Our ballerina is home...and daddy Kev is the big 3-9!

 Yes, we are home!  Not sure I'm glad about that b/c sometimes reality stinks!  BUT....I am glad we have a complete family at home again...and that our favorite NYC ballerina is back in our humble presence :)  (though I'm not sure she's glad to be back....especially with me torturing her with pics...I gave her 5 weeks off and I think I made up for it the first afternoon we had her back with us...it's only cuz I love you, Hays!) :)

 And happy last year of your 30's, babe!  He got to celebrate by driving 9+ hours today!  Lucky guy!  It's beginning to be a tradition to drive home from vacations on one of our bdays!  We had a yummy lunch at Wendy's and made him wear his bday hat...then quickly realized he would have had to be a small child to wear it and drive....either that or stick his head out the window.  He wasn't game for either!  Party pooper :)

 But I have to say our last 6 days of blissful vacation was amazing.  Lots of peace and quiet and wonderful alone-time.  This was one of our fav. things....boating in Central Park!

 On Saturday we picked up our girl and took her to the ol' Serendip(ity 3, that is!)...for their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate...and a yummy lunch!  Yes, she went against her motto of "no selfies" just for her mom and dad :)

 I even got to sit my her stinky, blistery ballerina feet...but I didn't mind...I've missed those fragrant feet!

 Kev had a yummy hotel bfast for his bday.  Actually it was probably better than what he'd have here...it was a strawberry/vanilla waffle
                                           
Daddy's gourmet dinner...Dominoes :)  He almost didn't get to eat anything due to work problems...poor guy.

 Nina and Poppy Stegs were awesome to surprise him with a bday cake when he got home...from none other than his FAV Cold Stone!!  Ours closed last year so this was a rare treat for him.  It was yummers and his fav. flavor, cake batter!

 Daddy and his kiddos all reunited!

 And being crazy singing to him...

 Logan even shared his cream soda dum dum with daddy...this is a big thing for sugar-lovin' Logan to do!  Daddy loves cream soda flavor!

 A few gifts for daddy....mostly cookwear...a new pan, a caraf (not sure how you spell that?) and some shirts and handmade cards!

 Me and my man...tired after a busy, full vacation and tired already of the prospect of a busy school year just a week away! :(  Ugh!

 The ballerina meets her clone :)  I think she was more scared of her in person :)  I still say she's a darn close replica!

 The fun candy card we made her...

 The crazy sibs welcoming her home with gusto!   And her chillin' eating her pomegranate gelato!

So.....we are soooooooooooooooo glad to have our oldest girl home.  So glad to have our family of 7 back under one roof after 5 weeks.  She had an amazing summer at SAB and learned so, so much.  Now it's on to high school in just a week (tomorrow she goes for a trial run!)  And this will be our crazy week of back-to-school prepping!  Not super excited.  I don't think a summer has ever flown by so quickly and we really didn't even do that much compared to last year!  But I have to say Kev and I had a marvelous time on our PA, NJ, NYC early anniversary trip.  I felt very blessed by Kev's parents' willingness to take the kids for 6 days and also help us with hotels in NY.  And by the way, they passed with flying colors taking all 4 kids for that long, especially busy Logan.  The kids had a GREAT time and Logan didn't even miss me that much....though I have gotten LOTS of hugs and wet kisses on the face tonight.  He's so sweet. I missed that little guy...and all of them!  And my poor Kev....a bday full of driving and about 30mins from home he got paged that his servers were down.  A major problem. He was able to come home for an hour but that's all he's been home and now he's working into the evening.  Life can never be easy even on your bday!  Welcome home to our girl....and happy last year of not being over-the-hill, Kev!