corn girl

I love this picture!! She is such a mess!!

big blakers starts preK!!!

Blake started Pre-K on the 7th of September. He's been READY! I'm sure he gets a little bored now that Andrew is back in school. This year he is going to a new school. Last year he went to a preschool at our church. He enjoyed it and had a lot of friends, but I wanted him to go somewhere different from church. I wanted him to think he was actually in "school."

Claire will be going to his school one day a week. I AM SO EXCITED!! :) She didn't go this day because she had been pretty snotty. Her first actual day will be tomorrow!!

So far Blake has really enjoyed it. He is so excited to tell me about his day when I pick him up. It's funny (well, kind of annoying) but Claire HAS to wear her backpack or "packpack" as she says when we take him and pick him up. You know, it's just ONE more thing I have to deal with in the mornings. *sigh* That girl wears me out!!

big b's

What does Blakers do now that his big bro is back in school all day?...

He plays with Perler Beads!

The boy spent HOURS playing with those beads the other day! He made a lizard, turtle and a dog that day. If you have ever made one of these you know it takes a lot of concentration to work on them and a lot of time! I tried hard to pull him away from it, but he was DETERMINED to get them all done before Andrew got home from school.

He was very proud of his work!

poor blog

Well, I haven't blogged in a while....mainly because we've been sick. Andrew started it and passed it to Claire and Claire passed it on to Blake. Not fun times for this mommy! After 3 weeks it was finally gone! Then Matt's brother and his family came in! We had a fun week with them. His parents came in the end of that week and we had a full house! It was fun tho and I know my kids had a blast playing with their cousins.

They left and three days later Andrew started school!!! I can't believe he's a 1st grader!!

I can't take credit for the sign. Thanks, Megan!! And thanks Matthew for teaching my child this dumb pose!!

Daddy and his boys.

Walking to school. I LOVE being able to walk to school!!

Andrew and his new teacher!

He's very excited because he had a few friends from his class last year.

He's been in school a week and has enjoyed it so far. He was telling Blake today how being a 1st grader is HARD work. :)

This picture reminds me of being a kid. When I was little I used to play under our kitchen table ALL the time. It had a ledge that went from one side of the table to the other and I used to line up my Little People under there and play for hours.

With school right around the corner I figure it's time I start working with Blake ....and Claire. Andrew was sick all last week so I figured why not start since we were couped up in the house!

Dot letter A.
Claire was proud of her work!
Making the A with marshmallows.
Claire worked on stacking them. She was concentrating hard and would get mad when it would fall over!! (temper like her Daddy! ha!)

Can't believe our summer is almost over! It has really gone by too fast! I have to remind myself this is my last year with Blake home. :( CRAZY!!

porch fun

It was a pretty nice day today, so I had the kids eat lunch on the porch. I love when the kids can eat outside. I don't have to sweep under the table!!

Afterwards I took some pics for fun.

Andrew didn't want his picture taken. He was too busy playing his iPod.

Claire was stalking our neighbor who was out playing with his dog.

Claire-bearplaying peek-a-boo!

Not sure what is so funny!!

Blakersplaying hard I'm definitely enjoying these nice summer days. Next week we can see mid 90's so we are soaking up the low 80's while we can!

the big 6!

I can't believe it's been 6 years!!

Oh how my life has changed in those 6 years. I remember when I thought having one child was a lot of work. HA!

I can't believe how much Andrew has grown and matured over these 6 years! It's gone by fast. He's always been a tender hearted little boy who definitely wears his heart on his sleeve. I'm so glad God has blessed us with this spunky little boy and I can't wait to see how he will grow into a young man.

We love you, Andrew!! HaPpY BiRtHdAy!!!

blake's camp

This summer I signed Blake up for some special day camps at a preschool. It wasn't at the preschool he went to so I was a little worried he wouldn't enjoy it or would be scared, but he did fine. Here's some pics from each day.

Pirate Day

Dinosaur Day

Toy Story Day
Thomas and Friends Day

He had a lot of fun going on treasure hunts, tracking dinosaur tracks, riding Bullseye, and crashing like trains. I asked him which day was his favorite and he said all of them!! I will definitely be signing him up again next summer!!!

almost 6!!

Tuesday night we celebrated Andrew's birthday with some friends. For years now he's been wanting to have a party somewhere besides the house. :) We told him when he was in Kindergarten we would grant that wish. So, he invited 20 friends and we all went to P.E. 101.

We had a few more kids show up than I expected. I was only thinking we'd have 14 kids and brought 17 cupcakes that I made thinking some of the adults would have some too. I was wrong. We had a total of 19 kids so Matt ran during the party and got some cupcakes from Target. They weren't nearly as awesome as mine were, but they did the job!

I tried to take a group picture, but some of the kids wouldn't get in.

My neighbor came and kept Claire out of harms (all those boys) way. She had so much fun jumping on the trampoline!

Andrew picked a sports theme for his party. I was thinking he was going to want something like Super Mario or fish, but he chose sports. Once we got home and Claire to bed, we opened up all the gifts. He was SOOO excited. I'm pretty sure he just wanted a big party to get lots of gifts. ;)
I will say the kids had fun and were wild! I was glad that I didn't have it at my house!!!

Anyway, Andrew had fun and is so excited for his actual birthday!

Can't believe he's almost 6!