Family Time

Scott finally had a day off on saturday (after working 22 straight days!). He was so great to spend his day off mowing the lawn, trimming the bushes, and cleaning out the van. We then went down to the Santa Maria replica for pirate weekend. It is a replica of Columbus' ship and it was neat to see. The kids enjoyed it too. We got a yummy dinner from Northstar on the way home. Too bad the night ended with a disasterous Coug game, but we had a great day anway.



Chantele and Mike sent these cute donut shaped cake pans and the kids couldn't wait to try them out. They are already anxious to do the cookie ones too. The kids all got hair cuts and Maddie and Bella look cute. It was long overdue. Their hair is so thin and was getting really stringy. They finally agreed to a cut and they had fun doing it. Nathan HATES getting his haircut though, and his looks like a mess still.

Maddie and Bella and I went apple picking. I love doing that this time of year! There is nothing like yummy crispy apples right off the tree.


Maddie and Bella's first day of Pre-K. I went back and forth so many times about starting the girls in kindergarten, but I look at these two darling faces and I am happy that I get to keep them "little" for just a bit longer. We love the preschool where they are at and they are in a class with all summer birthday 5 year olds. It is 5 days a week for 2 1/2 hours just like kindergarten. The down side is that it is pretty expensive and I have to drive them back and forth! Luckily we met another mom in our neighborhood with a boy in their class so we have started carpooling. It is wonderful! They are definitely smarty pants these days and I'm amazed at how fast they are growing up and how much they are learning. They are taking gymnastics and a music class as well so they are having fun.


Nora is my little dream baby. She is the cutest thing and I can't get enough of her. She is getting big way too fast. I want to just keep her small and squishy. She is so happy. She is such a fun part of our family these days. The older kids eat her up. They are always fighting over who gets to pick out her outfit or have her in their bath. Every little thing she does is exciting to them. Sometimes when I feel like she is neglected because I have all the other kids to worry about, I remember that she has lots and lots of love from her siblings. I feel guilty that she is in the car being part of the carpools and that she is hanging out in her swing or on the floor a lot of the time while I take care of everyone else. I just don't have the same amount of time to devote to playing with her as I did the others. I guess that is what happens when you aren't the oldest child! Good thing she is so good natured and she takes long naps! I'm so grateful to have her in our family and even though she is only 3 months old I can't imagine life without her now.

Nathan

Nathan has been having a blast the past year doing a little playgroup one morning a week. These four boys have a great time together! It is fun to watch them interact and it is so nice for Nathan to have some rough and tumble time with other boys! He loves it. He is such a funny kid these days. He is always on the move and has a great little imagination. He loves to play with (and tease) Maddie and Bella every minute. He adores Nora and loves to sing to her and get right up in her face! He is very detailed and loves doing puzzles and his latest favorite thing is sticker books. They have these books from Costco that have hundreds of stickers that you put in certain places throughout the book. He is totally obsessed! He loves to find where all the stickers go and wants them in the exactly right place. He has toy story, Cars, superheros and Mickey Mouse. He has decided lately that he doesn't need to nap and it is a daily battle to get him to take one. We are sort of on the every other day naps now, because I'm just not ready for him to lose his nap! He is wanting to be potty trained, and gets really excited when he goes on the potty but I'm also just not quite ready to tackle that with a new baby yet. He is such a boy and can definitely try my patience, but he has a really sweet side and a kind heart. He started going to his friend William's house every thursday morning for a little "preschool." He is always excited to wear his backpack and go play with his friends. We love this little man in our family.

Summer

With Nora's birth and Scott's schedule we didn't have big travel plans for the summer. It turned out to be just right though. These few pictures pretty well capture our last few months. It is hard to beat those carefree summer days as a kid. I don't know how many otter pops we consumed, how many times the kids jumped on the trampoline, swung on our swings, or played in the sprinklers.