First Day of School

School started on my birthday this year, not exactly the present I wanted.  Tessa is now officially a first grader.  Her teacher is Mrs. Allison and she seems very sweet.   

Tessa is all set and ready to learn, time for Momma to leave.  Sniff, sniff.

Aunt Claire & Grace Visit

My best friend flew across the country with her daughter to meet the newest member of the family.  Most of our pictures these days are of the kids, so we took a selfie of just us one day.  We're holding up pretty well, if I do say so myself.    

We went swimming, out to eat, stayed up late talking and bounced on trampolines.  It was like a fun staycation for us.  I felt old when I tried to flip on the trampoline at Gravitopia.  After a few awkward tries that were more summersault than flip, I kind of made it all the way around in the air.

We went out for Mexican food, my favorite.  The weather was nice so we sat outside.  Jackson thought Tessa was hilarious when she made his seat bounce.  I could listen to this giggle all day long. 



Tessa was in heaven playing with Grace.  When did these girls grow up so much?!     

Jackson had absolutely no stranger anxiety.  He went right to Aunt Claire and she loved on him.  With his blond hair, Jackson would fit right in with her two blond boys.  Hopefully we can get them all together soon. 

Oh, these kiddos are just precious.  And to think there was a time in our lives when we worried we wouldn't have children.  Now this is only three of the five!   

We always seem to have crazy flight trouble when we see each other.  Last time it was my expired drivers' license saga.  This time, they cancelled Claire's flight home.  I was thrilled to have an extra day to visit with them but poor Brad had to do some serious maneuvering to take care of the boys at home.  It's always wonderful to see each other. We keep up with phone calls, texts and emails but there is nothing like staying up all night talking to your BFF. 

Crawling

Jackson is 7 months old and officially crawling.  He was up on all fours a few days ago but now he is making forward progress. 

We're Going to Disney Again

We just can't get enough of the most magical place on Earth.  Even though our trip is months away, I'm excited to see what I can find for Jackson to wear.  Oops, these outfits we ordered won't fit by the time our trip rolls around.  He's already too big for 12 month sizes!  Oh well, he sure is cute right now. 

Howdy Partner!  Look who is standing, for a few seconds at least.  Seriously, this pajama set is skin tight and way short.     

And we threw in a practice character meet and greet just for fun.  The popular sisters came to our Barnes and Noble for one night and it was CRAZY!  Tessa loved all the chaos but I was a little overwhelmed.  Jackson didn't know what to make of it all. 

 

 

Bedtime Prayers

Our nighttime ritual involves tucking Tessa into bed and then saying prayers together as a family.  Some nights I think my heart is going to burst from happiness while I look at my two babies snuggled together and listen to Tessa's sweet prayers.  I love these two so very much. 

Other nights I love them just as much but bedtime is not necessarily sweet and snuggly.  Brother usually tries to roll around and climb over Sister while squawking loudly to let me know he is hungry and tired.  She, in turn, tries to wrestle him into position which just leads to more hollering.  But this night, I got a picture of the sweetness.

Don't Throw Baby Out With The Bath Water

My dad's side of the family tends to hold on to things.  As a result, we have this darling old fashioned bathtub.  For fun, I did a little photo shoot of Jackson in it.  Then I did this collage using these cute photos of my Grandma Bobbie and Granddaddy Daniel.  My grandma's rolls and curls are adorable.  And my granddad looks like he is holding on for dear life.  Pictures are family treasures.      

Here are a few of the other pics.  In this one, I think Jackson looks the most like me. 

His little smile and puff of hair remind me of Grandpa. 

When he has this look of concentration I am reminded of Frank. 

I just love the little wave.  He moves quickly and even with my great camera, some of the pictures were a little blurry.   

Birthday and Half Birthday Pics

Happy 7th Birthday!

Seven, really?!  I don't know where the time has gone.  My beautiful baby girl is growing up.  We started the day with donuts and Lego Friends cookies.  Then we headed to church.  After that we did a video call with Nanny & Pa and then went out for Mexican food with G&G.     

Due to an unfortunate attitude problem, we cancelled Tessa's birthday party this year.  It was almost as hard on me as it was on her.  I love planning parties.  But, like any good consequence, we saw a dramatic improvement so it was definitely the right thing to do.  And just because there was no party, doesn't mean there were no presents.  She is just glowing with excitement looking at her packages. 

That's my sweet Tessa!  It's hard growing up, I'm glad my girl is still sweet most of the time. 

This may be our biggest Lego Friends set yet!  Tessa plays with her Legos for hours at a time.  I think they might be the best toy ever invented. 

Yet another sign our baby is growing up, she got her own computer as a present from us.  She loves the idea that she can work on her computer while I work on mine. 

Daddy is showing her all the websites we preprogrammed it with.  Plus he loaded a bunch of our pictures onto her computer.  She loves pictures almost as much as I do.

And then it was time for cake.  They decorated the cake to look like a road for one of Tessa's Lego cars.  Pretty cool. 

 Her BFF came over to share cake with us and Tessa was so happy. 

As of right now, Tessa still wants to be a painter at Disney World when she grows up.  Her favorite toys are her Lego Friends and her princess dolls.  She is a fantastic swimmer and she loves to read.  Chapter books are some of her favorite gifts.  And she is a fabulous big sister.  Happy Birthday Baby!  Yes, I still call her "Baby" even though she's my older child and obviously growing up.  She will always be my baby.    

Happy Half Birthday

Big Boy is 6 months old already!  He is growing, he's now 28 inches long (99%) and weighs 18.3 pounds (65%).  We had a little half birthday party for him at G&G's house.   

I didn't think he would actually eat any of his cake, but he did investigate it a little.  I love that we were able to keep the hat on for a few pictures.   

G&G found this cool play set for Jackson.  He is pulling up to a standing position and it is just the right height for him.  It has a mini slide, a door and windows that open plus lots of fun toys attached like a phone and a mailbox that doubles as a shape sorter.  Thank you G&G! 

4th of July

We had a busy day scheduled for 4th of July.  For lunch we were going to a friend's to swim and eat.  Then we had a neighborhood block party with fireworks for dinner.  But first, we had a trip to the emergency room after Jackson took a bad fall.  He is ok, as you can see in the pictures, but it gave us all quite a scare.  We still made it to both parties and I even snapped a few pictures of my patriotic kids.