Aaaaaleluia!!!

Yeah!! It is that wonderful time of year again, a time when school starts. It has been another crazy couple of weeks getting ready for the great even. A few weekends ago, Dan's brother Ben and his fiance Al came to visit. We had so much fun getting to know them a little better. The girls, especially Tarin, would not let Al out of her sight. She loved her. They played and played and played. Uncle Ben was a good sport and even let them paint his baby toe bright pink. I think he was jealous that Al was getting all the attention!!! We got to show them some of the fun sights around Austin. We are working hard to convince them to move here. Although I wonder if our house of chaos made them think the exact opposite. Needless to say it was a totally fun weekend.

Last Monday we had a birthday party for Tarin. We invited families as it was on a Monday night and we didn't want to steal kids away from family night. So, all in all, we had around 65 people there. I don't know too many kiddos that have that many people at the 6th birthday party. I was so proud of Tarin. She flitted between all her friends and tried hard to make sure everyone was having a great time. She had so much fun! It was fun for me to see her trying hard to make her friends have fun. She has been looking forward to her birthday for around 364 days now. She begins the countdown the day after her birthday, as usual. I think she has next years all planned out already. Didn't know know, birthdays in the DeLong family are a national holiday! We celebrate big. On her actual birthday she got to go on a date with her Nana. They went birthday shopping at Justice and then to lunch at the Olive Garden, Tarin's favorite place. They ate plenty of bread sticks and alfredo dipping sauce.

When they got home from lunch we loaded up the car and headed to San Antonio. We spent the night there. That night we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner and then went on the boat tour down the river walk. It was so much fun. Once Nana gets home from all her trips I will have her email pictures because I forgot my camera. The next morning we woke up and went to Sea World. Nana hadn't been so we had fun showing Nana all around. We went to the water park and then to a few shows. The girls all loved it. Walker was a sport. It was so hot but he just hung on and was as happy as could be all day long. I kept dumping water on him to keep him cool. What a kid. Dan didn't get to go with us because he had to work. Poor guy misses all the fun. Maybe in October we will take him with us!

School started this week. Tarin is now in the 1st grade. She got a great teacher and we are SO happy for that. She loves her class and luckily has one of the kids from the street in her same class. That always makes the first day easier when you already have a friend. She is also going to play soccer this year. She had her first practice on Wednesday and LOVED it. She is a pretty athletic gal and loved beating the boys in races down the field. It makes me happy when I see her very comfortable playing with a bunch of kids she's never met. She just walked right out on the field and started playing. It is going to be a fun year playing soccer. She joined a singing group, much like the one we had in Mansfield, called Sunshine Generation. She has a few friends in the group and LOVES to sing. Her teacher assigned them to bring a brown bag that had 5 items describing themselves and what they like. She took a play microphone, because she loves to sing. her CTR Ring that she says she got at church and it helps her remember to choose the right, a picture of her family that she loves, some lip gloss, of course, no explanation there, and finally she took her swim goggles because she is such a great little swimmer.

Ella doesn't start her pre school for another week...boo hoo hoo. she is so excited though. She does however, get to start her ballerina classes again this week. She gets to learn tap and ballet. Those lucky dance teachers that give a three year old tap shoes and let them go at it. That is a combination that would give me one big fat headache! I think she is enjoying being the big one at home. It is nice for her to not be bossed around all day.

Hopefully now I will be more on top of things and not have to do the big long catch up sessions and will be able to do some fun stuff that is going on daily!