Enzo

Katy and Dario sure make gorgeous babies!  I love his eyes here!

And I love his smile here too!

We'll miss you and Massi, Enzo!!!

Insta-Party at Park Square

Just add Water!!!!!!!

And then run around in your underwear!  

Or just look dazzling cute with your toothless smile!

Thanks for coming Stokas! See you on the other side of the world!  xoxo

The Night Life in Fishhawk Ranch

Saturday night, after a fabulous dinner made by Mick, I arranged for two babysitters and we left our house triumphantly at 9:00 to head over to our fabulous wine bar, two blocks away.  At 9:07, I was called home. :(  I could hear the screaming from the two little ones from the mailbox.  I tried to pretend I was a twin Mommy (how can people do that?????), but I eventually threw in the towel and called Katy home around 9:30. 

She got Enzo down for bed and then we triumphantly headed over to our fabulous wine bar at 10:00.....with an extra friend!  :)

Ha!  I win!  She tried to go out without me!  Silly Mommy!

Mick and Katy. 

And our friend Beau came out to join us.  Fun night!!!  

The Stoka 4 Visit the Wagoner 6

We certainly will miss being within driving distance of both my brother Curtis and his family in St Petersburg and Mick's sister Katy and her family in Miami Beach.

Thank you Katy, Dario, Massi and Enzo for coming up for one last visit this Memorial Day!

Katy got some quality time with baby Gigi. 

Enzo wow'ed us with his sweet personality and gorgeous brown eyes. 

And Claire and Massi played and played as well as cuddled while watching their favorite shows on Nick Jr.

Where did Massi and Claire go??????????

Freaky Looking Animal

Coming home tonight with the kids from our friends Liz and Beau's house, Mick saw an armadillo straight ahead.  I just happened to have the camera in my hand and jumped out of the car and took this picture.

What a freaky looking animal!!!!

Claire's Best Bud Nathan's Birthday Party

Claire's best friend from her pre-preschool, Nathan, celebrated his 3rd birthday yesterday with a pool party.

I think the extra candle is "one to grow on."  :)

Her other best bud, Nicholas, was there too.  

These kiddos have been in the same class for about a year and a half and Claire enjoys playing with them so much. 

Nathan's Dad swam at Southern Kentucky so Nathan is a little fish.  

The decorate your own cupcakes were quite a hit, but Claire didn't know how to stop pouring stuff on top!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Olivia's Top Tooth Lost

Olivia has had her two top teeth loose for a few weeks now and yesterday, while eating blueberries, she lost one of them!

She has an adorable lisp and it has altered her appearance, just in time for pictures this week, where we'll be able to preserve this special growing up stage!

Congratulations Olivia!!!

Sleeping Kids

The other night, Claire wouldn't go to sleep and ended up in Audrey's bed.  Audrey begged for her to sleep there all night and she did.  All night long!  Maybe we should have her sleep with Audrey every night!

I went around and took pictures of the other two, just for fun. 

Don't you love Olivia's painting on her bed?  My friend Kristen Razvillas did that for me.  

There's another beach scene at the foot of the bed and on the back of the front of the bed (did that make sense?) there is an "under the sea" scene.  I love it!

And Mick said, "You take this at your own peril."  But she didn't wake up.  So it was worth it!  :)

Olivia's End of Year Kindergarten Picnic

Olivia's end of year picnic was remarkably like the ones I had as a kid at Lake Manawa State Park.  It really was remarkably uncanny.  But unfortunately I forgot my camera.  :( 

Luckily, one of the Moms in O's kindergarten class is a professional photographer and (SPOILER ALERT! She's going to take pictures of our four girlies this weekend!) she hooked me up with a few photos.  Thanks Nicole!!!

Love this pose! 

And then we went on a lovely nature walk and when we saw this bridge, Miss Nicely, who is truly, the epitome of all kindergarten teachers and all future kindergarten books written should use her name, said, "Let's gather the children on the bridge and take a picture because they are on the bridge to first grade!"

Thank you Miss Nicely for such a wonderful first year of Olivia's education!  We will always remember you! 

Did Humpty Dumpty Fall or Was He Pushed?

Olivia's kindergarten performance was last week and it was quite a production.  Was Humpty Dumpty pushed or did he fall like the rhyme has led us to believe all of these years?  

Every child had a speaking part.  Olivia's was the very first one!  She did beautifully, of course!

There were many, many songs, all adapted from nursery rhymes and it was really cute and must have been a ton of work for the teachers.  

Olivia was thrilled to be by her best friend Tatum, the little blonde to her right, picture left.  

They sang and sang and stayed in character for the nearly hour long performance.  Quite a job! 

This one is my favorite.  Go Olivia!!!!

