Nathan's first day of school

It was finally Nathan's first day of school. He was so excited about going and about an hour before it was time to leave he kept asking if it was time to go now. So he did really well. He went right in and started playing and I kept waiting for him to feel sad and cry but he did not. I must admit I was a little sad that he did not whimper a little bit, however, it was also nice to have one of my kids excited and independent enough to leave me. He has really matured these past few weeks. He seems to be older and more mature. He is up for any activity and goes into it full force and generally has a great time. I have enjoyed my two days with Nathan. We chill out in the morning, organize the house and running errands. I try to plan some sort of activity during the day and then we pick up the girls. Today we were on a task to find some buckeye trees. We found one and managed to get about 20 buckeyes. We also changed our rock tumbler grit. So we are on the last week of the four week rock tumbling odyssey. The rocks are looking great so I am sure that this will be enough tumbling for these rocks.




Julianne had her friends' birthday party this past weekend. D took all Julianne and her three friends to a local water park. The girls had a blast and D had a good time with them. The girls were much calmer this year, I don't know if it was because one of the girls feel asleep early or they just matured. They did not have any crazy, coming upstairs screaming and running. After they got home they watched a movie and played Clue. Then we sent them downstairs and we think they fell asleep around 12. They did not get up until 8 which I thought was pretty late for the girls.


Not the best picture, but you get the idea.


Funny Julianne face

Other random pictures

Mallory lays out her clothes before bedtime. It is so cute because she is starting to match hair bows and bracelets with her outfits.

So since I had my camera upstairs taking pictures of Mallory's outfit I thought I would take pictures of the kid's sleeping



Nathan's new bike. He looks adorable riding it and he can sure ride it far for being so small.

Mallory on her roller blades. She lasted for about 5 houses, then we had to turn around because it took her about a half an hour to get that far.

That looks like it hurts (her bow legged feet)

Oops she fell down again.


Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-seeing a hawk out my window on Saturday morning. The kids and I watched it for about 5 minutes before it flew off. It was stalking our squirrels.
-Watching Mallory make cardboard, rose petals cards for everyone at Julianne's birthday party and Nathan, myself and D. It was super sweet of her to make these cards and then pass them out to everyone.
-D willing to take the girls to the water park and actively participating in the kids birthday parties.

Julianne's b-day and our annual campout

The past few weekends have been busy with lots of weekend activities. We had our annual camp out and the kids had a great time. We set up the tent and brought out all the air mattresses and sleeping bags. We grilled out and cooked our annual smores. Nathan really liked the fire this time. He, as well as his dad were memorized by the fire and he kept saying, "I like fires." D slept in the tent with the kids since it was hard for me to really want to sleep outside with my bed 25 feet from the tent. He is much better at sleeping in different beds and places so I knew that he would not have any troubles sleeping in the tent. I did miss waking up with them but they also had an interesting night. Julianne threw up in her bed and Nathan peed in his bed. Julianne ended up sleeping in my bed and Nathan crawled into bed with D. So it was a great night. Julianne threw up two more times after that but was fine after that. So I don't know what was the matter with her. She might have eaten too much or just had a little bug.







"I love the fire."

Mallory was our patient marshmallows toaster. She would put the marshmallow in the fire and let it get brown. Julianne put hers straight into the fire, burned it then ate it. It was fun to see the differences.


The fire at night. It was a great fire and it had so many great shots. I just did not have my tripod out so most of my pictures did not turn out.

Our first sweet baby turned 9 last week. I am still amazed that she is that old. Everyone with older kids says that their kids lives flew by and now their kids are teenagers or out of the house. I know what they are talking about. It is hard to image how hard it was when Julianne was a baby. She was colicky, high need and high maintenance. She is such a great kid. She is a great friend, is considerate, respects adults, tries hard at school and in her extra activities and in general is a great big sister. She really loves us and has really come into her own person. I can't believe that next year she will be 10 and then in her pre-teens. I know that those years will be harder than what we experienced when she was a baby. So I am going to try to savor more smaller moments with all my kids since they really do grow up so fast.

Her best friend has the same birthday so her friend had her party on her birthday so Julianne is celebrating her friends' birthday party this coming weekend. We had her family party last weekend. We gave her a new desk for all her homework to come and we bought her a wave board. It is like a skate board but you gain speed and momentum by rotating your feet on the board.








Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Celebrating Julianne's b-day with her
-Mallory getting used to school and eating lunch in the cafeteria for the first time and not being afraid
-Hearing Nathan tell the girls that they look pretty