Our 12th Annual Wedding Anniversary BBQ Fiesta

This year we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. And to keep with tradition, we again threw a big backyard BBQ to celebrate the occasion. Even though our wedding anniversary is in June, we’ve moved our BBQ to September, so that we can celebrate Katelyn’s birthday, which is only a week after our anniversary date, and not have to combine the two. This year we decided to go with a Mexican Fiesta theme, which included Mexican style food (all homemade), margaritas, sombreros and Mexican mustaches. :) We had about 120 people over at the house, but everything went without a hitch and we had a great time! It was really nice to catch up with some friends that we haven’t seen in a while, and see everyone’s kids! Here’s a slide show of the pictures that I took: Note to self: need to delegate picture taking to someone else :)

The Fresh Beat Band Live Concert!

There’s a show on TV called The Fresh Beat Band, it’s about four friends in a band who go to school together and love to sing and dance. Ashley and Katelyn absolutely LOVE this show and know all of the songs that they sing. So, for Katelyn’s birthday, I was lucky enough to be able to get us front row tickets to the Fresh Beat Band Live concert!! It was Ashley and Katelyn’s first concert, and it was amazing! Here’s us waiting for concert to start:

These guys can really sing, and they were so good with the kids. Since we were in the front row, they got to talk to them, and it was as if they were singing to Ashley and KK, making eye contact with the kids and waving to them. Ashley was just beside herself, they look, and sing and dance exactly like on the TV show.

Shout (the guy in the orange shirt), came off stage and sat next to Katelyn and I! She’s still talking about it!

It may be cheesy, but it was really fun to see Ashley and Katelyn so excited! It was a great afternoon!

Ashley's First Day of Kindergarten!

I can’t believe this day has come, Ashley started kindergarten!! My little big girl is now taking the school bus to school every day! She loves her new teacher, Mrs. Rogers. And she already made a new friend! She’s learning to read at a fast pace, and her writing skills are pretty impressive for a 5 ½ year old! Here’s picture of the first day of school. She has to wear this tag for the first week, so that there’s no confusion about where she has to go once at school.

And here’s her getting off the bus on the first day, big smile, she had a great first day!

Every Friday, Nana is there to walk with us to the bus stop, it’s a special treat for Ashley. There’s a nice shady bench on the corner of the bus stop, so we can relax while we wait for the bus to come.

I have to say that Ashley has been surprising me with some amazing new things recently, really showing how mature she’s getting. We are very proud of her!

Good-Bye Natalia!

Yesterday, we had to say good-bye to Natalia. She came to us from Germany last August, yet it seems like it wasn’t that long ago that we were anxiously waiting to meet our “Next” au pair, wondering if it’s going to work out, thinking if Natalia can fill the big shoes that Indira did for almost two years. We couldn’t be more grateful for having Natalia in our family even if it was just for a one short year, taking care of Ashley and Katelyn, and being there for me when Mike was away in the evenings or helping me with one of my crazy cake projects late into the night, including this one :)

I really can’t thank Natalia enough for doing the job that she did, and making it look easy juggling two kids, and all the responsibilities that come with being our au pair, all while keeping a smile on her face. Natalia, you are one of a kind and I hope that Ashley and Katelyn grow up to be just like you! We love you to the Moon and back!

My toothless beauty

This month, Ashley's bottom tooth began to wiggle, and two weeks later on August 17th, her first baby tooth was out! She was so excited, we called Nana, Busenka and Emma & Liam next door to inform everyone of the good news. The tooth fairy came to visit Ashley that night and left her $20 for her tooth, along with a note saying that she won't take her tooth since she knew that Ashley wanted to keep it.

Fast forward 11 days, and on August 28th, Ashley's second baby tooth came out. Now she's official ready for her first day of Kindergarten!

My little dancer

Katelyn boogieing down at the Jazz Concert in Red Bank. When the music stopped, people clapped and she thought they were clapping for her because they liked her dancing. She was very excited! :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Katelyn!

