Another Awesome Sunday Get-Together

Yesterday we went to Jordan and Nikole's house for our monthly family get-together. They were amazing hosts! The food was fantastic and the company was as fun as always.

This get-together had lots of Kid-Snuggling,...

...Kid Smiling,...

...Birthday Celebrating,...

...Face Stuffing,..

...Relaxing,...

...And, of course, Bum Grabbing!


Only at family get-togethers, eh?! Thanks again, Jordan and Nikole for the awesome evening. We all had a blast and you were amazing to put up with all of us at your home!

By the way, do I not have the cutest family?!?! I love them all!!!

Hayden Buddy's First Day of Preschool

I just have to say I love this kid. He is so stinking fun. I love all of my kids, but it is so much fun to have a silly little tease of a boy in the house.

Today was his first day of preschool, and he couldn't wait! On Tuesday, I told him he would get to go to school in a couple of days. He said, "Oh, I go to school in seven weeks?" I love their perception of time. It may as well have been seven weeks to him. He was SO excited.

This morning finally came and he couldn't wait to leave. I tried to get him to slow down long enough to get pictures, but he had his own agenda. The first picture had to be of the all-important backpack. He loves his backpack and just HAD to have it when we went school shopping.


I asked him to turn around so I could get a picture of his face, and he kept pulling faces. That's my boy!

Boys are so different than girls. When I used to take my girls to school, I had to hold their hand into the classroom, sit them down, kiss them good-bye when they were settled and comfortable. Not Hayden. As soon as we reached the preschool door, he said, "Bye Mom!" What the?????

I told him he had to wait and let me walk in with him to help him hang up his backpack and get him situated. So while we were waiting to go into the classroom, he hugged Kate good-bye.

He was all smiles in the classroom. His dream of going to preschool had finally come true!

He showed everyone the colors he was using and was so excited to find a paper that had his name on it. I realized he couldn't care less if I'm there or not, so I embarrassed him and gave him a kiss good-bye.

My mom came to see Hayden off for his first day of preschool as well. Then she took Kate to her house to make cookies so that she didn't feel left out being the only one not in school. What a fun grandma!

When it was time to go pick Hayden up, he really didn't want to leave. He climbed up on a rock to try to get away from me.

He's obviously pretty proud of himself! When we got home, he was talking about climbing on the rock and said, "I was on top of the world!"

As soon as we walked in the door, he asked me for some chocolate milk. He waited patiently on the couch for it, and when I went to hand it to him he was grinning from ear to ear. It was like he was replaying his fantastic day in his head and he was so happy.

I sat down and talked to Hayden some more about his day at preschool, and he said, "Mom, you're my best friend." Aw, how cute! I'm his hero because I took him to Miss Eve's preschool and that made his day.

First Day of School

I can't believe I have a 4th grader and a 1st grader! They are getting so big! It seems like just yesterday, Rylee was going to her first day of kindergarten.

This year, Bill took the kids to their first day of school, so we had to get some pictures of him with the kiddos. Hayden thought he needed to get in on the action too. That's okay with me because he usually fights us when we want to take his picture. We'll see how it goes when I try to take pictures of his first day of preschool. :)

Rylee all gussied up and ready for school.

Lana and her daddy. I think Bill looks more nervous about Lana's first day of 1st grade than she does.

Lana bounding down the stairs, all ready for school. She couldn't wait!

My two cute girls together.

Rylee and Lana being the silly girls that they are.

Another daddy shot with the three oldest ones. Kate wasn't awake yet.

Rylee trying to not look up at me. That sun was brutal!

Lana pulling a classic Lana face for me.

The girls walking away from me together, taking care of each other...

...or not. Rylee stepped on a worm and Lana thought it was hilarious. This picture is of Lana laughing her head off after she told Rylee about the worm she just smashed. Rylee was horrified.

Rylee wiped that worm off of her foot for a good couple of minutes. She couldn't wipe it enough.

Kate finally woke up and got in on the picture action.

These two are very rarely apart from each other. It won't be long before they are the ones I am taking a picture of, holding hands as they walk to school.

Kate giving her daddy kisses good-bye. She is one affectionate little bugger. We love it!

She gets the affectionate trait from her daddy.

The kids had an awesome first day of school, and I missed them like crazy! But they were happy when they walked through the door after school, and as a mom, that is the best end to the first day of school.

Who Needs Mom?

One day, Kate was crying because I had tried to help her get down off of the counter so she wouldn't get hurt. I know, I am the MEANEST mom on the planet.

So what does she do? She goes and gets Hayden and cries to him. He says, "Come on, Kate. Let's go snuggle." He sits in the rocking chair and she climbs up and snuggles up to him.

He was so cute to her, but after a couple of minutes he was bored. I love his face in this one. He's still trying to be nice, but just wants Kate to be done snuggling.

Don't worry, Hayden, Kate will be there to snuggle you too when you need to pout. This was about thirty minutes later. Apparently the snuggling-your-sibling has turned into a game. :) Hey, who needs mom to snuggle them when they are upset? Certainly not these two. They have each other.