Parker's First Day of Kindergarten

The day that I've been dreading for five years and four months is finally here... Parker started kindergarten today!

We went last week to let Parker meet his teacher, Mrs. Pritchard.  We are so thankful for her and as hard as it was for me to leave him in his classroom this morning, I know that he is in great hands!

(A funny Parker story:  After Meet the Teacher, I asked Parker what he thought about his classroom and his response was, "It was good!".  Then I asked him what he thought about his teacher and he enthusiastically replied, "Oh, it was gooder!!"  I think Mrs. Pritchard made a good impression on him!)

Parker was excited about going to school this morning.  He did not get nervous until he walked into the building and then I could tell that he was a little unsure of things by the way he gripped my hand all the way down the hall.  I was so proud of him once we got to his classroom.  He went right to his seat and started working.  Not one tear was shed (by him, at least!).  I did a good job of holding it together until I got in the hall and then I will admit that I got a little teary.  I know that this is the next step, but it sure is hard to let him go.



I peeked in on him at lunch and he seemed to be doing great!  I am counting down the minutes until we get to pick him up.  Eden has asked about Parker at least a half dozen times so I know she will be just as excited as I am to see him!

Happy 1st Birthday, Ryan!

Yesterday we celebrated my sweet nephew Ryan's first birthday!  It's hard to believe that we've been loving on this happy little guy for a whole year- it's just gone way too fast!  Ryan continues to be a very content, easy going and very active little boy.  He's not walking yet but can stand and take a few steps so we know it won't be long before he is officially a walker!

My sister planned to have a swimming party for Ryan but the weather had different plans!  It started raining just as everyone arrived so we had to move the festivities inside.  The kids didn't seem to mind at all- they were just happy to be playing together!

While we waited for the pizza to arrive, we watched Ryan open his presents.  His favorite was his new bulldozer that made noises.

After pizza, it was time for cake!  Eden started asking me after breakfast when she was going to get to eat some cake, so I think she was the most excited out of everyone that it was finally time!

Ryan was not sure what to think about his cake at first, but it didn't take him long to figure it out!

It is a tradition in our family to have a number "1" cake for the first birthday.  It's a little bittersweet that this is the last time Emily or I will ever use it for one of our kids. 

Parker loves his Baby Ryan.  He told me yesterday morning that he wanted to build Ryan a special tower for his birthday.  I am so thankful Parker has another boy in the family to play with.  He loves his sisters, Addison, and Aubrey, but sometimes you just need another boy to play rough with and I can already tell that Ryan is going to be great at that!!

We love you Ryan David!  Happy 1st Birthday to You!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today Cory turned 37.

We started dating when he was 16 which makes this my 20th time to celebrate a birthday with him.

  Where did the time go?
And how did we get so old?



The kids enjoyed making Daddy feel special tonight with a yummy fried chicken dinner, four layer dessert, presents, and lots of swimming. 

Everyone knows that when you become a parent, you no longer get to open your own presents! Lily and Parker were more than happy to help!

We are so thankful for Cory.  He is such a blessing to me and our family.  I definitely got the better end of the deal when he agreed to marry me!  I hope he always knows how much we love him and how special he is to us.

Happy Birthday Daddy!  We hope you had a great day!

The Lazy Days of Summer

Two weeks.

I start back to school in two weeks. How on earth is summer almost over?   And how on earth do I have a five year old who will be starting school with me? 

We have not been doing a whole lot lately.  We're spending a lot of time inside trying to avoid the 100+ degree temperatures that August brings and looking forward to the cooler temps that fall will bring so that we can go outside again.

A couple of weekends ago, we attempted to go to the park.  The kids enjoyed feeding the ducks and then after less than 5 minutes on the playground were begging to go home.  The slides and swings were so hot that their legs were getting burned and I have to admit, I was kind of glad they didn't want to play.  It was just too hot!

