Playtime with the cousins

The week before school started, I watched Vance and Carter while their parents headed off to New York for a vacation with her family. Vance had a great time with the girls and all week long I never even knew they were there. They all played together so nicely. Carter, on the other hand, being only 7 months old missed his mom and protested the situation all week long. Unfortunately the only proof I have that they were even here is when they were swimming together and they all wanted to do a jump. Vance even asked to do it again, and again. We also later found out before coming to our house he didn't know the color pink. Well, rest assured he does now.

Kelsey is in Kindergarten

Kelsey started kindergarten this week. This is all she's been talking about for the last month and her time is finally here. We went on Friday for Open House to go meet her teacher and she was so excited all weekend long, she could hardly stand it. Her outfit was picked out well over a week in advance in hopes to make the time pass quicker.




A good luck kiss before she heads off.

Katelyn is so excited for her sister to head off to school, wishing she could go too.


A hug from mom and dad. She was so excited that he was able to come home from work to take her to school.

One last photo, only it was too bright. Her last moments of freedom.

When she walked into the classroom she was all smiles, but that wasn't so much the case when it was time to go home. She was still smiling, just not ear to ear. She doesn't know anyone in her class which proved to be a little difficult for her. Dave called her after school and told her that we were going out to lunch and that seemed to brighten her day. She eventually told us she didn't know anyone so with a quick pep talk from mom, dad and Katelyn, she headed off to school for her second day. She has made a friend each day and even remembered their names.

The only other slight little concern for her is that she is bored. Already. She gets very excited about doing worksheets and homework, but so far they are only coloring. I hope it picks up for her or she may go stir crazy. All in all, it seems to be a successful start to her learning. We are so proud of her and do not feel old enough to have her in kindergarten already.

Where did the summer go?

I had a feeling this was going to happen, but was really hoping that it wouldn't be this way especially with Kelsey starting kindergarten this year. It seems as though August came and went quicker than we knew it and now with September around the corner the baby is practically here. Fortunately I had enough insight to hit the stores for school clothes in June and July, thinking that I might run out of time and that's exactly what happened.

Just a quick run-down of the last few weeks of summer with pictures to tell about it soon to come. Dave took a last minute fishing trip with his boss so with nothing to keep me here, the girls and I headed off to California for some last minute visiting with family since we won't be going anywhere soon enough. With just a week to recover and get ready for school, my nephews came and spent a week with us so their parents could go to New York. Some of you may be thinking what in the world were we thinking being 8 1/2 months pregnant, but seeing as the baby is still inside, no harm no foul. However, we think we are finally ready enough for her to come and we are all anxiously awaiting her arrival, especially the girls.

And lastly, Kelsey has started kindergarten. Now what is Katelyn going to do without her sister to play with. Fortunately for us and Kelsey, kindergarten is only 2 1/2 hours and just long enough for her to still enjoy it and want to go back the next day.

More wedding photos

Here are some more pictures from the wedding just in case you didn't already know that our girls were the cutest ones there.

I absolutely love this one the photographer took with the girls covering their eyes. Never seen that done and thought it was such a fun idea.

Just the girls

Such a good looking group of guys

The wedding party

At the luncheon, outside the restaurant. Looks like they could belong to them. And the outfits weren't even planned either. Jesse & Alyson, hope you guys want kids because you just inherited two beautiful girls, without any of the work to get them here!!

Still pregnant and melting

Well, I guess we have to have a few posts about the baby before she's actually born and gets her own publicity. I am officially full term if you go by months and not weeks but this baby, like Katelyn seems to be lacking in the ready-to-come-out-department. Despite the fact that Dave keeps having a nagging feeling that she is coming early, the signs and the doctor say otherwise. And while I am done being pregnant, just not to the point where I am so desperate I'll do anything to get her out because it's still easier with her inside, I'm hoping that things change for the better in the next couple of weeks.

Looking around our house you wouldn't think there was even a possibility of a baby coming in the next 5-6 weeks. Carseat, crib set up, baby clothes, diapers, wipes, who needs any of those for a new baby? And the list just keeps going. And don't even get me started on a name. I thought we had one picked out but just last night Dave said he's still not sure 100% if that's what it will be. And then there's the discussion of a middle name that we've never even had. So here's to playing the waiting game and apparently she's decided to play along too. I think Katelyn may have given her some "tips" while up in heaven just before coming down!!

Kelsey the photographer

Kelsey has really taken the job of photographer into her own hands the last couple of weeks. I guess since I am usually always snapping pictures of them she felt the need to do it with Katelyn as well. Here's just a few of what I found when I went to get all the pictures off her camera. I was at least fortunate not to have any of me!

You'll notice the stuffed animals change with each shot so that's kind of like outfit changes right? At least Katelyn is such a good sport about it, but I do think she's getting tired of it because she's not been as cooperative as of late.

Crazy thundershowers

A few weekends ago we were hit with some pretty good thunder showers. The girls have never seen rain like this so they thought it was cool that I actually let them go outside and play in the rain. They've decided however, they don't like thunder.

