{School Thanksgiving Lunch}

The kids were so excited to see us make it to their Thanksgiving lunch at school. William was all smiles and gave us a big hug and kiss.

It caught Samantha off guard and thought it was "pick up" time. She grabbed her bag and was ready to go. Eventually, she figured out that we were there to eat lunch with her :)

William was so excited to show us what he was thankful for :)

It was a great Thanksgiving lunch with our lil munchkins.

{Happy Birthday To My Buddy}

IMG_5798 a video by williamsmomma on Flickr.

This absolutely warms my heart! What a perfect way to end the day for William. Lil sister came up with this song for her favorite buddy. So cute to hear lil bitty thing calling her big brother buddy.

{Trick or Treating 2012}

Our lil ninja and lady bug had a fabulous treat or treating year. We love living in an area where they go all out for Halloween. 

Mommy and her trick or treaters.

Daddy and his trick or treaters.

Attack of the Ninja.

We saw our friend Reese along the way.

The kids really got it this year and was pretty much on their own as they walk to the neighbor's doors.

Our local police was on site to keep everybody safe and hand out treats too.

Lots of spooky decorations all over.

Grown ups were given treats too. Gotta love it!

And when we got back to our loft, our sweet neighbor left treats for the kids and our doggie Riley.

What a fun day it was for trick or treating!

{William's 5th Birthday}

Everybody's been looking forward to this day. We have a big surprise planned out for the birthday boy. William has it in his mind that when you are five, you are just so much bigger. My favorite moment from the day...William woke up, jumped out of bed and came running to our full body mirror. He stared at himself head to toe and said, "I'm FIVE!" It was so cute.

The big surprise of the day...he got a bunch of Skylander giants from us and he got to play the game the whole day. He LOVES Skylander! The giants are a new feature. He thought that they were not out yet. We purposely have not been taking him to the store so he'll continue to that they are not available.  He was really surprised when he got his presents. I love how touched he was on how big deal the day was for all of us. We sang him the happy birthday song and he got big kisses from Mommy, Daddy and Samantha.

He had his 5th yr check up scheduled that morning,  after that he has the whole day to play his new video game. I've been working hurricane duty for work and almost didn't make it to his appointment. Luckily, his appointment was running behind and I was able to make it in just in time. He did real well and was very talkative. Dr. Segal just had a huge smile and was really impressed on how smart he is!
Stats from his check up.

Height. 42" (32%)
Weight. 39 lbs 3 oz (40%)

At five, he's really learning so much. He can basically do basic math. He is really interested. He was telling me the other day that there are a couple of ways to add numbers for 6....2+4; 3+3; 5+1. Of course, Mom had to challenge him and said that there's one more way that he needs to put in the list, 0+6.  Hope he excel in math. Both Ed and I are sort of Math smarties :)

He's really doing well reading. He probably knows about  40-50 sight words. Another noticeable change, he's slowly becoming so independent with chores, wants and believes.  He's no longer a baby and I am hanging on to every moment of him wanting to snuggle with us. I love my Halloween baby!

Taking a lil brake from playing video game and catching some fresh air with lil sister.

He decided last minute that he wanted to see his classmate's costumes. We dressed them up in their costume and made it in time to William's class Halloween party. So sweet coz all the kids were excited to see him and sang "happy birthday" to him.

A great day for the birthday boy that will end with an awesome trick or treating around our neighborhood later on that night.

{Election Day}

William's class is learning about voting. They voted for their favorite mascot and what snack should they have. William counted the votes. 22 for Percy and 12 for for Billy. Cheese and crackers won over yogurt.

I love this thoughts from William on being a president...hmmm, maybe this kid is on to something :)

{William's 5th Birthday Party}

Months before his birthday, William requested to have his party at the same location where he had his 3rd birthday party. We were all for it...the place is so convenient, plus they actually serve good New York style pizza. One other request, he wanted a ninja birthday cake. Simple requests that we granted the birthday boy.

William is such a special kid. Families traveled and friends marked this date to join the birthday boy in celebrating. 

Lola would not miss her apo's birthday.

Aunt Sara and Ms Jenn having a blast at the arcade with Samantha.

Brook winning the ticket jackpot and Samantha bouncing away.

Ryan is no longer in the same school as William but still made the time to join William in celebrating.

Cousins at play.

Ms. Ra and her adorable bump (although it looks like I'm the one who has a bump in this picture. LOL).

Tito Nestor and Tita Susan.

Michael, Jackson Rush, Mr. B and Tito Noel.

Tita Nilda trying to catch the busy birthday boy. The J family enjoying some of the games.

Time for the birthday boy to enjoy his birthday cake.

His best friend Ethan had a Tball game that morning and made William's day by making it in time for his birthday cake.

The fun continued the whole weekend, opening presents and spending time with family.

Grandaddy and Grandmommy just moved to Texas and wasn't able to make it to William's party but Grandaddy had a business trip to Atlanta this past week and was able to quickly see the birthday boy.

A great birthday weekend celebration for our special five year old!

{Atlanta Marathon Relay}

Two weekends ago, I had the honor of running as a team with the most inspiring runners I've met.  Ed, CC, Brian and I conquered 26.2 miles as a team....and Team Quattro Slapo demolished the pavement and finished it a whooping 3:51:47

CC: Leg 1 (5.5 miles) -55:18
Ed: Leg 2 (8.6 miles ) - 1:01:52
Donna: Leg 3 (5.5 miles) - 55:00
Brian: Leg 4 (6.6 miles ) - 59: 44

Our team had the best cheering squad. Ra, Jackson and Mr. Bobby all stood in the blisterring cold and watched us finish. So nice to have them.

Here's a picture of Ed and I with our medals. I love having a running husband. It is so fun to share the same hobby with him.

{Not Impressed}

My company sponsored several of the US athletes this past Summer Olympics. One of our sponsored athlete is Olympic Gold Medalist Mckayla Maroney. She came to our office to sign and thank all the employees. My coworkers and I decided to come check it out and take a break from our desk.
Mckayla was such a sweet young lady and patiently talked and signed everybody's posters with personalized names.

And who could forget, Mckayla's not impressed picture?

I just had to ask her to the pose with me. She was such a good sport!

{Fall Fun 2012}

The kids are getting so much bigger and are really getting into every holiday and change of seasons. Halloween is a big day (a special lil boy's birthday) for our family. We had so much fun carving our pumpkins. William picked a spooky bat design, and Samantha picked a kitty cat design.

Snuggles with my lil ones.

Testing out the "candle" lights for their pumpkins.

William wanted to take  a picture of Mommy and Daddy.

Jack o lanterns all lil up.

The kids snuggling Mr. Ghost at night.