The First Day of Preschool!

Today was Francesca's first day back to preschool! She was so excited that she could hardly contain herself! For the last few weeks all I heard about was how she was so excited to paint, sing songs, eat a snack (that's the big deal in preschool ya know) and of course, wear her NEW dress and shoes!. I was so proud of her this morning. She marched right into her classroom, put her backpack in her cubby all by herself and met up with her little friend from class last year, with whom she hugged profusely about a million times. :) However, there was another little girl  in her class who was really so upset. Francesca asked me why she was crying, so I explained that it was her first day of school and just really missed her Mommy and Daddy. Francesca went right up to the little girl, in her Mother Hen sort of way and said, "Don't cry sweetie (yes, she said sweetie) Cesca's here, don't be sad." My heart just melted. She never ceases to amaze me with how kind and caring she is........ I love her sweet spirit!

Giving a kiss goodbye to the little bro.

Our Little Prince is 10 months!

I can not believe how quickly time is flying! I still feel like we just brought him home from the hospital, and already he is 10 months old! Dante is the sweetest, happiest most joyful baby I think ever (next to Francesca that is)!  He is ALWAYS, ALWAYS smiling. He is hardly ever cranky, doesn't put up much fuss and is so cuddly and yummy! I could go on for days about how much I love him and how perfect he is... Then again, what parent doesn't feel that way about their children?

The one thing that I do not have enough of with my handsome guy, is alone time. It's such a juggling act sometimes with household chores and spending time with Francesca, that I feel like I don't get enough one on one time with Dante. On this particular afternoon, Francesca was really tired from the busy morning we had,  she wanted to take a nap earlier than usual. So Dante and I had a whole hour together playing on the floor. I love to just sit back and watch him, marvel at the handsome little guy he is becoming. The first year goes by in a blink of an eye, and he will soon be entering his "toddler years" so I try to drink up as much of his babyhood as I can, because soon those chubby little legs and feet will be on the move!

Two teeth!

There's that winning smile!

And we're off!

Standing all by myself!

Love those dimples!

Daddy's Birthday Cupcakes

Over the weekend we celebrated Ray's birthday. Ray and I kicked off the weekend with a celebratory dinner at Stratta (a really yummy Italian resturant at the Wynn) then we headed off to see Le Reve. It was an excellent show, we both really enjoyed it. It was just such a great "date" night for the two of us, a rariity these days. On Saturday our little baker and I made Daddy exactly what he wanted... cupcakes! Francesca loves to bake and she was more than thrilled to help mommy in the kitchen! They turned out delicious, our girl may have a future in the culinary field!

Can't forget about this little man!

These two little cupcakes are so blessed to have such an amazing Daddy. A Daddy that works hard, but always has enough time to sit down on the floor and get silly with his kids. A Daddy that does airplane rides, piggyback rides, puzzles, reads stories, sings songs and makes plenty of silly faces to make his kiddos smile. He does so much for his family, we were so happy to celebrate him and we love him more than we could say.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

We spent our Sunday poolside. Francesca has been taking swim lessons these last few weeks. I must say, she has done really well this year. She was really excited to show her Daddy some of her moves in the pool.

These next two photo's I just couldn't resist!!!

Look at those cheeks! So cute! :)

Catching up on some reading!

Home

I will admit it. There are some days when I just can not handle it anymore. Days when I've reached the edge of the cliff and feel like jumping is my only option. When all the "Why Mommy?" questions are too much to take, and the "I don't want too's!" are driving me insane, the temper tantrums, meltdowns, dog food bowl spilled over for the hundreth time, the screaming, yelling, crying, playdates, doctor appointments, dance classes, grocery shopping, laundry, dinner... When all of it seems like it's just too much for me to handle, and the tears are streaming down my face. The days that I feel like I just want to run screaming outta this place, drown my stresses in a cocktail (or two). I somehow can always manage a smile when I think of these beautiful faces..........

Then I remember that this is exactly what I want. That this life, no matter how crazy it gets at times, is where I am supposed to be, where I want to be, where I LOVE to be! That these 3 beautiul faces, are Home to me.

This face is always full of smiles. Whenever I'm at my wits end, I think he can sense it and cracks me one of those gorgeoes dimply smiles that makes me melt, then all the stress just seems to slide away!

Or this beautiful little girl so happy when she is all dressed up in her favorite purple princess dress.

Or watching this little guy crawl after his sister's treasured princess shoes.

and finally completing his mission.

Or having movie night with the family. And watching Daddy help our girl with the popcorn.

Or watching her face light up making her favorite treat... POPCORN!

Painting my girl's cute little "piggies" brings a smile to my face.

All in all, it's a good life. It's a blessed life. There will always be struggles, obstacles, tears to wipe, boo boo's to kiss, and plenty of meltdowns. At the end of the day though, there are far greater moments, and for that- I'm happy to be right were I am... Home!

Is there a doctor in the house?

If there is one thing that we do A LOT of in this house is play doctor! (the kids that is) Francesca loves to pull out her doctors kit whenever anyone is feeling a little under the weather and bring them back to health. On this particular day, our beloved dog Cooper, got into something outside and his poor paw was bleeding. So nurse Amy came to the rescue, bandaged his paw up and "Dr. Cesca" was right under my wing helping out. She also was so good about sharing her stethoscope with her brother. Maybe we have a future in medicine?

Umm.. What's this??

I think I know what the problem is.

Sounds good.

There.. All better!

Our little guy is getting real close to crawling. And just like his sister, he makes a bee line for the dog food. Guess we have dog water bowl splashes to look forward to in our future.

A few of Dante in the pool.

I love his face here. He looks so annoyed, but he really is the happiest boy around. :)

This one I couldn't resist. Our girl loves this dog almost as much as Cooper. She named him Chooka (don't ask where that name came from, because we have no idea) She was getting all cuddly with him one morning and said "Mommy take a picture of Chooka, he's my baby" Gosh I love her!!!!

Our new place to share!

So many of you have asked for pictures and videos of the kids. We have been toying around with the idea of doing a blog for a while now, so we figured.. What the heck! Now all of you that are out of town are able to feel like you are right here with us and can enjoy seeing pictures of our precious ones. We will try and update this as often as we can with pictures and news about all the happenings with the Gregoryan's.. Well, really just the kids! So come back as often as you like. Here are a recent few. Hope you enjoy!

Francesca's last day of pre school. She had a great year, has become such a young lady, made so many academic advances, but more importanly loved every day she was there.

Two of the best teachers, Miss Suzanne and Miss Brenda. (They had a circus day the last day of school. We did not send our daughter to clown school... :)

The 3 Amigas... Jayden, Francesca and Sierra.

It's always hard to say goodbye. Her little buddy Emmit came over to hug her goodbye, and they stood there like that for a few minutes. Of course Mommy cried... Then again. Mommy is always so emotional at school events.

Our little baby  is now 9 months! Can't believe how fast time goes by..... Dante is such a happy, sweet little boy and has quickly stolen all of our hearts (Mommy's especially)

Mommy and her favorite little man at Disneyland.

Soaking up some rays in Huntington Beach. Our little angel is 3 1/2 and keeps us all on our toes and certainly entertained. She is so much fun and we couldn't be more proud of the little girl she is becoming.

The two munchkins.

Dante loved the beach too! He was all smiles in the sun and sand!

She loved the sand touching her feet. She kept saying..... "It tickles my toes!"