Gramps 80th Birthday

My parents threw my Grandpa (aka - Robert, Dad, Grandpa, and Gramps) a party for his 80th birthday. They held it at my grandparents house in the itty bitty town were they now live (and also where they grew up). My mom did a great job with all the centerpieces, decorations, food and cake . . . she sure knows how to pull it all together!


I worked to get just the right outfits together, get my little family all color coordinated, and guess what . . . didn't take one single picture of all of us together. I wouldn't be a very good photographer . . . but oh well, the memories will still be there.


Aunt Ashley with Hailey - who got passed around and loved on all afternoon!


The girls with Gramps and G.G. - Avery's favorite thing to do whenever she sees the camera now is to shout "CHEEESSSEEEE!" She also was throwing in "Touchdown" in this particular photo!




The blocks go EVERYWHERE with us. Hailey is so cute, trying to mix it up with the older kids.

My sister Ashley made these centerpieces for outside - so creative!

Worst week ever

I thought about writing a long extended version of the week that forever will live in infamy in our home, but decided against it. Let's just say, the stomach virus hit our home with a vengeance at about the worst possible time. So there, I've chronicled it, I'm done with it, I want to forget it.

Time to move on . . . happier posts coming soon.

Go Tech!!

Well, we suited up and went to watch the game, but alas, our poor Red Raiders did not defeat this time.

What a great game though, and truly a rebuilding year for our team. I hadn't planned on the kiddos being there at the party(long story), so I didn't have outfits for them. I think I improvised pretty well! Hailey could wear Avery's cheerleader outfit from last year!!


I love these pics so much, because every time Avery sees a camera she has started yelling "CHEEEEEESSSEE!!!!" and you can totally see her doing it in these! Priceless!

Our neighbors, Melissa and Andrew, were nice enough to host the party at their house. Have I mentioned we have the BEST neighbors ever???

Visits

The kiddos Grandma and Great Grandma came for a visit last week. My kids were fantastic and really put a show on for them! Singing, reading, dancing . . . it was quite entertaining. Great Grandma kept saying "These children are so well-behaved"!



My parents also came to visit last week. It's getting a bit cooler here, so we went to have lunch and the kids rode the train for the very first time! They seemed to love it and I ran around trying to see them everytime they passed by. Avery also "helped" my mom and I finish the invitations for my Grandpa's 80th birthday party that is coming up!!!






On another note, I am loving photo editing. I don't really like the trial program that I am trying out, because I don't know what I'm doing. But, I'm eager to find a program that is a bit more simplistic for a beginner like me!!

Walrus!

WALRUS!!!!! Pete with his favorite book, pointing at his favorite word to say!

First day of school

Pete and Avery started Mother's Day out on Tuesday, Sept. 8. They both were in fantastic moods before leaving and seemed really excited. I didn't want to jinx it by taking alot of pics so I just tried to snap a few as they were walking out the door!! They're little backpacks and lunchboxes are so cute!!! Avery loves to wear hers and Pete is in charge of holding the lunches! And yes, that is a santizer wipe taped to the top of their lunches . . . some things will never change for this germophobic mom!!!

(Not sure what he was looking at . . .but the is the longest I could get him to hold still, without making him upset!)

Pete started crying when I left, so I really expected all morning to have to go pick him up, but the teacher said that he did just fine after a few minutes! Avery went straight in and started playing. When I went to pick them up, Pete looked at me, blinked a little, and then started screaming "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" as he ran toward me. Avery came running too and was yelling "Up! Up!"

Meet the Teacher

We went to Meet the Teacher at Avery and Pete's Mother's Day Out program. They are in the same classroom as last year. I totally understand why, since their birthday is not until December, but I still would rather them be with more their "peer" group. Last year they were the youngest and this year now they are the oldest. I talked with the director about moving them to the "2" room after December, but we have to have two spots open up, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Luckily this year, Avery is not the only girl. There will be two other girls this time around (yippee!). They were a bit apprehensive when we walked in, but then just started playing like old pros.

When we got home I tried very quickly to get a picture of ALL of us (since we still don't have one)! Right before bedtime, and without a really good background . . .but we got a few!