December 12th

It took the kids a while to find her upstairs making photo copies of herself. Caitlyn took the copies to her kindergarten class to show her friends.

December 11th

She was caught red handed in the cookie jar. Good thing my mom made 60 dozen this year for us to decorate. So there's gotta be some leftover after Pixie ate ours.

December 10th

Oh boy. Our elf was a little naughty. She drew Santa hats on one of our favorite family photos.

December 9th

Pixie had a wardrobe change on the 8th for our annual sweater party. It was hilarious because Caitlyn watches the elf constantly and her eyes were looking the other way for just one second and when she looked back Pixie had changed. Caitlyn wouldn't stop laughing out of pure excitement. She said that Pixie was able to change so fast because of her magic .

The next morning, Pixie was found in the tree.

December 8th

The kids found her in our nativity scene.

December 7th

Our elf flies to the North Pole every night to report back to Santa whether or not Caitlyn and Ashton have been naughty or nice. She must have gotten back late and decided to quickly fly on the chandelier.

December 6th

Loved this idea from the Newgard's elf who recently move to Hawaii and was dreaming of snow. Maybe our elves FaceTimed and came up with this idea.

December 5th

Pixie was found having tea with Barbie. I wish I would've thought to record the kids reactions to these. Today's was priceless. Caitlyn wouldn't stop talking about how awesome our elf was.

December 4th

Clearly Pixie was a little chilly from her extra evening up North, so she relaxed in a warm bubble bath of mini marshmallows. The kids especially loved finding her because she left a trail of mini marshmallows from the bathroom to each of their rooms.

December 3rd

The kids were a leaning towards the naughty list so Pixie stayed up at the North Pole and left them this note.
It read:

Caitlyn and Ashton-

I’m writing to say

Santa’s keeping me up North

for a whole extra day.

I had to tell Santa

You were both being bad.

The news that I shared

Made him real sad.

I am still watching you

In the car and at school

The word will get out if you break a rule.

Please remember,

so I can come back tomorrow:

There’s only one rule

That you have to follow.

Please do not touch me.

My magic might go,

And Santa won’t hear all I’ve seen or know.

Please be extra good

and say a few prayers

So I can come back in the morning

when you come down the stairs.

Love,

Pixie

December 2nd

Pixie was found reading some Christmas books.

December 1, 2012

This elf was sent to us from the North Pole. The kids named her Pixie.

Future Mr. & Mrs. Rychlinski

February 3, 2013 is almost here... and I am just now getting to do a post on Jon's big engagement to Mandy (said in a really high pitched voice out of pure excitement)!!!!

Jon and Mandy became engaged to be married a little over a year ago and plan to be married on their 10 year anniversary of dating (so what if it's the same day as the super bowl?!?!?!) 

I had the privilege of capturing their love on camera for their save the date cards.  

I'd say the pictures turned out great... not because of my skills, but simply because of the love Jon and Mandy have for one another. 

We recently went to Vegas to celebrate the addition of Mandy to our family and I don't know how many times Ksavera, Hana or I said how happy we were to have Mandy as a sister...

I'm just saying...

We love Mandy!

♥

My cousin Angelica just kicked off the wedding season last Saturday (Congrats to her and Sam).  Next up is Hana in less than two weeks and then Jon and Mandy right after the holidays.

***

For more about Jon and Mandy's engagement, check out Mandy's sister, Michelle's blog post. I was super sick and unable to attend their engagement party, so I really appreciated her post :)

Ashton's 1st Day of Preschool

My little guy started his first day of preschool.  He has the same teacher as last year with a new teacher's assistant.  He attends twice a week now and loves it.  It was way easier watching him go to preschool than Caitlyn going to Kindergarten.  He's going to have this year and next year with his current school and then he's off to Kindergarten... My children are growing so incredibly fast.

Ashton was more interested in attending his first day than the pictures.  I love the above pic though because he is holding onto Ashley's GPS (just in case he gets lost on the two minute drive to school.  

He truly makes my heart smile!

Caitlyn's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Well, She did it... My daughter attended her first day of full day kindergarten.  

She loved it.  Her teacher's name is Mrs. Odman.  She has her school, teacher, classroom number, and bus name all memorized.  She is Brilliant!

***

Let's start with the day before school started.  I decided to read a poem my friend put on Facebook.  I barely made it through the first few sentences before crying... so what did I do next?!?! Decided to call my mom and attempt to read it to her... Cried again through the entire thing.  

That night we laid out her clothes, we set her alarm to music for 7:00am, read the book Someday (I cried some more) , said our prayers and Caitlyn fell fast asleep.

The next morning, I get out of the shower at 6:15 begin my morning routine and much to my surprise, little miss Caitlyn comes walking into the bathroom fully dressed and ready for her first day of school.  We ate a big breakfast and then had a surprise visit from her cousins Brayden and Kellen... we stopped for a photo shoot....

 ...then we walked to the bus stop....

The above pic reminds me of the book we read, Someday, I will stand on this porch and watch your arms waving to me until I no longer see you.  

And one last picture before she gets on the bus.

She did great... She was so excited... I don't mean to toot my own horn... but I did great too!  All the crying and anticipation of my sweet baby girl leaving me to go out into the world of public education was way worse than the actual big moment... I was and AM so PROUD of her.

Then my Mom, Ashton , and I piled in the car and drove to her school.

I peaked my head into the classroom trying to see what she was up to... and I saw this...

My daughter, whom I was worried wouldn't know where her class was,

wouldn't know where to put her back pack or lunch.

I was worried she would be lost without me, 

but no... she found her way.  

She found her way right to the front of the classroom, 

perched herself on a stool and was reading a book.  

 Seriously... melted my heart!
♥

I am so PROUD of my daughter, Caitlyn Leigh... the Kindergartner!