Hasta la Vista, Tooth #2 (or #4...depending on how you look at it...)

Believe it or not, Sutton Button lost another tooth tonight. Nuts, isn't it?! She's just so stinking cute!!

Above: A beautiful self portrait she took of herself. :-) Only way to get the best view of those missing bottom teeth!

Tooth be gone (but not from who you think)!!!

So...we have successfully (finally!) lost a tooth here in the Damiano house. The first tooth, that is, that wasn't extracted due to trauma. :-) BUT, believe it or not, it wasn't our eldest who lost a tooth, it was our youngest...the one who really can't afford to be losing teeth right now. And Emerson...what a trooper she is! She would DIE to lose a tooth right now. Heck, she would love to even have one loose! But at the ripe ol' age of 6 1/2, no such luck. She sat and watched her little sister have her moment tonight and cheered her on like crazy, cheering and clapping and hugging her. It was awesome!

Our sweet little Sutton Button has had two loose teeth for about the last month, and finally tonight it was hangin' on by a thread, so Daddy pulled it. Yay, Sissy!! Now we are awaiting a visit from the tooth fairy this evening. Hope he went to the bank!

All is well...but man...SCARY!

As some of you already know, Sunday night was a really crappy ending to a great weekend. I spent a fantastic couple of days in the bay area with Kelly. The bad ending began at SFO when I almost missed my flight because the security lines were longer than I have ever seen them. Little did I know, that was the least of it! Drew and the girls had just picked me up from the airport and we were headed home...WHAM!...it felt like a bomb went off in our car. NAILED from behind. Everyone is fine (thank GOD!), but it was VERY scary not only for the girls, but for Drew and I, too. We had just gotten off the interstate at Hampden and I-25 and were sitting at the stop light, waiting for the light to turn green. We were hit from behind by a "suspected" drunk driver, who witnesses say was going somewhere between 80 and 90 miles an hour on the interstate. There were no tire marks, we heard no screeching from behind, so it was clear she didn't slow down at all. When she hit us, we hit the truck in front of us and she ended up in the middle of the intersection. We were so fortunate quite a few people stopped and help us call 911 and most importantly, saw the whole thing happen and gave written statements to the police. I'm anxious to get the accident report to see if it says what her blood alcohol levels were. She was taken by ambulance, but she walked over (stumbled, actually) herself and got in, so she was obviously fine. Her airbags deployed and her car is totaled...not sure about ours yet, but most likely they'll try to fix it since it's mostly on the rear end...who knows. Anyway, we are so thankful everyone is okay. What happened that night has made us feel quite reflective this week, SO thankful for our good graces and whatever angel upstairs who was looking out for us. Had she hit us any differently, we know the outcome would have been much worse. The girls are doing great...asking a lot of questions, which we are happy to talk through with them. They are amazing little people, and went to school the next day like troopers. Here are some photos...they're hard to see because it was so dark, but we tried for insurance purposes. We'll keep you posted on what's next.

Above: not sure how well you can see it, but above is her (totaled) car on the tow truck.

Sutton arrives in Jr. Kindergarten

There she is...my baby. How did she get so big, too? Guess just like always, it's "monkey see, monkey do" around here, so she has to keep growing up just like her big sister. Today marked day one in Mrs. Ott's Jr. Kindergarten class. Sutton has been counting down since to be in Mrs. Ott's class she was two . Mrs. Ott was Emerson's Jr. Kindergarten teacher and made such an amazing impression on both of the girls. We feel truly blessed that Sutton will be able to have her as well. We saw her once over the summer at a swim meet (in early July) and every day since, the first thing Sutton asked when she woke up in the morning was, "Is today the day I start Mrs. Ott's class?" Well, today I could finally say "Yes!" She is lucky because so many of her friends from classes her previous two years at Mission Hills are in her class, plus a gaggle of new friends. I must admit...my heart hurt more than I thought it would when I said good-bye, but I couldn't help but be excited for her when I saw her eyes light up the first time she saw Mrs. Ott. And I knew it was overwhelmingly thrilling for her, too, as she turned into the I'm-quiet-and-I'm-going-to-pretend-I'm-shy girl (that lasted for all of 2.2 seconds).

Overall, such a fun day for her. She was pretty wiped when she went to bed tonight, but still managed to choose her outfits for the next six days!! What a little sweet pea our Sutton Button is. We love you Sutton Elaine!

Sutton yesterday at her "teacher meet and greet".

With big sister Emerson this morning before school.

With Daddy before we had to say good-bye.

With her incredible teacher, Mrs. Ott.

She jumped right in and started an art project with her friend, Eden.

Emerson's first day of first grade...already?!

Don't know how she went from being my tiny little peanut with the big beautiful blue eyes, a binky cemented to her mouth, and her gorgeous little bald head to being a big girl just starting first grade, too embarrassed to hold her dad's hand walking into school and even more embarrassed to kiss him good-bye. Really? As happy as I am for her to go back to school (had I mentioned it had been a looooooooooooong summer?), it is such a bittersweet day. She is growing up way too fast and is so independent and old! :-) I couldn't get over how big she looked sitting in her desk, as I peeked in when I was leaving (they wouldn't let us in the classrooms)...I almost cried! That being said, I am SO proud of her and SO excited for all that lies ahead of her this year. She is turning into an amazing and incredible little person, whom I am blessed to call my own. One thought kept going through my head today...just before she was born, a friend wrote a poem that she gave Drew and I as a gift. There was a line in there that said, "Time passes quickly, memories are made. From bottles to diapers, then on to first grade". Well first grade? Here we are...you better take care of my "baby". Love you sweet Emerson ReBecca!!

Copper Triangle

So proud of the hubster for completing his first major bike ride after starting riding just a few months ago. Last weekend, we were in Copper Mountain for the Copper Triangle. It is sponsored by the Davis Phinney Foundation and is about an 80 mile ride that starts and ends in Copper. The riders journey over three passes...Fremont, Tennessee, and Vail. It was tough, but thanks to the Fat Daddies (Drew's riding buddies) and the beautiful Colorado day, he enjoyed every minute of it. As I seem to say over and over, we are truly blessed to have some of the best friends in the world who are not only amazing people, but they enjoy the outdoors and Colorado as much as we do! Special thanks to the Hooeys, the Jonsens, and the Papis for all their hard work and generosity over the weekend!!

The Fat Daddies: James Keohane, Matt Jonsen, Mike Papi, Drew, Troy Hooey, Jack Hirt (Papi's Brother-in-Law).

Time with Gramma and Grampa Maynard

It has been such a fun couple of weeks! In between our mountain weekends, we were able to head over to Grand Junction and spend some time with my mom and dad. The girls were on cloud nine with Gramma around for such a long time, and I really enjoyed the time I was able to spend with not only my parents, but my Gramma Maynard, who will be 96 in a couple weeks. 96???!!!! Yep...she is pretty amazing. While in GJ the girls enjoyed the Science and Math Center, the Dinosaur Museum, manis and pedis with Gramma, Red Robin with Gramma and Grampa, playing in the hot tub...the list just goes on and on! After GJ, we hopped in the car and headed to Vail for a few days to hang out before we met up with Drew in Copper Mountain. Such beautiful weather (most days)! Thanks so much, Mom and Dad, for such a fun, fun week. We love you SO much!!

Above: The girls enjoying a pedicure and a manicure courtesy of Gramma Maynard. Adorable that they have kids pedi chairs!!