Where has the time gone???

It's been 3 years since I last posted anything at all.  And I'm feeling like a total loser because where else am I recording these memories for my kids?  I certainly haven't been keeping a journal or making scrapbooks for them.  I can't even say I've been busy making memories with them, because I worked most of the past 3 years.  But I can go forward and I can do better!  So I will try.  And to get started, here they are now:

Aaron started 1st grade today and I had such a hard time letting him go alone!  He's not nervous at all, at least not that he's letting on, but who will make sure he eats all his lunch?  Will he remember he has a snack in his backpack in case he gets hungry at recess?  Will he remember that the 1st bell means start heading for your classroom NOW, because he really has no concept of time, so he really doesn't know how much longer there is to play before the 3rd bell rings and he should already be IN his seat?  The impulse to jump in the car and follow the bus to school (again, we did this last year!) was great, but Gabi and the 3 extra kids I'm babysitting kept me at home like a sane mom.  Probably a good thing...

Looking at these pictures, I just can't get enough of his face.

He is super active all the time and naturally competitive; he's tried out several different sports this past year and I can't tell if he has a favorite or not, but he thrives on the action.  His mouth makes noise nonstop.  Like 24/7.  If he's not talking to us, or narrating for his toys, he has this need to just make sounds with his mouth.  If only I could record the soundtrack of his life, and play it back to him in 10, 20 or 30 years.

Gabi is in preschool, and she loves it.  Actually, she's convinced herself she's in high school and that I should just drop her off at the school down the street every morning and leave her there.  Because she's in high school and can go by herself.  She IS a big girl, and has such a fantastic imagination.  She chatters nonstop, sometimes in incredibly insightful, complete sentences, and sometimes total nonsense.  But either way it makes us smile and laugh.  She loves clothes and shoes - I had to hide her new fall wardrobe for several weeks so she wouldn't get into it.  She loves her baby dolls and takes her care-taking responsibilities VERY seriously.  She evens asks Frank or I to babysit for her when she's leaving her baby behind.  She reminds us constantly that the baby has to be strapped in her carseat in the car, babies can't be left alone in the car, she needs to be burped, coke is not for babies, etc.  She's going to be a great mom one day.  :)