Katelyn even got in on it which is extremely unusual since she doesn't like to be splashed or wet or dirty but quickly got over that.
As you can tell she didn't last as long as Kelsey though.

You can really see how hard it's coming down and how flooded the streets become in such a short amount of time. These pictures don't do them justice for how wet they actually got.

Successful swimming lessons

Have you picked up on the common activity between the last few posts? Yep, swimming because while June was quite nice (and rare!) and didn't get above 85-90 degrees that's not warm enough to swim. We were having swimming lessons despite the cooler temperatures and then July came and it seems we've not been below 100 degrees by 9 am. While we are fortunate enough to have a pool here, that's all we have been doing to escape the heat but the girls love it and get in 2-3 times a day.


Kaylene has been so devoted to teaching our girls to swim and Kelsey and Katelyn just love having her come over. Here's their latest accomplishments in the pool. For those family members getting this emailed to you, you will actually have to go to the blog to view the videos.

Kelsey has been doing the freestyle for a year now, but she has been working on her breathing and isn't rolling all the way over anymore.

She has never enjoyed the backstroke but has been doing much better and has even asked to do this stroke.

What 2 year old do you know of that has no fear and loves to be thrown across the pool?

Katelyn can swim on her own and doesn't want any help from anyone.

Katelyn floating on her back across the pool.

For two summers now, Kelsey has been diving to the bottom for toys, rings, sticks, whatever she can throw in. Well, this year, Katelyn can't be outdone by her big sister so she's been working on diving as well.

Kelsey can stay under forever and likes to show off just how long that really is.

Kelsey and Katelyn enjoying a jump together. Everything they do has to be done together.

4th of July

Like I said in the previous post, we had lots of family in town for the 4th of July and while everyone was here, we went bowling, to the movies, swimming, ate lots of yummy food, more swimming, did some fireworks, ate more food and more swimming. On Friday we had everyone out here for dinner, swimming and fireworks and then on Saturday we headed out to Eric & Stacy's for the 4th. The activities were much the same as the day before, swimming, eating and fireworks. The kids all had a great time playing with all their cousins and the adults just enjoyed being together and having some much needed adult conversation.

Waiting for some sparklers
Look at that concentration
Our little pyromaniacs taking right after their dad
Just waiting for the fireworks to start
Katelyn didn't make it, but woke up being carried back to the house
Playing with the snaps. They loved these almost as much as the real fireworks because they could do them by themselves. We sure loved having everyone come up for the fun weekend and hope to see everyone again soon.

Kelsey turned 5

We don't usually get together for the 4th but with tons of family in town this year, we had a family party for Kelsey along with everything else that was going on.

Singing Happy Birthday. She loves being the center of attention.

Make a wish

So excited for Polly Pockets. The funny thing is that I took her to the store about 2 weeks before her birthday to see what she wanted and I showed her the Polly Pockets and didn't want them. Now that's all she wants to play with so it was great gift!!

What is a birthday without some sort of princess paraphernalia?

Golf clubs so she can hit balls with her dad

On her actual birthday we had her friends come over for swimming and set up a Jolly Jump in the back yard. Unfortunately no pictures to go with any of it.

Kelsey loves this snow cone maker and it's makes the perfect amount for each of the girls. A perfect after swimming snack.

The bunch. Thanks to all who came to celebrate with Kelsey, she had such a great time.

That night after Dave got home from work, we swam, went to Quiznos because that's what Kelsey picked for her birthday dinner, opened presents and had more cake and ice cream. She was sung to 4 times over the course of her birthday weekend and can never get enough of people singing Happy Birthday to her.

Kelsey, you have such a sweet spirit about you and are a joy to have in our family. You are so excited to start school in a few weeks and are such a big help around the house. Katelyn is going to miss you so much when you go off to school. I will miss having you around the house and hearing your sweet little voice reading books and playing with your sister. Some of the things you enjoy doing are reading, spelling and sounding out words, adding, writing notes for us to find, swimming, and being a big sister to Katelyn. We love you and are so proud of all you do, Kelsey. Happy Birthday!!

Oh yeah, we do have a blog, huh?

Since it's been over a month since the last post and the harassment and guilt for not updating our blog is building up immensely, I can't take it anymore. It's not that we haven't been doing anything, the fact is, we've been quite busy, just in a posting funk and the summer attitude of not wanting to do anything has really taken over. Which does not bode well because Kelsey is starting school this fall and I will be her biggest culprit of giving her excuses of why she doesn't need to go. The closest thing to it that I can compare it to is "senior-itis."

For the few people that actually read check our blog, here's a quick run down of our summer thus far and then I will do a more indepth post for each of the events. Posts to look forward to:

• Kelsey turned 5
• Fourth of July with tons of family in town
• Crazy thundershowers
• Swimming lessons
• Family reunion in Pine Valley
• The new baby

Here's hoping to catch up on all these!!