Back to School!

Yay! The kids have really loved going back to school, and so have I! It's great to be with just Eli and Calvin for a few hours...although Eli wishes he were in school too! Maybe I'll put him in a couple days a week next semester after the new baby comes. We'll see...

Jackson started the first grade. I took him to school and walked him to class and he gave me a big hug and told me I was the best! He is so sweet-- I was supposed to say that to him! It was sad for me to have him away at lunchtime (the first ever!) and I worried how he was doing at school, but when he came home he said lunch at school was his favorite part! He gets to play on the playground before school, has morning track time and afternoon recess. Those are his favorite times. His teacher is Mrs. Warnick and he seems to like her so far. He has several kids from his old Kindergarten class with him again this year, but he also made a few new friends the first day. He's looking forward to the school carnival and school parties!

Zoey has been asking me to teach her to write letters and numbers, and wants to learn to read. She's even asked for homework! She missed the cut-off to get into kindergarten this year, so we are putting her through an alternative Kindergarten program to prep her to be tested into the first grade for next year. It's at the same place she had pre-school last year, so she is excited to see her teachers again. If it doesn't work out, she'll still be right on track and well prepared for Kindergarten! Our goal is to have her reading, writing, and doing simple math by the end of the year. I wouldn't be pushing her, but she's asking to do it..so I'm excited to see how she does!

Berry Good

This is the second year for our blackberries. They have been doing AMAZING!! The bush has been COVERED in huge blackberry clusters, check out the size of them! We had to put netting over the berries to keep the birds out because they were eyeing the deliciousness too. 

Brian has graced us a couple times with the most delicious blackberry cobbler ever. Writing about it makes me want to eat one. The experience starts even while the cobbler is in the oven. The berries give the most wonderful aroma when cooking, and the final product is this gooey-syrupy-bubbly-sweet-an-tart dessert. It's so good, especially with vanilla ice cream on top that starts to melt over the warm cobbler! 

This is Calvin's reaction to the goodness:

 APPROVED! I think it's time to make another cobbler...

We came, we shot, we conquered...almost!!

We hurried and got the family ready, drove to the park at 8:30 am with the promise of doughnuts on the way home in hopes of capturing a spur-of-the-moment family photo...and we snagged this one in the first 3 minutes! We thought we were golden! Everyone was smiling, the lighting was perfect, record breaking time, perfect shot...it was all so exciting!!

Until we got home and blew the picture up on the big screen and noticed the camera was focused was on the grass, not our faces! It was too blurry to print! ugh! We'd have to try again....I was so disappointed!

So we did a repeat the next morning. This time, we couldn't get the kids to smile at the same time. What happened?? Typical story of family photos... 2 hours, hundreds of shots, people smiling at different times or not looking at the camera, progressively getting more frustrating as time goes on, etc., etc., ....here's a few funny shots, pay attention to the faces! I must have pulled some of these back in the day and am getting payback for it!

We finally got one that would work, we might get some editing done on it still, but it'll work!

We also got a chance to snap some fun family shots...

Winding up summer!

Next week, school starts! Jackson will be going into the first grade and Zoey will be attending her second year of Pre-School. We've had some busy days the last few weeks winding up swim lessons and finishing things we wanted to get done this summer (like getting a blue flavored snow cone)!

One of these projects has been decluttering the house and taking a few toys to the trash and other items to DI. That always feels good!

We also redecorated and changed around the kids' bedrooms. Zoey now has her own girl room and Jackson, Eli, and Calvin (as soon as the baby comes) are together. The new baby will get his own room so he doesn't wake others up during nightly nursing and daytime naps. I'm happy with the changes. Zoey has been sleeping better on her own and she's closer to the bathroom. Eli sleeps better with other people in the room and likes having Jackson as a companion AND sleeping in a bunk bed.  It's a win-win for everyone.


The boys' room is now blue and gray with red accents and a pirate theme. They love the blue! It's very boy-ish!

Zoey's room is lavendar and pink with a flower, ladybug and butterfly theme. She loves having her own space. I have a reading corner to put together and wall decor to hang in her room still, but it looks really nice so far.

Another project has been updating our family photos. We have some cute kids, I think! Love them all! I love taking their pictures each year and gaging how much they have changed over the year.  Around school time starting and end of summer seems to be a good fit for our family to get it done.

I threw a party...

I had an ultrasound a few days ago, but Brian was unable to be there, and I wanted to find out at the same time as he did....so....we celebrated with our family yesterday finding out if we were going to add a new baby boy or new baby girl to our family. I thought that since it's our last one, I'd try to do something fun and creative.

The decorations were fairly simple to get together: the gifts were actually wrapped blocks that I made for a RS birthday dinner centerpiece, the "onesies" came from a baby shower I did for a sister-in-law, the flowers came from our yard )I tried to do a pink vase and a blue vase- with as blue as mother nature can get)! I made the diaper cake (half pink half blue) and cupcakes...added berries and paper products and wa-la!

We did a "fiesta" style dinner with enchiladas, homemade guacamole, chips, fruit salad and cilantro-lime butter rubbed corn. It was good, but I was anxious to find out!!

 The letter held the "Secret" we'd all been curious to hear. We casted our votes as team "girl" or team "boy" (I love the action shot of the boys with Calvin pulling off Eli's hat). We were just being silly.

The letter held the "Secret" we'd all been curious to hear. We casted our votes as team "girl" or team "boy" (I love the action shot of the boys with Calvin pulling off Eli's hat). We were just being silly. 

Turns out team "boy" won the vote... much to my surprise! It's actually been a very hard surprise. I guess I wanted to say I was fine either way, but I really had my heart set on a girl  (and felt positive it was going to be a girl). So, I am working through feelings of hopes and dreams for the future that I'll never see, like Zoey having a sister, or using the name Paisley in our family, of holding another baby girl and seeing those cute baby girl clothes again... and other personal emotions and feelings. I didn't think it would be so hard, but saying goodbye to those thoughts is almost as hard as losing the child itself.