

Since Ellie spent her first birthday in China without us :( , we decided to have her 1 1/2 party instead! My parents were here from Florida, our good friends from the neighborhood, and 3 of the families from our China travel group (the Damron's, Cryer's and Tyrell's) were able to come. It was wonderful to be able to share this with so many friends! Ellie obviously liked the icing best from her cake. She didn't want to touch it with her hands, so she went in face first! I gave her a spoon, but she still just wanted the icing! The picture of the girls on the couch was our remake of the red couch picture we took in China. Not quite as many kids, and not as many tears! Three of the four girls (including Ellie) are from the same orphanage. We'd like to think they remember each other on some level. We hope everyone can join us again in 6 months for her second birthday! :)

Happy 4th of July!

We had a very fun 4th of July! We went to a party in the neighborhood where we had good food, good friends, and fun fireworks! The host of the party had stocked up on fireworks and put on quite a show! Katie stayed inside (not a fan of the noise), but Ellie just watched in amazement! She even sat on Scott's lap for most of it! That's progress for our Mama's girl!

The only down side to July 4th is the fact that I only have one more month until I officially return to school on August 4th. I'll be in before that to set up my classroom, so summer really feels like it's ending for me!

Our trip to NJ...

We took a trip to NJ for two very important occasions... Our niece, Taylor, graduated from high school, and our other neice, Lauren's bridal shower. While we were there, we managed a day on the boardwalk. Katie loved the games and rides, and Ellie loved the pizza! I think it was bigger than her, but so good! We had the entire Randall family for a wonderful dinner. The picture shows all of the cousins together. Scotty, Taylor, Katie, Ellie and Lauren. We also spent two days at the beach, and one day in NYC. We went to the Central Park Zoo, had a real Italian lunch, went to the M&M store, and did A LOT of walking!! It was great to see everyone, but it's always good to come home!