Worth sinking your teeth into... (ha, ha)

My friend, Faith, called me this week and asked me to make a wedding cake for her Breaking Dawn book club she was hosting. It was actually kind of fun to do and to think of how I could make it pretty and also go along with the Breaking Dawn theme. (For those of you who are not familiar with these vampire books, the covers are black and red and Breaking Dawn cover has a chess theme.) I was happy with it. Thanks to my mom and dad for making the pawn and queen pieces for the top. They were awesome!!

This is what I end up with after I make a wedding cake - 3 bags of cake extras. Yummy!!

How can he be this old...

Evan's first day of preschool was yesterday. (1st day of his second year) He was so excited. He woke up and the first thing he said was.. Evan: Mom, it's my first day of school. Me: I know. Are you so excited? Evan: Yeah (big sigh) I've been waiting. Sara's been going to two weeks and every day he asks if it's his turn yet. I think he was little shocked that it actually was.

Ben got off work for a little bit to go with me to take him. He's so proud of his kids and it's nice he wants to be there for them on their big days. (It helps that his work is 6 blocks away and very flexible) The first day was just for an hour, with the parents, to get the kids used to going. Here he is listening intently to his teacher.

They made their placemats for snack time.

They also colored and cut out some shapes. I had no idea Evan could cut so well. I knew he could cut straight lines. He does it all the time at home. But....

look at that heart. He cut it out all by himself. Isn't it funny how proud we are as parents at the smallest things our kids do? I was beaming that he actually cut the heart out and that it still looked like a heart. Way to go, bud!

He's so old! I keep thinking that he'll be in Kindergarten next year. Crazy!!

It's been a long time since I've had one kid at home. I don't know if I know what to with a 19-month-old anymore without her siblings to entertain her. I guess I'm going to have to re-learn pretty quick.

Happenings from the past week...

They weren't kidding when they said "reading pays off"! We got a call las Tuesday from our library saying Evan and Kamri had won a prize from the raffle drawing. My kids participated in the summer reading program the library sponsors. At the end of the summer, after reading for a certain amount of time, they handed in their papers in exchange for a free book. They also got their names entered into a drawing for prizes. They scored - BIG!

I let Sara pretend she got the prize since Kamri doesn't realize anyway. Evan picked out this bug catcher. I tried to steer him toward another prize - this one is so big - but he had his mind set on this one.

This was the stash in the goody bag that Kamri/Sara won. A Bug's Life the movie, a book, pencils, stickers, a jumprope (that I was going to buy for her since she loved it so much last Monday), stamps, candy, and other random stuff. Not too shabby for a prize from our small library.

Here's a shout out to my loving husband. I got in the car Wednesday afternoon to pick up Sara from school. Playing on the "radio" was a song from Enchanted. Evan heard it and said "Enchanted!" It's not a song that is played on the radio so I was confused. I looked down and saw it wasn't the radio but I couldn't find a CD case anywhere. So, I took out the CD to make sure it really was a CD. I have been wanting it for a while (for me and for Sara). Ben went to buy it on his lunch break and put it in the car to play when I turned it on. Evan and I did the same thing to Sara when she got in the car after school. Her face lit up and she said "Enchanted!!" with a huge smile. Well, the song "How Does She Know" (from Enchanted) couldn't have summed it up any better. Love you, babe. (By the way, I even got him to sit down with my Friday night to watch the movie.)

Kamri had a mean patch of Eczema on the inside of her elbow and we couldn't get her to top digging at it. So we bandaged it up. She sat really well while Ben wrapped it. Then she sat and examined it for a second. But, it didn't seem to bother her at all. She went on running around.

Ben's mission companion came and stayed with us Saturday night before he made his way to the airport on his way back to Canada. The kids LOVE having visitors. They think it is so fun. We played soccer outside for a little bit. It was soon way too hot (for us)but it was fun while it lasted.

Remember how I said the kids love visitors. Well, our neighbor came over to play for a little bit and Kamri seemed to be in heaven. Evan loved having another little person around.

Here Kamri is modeling her new backpack. She thinks she's all grown up now. This is actually Sara's backpack but she loves to wear it because the big kids get to.

She'll wear it just about any time she can. She must be my daughter - she loves books.