We've had lots of play dates with Jolea, Trip, Addison and Aubrey...

and lots of trips to Sonic for Happy Hour slushies!  (Notice that Parker is still in his pajamas!  There have been several days that he has asked to stay in them all day!)

I've been working on a few projects around the house, including this alphabet wall in the kid's playroom.  It took me over a year to finish it, but I was very pleased with the final product.  (Thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration!)

Most of our outings this summer have been to Granna and Granstan's house to swim!  The kids have turned into little fish and they can't get enough.  Eden usually asks me as soon as she gets out of bed in the morning when we are going to go swimming.  Parker has been learning how to do a front flip into the pool and Eden has finally gotten brave enough to jump off the side of the pool.  I'm so proud of how well they are both swimming and thankful that they feel so comfortable in the water.

It may not seem very exciting but I am loving spending my days with these three kiddos.  They fill my days with joy and I am so blessed that they are mine.  I sure am going to miss them when our lazy summer days are over.

Happy Birthday Aunt MerMer!

Happy Birthday to our fun Aunt MerMer!

We love you very much and hope you have a great day!

Absolutely!!

I promise this will be my last post on our Colorado vacation, but when my father-in-law asked if I had any pictures of the condo we stayed in, I realized I hadn't really talked about our accommodations.  And it definitely deserves mentioning. 

During our week in Steamboat, we stayed in an upscale resort called One Steamboat Place.  Our condo was a 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom condo with two of the bedrooms being master suites.  It had an open living/dining/kitchen area that was perfect for our large group.  The condo also had a Little Tykes Room and Gameroom with a pool table and a Wii that we accessed almost every day to give the kids some play time.   It was definitely one of the nicest places I have ever stayed on vacation.  (Sorry Mom and Dad!  Don't get me wrong...I loved the Holiday Inns we always stayed at when I was a kid, but this might be a little higher on my list!)

The kids loved this huge bathtub in the junior master suite and I loved it because we could get everyone bathed at one time.  Meredith and I lined them up every night and created our own bath time assembly line! (Lily was usually in there too...I'm not quite sure where she was in this picture.)

One nice thing about our condo was that they drove us wherever we needed to go in Steamboat in this handy dandy bus, aka the "turtle".  They also provided all of the car seats while we were there.  All we had to do was call down, request the turtle, and give them a few minutes to get the car seats in.  The turtle held 13 people, which is exactly the number we had in our group.  It couldn't have worked out better.

The last thing that I think we will always remember about the condo is how friendly the staff was.  They could not have made our stay more pleasant.  It didn't matter what we asked, their answer was always "ABSOLUTELY"!  By the end of the week, it became a family joke to see how many times we could get them to answer "Absolutely!" to the requests we made.

"Can we get a trash pick up in Room 411?"
"Absolutely!"

"Can we get a ride into town for dinner?"
"Absolutely!"

"Can we get you to come put our tired and cranky kids to bed while we go out for drinks?"
"Absolutely!"
(Well... maybe we didn't ask them to do that, but we are pretty certain they would have if we had asked!)

I know I've said it before, but we are so thankful to the Ranelle's for graciously offering their condo to our family for the week.  It will definitely be a week we will never forget!

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye

It's no secret that these two are inseparable when they get together.  Our Colorado trip was no different.  They were joined at the hip pretty much the entire vacation.  They were playmates during the day and roommates (with Aunt MerMer) at night. 

So, when Friday rolled around and it was time for Addison to leave, they didn't quite know how to handle it.  Parker's tears started first and were quickly followed by Addison's.  Big, genuine, crocodile tears.  (I have to admit, I teared up a little myself just watching them.)  After a few hugs, we finally said our final good-byes and waved as she drove away.  Parker was in a funk the rest of the day.  He cried at dinner time when she wasn't there to sit next to him and he cried again at bedtime when she wasn't there to say good night.  I love the special relationship these two have... it really is priceless!