New Members

On Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast, and were trying to decide what to do for the day. We really had nothing pressing to do and the weather was beautiful so we decided to go to the zoo! We scurried around to get ready and then stopped at Subway for some sandwiches and then headed to the zoo. Joel and I were talking on the way up about getting a membership. We love the zoo and we figured out that if we buy a yearly membership we will pay for it with 2 visits! We definitely go to the zoo more than twice a year ... so we did it! We bought a membership to the zoo!! I'm so excited about the upcoming year full of zoo visits!!!!!!!!!!

Good Thing Hair Grows Back .....

So, many of you will remember my previous posts about Gabe and his haircuts. He is very much afraid of the clippers and will only allow Joel's mom to cut his hair using a pair of scissors. Well, his hair has been getting long and shaggy and the last couple of weeks have been pretty hot. I was starting to feel bad because his head was always sweaty. I was thinking he definitely needed a hair cut, but we didn't have any plans to see Joel's mom and I was playing around with the idea of buzzing it short to give him some relief from the heat. The only problem was I had to talk Gabe into letting ME do it with the CLIPPERS. I finally gained permission when I told him we would do it outside and we would use the small clippers (which are quieter). So, after breakfast on Saturday morning we went outside and cut his hair! I set the guard to 5 thinking this was a good starting point and if I thought it needed to be shorter I'd just adjust the guard and go over it again. Well, I soon realized that the guards on the small clippers are inaccurate .... but it's too late now!

As soon as I finished cutting, I took Gabe upstairs for a bath. Joel was busy vacuuming and when he came upstairs we had a conversation that went a little bit like this:

J: "He looks like a Mexican"
M: "He looks like an inmate"
J: "Potato-Potahto"

A Day at the Park

My good friend Alexis is visiting from Maryland and we met at the park last week to let the kids play and to catch up on a year's worth of happenings! The kids played really well together ..... Alexis has two girls which is right up Isabel's ally since she is constantly surrounded by all boys!! It was a great, but too-short visit ... I miss my friend :(

Here are our sweet little angels:

Alexis has a new baby, Sadie ... Isabel was pretty thrilled that she got to hold her during pictures!

Kindergarten

Yesterday was Isabel's first day of Kindergarten.

The parents were asked to join their kids on the first day to help get them adjusted and comfortable and to meet everyone in the class. The kindergarteners were the only ones who had school yesterday so we had the whole school to ourselves!

We started the day by emptying all of her supplies into her tote and depositing all of the community supplies in their appropriate pile.

Once that was finished, we embarked on a scavenger hunt to help get us acquainted with the school and it's amenities.

The kids each got their own clipboard and pen to cross off their lists as they completed the items.

She was pretty excited to find there is a library IN her school ..... and they have Fancy Nancy books!!

One of the items on the list was to play on at least one piece of playground equipment. Since the kids did such a good job of putting their supplies away, we had extra time and we spent it out on the playground!

When we came in the kids had their pictures taken ..

And we finished the day off with a story on the rug.

Isabel really enjoyed her first day of Kindergarten. I was afraid that she would be a little tentative since she was at a new school and didn't know anyone, but she did wonderfully. She was comfortable and independent and was looking forward to the next day!!

A couple of neat facts that we discovered in our first week at TCA:

1. Isabel's Kindergarten teacher is the mom of some kids that went to school with Druh and me in Jr High and High School.
2. Isabel's principal is the husband of one of my mom's best friends and remembers Mady when she was at the same school in elementary school.

Today was Isabel's first day of Kindergarten on her own.

She was excited about it all morning, however I was afraid that I'd get to the point where I was going to leave and she would start to get upset when it became a reality. We walked into her classroom and she immediately went to put her backpack on her hook and then found her name on her desk. The kids were gathering on the rug so she went right over and joined them. I had to call her back and ask her for a kiss goodbye! When I arrived to pick her up the teacher told me she only cried a little bit during recess. She had gone inside to help the teacher in the classroom for a bit and then felt all better. She even said she was ready to go back outside, but it was time for the other kids to come in by then. She was so tuckered out after school that she fell asleep in the car on the way home.

I think Kindergarten is off to a good start!!!

Gone Fishing

Druh and Candice came to town last weekend and it also happened to be my birthday! I've been trying to get my parents to go fishing with us and the kids all summer, but we could never seem to coordinate schedules. Since Druh was coming to town and everyone had made sure to have the time off and since it was my birthday and I got to tell everyone what to do, I decided we should go fishing on Sunday! So, we packed up two cars at 6:30 am and drove to Woodland Park for a breakfast stop at the Donut Mill. We had the world's best biscuits and gravy, an "OMG! It's bigger than my head cinnamon roll" and some donut holes and then headed up towards Pikes Peak for some fishing. The whole family came plus Mady's boyfriend and one of Druh's friends. We had 12 people in all! We caught about 5 fish and got REALLY sunburned and it was a GREAT day!!!!

Gabe caught the first fish of the day .... on his Toy Story fishing pole!

My baby's first fish!! I'm so proud!

A fishing lesson from Auntie Candice.

Entertaining Grannie and Grandpa.

Waiting for a fish...

Both kids mastered the art of casting!

Mady and Collin... Collin is the one who caught most of the fish.

Still waiting on that fish ... only now I have some good company :)

That darn fish never came, but it was still a good day.

The scenery from our fishing hole.

The cutest fisherman EVER!

A New Addition

On July 31 at 8:59 am

Ari Benjamin
joined the Cutter family!

He was a soft, sweet, squishy, 9lb 2.5oz bundle of joy!



I got to be there for his birth and even got to spend a couple of days taking care of mommy and baby during their first week together.

Big Sister, Tova, was my constant shadow and companion ... she has no idea her world has just been rocked!
But she sure is cute, isn't she?

Lazy Summer Days

With our busy summer there weren't many days when the kids and I got to spend a whole day at home being lazy. We did manage to squeeze in a couple and we did things like watch movies, make playdough, and do crafts. I took a few pictures of these lazy day activities .... I think I was afraid I would forget that we actually had any of these moments this summer........

Gabe curled up on the couch to watch a movie with a blanket and a snack ... I guess he thought Teddy Bear needed to be warm and have a snack too.

While Gabe watched a movie, Isabel worked on her letters and coloring.

Playdough ..... right out of the pan.

Ready to get dirty

Smoothed out and ready to color!

Four different colors ....

Gloves on and ready to start coloring.

I ditched the gloves ... they were cumbersome and made it harder to mix the food coloring in. I used my bare hands on the first batch and ended up with purple hands for two days...

So we went to Plan B .... we put the dough in a baggie with the food coloring and ....

Squished!!

and Squished!!!

It worked like a charm and made no mess at all!

The finished product!

Time to play!!