Little Big Man

My little man made it down the aisle last night at my cousin's wedding.

He walked down like a pro and charmed them all with his handsome smile and of course his swagger.

This was his second wedding so he wasn't at all scared, plus it helps when his mom bribes him with a handful of candy!

He loved getting to wear his Chucks

goofiness

Loved hanging with the big boys.

Walter with the groom and best man.

Hanging with his leading lady, the flower girl.

Yes that is yellow candy in his teeth, they aren't normally that color!

Loving on Papa

While waiting for the ceremony to begin this was his entertainment. Of course he was drenched before it even started. Leave it to this little man to find trouble where ever he goes!

Love this picture of my babies on top of the Oread.

Miss C was sleeping so she didn't make it in the pic.

It was a beautiful wedding.

It was great to be with and see all of our family. So fun to be part of the special day!

Game On!

Check out this link...

KU fans: Meet your new basketball anthem | The Newell Post | KUsports.com

www2.kusports.com

What do you think???

First Day!

Kindergarten Wonder

by Wendy Silva

I wonder what you're doing right now

and if everyone is treating you kind.

I hope there is a special person,

a nice friend that you can find.

I wonder if the teacher knows just

how special you are to me.

And if the brightness of your

heart is something she can see.

I wonder if you are thinking about

me and if you need a hug.

I already miss the sound of your

voice and how you give my leg a tug.

I wonder if you could possibly understand

how hard it is for me to let you grow.

On this day know that my heart breaks,

for this is the first step of letting my baby go.

Can you believe that the teacher handed this poem out to the parents in a sealed card as we dropped off our babies?

So I was doing great, really no tears, just very excited that she was so excited! Then as I sat in the car I opened the envelope and here this was staring back at me!!! Instant tears! I handed it to Kyle , who was looking at me like I was a freak, he read the first line and then threw it down and said he couldn't read anymore.

Love the poem, just not a good time for me to read it.

She had an excellent first day and as she got in the car to come home informed me that "Kindergarten Rocks". Love this girl! She looked so cute and like such a big girl! We did miss her at home, the middle two weren't sure what to do without her. I kept telling Margaret that she needed to step up to the plate and organize something for her and Walter to do. They tried, it just turned into a lot of fighting. We will try again tomorrow.

Today was also her first day back at dance. She took the summer off so our schedule could be more flexible, but was ready to get her ballet shoes on again. You might think that all of this new, new, new would wear a girl out. Not this one, on the way home from dance she was trying to decide what she was going to do next!

The Kissing Hand

Twas the night before Kindergarten and all through the house everyone was sleeping... except for the mom who keeps pulling up pictures of her daughter and with tears in her eyes is wondering where the time has gone!!!! The Kissing Hand has been a favorite book around here lately and for any of you who haven't yet read it I suggest you do. It is a keeper! It is about a little raccoon and his feelings about going to school, and it also shows how mothers can have feelings about this first day as well. Tonight after we read it for the millionth time she just looked at me and gave me the biggest hug ever!!! I think that she knows that this is going to be much harder on mommy than it is going to be for her. As I was looking at pictures every memory passed through me like it was just yesterday. I wonder will it always be this way when I look at pictures of our lives? Will it always be this emotional?

One of my favorite shots, "Daddy & Me". Isabella was six months old here.

Isabella on her 3rd birthday. She had a tea party

I have been hanging out with this little gal for the last 5 years and 11 months non-stop. We both have a love of being outside, getting up early, sweets, cherry-limades, Nordstroms Cafe, and just being together.

She is my...

activity organizer of the day

strawberry slicer

bottle feeder

diaper fetcher

pizza maker

favorite person to ride bikes with

awesome swimmer

elegant dancer

bug patrol

anything baby danger patrol

&

one of my five favorite people to cuddle with while everyone else is napping.

Knock'em dead darlin, show them what you've got!

My little bug went to bed super excited! Her uniform is all laid out and ready to go. Her book bag is packed, her water bottle is in the fridge, and her new sparkly shoes are waiting by the door. I just can't wait to fill you in on her first day!

Okay, I better head off to bed, she will probably be up here in a few hours wondering when we need to leave the house so that we won't be late for school!!

ThReE mOnThS oLd!!!

Our baby girl is three months old and she is already watching cartoons with her posse. I call them her posse because no matter how much she screams and cries (getting better each day!!!) they love being with her and no matter what she may need they are on it, usually fighting over who can get to it first.

