Summertime

We had a fun summer.  A quick summer, but enjoyable.  I think the fact that I now have a school-ager made the summer seem to go by faster.  The last few summers we were still on vacation around the time school was starting this year.

Here is a little rundown on how our summer went...

June: Auntie Keesha got married. The kids LOVE Uncle Scottie. KJ graduated from pre-school.  We celebrated Luke's birthday, he turned 3. Wow! The kids had fun having water fights and playing with eachother.  Father's day! We had a photo session to put gifts together for Dad and Papa. No big trips (that I can remember).

 

 

July: 4th of July with family. Lainee turned 4!  We took a trip to Ocean Shores to celebrate her birthday and while we were there, we had a joint party with KJ too since we weren't sure if we'd make it back for his birthday this month.  The kids had a blast at the ocean, they always do.  We enjoyed family time, the beach, swimming, playing in the sand, playing on the playground and roasting marshmallows.  Another big happening in the month of July was the arrival of a new cousin, Ruth Abigail.  She came right at the end of the month and we just adore her!

 

 

 

 

August:  We had more of a relaxed month. We start preparing for school, playing around here and enjoying the end of summer.  We celebrated Colton turning one! Papa also had a birthday as did Grandma. I enjoyed getting gifts ready for them.  I also had a big month in that I photographed my second (first was Keesha's) wedding.  I've realized it is a lot of work, A LOT of work and I'm not quite sure I'll be doing another one soon but the couple was lovely and wonderful to work with.

 

 

Now, here we are in September.  The start of school.  KJ's 6th birthday coming up.  Some exciting news, we finally closed on the loan for our house.  We actually began building a couple months ago but things should really start picking up now that we have more money to back it. haha ;) Be looking for progress pics, I'll keep you all posted.

 

Back to School!

Well, last Tuesday marked the beginning of a new time in our lives. Our little man began Kindergarten. I barely slept the night before and my stomach was in knots that morning. I almost burst into tears as I walked in, holding KJ's hand but was luckily able to hold them at bay as we walked down the hall to his new "home away from home" for the next nine months. He settled right in, he was really excited. I was even able to make it through the day, well most of it, without any tears. (A few came that night, and a few other times throughout the week.) When I arrived to pick him up, he threw his arms around me and exclaimed "I had so much fun!". That made me feel a lot better and he had a really great week besides the small (ok, medium-sized) meltdown at drop-off on Friday. Mrs. M (his awesome teacher) and I both assumed it was due to him just being overly tired after a very busy week and I hope that was the case and we have all good mornings this week. I'm still adjusting to him starting school. I already miss summer and the lazy days with him.

 

 

 

Lain started her second year of pre-school on Thursday and what a difference a year makes! Last year, I had to leave my adorable, stubborn litte gal with tears streaming down her face and this year she, like her big brother, settled right in and was ready for a fun day of pre-school. Mrs. A said that she talkative and excited and I told her she will probably get to know the real Lainee this year. ;) She was so ready to see Mrs. A and her friends from last year, I think she will have a great year. I can't believe that she will be starting kindergarten next year. Eek!

 

 

 

 

This little gal has one more year before she joins the world of education.  She will start pre-school next year and I can definitely wait a good year before adding her to the mix.  The kiddos are growing up so fast and Mommy is having a hard time keeping up.

 

 

 

 

We had a pretty fun summer.  We took a trip to Ocean Shores.  Celebrated Lainee turning 4 as well as birthdays for cousins.  I will fill in on the summer in a later blog, sooner rather than later, hopefully. ;)

Kindergartner, say what??

Well, the time has come. My sweet little first born has become a preschool graduate which means we will be moving on to the big school come fall. I think he is a little nervous but I'm sure, or I hope, that he will love it once he gets into the routine of things. I'm not ready. It feels like this is just the beginning of the warp speed transition straight to high school graduation. Yikes! A few tears fell at his graduation and I may be a bit of a mess on the first day of school. I already imagine the ride home after dropping him off for college. A ball of tears, I tell ya.

Not only did KJ graduate, but Lainee advanced to her second year of pre-school. What started out as a pretty rough year for our little bug ended up being such a great experience for her. She loves her teacher and she really enjoys learning. It was so cute to see how excited she gets when she brings home work to show us. So sweet.

Here are our little pre-schoolers.

Here are they on their first and last day of pre-school. KJ's is a comparison from his first and last day of last year also.

Proud parents!

Now that summer is here, as long as the weather straightens out, we are ready for lots of water time, birthday parties, a trip to the ocean and a brand new baby. Exciting stuff coming up!

Oops.... A year already?

I'm lame. That's all I can say for my lack of blogging. I don't know why I'm so bad at keeping up with this thing. Facebook has made it so easy to keep in touch that I've really neglected this ol' thing but it is nice to write a little more in depth over here especially as my memory seems to fade with each year. It's possible my brain ages in dog years. Quite a bit has happened over the past year. Birthday parties, babies, pre-school, traveling, KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION. I now have a 5.5, 3.5 and 2 year old. My photography business has picked up a bit and Chad keeps busy at Norwest. We have been so blessed in this life we lead. I'm not even sure how to sum up some of the past year's happenings so I suppose I'll do it with a few pictures. ;)

Lainee turned 3 (7/6/12)

Colton was born (8/11/12)

We went to Chelan & Ocean Shores (August '12)

The kids started pre-school (September '12)

KJ turned 5 (9/19/12)

Christmas in Shelton & New Year's @ the cabin

I turned 32, no pictures for that one... ;) (1/11/13)

Sawyer turned 2 (3/12/13)

Chad turned 31 and we took a trip to Seattle (April '13)

That sums up the main happenings over the past year. Now we are gearing up for the end of pre-school which brings a summer full of more babies (yay!), weddings and birthdays. Maybe I'll get better at keeping this up to date, too.... maybe!