May 25, 2016. Last Day of School!

My cute kiddos finished up another successful school year. I am so proud of them! This year wasn't easy, but they handled it so well and thrived! Each one of them is so smart and got such good grades. They all made some great friends at school this year and I love seeing them interact and have fun with them. It's a bittersweet ending. We are so excited for Summer and the fun that we will have, not to mention the break from homework and early school days, but we are also sad to say goodbye to such great teachers. I feel so blessed to have had the teachers we did this year. Cute Ruby cried and cried because school had ended. I love these kids like crazy and I can't wait to spend my Summer days with them!!

And my favorite photo tradition. First/Last Day of school pictures! I love seeing how they change and grow each year!

October 31, 2015. Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from my crew!

A skeleton, a raven, a devil, a shadow, and Cinderella!

Love these little people of mine!

August 17, 2015. Lyla's first day of pre-school.

Lyla had her first day of pre-school! She was so ready. She didn't even blink an eye when I told her that it was time for me to go! She had a great day and has been singing her abc's ever since! Just like that I have 4 kids in school! That's crazy!!

Aug. 13, 2015. First Day of School.

The kids started school today! The kids and I were excited for the new school year. We got our new school clothes, our new shoes, registered at our new schools and were looking forward to all the adventures that we would have this year. As it got closer and closer to the 1st day however, I had a lot of anxiety about the kids starting school this year. Especially about Sophie starting 6th grade in an intermediate school. I was trying not to project my anxiety on to the kids and instead we would talk about how awesome the school year was going to be. And I really think it will be! All the kids came home and said they had a great day! Sophie didn't get lost going to any of her classes. She likes her language arts teacher the best so far, and she said the day flew by! Collin has a male teacher this year who loves math and science...just like him! His favorite part of the day was getting his own Chrome book to use this year! Ruby has such a sweet teacher. She got to be the mystery student and bring some things from home to share about herself and she is adjusting to going to school full day. She said the day was so long it felt like two! Ha! Love that girl! So proud of each of my kids. I know they will have a great year! Tomorrow we will tackle riding the bus!

June 2, 2015. Last day of school!

Well it wasn't really the last day of school, but our kids didn't actually go to school on the last day of the year and the last day they did go was field day so they wore swim suites, so these pictures were taken three days before school ended!

I'm so proud of my kiddos this year. They all had a great year in school this year. It wasn't always easy,  and it wasn't always fun, but they all gave 100% all year long! I have such great and smart kids. I love them!

As per tradition, my first and last day of school comparison for the 2014-2015 school year:

And one of this cute girl because she wanted a picture too, and who can resist this cuteness!

May 30, 2015. Summertime!

Snow-cone date with my girl! She was so excited to get a rainbow one. Nothing says Summer quite like a scnow-cone! I'm sure it's the first of many!!!

March 6, 2015. "Mommy" Lyla.

Sometimes when it gets quiet, really really quiet, you know the dangerous kind of quiet, I go looking for Lyla and find her like this. She loves to take care of her babies. She's such a good little mommy! Love her!

August 25, 2014. First Day of School!

The kids started school! I for one was so ready. They were ready too although I'm not sure they would admit it! They all seem to have good teachers this year and we are looking forward to a great year full of lots of learning! Sophie and Collin had a great first day. Ruby however was totally disappointed in her first day. She had Kindergarten orientation and was only there a short time. She is loving school now, although I think her favorite part is riding scooters home with Sophie and Collin! Such smart kids I have. I know they are going to have a wonderful year!

We couldn't forget about Miss Lyla. She isn't going to Preschool this year but really wanted too! She was eager to get dressed, pack a lunch for herself, and wear her backpack! Thank goodness she was content with just dropping the kids off at the school.

August 18, 2014. Lyla turns 3!

For Lyla's 3rd birthday she wanted a Minnie Mouse Party! It turned out so cute and I think she LOVED it! She was so pleased it was her special day. We invited Grandparents over along with Aunt Amy and we celebrated the cutest little 3 year old there ever was! We ate pizza, opened presents, cracked open a Minnie Mouse pinata, sang "Happy Birthday", and ate some yummy Minnie Mouse cupcakes! It was a fun evening celebrating a fun little girl! Happy Birthday Lyla Bug! We love you! 

