We are a Family of 4...not 3 anymore :)

Ryan's 1st day of Kindergarten...I'm happy for him but sad that he is growing up, my baby isn't a baby anymore :( And believe me he lets me know every chance he gets that he no longer is the baby of the house anymore!
Kindergarten... here I come!!!



Luke likes wearing his Daddy's sneakers :)

Ryan and Luke smiling for Mommy's camera at our local Barnes & Noble story time.

Sooooo precious!!! My sister, Aunt Wissy (this is what Ryan calls my sister Melissa), and Luke hugging.

One day I decided to get out the PlayHut we have and apparently even the dog, who happens to be 12 years old, liked to play in it too...fun for the whole family :)

Luke peeking out of the PlayHut :)

The day we spent on the beach and then on the boardwalk later that night in Ocean City, NJ proved to be too much for Luke :(

Luke: Is it windy here or is it just me??? Heehee!!!

My boys :)

Luke trying to make a sandcastle...Hara sho Luke!!!

It literally just dawned on me the other day when I was looking at the ABC Distributing catalog, we received in the mail, that we are no longer a family of 3 but rather a family of 4. This realization brought me to tears, seriously! Some of you may think I'm crazy and believe me Ron did too when I told him this story :/ I'm a little slow on the upload these days, I like to call it "Mommy Brains"...we will leave that for a totally separate blog b/c believe me I could write a novel on the subject! I open the first page of the catalog and in the catalog is "Personalized Family Canoes" and the most adorable snowmen sitting in a canoe and not to mention it's for Christmas time, well the family of 3 was $7.95--which I seriously started to write down. I stopped myself, started crying and looked down the page to the family of 4, which incidentally was $8.95--more money of course. Crazy, I know...you would think I would have realized this fact by now but nope I didn't :/

Life in the our household has been nuts, it usually is but lately OM it seems as if someone- somewhere turned the crazy switch on :) I've started school, once again :/ And Ryan started in Kindergarten this year...and YES I cried while Luke and I walked home that morning. As some of you will remember, Ryan started a half day program of Kindergarten and a half day program of Pre-School last year, which by the way worked out beautifully. This year we (Ron and I) thought Ryan would be more successful if we tried the Kindergarten program again and not move him onto a half day program of 1st Grade and a half day program of Kindergarten. We honestly believe that this was a wonderful decision on everyones part, including our school district.

Recently, I made a remark to my Dad that looking back on I chuckle about it now. The remark was "We haven't really gone anywhere this Summer or been on a "true" Summer vacation". My Dad replied back to me, "Jen, you and Ron had a vacation in Russia this year". I suppose it seems as if our time spent in Russia happened years ago! When believe it or not Luke has only been home 13 weeks...where on earth has that time gone??? My Dad also told me that we did have a chance to make it to Ryan's Azerbaijani Reunion this past July in Washington, D.C., and we have taken day-trips to the Aquarium in Camden, NJ, to Playland in Rye, NY where EAC held their Annual Picnic, and we went to the beach in Ocean City, NJ. Even though we didn't take a "true"vacation this is a Summer we will never forget...after all we did become a family of 4 :)

Love & HUGS,

Jenny, Ron, Ryan & Luke :)

Video of Ryan, Ron and Luke :) It was extremely rough that day on the beach, I don't know if you can tell but it certainly was and in fact there was this one wave that knocked both Ryan and Luke over, Thank-Goodness Ron had their hands.