Oh and Mary of Mary had a Little Lamb told us at the end that it was the Cow....he accidentally kicked Humpty Dumpty off the wall when he was jumping over the moon.  :)

This was the funniest picture though.  What are they teaching them at that school?  ;-)

Eye Closeups

We've got some pretty eyes here!

And some rare photographic evidence that I exist.  :)

Our favorite babysitter Tori

When we moved here in late June 2007, I was in dire need of help, after my Mom and Dad left town.  I put an ad on our neighborhood website and found Tori.  Tori is a Navy Brat and had just graduated from high school when her Dad got stationed here.  She had been in either 11, 12, or 13 schools...can't remember (and I'm not going to call her to find out before this post!). 

She was our nanny that summer and the girls absolutely ADORE her and so do I.  She is going to be a senior at Loyola in New Orleans this fall and get this...she has a 2 1/2 month internship in Sydney, Australia this summer doing psychology research! 

We always get together when she comes to town and we'll miss our visits with her when we move.  She came to Olivia's kindergarten program on Tuesday night (I'll do that later). 

We love you Tori!!!!!!

JA Biztown

Audrey has been anxiously awaiting the blog post describing her best field trip ever (Well, until they go to Islands of Adventure on Thursday for the 5th grade class trip), so I better get after it!

Tuesday I was a chaperone/volunteer at the JA (Junior Achievement) Biztown.  Picture a small wing of a mall.  Each "store" is a company that the kids were assigned to run.  Here they are, outside their businesses, for the ♪♫♪ National Anthem ♪♫♪.  PLAY BALL! 

I was assigned to the University Community Hospital.  Every business has a CEO, a CFO and then various workers.  These kids were BUSY!  A third of them were out and about on break, visiting the other businesses and the 2/3 that were in their businesses, were WORKING!  The CFO cut payroll checks, the CEO signed them (ever so deliberately) after they were delivered from the printing company.  Payroll taxes were even deducted.  :(  The kids then took their checkbook and endorsed their checks and deposited it at Bank of America. 

Here's Casey and Julia, Audrey's best buds.  

Casey worked at TECO (Tampa Electric Company) and Julia was the receptionist at the hospital with me.  The TECO people went around and checked the meters and changed filters and did energy surveys. 

Audrey's was the Chamber of Commerce President.  Here she is with her friend Katherine.  They held elections and issued tax rebate checks that magically covered all of the business' expenses for the day.  Communists!  ;-)

Checking the machines to make sure there will be no hanging chads.  We are in Florida, you know.  

There were 85 kids and they came in so quietly that we, the volunteers, didn't even hear them.  I walked out of my training room and saw them sitting here.  They really took everything so seriously while having a great time.

Then at the opening business meeting, each CEO of each company and the Mayor of JA Biztown gave an opening speech. 

Here's my CEO, Evelyn.  

Audrey was on Break B and her first order of business was to get her check in the bank.  She was SO CUTE and came up to me and asked, "Mommy!  I need to endorse my check!  Does that mean for me to sign the back of my check or does the President need to sign the back too?"  I wanted to eat her up! 

Throughout the day, the kids would be about their tasks and I kept shooting away. 

Here's a boy from another company, calling on my CFO, asking for payment for a bill.  The kids dressed up more than usual.  Isn't he cute in his suit?

Here is Audrey, on her break, visiting the hospital and getting her health evaluation.  

There was even a local radio station where the kids could call in requests for music and a local television station that interviewed every CEO.  Look how cute my CEO is!  :)

We had lunch at McDonald's and the kids handed out a hamburger, salad or chicken nuggets (after deducting it from their check register) and the drinks. (Title:  Beverage Specialist)  I was able to take a break with Audrey and eat with her. 

Here she is with her friend, the Beverage Specialist, who is showing off some stuff she bought at Publix (the grocery store).  

It's a HUGE learning experience for the kids and they all seemed to love it and just soak it up.  Her teachers have been working with them the past month or two on the basics of life really....checking accounts, deposit slips, payroll, taxes.  They even filled out W-4 forms!  I seriously remember how overwhelming and confusing my first W-4 form was and I think this is just the neatest program that they are giving the kids a tiny taste of real life at 10/11 years old. 

Here's her teachers, Mrs. Tabor and Mr. Clark.  Thanks you two!

Audrey, at the end, gave awards to the Best Business and the Best Manager, which was decided from one of the surveys the Government did.  Audrey did a great job at presenting her awards.  She is really a good public speaker....she takes after her Daddy!

I had, of course, heard of Junior Achievement, but this was the first time I had any interaction with this awesome organization.  I believe all of the 5th grade classes in Hillsborough (HUGE) County go, so they are busy nearly every day.  Such a worthwhile activity.  Fun and learning!  Thank you!

I'll leave you with a picture of my whole staff at University Community Hospital.  Great job girls!!!!!!