For Lyla

Dear Lyla,

You are three years old and so much fun! I have really enjoyed this stage with you. You are sweet, sassy, spunky, shy, independent, outgoing, funny, loveable, and oh so cute all rolled into one little package! You are my little sidekick. And I love it!

Your favorite thing to play is babies. You have a million of them, yet you always want new ones. You tote them all over the house and take such good care of them. You feed them, push them in strollers, get them toys, and put them down for naps. I know that with all this practice you are going to be a great big sister to your new little brother. You are also obsessed with Minnie Mouse. You love wearing your Minnie Mouse shirt, dress up dress, and shoes!

You love playing with friends. You have two cute little neighbor friends that you always want to play with. You wake up and within an hour you are asking to play. I will bring you home from playing and soon you are asking to play again. I love watch you guys play together and seeing your cute interactions.

Lyla you are learning how to use the potty. You are potty trained for the most part, although you still haven't mastered pooping inthe potty. I have been trying to bribe you with new babies and anything else that i think you will want, but so far I haven't found the right motivation yet. You still like to wear diapers and would rather wear them than underwear, and that's okay. I know that one day soon you will be out of diapers!

You are getting so independent. You want to pick out what you wear and get yourself dressed. You like to climb into your car seat all by yourself and buckle yourself up. You know what you want and get so frustrated when you can't have it. You are happy as can be one minute and then the next? The world is ending. Despite being so independent, you still want to be little. You want to be carried, and cuddled, and drink chocolate milk from a bottle.

Lyla I love you so much! You make life so much fun. Im so lucky to have you call me Mom!

Love you always and forever,
Mom

Little Shadow.

Lyla is my little shadow. She follows me everywhere and wants to participate in what I am doing whether it is cleaning the bathroom or sewing. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but most of the time I love it and wouldn't have it any other way. 

January 22, 2014. Potty Training!

Lyla has been showing signs that she is ready to be potty trained (mostly taking off her diaper every time she goes) so one day I decided to run with it. I put together a fun little morning for her and Elmo. At the beginning of the day Elmo wore diapers just like Lyla but soon they were both in their big girl underwear! Yeah! And both Lyla and Elmo got to have a potty treat when Lyla used the potty. What could be better!!! She thought it was so fun to go potty with Elmo!

Lyla did really well and still does when I stay on top of it. But she still needs to go so frequently that I tend to just put her in diapers most of the time. Lets face it, diapers are so much easier. Looking at these pictures though is reminding me that I need to get back at it again! Hopefully soon I can post a picture of her fully potty trained! Then we might need to have a party. It would be the first time in 9+ years that we haven't had a kid in diapers. That's a lot of diaper changes!

October 31, 2013. Happy Halloween!

The kids were so excited for Halloween! Sophie wanted to make her own costume this year and she did a great job! She was a raccoon! One of our sweet neighbors painted the kids faces making their costumes complete! They all looked so cute! 

Sophie and Collin wanted to trick or treat with friends this year and had such a great time! Collin could have stayed out all night. Logan and I took the little girls out. They did our street and then they were ready to be done. We spent the rest of the night handing out candy and the kids ate a bunch of their loot! 

October 2, 2013. Pumpkin Patch!

Ruby's cute little pre-school class took a trip to a pumpkin patch! Lyla and I tagged along and we all had a blast! My kids love this particular pumpkin patch and the big kids kept asking me to check them out of school so that they could come too! 

Choosing the perfect pumpkin was the highlight of the trip along with the wagon ride out to the patch. But the kids also enjoyed train rides, slides, and swings! It was a fun morning!

September 26, 2013. Lyla Paints.

Sheesh its been forever a and a day since I have blogged. And I've got a lot to blog about. We'll see if I can find the time to get some of life documented here in this space of mine!

And to break the silence, I've got way more pictures than one should probably post of Lyla painting. But I love them all. So why not! Goodness I love her. And I love the stage she is in right now! She is so fun!