Ryan Starts Full Day Kindergarten

My little man left me this week. He reached a major milestone in his life. He is officially in school, everyday, all day, for the next 12 plus years. Even though it was not as nearly as hard as it was to leave my firstborn at school, it was still emotional. He's my only son. He's my little dude. And he was SO READY. He missed the age cut-off for Kindergarten at Heritage last year, so he is a 6 year old, heading off to school, and he was very excited about it. He had his Star Wars backpack and lunch box and he was ready to go. He wanted to wear a Star Wars shirt too, especially because he said he had his Star Wars underwear on. He told me all he needed was some Star Wars pants and he would be so ready to go and so cool. He and Reagan were up bright and early that day at 6:30am. They came downstairs and Reagan had her shirt on backwards and Ryan had his shorts on backwards. What are the odds?? They talked nonstop the whole morning. That is hard to hear for one that is not a morning person and doesn't like to talk first thing in the morning! I think Reagan was just so excited for him to come to school with her. I walked him in his classroom and he did great until I wanted to get a picture of him with his teacher, Mrs. Crow. He started hiding behind me and said no. I wasn't going to force the issue and cause a scene. There was already another little child crying. He gave me a high-five and said bye. That easy. My eyes teared up as I walked down the hall. But is it wrong to say how happy I was once I got home and just had to take care of Riley and Reese ALL DAY??? No fighting, no yelling, no "MOM, MOM, MOM, MOM, MOM" 100 times a day, well, not until 3:15, when we got home. I guess some milestones are bittersweet. Anyways, he said he had a greattime and that recess and lunch are his two favorite things.......ah, boys will be boys. Here are his pictures and also a video I made for him in his honor for the first 6 years of his sweet life...

Reagan Starts 3rd Grade!!

With the start of the school year comes many emotions. It is a marker for how time flies by. It makes us realize how our children are growing, inching towards that milestone of when they move out of the house and go off to college. I can still remember crying when I left Reagan in first grade, realizing that she was now spending more time with another adult than she was with me. That now, there would be so many other influences in her life--teachers, friends, and yes, eventually, boys. I can still have much influence on her, but instead of it being all my time with her, it will have to be alot of time praying for her. And now, here she is in 3rd grade. Time is already flying by. It seems like each year goes by faster and faster. May the Lord give me wisdom and grace as we continue to raise this beautiful young lady. She was very excited about going to school and said it was "AWESOME" at the end of the day. I continue to praise God and thank Him for the opportunity to send her to Heritage Christian School.

Here she is sitting at her desk

She really likes her teacher, Mrs. Nutter

Reese is Now 2 Months!!

I cannot believe that my newest little sweetie has been with us for two months now. The summer just flew by and she is already growing and changing so fast. No more newborn look. Gosh! I sure hope I took enough pictures to remember all the sweetness of how little they all are since this is our last baby (99.9% sure) Reese is doing really well. She continues to sleep extremely well at night for us. It has been amazing to think that ever since we brought her home from the hospital, we have had to only get up once in the middle of the night to feed her. She is now making it until 5:30am or 6:00am.....not only are Paul & I so thankful, but I am sure my kids are thankful that I am getting plenty of sleep at night. There is ALOT LESS yelling going on! *smile* She has started smiling for us and is having some good alert time during the day. We struggle with getting her to nap during the day for a consistently long period. She is stuck in a phase of only sleeping about 30 to 45 minutes, before she wakes up screaming at me. What is up with that, little angel? If you *know* us, we are working on that! :) The kids continue to love on her, with Ryan being her most devoted admirer. He will miss her next week when he starts school. Following are the highlights of her second month. Hopefully, by the time I post the 3 month old pictures, I will be telling you how she is completely sleeping through the night! All four of my babies wore this outfit.......I will keep it forever!

Gotta love the Bumbo!!

Heading to the pool...

GO AGGIES!!!! (All four of my kids wore this too!)

I will be posting school pictures next week. Reagan starts 3rd grade on Monday and my sweet, handsome little man will head off to full-day kindergarten on Wednesday. Yes, I will probably be all sappy about how my little dude is gone from me all day, spending more time with another woman than with me! I feel a video tribute coming on also, just to show how much he has grown! (P.S. There is also a part of me that cannot wait to have them both gone, so that there will be less chaos in the house during the day and that I won't have to hear the whining and tattle-telling and the word "Mom" a hundred times a day. Does that make me a bad mom???)

Also, you will see 3 other new posts following this one. Check them out....

My Two Big Girls

The girls got matching outfits and looked so darn cute, I couldn't pass it up to post these! They are both growing up so fast, especially since Reagan got 5 inches cut of her beautiful hair. My 8 year old is going on 13 it seems!

Reese Meets More Family

Reese meets my mom, Grammer, for the first time...

Paul's grandparents and aunt & uncle came over from Terre Haute to meet the special girl. Here she is with Mommo, her great-grandmother

Having a good time with Poppo

Getting a yummy bottle from Aunt Nancy

Hanging out with Uncle Don

July 4th Activities

Our 4th of July reminded us of our time in Seattle. It was in the 60s and rainy. The kids still had fun. We had to finish our fireworks the next night, which was fun and topped with cooking smores over the fire pit!

Riley FINALLY tried a sparkler --then she loved them!

Yummy Smores!