First Day of School 2013

Summer is over.  Normally I'm pretty excited when this phrase is uttered.  Not this year.

Henry is so used to having his brothers around to entertain him.  I am so used to having his brothers around to entertain him.  We are both going to miss them.

Summer was fun.  Summer was fast.  Summer was great.  Summer is over.  Thank goodness summer comes again each year.  Truly I will miss my boys.  This summer it seems they really have figured things out and maybe this is why I wasn't so ready for them to go back to school.  There seemed to be less fighting and more playing.  Less whining and more imagination.  Less saying I'm bored and more reading.  Less complaining and more helping.

Matthew starts 1st grade this year.  He is growing up way too fast.  He is so ready for school.  No doubt that this will be a great year for him.

Gabe is the big man on campus this year.  It is his last year in elementary school.  Where has the time gone? This year he was more ready for school to start then ever.

Good luck to the cutest boys on campus.  

1st Day of 1st Grade!

First Day of 6th grade!

Matthew and Mrs. Cave.  Mrs. Cave was also Gabe's 1st Grade Teacher.  We LOVE her.

Gabe with his homeroom teacher Ms. Terry.  (sorry it is blurry).  

Pretty sure this is the last time I'll be able to take a picture of him in his classroom.

Great Big Brothers

I never thought my kids would be separated by so many years.  At first this was a hard thing for me to accept.  My plan was to have a lot of them and have them close together.

Little did I know that God had other plans for my life.  Can I tell you that I am so thankful he is in charge.  Now I can see many of the reasons why this was best for us.  Why this was the way our family was supposed to happen.

It definitely has made me grateful for having faith.  For trusting.  For believing.  I have a whole other post about that, but this post is about how wonderful it is that Gabe and Matthew are old enough to really be participants in caring for Henry.

They have proven to be the best big brothers and Henry is extremely lucky to have two amazing and good brothers to follow in their example.  He adores them already and the feeling is mutual.

Gabe is great about singing to him and changing his diaper or clothes.  He also is always making sure he is safe.  Matthew loves to talk to him and teach him.   He always wants to sit next to him in the car.  They both love to hold him and rock him.  Henry never knows who will get him out of bed after a nap or in the morning and whoever it is, he is happy to see them.

They also have started helping feed him (sorry about the poor quality of photos).

My heart is full.  I love these boys.  I can't wait to see their relationships change and develop over the years. It is my hope they will continue to watch out for and take care of each other throughout their lives.

July 4th- My favorite holiday

July 4th is my favorite holiday.  I love being an American.  I love this country.  I love it.  Love it.  Love it.  I feel so blessed to have been born here.  To live here.  To raise my children here.

It was a perfect day.   The weather, the food, the family, the friends.  I take it back, it was almost perfect. The only thing missing was a nap.  If I had a nap the day would have been absolutely perfect.

To start the day off we went to our ward breakfast.  As a Boy Scout,Gabe was asked to participate in the flag ceremony.  He did such  a great job being the Color Guard Commander (the person who "calls out" the ceremony).

After the breakfast we had Bart's family over for lunch and swimming.

The only picture I could get of Nana

Then my favorite part of the day was finally here.  We loaded up the house (took a little too much stuff with us) and headed to the park to prepare for fireworks.  We spent hours hanging out with friends, playing frisbee, eating popsicles, getting tattoos, playing games, flying kites, eating, listening to music and chatting until the fireworks started.

My definition of a great fireworks show= being so close you can feel the boom in your chest.  I LOVE fireworks.  I love the sound, the sights, the smell, the colors.  This year the city of Richardson did not disappoint.  Plus, we were close enough that I could feel that boom in my chest.  

Henry stayed awake and was in awe.  We were a little worried because fireworks terrified Matthew until a couple of years ago.  But Henry must take after his mama. 

Did I mention the weather?  Never in all my years in Texas do I remember such a nice 4th of July.  I kept saying to our friends, "This weather. Can you believe how nice it is?"  I am sure they got sick of hearing me say it but it was truly unbelievable.  

As soon as the sun started setting Marni put on her socks to protect herself from the mosquitoes.