Isaiah's Preschool Graduation

yes, my firstborn baby has officially graduated from preschool and will be starting kindergarten this upcoming fall. i remember when we first arrived in madison, i was frantically looking for a preschool for isaiah to attend. is it me, or did the school year just end after i blinked? i have to admit, this whole time-flash-foward-as-an-adult thing is really scary. anyway, back to the gradation...his lovely teachers had planned a preschool potluck/picnic and all the kids and their parents gathered together once more to run around and play, eat, laugh, and talk. i'm really going to miss some of the families...they've all been super nice and fun to plan playdates with. unfortunately most kids will be scattered among various school districts. so, i'm hoping isaiah will see at least a couple familiar faces next year in kindergarten. doesn't he look so handsome in his gown? :) i'm beaming. 

p.s. the nice thing is makayah will be going to the same preschool with the same lovely teachers. yay! i'm so glad i don't have to be researching preschools this august. she's super duper excited!

  

Month of May cont...

as soon as we came back from florida, we had an ultrasound scheduled for the next day. and we found out we are having a baby girl! isaiah was absolutely baffled. he shook his head, looked extremely puzzled, and said, "but, it's supposed to be a boy." makayah had scoffed and said, "HA! I TOLD YA!!" by the time we were leaving, isaiah was comfortable and actually really happy about the news. he kept saying how he was going to be the best big brother for his new baby sister. and now whenever he touches my tummy, he asks, "how is my baby sister doing?" and then he'll kiss my tummy. he's going to grow up to be such a wonderful gentleman. his sisters are going to be lucky girls. :) our friend, michelle, from sam's law school, came over to help celebrate, and brought the cake. baby girl! isaiah also made his own cake, celebrating the last days of preschool...i seriously can't believe it's already coming to an end. beautiful summer days playing outside and having water fights with the kids. i think this picture was taken just after we had our water fight...we ALL got soaked! the chalks got pretty wet in the midst of our water war, but that didn't stop makayah from drawing. these are actually isaiah's drawings, his rainbow, and a picture of daddy with his muscles. :)

Disney World

i figured sam would need some kind of vacation after his first year of law school, so we planned a trip to florida. we didn't have much time between sam's last final and the start date of his summer internship....but somehow we fit it in. it was our first trip to disney world. sam and i have been to disneyland on numerous occasions, and this was the very first to any disney park for the kids. our flight was delayed a few hours, so we didn't get into our hotel until past midnight. we stayed at this pretty cool place with a waterpark, and our room was huge with a full kitchen and washer/dryer. nice touch. we got a late start in the morning since we were all pretty tired. the kids thought we were in florida for dad's business meetings. they had no idea where we were going. so after we ate breakfast and headed over to the park, they flipped out when they saw the humongous sign with mickey and words, "WELCOME TO DISNEYWORLD." we got our tickets and as we were waiting for the ferry to carry us over, makayah caught a glimpse of the castle...and she freaked out! it was all worth it, with that one reaction. ;) so, we did all the rides and rollercoasters. luckily i wasn't showing too much at five months, so i was able to go on almost every ride. the second day we finished up at disneyworld and then went to the epcot center, which was actually pretty cool. it was super fast, but super fun. we even had time to swim at the waterpark and have a little pizza party with root beer in our hotel room, ahhh, relaxation. ;) next time, we'll have to take out a much longer stay.

Our Month of May pt.1

we began our month of may with the fantastic musical of the lion king. we all dressed up, and headed over to downtown madison. the show was amazing, and the kids, especially, loved it! we also had tons of strawberries this summer...and i constantly found the kids hiding under the table eating them all. :) sometimes when the house is too quiet...it gets me a little worried...luckily, i only caught makayah using a black crayon this time. she's been drawing lots of pictures of the new baby...and they make me giggle. just after sam's first year of classes ended, the ILSA (indigenous law students association) club got together for a closing social. there was tons of yummy food, and great friends to hang out with. it's been fun to tag along to all sorts of social events with sam. the kids came along with us as well and entertained all the adults. :) our lovely host, carol and professor monet, sam's professor next year. for mother's day we went to the lovely olbrich gardens, on east side madison. we had such a great time with our friends, walking the gardens and taking pictures. makayah loved the baby elephant statue...not sure if she should be climbing it, but she did, oh well. ;) so this is actually the first half of the month. may was a CRAZY BUSY month for us, and it all just flew by way too quickly.

the new car

we tried to hold off as long as possible, but we just didn't see any way around this summer. so here is our new car. and it's perfect. ;)

may day march

the first of may just happened to be our farmer's market saturday, along with the may day march protesting the recent arizona immigration law that had just passed. so, sam and i thought it would be fun to bring our cameras along and get some pictures. it actually turned out to be pretty cool. i felt like a photojournalist, and people wanted me to take their pictures, and made way for me through the crowds. haha, it made me feel like some vip. ;) the protest at the capitol building in madison, wisconsin. dane county actually issued a statement opposing the new az legislation. we also took some time to enjoy the beautiful flowers at the square. the march began several blocks away from the state capitol. the march was peaceful and i captured some singers in the group. the beautiful capitol building. saturdays are usually pretty crowded with the farmer's market, and today was no exception with the march going on. the police officer and his dog. it always makes me nervous when isaiah asks to pet other people's dogs. daddy and the kids, hanging out and taking pics. we actually didn't stay very long at the protest. we took some pictures, and after a bit, we did our walk around the square finding goodies to buy and eat. we love going to the capitol on saturdays, there's always so many interesting people, never a dull moment. mmm, popcorn and smoothies.