Where Do I Start?...

In my attempts (weak attempt, at that) to catch up on the Spring activities that I missed blogging about- here are a few highlights:

*this may be a long one...

1) An obvious one here- but my babies are getting so big. Boo :(

Bella graduated Kindergarten and starts 1st Grade in the Fall. Am I old enough to have a 1st Grader? Apparently I am. I'm not sure which is more upsetting.

2) Speaking of Kindergarten, Bella had an end of the year performance, where she performed songs with her class and recited the entire Psalm 23 all by herself. I'm not kidding. It was AWESOME. I was so proud of her, and I felt the hot tears welling in my eyes the entire time. I kept telling myself, "don't blink, don't blink" because I knew the tears were about to start flowing.

Each child received a medal after they recited Psalm 23 individually, and Bella proudly wore hers all day :). Then their teacher presented each child with an award for a specific character trait that they displayed throughout the year. It was really cute the way she personalized each trait for each child- it made all of them feel special. But I was seriously welling up with pride when Bella received hers. She received a certificate for displaying "virtue" all year. It was written that it meant, "Doing what is right, in a Christ-like way". As a parent, I cannot possibly think of anything more beautiful that could be said about my child. I am so proud of her I could burst.

3) And as usual, we split our time between our home in Scottsdale, and our home-away-from-home in good ol' San Diego. As much as I bug my parents about moving out here to be near Emily and I... I secretly love that they live in SD because it allows us to visit. A lot. Which we do. A lot. :) We spent Easter in San Diego this year, and enjoyed some relaxing time (as you can see in this next picture, Ty was very relaxed as he slept on top of poor Em and Arece)

And we did the usual traditions of dying easter eggs... and picked out our own personal eggs that would be used the next morning in our traditional "Riolo Family Egg Fights". If you've never heard of said tradition- you are missing out. Big time. But more on that later...

And the little man who stole my heart is getting bigger and more handsome every day.

How could you resist that face??! Ty is 3 1/2, and he has absolutely blossomed recently. He can write his name (and "mom" "dad" and "bella" ) with really good penmanship, and he is constantly amazing us his imagination. He draws pictures of his favorite machines, like excavators and bulldozers, and he creates imaginary scenes wherever he plays. He's asking really smart questions lately, and you can just see the wheels turning in his head as he tries to figure out the way things work around him. But as independent as he is- he just loves being Bella's sidekick, and he would happily follow her anywhere. The two of them are best friends, and his little face just lights up when his sister walks in the door. I love watching the relationship that they are forming, and the way that they protect each other and defend each other whenever one of them is in trouble :).

I'm a pretty blessed mom, indeed.

So that was a pitiful "catch-up", but it will have to do for now. We have a lot going on this summer, so I'm determined to jump back on the wagon of documenting these precious memories! And as busy as it can be- I love summers with my kids.

And dare I say- they love summers with me as well :) .