Ballerina Princess

Ava started ballet this year! Here she is before heading off to her very first lesson. She has been asking to go to ballet for probably about 4 to 6 months now, so I figured it was time. There are 9 other little girls in her class and they are absolutely precious to watch. Nathan won't just call her a ballerina, it's always "ballerina princess".

Quest for Speed

Here are the kids posed with the Nissan Quest minivan, aka Quest for Speed. We got the van shortly after Nathan's wreck in 2008. Noah loves this van, bless his heart. It has the motor of a Maxima, so it actually goes faster than you think it would. Nathan enjoyed the Quest for Speed as well. There has been many a time, while stopped at a red light, that Nathan would rev the engine only to have some fast sports car pull up next to us. Then yes, he does speed off like they are racing when the light turns green, and no, the sports car never participates. I always cover my face with my hand when he does this to hide my utter and total embarassment, and I also wish I could crawl under my seat. It makes for a good laugh, though and the kids absolutely love it.

Anyway, the Quest for Speed started giving us a lot of trouble, so here we are trading it in. The pictures are of the kids saying goodbye one last time. Yes, those are real tears in Noah's eyes. He pitched an absolute fit when we drove away without the van (a tantrum of the likes I have not seen in 3+ years). And yes, he will probably kill me for this in the future, but I thought it was blog worthy, didn't you?

Helping Mama

The funny thing is that Ava will only eat banana pudding when it is being made... the girl won't touch it with a ten foot pole if you offer it to her later.

First Day of Kindergarten

On his first day of Kindergarten, Noah came downstairs fully dressed with socks and shoes on, teeth brushed and hair combed - all without any help- and all by 6:30 in the morning! I was in the shower, since we don't leave for school until well over an hour later....

There he was doing a silly dance right in the middle of my bathroom, and although he wouldn't admit it, he was SO excited about school.

Pictures on the front porch with his teacher gift

Can you see the excitement?!

Outside at the school with Daddy and Ava

Noah & Mommy

Outside his classroom door

In the classroom now, sitting at the table, and tired of Mommy taking pictures....

There were no tears and no desperate clinging to mommy attempts when we left - if you knew Noah when he was younger, you never would have imagined this day... he was oh so clingy as an infant and toddler, and would scream and cry so long and so loud if I was ever away from him.

My sweet boy is now so confident, smart and independent. (Insert proud mom smile here)
And apparently doesn't need Mommy as much anymore :(

An after school picture back at home after eating chocolate chip cookies and opening his "happy" for his first day of schoolAnd for those of you wondering, no I did not cry. I teared up for a minute leaving his classroom, but I had to dry it up so I wouldn't look like a fool when I walked into the office a few minutes later....

I have to admit there were multiple times over the past 5 years of staying at home with the kids that I couldn't wait for the day when school would finally start, but now that it is here I definitely feel otherwise. I am BEYOND THANKFUL that I have the opportunity to stay home with my children. I can't imagine it any other way.

Now if I can just get through the 8 hours we are apart...

Twas the Night before Kindergarten

Noah asked if he could fall asleep in our bed one night, so we let him. When Nathan went in to move him back to his room later, we found our silly boy sound asleep with Nathan's sleep mask on his face. (Nathan uses this when he has to sleep during the day.) Noah sure is getting big, but he's still not too big for Daddy to carry him to bed. And he's sleeping with the puppy that Nona gave him on his first birthday. How sweet. Did I mention he's using that same puppy everyday at "nap-time" in Kindergarten? Precious.

The Exploreum

Nathan had scheuled some time off the week before Noah started school so we could take a mini-vacation, but we ended up taking a "stay-cation" close to home. Here's the kids enjoying the Exploreum:

Ava making beautiful music on the harp

Nathan & Noah trying to beat a little girl on the other side at tug-of-war (She won!)

How high can you jump?

Noah performing an endoscopic procedure

I guess he doesn't like this particular snake

Twenty!

Well, it seems like we did a lot of celebrating over the summer! We celebrated my brother's birthday this year at our house with a cookout and homemade ice cream.

John with his girlfriend Kayla and Noah helping to open gifts

Kayla & John

Mom and I got the idea it would be fun to put 20 candles on the cake- there ended up being candle wax all over the cake because it took us so long to light them all!

Mimi and Ava (photography by Noah) Their hair color and eye color look exactly the same in this picture!

Mom & Dad with the Birthday Boy!!

Happy 20, John! We love you!!!!

Go Fish

After Lydia's party, we did some late night fishing! Noah has fished before but never caught anything, but this was Ava's first time! It was so much fun and the kids really enjoyed it.

Nonnie & Ava (We made Ava wear a life jacket since she can't swim and it was so dark!)

Lydia & Ava fishing together with their hairbows on (Aren't bows a must to fish? And did I mention that Ava is wearing a smocked dress to fish? )

Lydia & Noah

Noah's first catch!!! He was so Proud!!

One of Lydia's catches

Nonnie helping Ava with her fishing rod

They caught one!! Ava's first fish!! She can't take her eyes off of it!!

Happy Early Birthday Lydia!

Lydia's birthday is in December, and it's always hard to really celebrate her special day since it's so close to Christmas. So this year, Nonnie had a party early!

Lydia, Ava, Claire & Noah

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! We love you!