Parade!

This is the fifth year in a row our family has gone to our city's annual parade. I went to and was in the parade a lot during high school, so it has been fun to have our family be a part of this celebration of our city!

The sun was out and the crowds were big this year (we actually have only had rain once since we've been coming and that was our first year), and we had a great time with lots of friends from the kids' school.

Love these two!

Fun with friends!

The parade is always a highlight in September and this year was no exception. We had a great morning and the kids have enough candy to last at least until halloween...haha!! 

Thankful to live in the great city of Beaverton!

My Baby is a Kindergartener!

My sweet boy is sound asleep at the moment, oh so tired from his FIRST day of kindergarten. I am exhausted as well, this being a super tough day on my mommy heart. But, he had a GREAT day and for that I am so thankful!

As hard as it was for me to send Evelyn off to kindergarten, sending my baby off today was just as hard, if not harder. First of all, kindergarten is ALL DRAT DAY. New state law, which you can probably guess I am not a fan of. I was so hoping to have him in 1/2 day kindy, like his sister, so we could still do things like swim lessons, etc, before school... just have MORE time with him. I am thankful, so thankful that we did preschool with him last year. The separation part, for him anyway, will  not be so shocking, I hope. Secondly, I am gonna miss his sweet face and joyful spirit so much those 6.5 hours he will be gone. And lastly, it means a new season for me. I am now a stay at home mom who has both kids in school. I am beyond grateful that I am able to be home, but feeling unsure of what my days will look like during the school year. I am sure I will get into a rhythm, just like the kids, but man, it will be so different.

Ok... back to my boy. Here is a recap of his first day!!

First, lets go back to bedtime last night. Just like Evelyn, he had some "seeds of learning" that he was supposed to put under his pillow. Teachers Mrs. Pearson (who Evelyn had and who Matthew and I LOVE), and Mrs. Davis, who till team teach with her (I love her already as well!) told him to put those seeds under his pillow and he would dream lots of good school dreams and be ready to learn.

He was pretty excited about this!

Evelyn has been so encouraging and helping to get Matthew ready for school. She was excited for him, too!

He wanted a smoothie for breakfast. Don't tell him there is spinach and protein powder in there!

My big boy, ready to go!

These two.... always silly!! Love them!

Chattin' with daddy on our walk to school

He was pretty excited to have his picture taken in front of the school sign, "just like Evelyn does!"

Backpack hook. Sigh... this is really  happening!

Pretty excited about this whole kindergarten thing!

Play-doh while waiting for all the kids to arrive

Saying bye to dad...

I was a wreck... can you tell? Sheesh... The goodbye was so hard for me. Matthew? As you can see by his silly face, he was just fine...haha!

The day went by SOOOOO slow! I was a mess and pretty much was in tears all day. I know it will get better, but today was hard. I prayed so much for my little pumpkin... that he would listen well, be  safe, make some friends, and have fun. Then, finally, it was time to go get him!

He got to be line leader on the way out... pretty cool for my little man!

I was so happy to see his face and squeeze him tight!!

Both his teachers told me they "love him" and that he is the "sweetest thing ever" and that he had a great day. Matthew agreed saying his day was "awesome!". He spent the afternoon sharing with Evelyn and I all he did his first day and how great it was. His only complaints were that he was tired and that "rest time" isn't long enough! HA! I will take those as pretty minor complaints! :)

For dinner he requested cheeseburgers corn, and BBQ chips... which we all enjoyed outside in beautiful weather. 

He was asleep within moments tonight and looking forward to going back to school tomorrow. I wish he didn't have to go back... haha.. but I am so thankful for a good launch into grade school for him!!

I know he is gonna shine!!

While Sister is Away......

.... mommy and Matthew will play!

The school decided to do a staggered start for the kindergarten kids this year, which means Matthew starts tomorrow, not today. I can't begin to tell you how happy that made me. For one, I can get each of my kids settled into their class without having to rush to the other class to drop off the other one. And two... I get one more day with my favorite 5 year old!!

We made the most of the day even tho we missed Evelyn dearly. We kept busy by doing lots of fun things!

We hit the dirt bike track first. We told Matthew as soon as he was off training wheels we could go to a dirt bike track by our house. He's only been riding solo for less than a week, but he held me to that promise and we went. It made me super nervous (shocker!) since he already he thinks he's Evel Kinevil...ha! He actually did SO good and had a great time, until he had a rather big crash.. then he wanted to go. I made him do the loop one more time just to 'get back on the horse', then we headed off to our next adventure.

 We then headed to the eye doctor to have Matthew's glassed adjusted and thoroughly clean. Mr. Tom was fun to work with and was encouraged Matthew to have fun and work hard in school. A good stop!

Lunch!! So... Burger King has these cool soda machine that lets you pick a soda and add a flavor if you want. Matthew has wanted to try a 'strawberry sprite' since he heard that was one of the choices. He finally got to have one and he thought it was the best ever! It was a fun lunch stop. All Matthew could talk about was how excited he was about starting school. Yay!

Lego time! He wanted to play legos with me. We had fun building all sorts of things, including this football field upright! :)

I love this boy with all my heart!

While we were super excited to got pick up Evelyn for school, we both were thankful for the day spent together. Gearing my heart up for tomorrow. The kindergarten adventure begins!

Third Grade

How is it possible that I have a third grader?

The past two years Evelyn has had the same teacher and the same class mates. While she is excited for the new year to start, she is also a bit anxious about having a new teacher and meeting new kids. When we met her teacher last week (whom we like already), she also noticed that their were only 4 kids from her old class, and 3 of them were boys. And the boys were not "her boys", the wonderful boys who she has a strong friendship with. Her and her 2 best friends are all in different classes. Needless to say this has her a bit sad and concerned. The past few days I have specifically prayed for her heart, for peace and for courage to face the new year with joy and excitement. I so hope she can meet new friends and do well.

This morning she was up and excited about the day, which eased my mind a bit. She picked the perfect outfit to wear (of course) and was excited for our annual photo session!

I love her!

After school she was tired but said over all her day was good. She likes Mrs. West and she was happy to see her friends at recess. Hopefully it will only get better from here, and this year will be great!

Evelyn Joy, you make my heart smile. I am so fortunate to be your mom, to be able to help you grow into who God wants   you to be. Make the most of this year, baby girl! I am cheering for you!!

Third Grade... let's do this!