Kindergarten Girl

Elise had to wait until the following Wednesday after Grey started to start kindergarten. She is in afternoon kinder MWF and all day Tues/Thurs. Her first day was a half day and she was SO anxious to go. She sat at the window with her backpack on most of the morning.

She has been so excited to start school and I can feel her little independence pull as she is wanting to grow up a little bit and have a little space from me. I have such mixed emotions as these milestones come up. I always await the beginning of the new school year with a little excitement for a more regular schedule and of course a little bit more alone time for myself. But I always tear up the first day of school as I recognize my little baby growing up a little bit more and becoming more independent. I love it with 95% of my heart and 5% of my heart breaks as I say goodbye to a chapter in our lives or our relationship. I had not even thought about how I would feel when Elise went to school. I was just kind of going through the motions--I do have two other kids taking 99% of my time and attention. But as I watched her walk into that school, I sobbed the whole way back to the car. Hoping she hangs on to her sweet innocence for a while longer.

4 Months

Our sweet Vanessa is 4 months. Jared and I always say that could have been a hard four months and she has just made it so easy and wonderful. She is truly our little angel. Such a blessing. She LOVES her thumb and will roll onto her side, suck her thumb and go to sleep. What?!! She makes lots of fun noises and has definitely found her voice. She loves mirrors, toys, and her siblings. No one can make her smile as big as the other three kiddos. Sometimes Cole scares her a little (as evidenced below) or hurts her. He gets in trouble a lot....

We just adore this girl and are so grateful to have her in our family even if we can't fit in normal sized cars or look ridiculous on our family walks. :)

Head 39.8 cm (30%)

Length 25 in (75%)

Weight 13 lbs 11 oz (45%)

2nd Grade

Grey had mixed feelings about starting school. I think he liked the whole lazy, no homework thing. We actually were going to skip the first day because we wanted to go to Pirate's Cove. He woke up that morning and told me he really wanted to go to school. His excitement got the best of him. He was ready to ride the bus with his buddies and play football at recess. Luckily it was a half day so we picked him up and went straight to Pirates Cove for the rest of the day. I would consider that an awesome first day of school.

All ready to go with his glow in the dark shoes and requested faux hawk hair

 Best Buddies (our neighbor Cooper)

We made it to Pirate's Cove!

 

Happy Birthday Mom

My sister happened to be in town over my mom's birthday so we were able to spend the day together swimming and playing and then have a little celebration for her. The cake I made was a disaster and falling apart. It was hilarious. But we were together and that's what matters I guess... :)

 They love their grandma--don't mind the naked, crying, pouting kids...

 My mom was a little nervous about Grey lighting her candles

I LOVED having my sister here. I hate having her so far away but absolutely love the time we do have together.

The babies meet each other! Ryan & Vanessa

They were supposed to be 7 weeks apart but we think they missed each other because V came late and R early so they are just over three weeks apart.

 Allie with "baby Nessa"

 My beautiful sister and cutest little man

 One day was spent at the Children's Museum--Grey played with the bubbles for a loooong time. And I let him skip school. hehehe

 Heather & I ran the Hit & Run 5K. Terrible picture--but proof we did it! It was a blast but SOOOO hot.

Beach Day - Colorado Style

Oh I love Colorado but I miss the ocean and water more than anything! At least we have a few reservoirs so we can play in the sand, dig and build castles. I took the kids with some friends one day and it was AMAZING. They didn't even want to stop to eat which is saying something for my kids. Hours and hours of fun with no whining or anything. It was fantastic. I think Cole sat in a hole with a shovel for two hours without moving.

Family Reunion

We had a family reunion/getaway with Jared's family up in Dillon. It was really fun because we rented the condos that they always stayed at growing up as kids. The first two days rained and were freezing! But then the sun came out and we got some play time in as well. I am lucky to be a part of their wonderful family.

Lots of games on the lawn with cousins

 Thank goodness for the rec center on a pouring rain day. We LOVED the hot tub

 Jared & Elise in the Breck gondola

 Me with my boy

We saw a deer in the meadow on the way up and a HUGE MOOSE on the ride down. So cool!

We went to the Breck Fun Park one day

Elise & Addie waiting for the roller coaster 

 Jared teaching Cole how to putt-putt. He lasted about three holes.

Taking my Cole train up the chair lift for the alpine slide 

Grey with Aunt Cindy

This might be the only time I saw him all day. He was off with the cousins 

Such great memories together we will cherish.

Summer Fun

Summer is over... And why is it that I feel guilty about not doing as much as I wanted to with the kids?!! It completely wore me out. I just hope my kids have great memories! And I feel guilty that I am ready for  school to start so I can get a little break. Well here are some fun things we have been doing as summer came to a close.

As much swimming as I could handle with three non-swimmers

 Being exhausted and falling asleep in strange places (like the back porch step and on a chair)

And another thing that comes with exhaustion: lots of tears. Elise somehow fell off her chair and yogurt flew everywhere. Before I completely panicked about yogurt all over and under the couch, table, rugs--I took a pic. She was too hilarious.

Lots of hanging out at Elise's soccer and Grey's baseball

V became a thumb sucker which is the most amazing thing right now (hoping I don't curse it in a few years)

Walks to the park (they take turns walking the dog)

And one of these because my kids look like this every night at bed time. Makes me smile!