Unbelievably my first child probably never saw a TV until she was two years old and now my fourth sits in her Bumbo chair watching as Dora goes exploring. Maybe she is learning some Spanish, right? Bottom line here is I have relaxed a bit around here, in a good way. I have decided that the cobwebs will still be there in a couple of days no matter how many times I dust them today, dinner can be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and it is okay for my three-month-old to watch a little "toons" with her brother and sissy just because they are all together and happy:)

New things about Miss Caroline

1. She has finally stopped screaming in the car. Thank goodness, I thought I was going to pull all of my hair out!

2. She is very ticklish. Loves to be tickled on the tummy and under her arms

3. Has a smile that can light up a room. She gets her dimples from her brother.

4. She is much happier now that her momma read "Happiest Baby on the Block". I am not really into reading these types of books but a friend suggested it to me and it was great. The techniques don't always work but nine times out of ten we have success.

5. She loves to be talked to and play "Wheels on the Bus" and "Patty-Cake".

Love you to pieces little bean, don't grow up too fast!

They say the darnedest things...

Okay so this picture really has nothing to do with this post. Well maybe a little because this little gal says some doozies. She tells you exactly how it is and what is on her mind flies right out of her mouth. I feel that this is a great trait to have as long as it is used appropriately. Here is a recent example of when this may not be appropriate...

I was sitting at a gathering of moms and children from my POP moms group. We were letting the kiddos run through sprinklers and eat ice cream while we baked in the hot sun getting some girl chat in. I was nursing C because of course she has decided to eat ALL of the time. A little girl around three to four years old approached me and asked me what I was doing. I replied that I was feeding my baby. She peered over my hooter hider and looked at me and said, "My mommy's are bigger." Now folks it took me a minute here to realize what she was referring to because I just haven't given much thought lately as to how small my chest really is. Since I have had children I have realized that it doesn't matter their size just as long as they do the job and I am thinking that all of my kids looked like healthy babies, right? If this would have been about ten years ago I would have been mortified over this, maybe even a little obsessed about it. I am finally to the point where I could just laugh, especially since it came from a three-year-old. My response to her, "God made us all different shapes and sizes."

Brown Eyed Girl???

Thinking my Sweet Caroline is going to be on the brown-eyed team with Walter and I. I know that it takes a good year for their eyes to set but I am thinking brown here...

KaMp RoCkS!

Okay, so I haven't had much to say since we got back from our FaBuLoUs trip to Kanakuk Kamp but it is only because I am exhausted... it is a good kind of exhausted but nonetheless this mama was worn out!

After doing four HUGE bags of dirty, lake smelly, sweaty laundry I am finally finding the time to sit and think about what an awesome time that we all had. I didn't get many pictures because to be quite frank we were just too busy having fun!

This is how our day started and ended. The tramps were right next to the Chuck Wagon (place where we ate each meal) and my kids had a blast jumping before and after each meal. These were the perfect setup because they were flush with the ground and the springs were completely padded. You can't see from the picture but there were two of these side-by-side so it was easy to jump from one to the other.

Had to get a picture of the water slide that the crazy nurses convinced me to go down one night. I am a bit nervous with heights but not enough to talk about with people, I usually just think it in my head. As I was climbing the ladder to get to the top I actually thought about climbing back down but didn't want to seem wimpy so I kept going and am so glad that I did. Isabella went down with me on my second run without even thinking twice... boy I wish I could be fearless like a kid again! Margaret decided that she would rather accomplish going off of the diving board this week instead of the gigantic slide. I just think it was a little overwhelming for her. Walter would have done it I am sure but we wouldn't let him because I just didn't trust him up that high in the sky quite yet.

Here is a shot of Isabella with the famous "blob". We watched campers jump on it all afternoon but we decided we would wait until next year to give it a try. It was super hot the week were there so we spent a lot of time swimming in the pool and the lake.

Here is a shot of everyone after church. My kids thought that it was the best church ever, it was outside and they got a little bag of M&M's to munch on while listening to a wonderful talk about "I'm Third"

What I didn't get shots of was the...

archery

tubing

banana boating

tree tops

gymnastics

basketball

tennis

soccer

volleyball

gigantic slip'n'slide

washers

canoeing

kayaking

and

bottle feeding two baby pigs and a goat

that we did each and every day that we were there.

It was a wild ride with our four kiddos and their age ranges to all be put into one room to live for seven days but we were surrounded by amazing people so it all seemed easy and I tried my hardest to not sweat the small stuff. We created a lot of fun memories on this trip that I hope my children will always remember.