Back to School ....

Can I cry through written word? I seriously am so sad the kids are back in school. I love that they love learning and going, but man I miss them! They were all excited about their first day and did awesome. 

Ella is the big woman on campus. She is in 5th grade now. She was most excited about seeing her old friends. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Reynolds. She, however, will have three teachers. Mrs. Drew will teach Science, Social Studies, and spelling, Mrs. Reynolds will teach reading and writing, and Mrs. Schnurpel will teach Math. At least that's what I think they all said ;) She will do great. She is a great student and always eager to learn.

Cavin is in 3rd grade. He has Mrs. Lowry. He also enjoys school, but mostly for the competitive aspect. He loves to try and work hard and compete with others to be the best. I am hoping he will continue to learn healthy competition and work on being the best he can be and not worrying if that is still better than others. He is a good kid with a kind heart and although he is big, he is very much a gentle giant. 

Channing is in Kindergarten this year with Mrs. Ortolano. I can't believe it! She was thrilled to be going with her older siblings! When I asked her what she was excited to learn, she was way more concerned about her outfit and what shoes and necklace would match. So, not my child! Hopefully she will gain a love of learning like her siblings. She comes off shy, but is very far from it. I hope she will open up enough to make friends and have fun, but not be too sassy to her teacher! She is my first child who will have all day Kindergarten, I think that is such a long day. She did have a great first day.

My adorable children. I hope they go off into the world and make a difference and learn to be kind and giving. I hope they will always enjoy school and learning.

And then there was one....

I am excited to have one on one time with Deacon, but hopefully can keep him from a life of this! Ipads and technology have taken over our children! I look forward to finding time for him away from the screen! He sure was missing his siblings today. He kept looking in each room saying "Ella, where are you.." It will take some getting used to being just the two of us!

End of Summer Fun!

The last few weeks of summer flew by! We tried to get in as much playing as we could! We went to the pool a few times and splash pad, but it rained a lot the last couple weeks.

We of course spent day and night watching the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics!

We realized, however, even though we live in America, we only have German attire! We need to work on that!

We had our very own gymnasts in the house. Gymnastics is one of my favorite sports to watch! We loved watching all the athletes. So inspiring to me. They are so strong!

We also got in a quick trip to Baton Rouge, LA to visit Aunt Daphne who has been gone all summer. 

She is seriously the most fun Aunt you could ask for. The weekend we went Baton Rouge had one of the worst floods in history. While so incredibly devastating, Daphne was safe and her home was spared. So, she took the time to dance in the rain with the kids.

She also prepared fun crafts for them to do. 

We are so glad she is home and only 4 hours away again!

The last weekend we celebrated my sister Natalie's 40th birthday. She will be 40 tomorrow so we celebrated all together a little early.

Chira, Natalie, Mom, and I went shopping and to the Cheesecake Factory, and to get pedicures. It was a nice day to spend with Natalie.

The kids loved celebrating with her. Chira made her beautiful Snow White cake. 
We had such a great summer and I will seriously miss these cuties while they are at school!

Deacon is TWO!

Deacon turned 2 on July 30, 2016! He was super excited for his special day. He kept saying "Happy Day, Happy Day!"

He loved his traditional birthday donut and we always enjoy eating with the birthday child! We had a party with my family in the evening. We tried to do some water games outside, but it started thundering so we came inside and played a couple games. My brothers family came with my dad and sister Natalie. Deacon loved having his favorite cousin, Coleton over. He is always, always talking about Coleton or going to Coleton's house.

We opened presents and he loved his Donald duck.

This is one of my favorite pictures. My dad always does his donald duck voice, so I find it very fitting that Donald is in the picture with the two of them. Deacon loves being around "b-pa" and asks where he is often.

He was actually pretty good about opening the presents.

He loves the cars that Natalie got him, he said "oooooo cool cars!!"

"Cool Car!"

We got him this big cozy coupe to ride in. He hasn't quite figured out how to make it go, but loves to sit in it.

He loves basketball so we had a ball themed cake.
Some of his favorite things are:
- Mickey and Minnie Mouse (b-mouse)
- Basketball, he always runs around saying "Go Rockets Go"
- He loves the IPAD
- Colors. He is always telling you what color everything is..even if it's the wrong one.
- Germany. He loves Germany! Anytime he sees a flag, he says "go Germany, go Germany!"
- Ice. He only wants water with ice!
- He loves the kids bop channel and always wants to listen to kids bop in the car
- He loves dogs. Whenever he sees one he will scream "dodgy"
- He is constantly playing with balls and is always throwing them around. He is pretty coordinated and when he aims at you he often hits his target. He also is pretty good at dribbling the soccer ball. 
- He loves his blanket and sleeping with Mickey, Minnie, and Donald. 
- Every morning he wakes up saying "Daddy where are you??"

Deacon is 31 pounds and 35 inches tall. He is such a sweet kid and sure loves his siblings.

I just love his cute curly blonde hair and his big blue eyes!

This is where he goes to hide when he's not supposed to be on the Ipad ;)

Yet he is also sweet and loves to play with babies. He will be a good daddy one day. We are sure lucky to have this little boy in our family!