Here we go again, my little monkey Katelyn is now officially 3 years old! I just read what I wrote about her on her second birthday, and I can attest to the fact that she’s still the same. It’s amazing how early on a child’s personality forms. She’s so cute and funny, just chattier now that she’s three. She loves to crack jokes, sing along to the radio and give big hugs and kisses. She loves to make up stories in her soft “princess” voice, especially when it’s time for bed and she needs to stall. She’s always very opinionated and sometimes bossy, but I think both are good qualities to have in today’s world. It’s clear that she will be a leader and not a follower. It’s been fun watching her interact with Ashley, the playing field has more or less been leveled. They have grown to be very close, playing nicely together most of the time, wanting to sleep over in each other’s rooms and having cute conversations in the back of the car. Katelyn has learned a lot from Ashley, she definitely wants to be like her big sister, except for their personalities are almost opposite of each other. Since the beginning Ashley has been able to focus for long periods of time, read long books, string beads into necklaces, color and play board games. She prefers to stay home then go to her dance class. She’s sensitive and a little OCD about the way she likes her things to be, and can get possessive of her stuff. Katelyn, on the other hand, doesn’t like sitting still for too long, she rather run around, dance, jump, and doesn’t really have the patience to sit still and focus on a tasks that she hasn’t mastered yet. When she gets frustrated she gets mad, not upset, and gives up. She doesn’t care for things, if Ashley wants something of hers she’ll give it to her. She’s not scared of anything, and can stand up for herself if need be. She also doesn’t like wearing socks or jackets, and prefers to sleep without pjs on. She’s definitely a free spirit in more ways than one. What I love about Katelyn is that she loves spending time with me in the kitchen cooking, may be it’s something that she’ll want to pursue when she’s older. While Ashley rather watch TV, Katelyn will perch up on the counter top and help me stir, measure and taste, especially if it’s something sweet  Ashley and Katelyn’s tastes are completely different. Ashley is my little rabbit; she loves fruits, vegetables and waffles. Katelyn likes meat and sweets, and no potatoes.

Around Katelyn’s birthday, I took her to see her pediatrician Dr. Yia. She measured at 38 ¾ inches tall (90% for her age) and 32.6 pounds (50% percentile). Dr. Yia tried to assess Katelyn by asking her some questions which Katelyn refused to answer. One thing about Katelyn is that she doesn’t like to do things on demand, so when Dr. Yia asked her to count and to name colors of things in the office Katelyn thought it was a game. She can count to more than 20 and knows her colors, just on her own terms. Dr. Yia asked her what she would do if she was tired, and Katelyn just didn’t know what to say. She does not like to sleep, so that answer was not an option in her mind. Lol Anyways, even though Katelyn likes to do opposite of what’s asked of her, she’s still a sweet and very smart little girl, who we sometimes call KK, Kitten, Monkey or Cake (Ashley’s favorite). Katelyn and Ashley make our lives meaningful. We are so proud of them both and watching them grow is pure joy. Happy Birthday Katelyn!

Ashley's Bring a Friend to Dance Class

After the recital Ashley had one more dance class where she was allow to bring a friend. Of course, Ashley brought Katelyn. Katelyn absolutely loved it!! She paid attention and behaved herself very well. In September, dance school is going to resume again, we already preregistered both Ashley and Katelyn. I can’t wait for Katelyn to start her lessons. I think she’s

going to do great!

First Haircuts in a Salon

I finally made an appointment with Carmela's sister, Tanja, to get Ashley's and Katelyn's hair cut. There were both long overdue, and I was afraid that if I tried to do it myself again, like I did two years ago, it won't go so well.. They both thoroughly enjoyed getting pampered in a salon for grownups. And Tanja did a great job!

Ashley's First Dance Recital

June is always a super busy month for us, lots of birthdays and celebrations, not to mention our wedding anniversary, this year we had one other event on our calendar - Ashley’s first dance recital. She has been taking ballet and tap classes at NJ Dance Center since September, but nobody except Natalia, Joan and I have seen her dance. The recital was held at the Brookdale Performing Arts Center, which seats several hundred people, so this was a big day for Ashley. She got to wear make up for the first time and all of us, including Mike and my mom came to watch. Ashley was very proud of herself, especially of the fact that she wasn’t scared to dance on big stage. Here are links to her ballet and tap dances (Ashley is the third in from the right, taller one in the bunch)