Isn't she adorable? Look at that face - closely. This picture does not do it justice. I left the room for a minute yesterday. This is what I came back to find. Look closely. It might be hard to see, but there is syrup everywhere. She had climbed up onto the table, grabbed the syrup bottle, poured it all over the chair, and proceeded to play around in it. I walked back into the room, she looked up at me and said, "Mmmmm!" with a huge smile. What did I do, you ask? I grabbed my camera. She was already a mess anyway. It was all over her face, her hair, shirt, pants, the chair, the table, the floor. I was finding sticky spots all day. Lesson learned (hopefully) - DO NOT LEAVE FOOD UNATTENDED ON THE TABLE.

(This was not the first time she's gotten climbed onto the table to find something tasty. She's done it twice before. Each time the "tasty something" was one of my cakes - one being a wedding cake. I did not take the time to grab my camera at those times.)

I can get pigtails in her hair!! Very little ones, but they are there. I dressed her in overalls today so along with those and her pigtails she looked like she was ready to go out and milk some cows. So cute!! (Yes, I can still say that after the syrup incident mentioned above)

And look at those curls. I hope she doesn't lose them.

Another busy weekend

We had another busy weekend. Friday night Ben took Sara and Evan to the REAL Soccer game. I got to stay home with Kamri and relax a little.

Soccer/football field

Evan got dressed in his soccer shirt. His exact words, "Mommy, can I wear this for the soccer game?" He was so excited he was talking about it all day.

Saturday started early with an 8:00 am start of our 3rd Annual Lombardi Half Marathon. There were 14 participants this year. Anyone and everybody is invited to join us next year. We love friends to join in If you're interested let me know. (For those of you who don't know, my family gets together the weekend of Labor Day and participate in a half marathon with water stops, numbers, medals, and prizes. My brother decided that all of us paying to run a half marathon was silly and that he could just put one together himself - so he did.) The first year I was 4 months pregnant with Kamri so I was only able to make it through 9 miles. But I have finished every year since. It was a long run/walk, but we got through it. Ben did great running and I walked with my sister and dad. It's a great way for us to get together and get some exercise.

Before the race - all pumped up and ready to go

Me, Cameo, my dad

I usually walk he whole thing, start to finish, but Cameo and my dad wanted to cross the line running

Ben crossing the finish line

I did walk the whole thing with my sister and dad but we had to do a redo of the finish line picture because Ben didn't get the real one. So this one is just me.

Our numbers on our back which lead to a lot of questions from others on the trail.

All the particiants at the end - and we still hav smiles on our faces

Me and Ben with our medals

The kids all play at the park while the parents race. When the last person crosses the finish line and finish the 13.1 miles we kick off our shoes (literally) and have a picnic. We have bagels, bananas, sandwiches, gatorade, chips, and so much more. We Lombardis' know how to eat!

My nephews rode most of the 13.1 miles on their bikes. They were almost to the halfway point when Corbyn biffed it. Ouch!! He was transported back to the park while the others turned around and rode back on their bikes.

Needless to say, we spent a lot of the rest of Saturday sleeping and relaxing. That night we went to Trista and Terry's for dinner and to tell them about our Panama trip (thanks guys). We woke up sore on Sunday and Ben still finds it difficult to walk down our stairs. Why do we put ourselves through this? you ask. Because it's fun, great exercise and maybe because we are all a little crazy!

Monday, Labor Day, started with a sleep in time until 8:50 when Kamri and Sara woke up. Thank you!! We babysat my nephews and niece then that afternoon it was off to Grandma's house for a BBQ and some fun. There was football throwing/kicking contest and Sara was learning how to jumprope and we all decided to go back to our elementary days and join her. The adults ( I use that term lightly) had great fun jumping to "Cinderella, Cinderella dressed in yella...." and "Teddy bear, Teddy bear, turn around...". Let me tell you. I was more out of breath doing that than I was doing the half marathon on Saturday. Maybe I should take that up as part of my exercise routine.

Ben getting ready to kick the football

When you ask Kamri to smile she does this. Even if she just sees the camera, this is the face she makes.

Sara got pretty good by the end

Evan and Kamri trying their hand at it

Me and me with Trina, Cameo, and my friend Elisa

Sara and Elisa. We counted to 15 jumps in a row. Pretty good!!

Afterward, we went to Arctic Circle for ice cream and played in the play area

Random photos from the day.....

There's that face again!!