Our first Pedicures!!!!

The heat has been BRUTAL the past few days...like over 100 and heat advisories and just downright HOT. The only thing you can really do is stay in the air conditioning or be in the water! And on Friday afternoon, the girls were so hot that they didn't even want to go swimming! So I took them to get some ice cream and right next door to the ice cream place is one of those walk-in nail salons. They watched through the windows and were fascinated so we decided to go in. In the back of the salon they had two Hello Kitty chairs and so....how could I resist?!?! They charge $10 for a little kid's pedicure and it was probably one of the cutest things I've ever seen. I think I laughed for 30 minutes straight. They loved it more than you could ever, ever possibly know. It was hilarious. They even gave them mini massages and put hot towels on their legs. They both acted so relaxed...it was seriously a trip. I let them choose their own colors and so Reagan chose blue and Riley chose purple sparkles. Ha! Now I know who uses those colors...I've always wondered! It was such an awesome spontaneous afternoon with my girls and we had so much fun. I can't wait to do it again sometime...their toes sure do look a lot better than when I do them!!!!!

Our ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

You may or may not have heard of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that has been going on for the past few weeks or so. It was started to raise awareness and funds for an absolutely HORRIBLE disease...ALS. Last year the foundation raised around $19 million dollars and as a result of this challenge that's spread like wildfire on social media (like facebook, twitter and instagram) they've doubled that amount in a month! Here is a link to an article about the challenge...

http://www.ibtimes.com/how-much-money-has-als-ice-bucket-challenge-made-1665848


So...these days you can't get on Facebook without seeing the entire thing filled up with different Ice Bucket Challenges. I've watched some really funny ones. George H.W. Bush's made me laugh and some of my friend's were hilarious. Cooper and Laurie did it and Laurie's bucket was HUGE!!!  My favorite was Mitt Romney so far! Here's a link to that one too... (there is an ad at the beginning but you can just click SKIP AD).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUlFY3OhCQw

Anyway....the purpose is that once you've been nominated to complete the challenge you have 24 hours to do so and to nominate others to do the same.  I think you're given the option of completing it or donating money...but so far most every single person I've talked to (including us) has chosen to do the challenge AND donate money. I think it's fabulous that awareness is being brought to this awful disease and am praying that some of the money used will be able to actually make a difference and that maybe by the time Reagan and Riley are my age, there will be a cure for ALS and they will have helped to play a (very small) role in that!  Here is the video of our challenge. One of us is smarter than the rest.. Ha! Enjoy!!!!

First Day of Preschool!

Today Reagan and Riley officially started preschool! They are in Mrs. Sanders and Mrs. Schaeffer's class and seemingly had the time of their lives! They didn't stop talking about it the entire way home...telling me details about which new friends they met, who they played with on the new "big kid" playground, and that their favorite part was carrying their lunchboxes to school and eating lunch there!  (Their day goes from 8:45-1:00). They even had cooking and music class today! So fun!  The big difference for me (besides that they stay for lunch this year) is that I don't walk them to their classroom anymore. There is a carpool line and the teachers come out to the car and get them out. I think it made it so much easier (for them) and they just smiled and blew me kisses and walked right to their room. I was admittedly a little teary eyed since I've lost my buddies a few mornings a week now....but the fact that they are still with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays (I only signed them up to go MWF) makes it easier!!!! They woke up early today and ready to go and were just so excited...I hope it's always like this (at least until high school?!?!?)! Can't wait to tell you about all of the fun things they do this year and all that they learn! I attempted to dress them differently this morning but they were having none of it since I'd bought these two new dresses and they hadn't worn them yet. I'll try again on Wednesday! And they weren't overly thrilled about taking pictures at 7:30 this morning so they aren't the best but they still look pretty darn cute if you ask me!
A happy day all around at the Iofredo household!!!!

Celebrating BopBop's birthday (a week early!)

We went to Kiawah for the weekend to see everyone and to help BopBop celebrate his birthday! We decided to plan a little surprise party for him, complete with yummy food, games, presents and even a pinata! The kids all did a great job keeping it a secret and couldn't wait for BopBop to pull in with Nana so that they could shout Happy Birthday! (although Matt says that this video makes it look like Laurie and I were more excited than the kids)! The girls had worked so hard on making their own presents for him and were so proud to give them to him. They even had special plans for what he could do with them. They picked out some pottery and painted them themselves and then it was fired in the kiln and we went back to pick them up. The wait was hard but they were so excited with their finished products! Reagan made a fish plate and said he should eat his eggs on it and Riley made an owl cup and said he should put his paintbrushes in it but if he really wanted to he could drink out of it. Cooper even picked out a special t-shirt for BopBop with different fishing lures on it!   Everyone had a great time! It was so special that we could all be together to celebrate BopBop and show him how loved he is by all of us!!!!
(and of course the ONLY picture that we were able to get of the whole group together has BopBop's head lit up by a light he's standing in front of and he's the only one you can't really see! Bummer....but trust me it's him!)!

BopBop's Boat

BopBop took us out in the boat on Saturday morning! It was such a perfect way to start the day and the girls loved every second of it. He even let them both take turns driving the boat! We saw a few dolphins but the girl's favorite part was when BopBop made the boat go "SUPER FAST!"! They thought it was hilarious...and just giggled and giggled! Too much fun!

Over and Over and Over

While we were in Kiawah for the weekend the girls fell in love with the diving board! They wanted to do it over and over again! These videos are from Friday night after dinner but they did it again on Saturday and have no requested that the pool in our neighborhood get a diving board installed. (not sure who I need to talk to about that! Ha!) They had so much fun swimming with Cooper too...he had a really fun turtle float that all three of them could fit on at the same time (not that they ever stayed on at the same time...but they could have if they'd wanted to!!!)!