{Merry Christmas}

{Happy 8th Birthday William}

Halloween is always extra special in our house because of our Halloween birthday boy. I can't believe you are now an 8 year old. We couldn't be more happier with how wonderful you are growing. Smart, kind, fun and full of love.

Started off the morning before Halloween with a book character parade at school. Students were to pick a book character who demonstrate good behavior. The whole family read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this summer. Without a doubt, William picked Willy Wonka for his character. Thank goodness for a very petite GG. We found the perfect Purple velvet coat.

This is Samantha's first book character parade and she choose Paddington Bear. The friendliest bear from deepest darkest Peru.

The one thing that the birthday boy asked for his birthday is a sleepover party with his best buddies at school. 7 boys total was a challenge...but we have the best set of fun and well behaved boys.

A lil Halloween photo booth fun!

Football and trampoline.

Pizza and Ice Cream cake for some hungry kids.

Fun and celebration continued with a backyard movie and popcorn bar.

Exhausted kids and Dad in their sleeping bags at the basement. Samantha and Mom enjoyed the comfy king bed upstairs.

But not too exhausted to wake up bright and early to donuts and happy birthday cheers from friends and family.

Happy birthday William!!! We love you!

{First Day of School: 2015}

What a big day for our house! The youngest is finally at big kid school. I didn't realize how much more emotional could this be...I guess that's what happen when you send the baby of the family to Kindergarten.
I was so happy how excited Samantha was. Not a bit nervous and was just eager that this big day has arrived. So much talk leading up to this and she was as ready as can be.

And William, wow such a big kid at 2nd grade. Very noticeable how much he has matured and was just really calm about first day. He was so excited that Samantha is finally at the same school as he is.

Glimpse of their first day at school.
Walking to school with their backpacks on.

Samantha's fun kindergarten classroom

William with his second grade homeroom teacher.

Successful first day of school for both. Samantha even came home with this gift from her sweet teachers. Schultute, a German tradition for first day of school. A big cardboard cone, prettily decorated and filled with toys, chocolate, candies, school supplies, and various other goodies. It is given to children to make this anxiously awaited first day of school a little bit sweeter. ‪

{Summer Beach Trip 2015}

Culler Carillon Beach Vacation from Donna Culler on Vimeo.

{Scenes From An Awesome Birthday Weekend}

My favorite white chocolate moose cake for the night before, yummy muffins from Sugar Shak, received the Athleta Sports bra on my wish list and lots of hugs and snuggles from these two.

Then a grown up treat for Mommy and Daddy to make for a birthday to remember --- a staycation at the Intercontinental Hotel with our favorite couple. Love having a joint birthday celebration with my dearest friend Ra. Lots of pool time (kid free, yeah), a dinner at the hottest sushi place in town, Umi. Capped off with a late night fun at the Bourbon and Ham Bar. What a fun fun night!

{4th of July 2015}

Another lovely time with the family celebrating 4th of July. Every year, I fall in love with our porch banners. It's just perfection. The whole house is decked out in red, white and blue for this special holiday.

Samantha's pre school parade is a great kick off to our holiday. The kids are so adorable with their decorated bikes. Fun fun times! Sad that this will be her last year at her pre-school.

The morning of the 4th, we got up bright and early for a very rainy Peachtree Road Race. All 3 of us finished the 10K in under 60 mins. Wahoo!

We finished off the day with some more family time with a country boil at home and then enjoyed the local fireworks show.

{William's First Cast}

I got a call from camp that William slipped and landed odd on a bouncy during carnival day. Spoke to the counselor and she notified me that he's been complaining of pain in his right arm. She told me that he fell 15 mins ago. I was finishing up a meeting at work and asked her to monitor and keep an eye on him and I can pick him up in a couple of hours if need be. I called at lunch at they told me that although he seems to still be hurt, he wasn't complaining about it and was "ok" and even turned down their offer for an ice pack.

I picked William up after work and noticed that he couldn't straighten his arm. At dinner, he also used his left hand to eat instead of the right. Wow, something is really bothering him! Mother of the year award here, for deferring pick up! I contemplated on rushing him to ER, but a circle of expert Mom friends suggested that it's really best to just go straight to an orthopedic doctor, if he's not experiencing fever or complaining of discomfort. The following day, I called the orthepedic office and grabbed the earliest appointment. The X-ray deemed that he had a hairline fracture on his elbow and will need to be on cast for 3 weeks. We were in and out of the office in an hour! Impressive and what an awesome $ system. LOL.

William was asked to picked a color for his cast. Was not surprise when he went with orange. Auburn fan thru and thru. The doctor also informed us that he needs to be off any strenuous activities. Bummer because William was looking forward to his soccer camp (we had to cancel). Also, what a torture not be able to enjoy swimming on this hot summer day. But, very typical of William, my lil boy always sees the bright side and can be as happy as can be. He was sort of excited for the cast because he can have friends sign it :)