More Family Pictures by Anya

A friend of mine took these beautiful pictures of our family. It was a really relaxing and fun experience which is an amazing thing in and of itself!  We went Downtown GR and I really liked how they turned out. If you ever need a photographer, I would recommend Anya! Let me know if you are interested!

Adrianna- 6 years old

Adrianna has transformed into such a different girl this year. She has always been independent pretty much since birth. This has actually helped her in school I think. She absolutely loves it! She started preschool at 4 1/2 years old and had amazing teachers. She also had a great Kindergarten teacher last year and I think that is foundational for the rest of school.  They helped encourage her and give her confident thoughts about herself. Paired with us at home and she was quite ready for 1st grade!

So far she has made 3 new friends and seems to love Math. She really enjoys taking her lunch to school and also getting hot lunch.
Most days she comes home she is very talkative about her day and that she likes her teacher. I thought she would have a harder adjustment being there all day but it seems to be going well. She does want some alone time when she gets home, so she is like me in that way! She likes her own space and her own things. What 1st grader doesn't!

She is also such a helper. She is always setting the table without being asked, folding laundry or asking is she can do anything to help. She also just learned how to change her own sheets. Yeah for mommy!:)
I have so enjoyed just being able to talk with her and hear her thoughts about things. She is very encouraging most of the time and a lot of fun to do things with.  She also just taught herself how to ride her bike without training wheels.  The sky's the limit for my girl!
I am just so proud of her and I am enjoying seeing her do new things like finally learning how to read. It has been a long struggle with her but I know she will do it eventually. She has really taken a liking to writing and we will often find notes on our dresser or hanging on the fridge that say "I love you mom" or "I love you dad".  So sweet!
I have committed to trying to remember to pray for her every day, especially being at school all day. I pray for her self -esteem that she will be confident, I pray she will remember that God loves her so much and that she will remember to share that with her friends. I pray she will make good choices and know we will always love her no matter what.
Oh, this mama's heart has had to let go of my sweet girl a little bit more. Thank goodness I can place her in the arms of our loving Savior who is right there with her when I can't be. I am beginning to understand that more and more and realize how affirming that is when I have to drop her off and let her walk up to her line all by herself! How God has blessed us!

Eliza- Almost 4

She is my sweet little bundle of joy!  As you can tell by her sweet face, she is mostly happy and full of smiles.  She will be 4 in October so she is not quite ready for school yet.  We are actually trying to do some school time at home at least 2 days a week. She loves it! We have not decided if she will do preschool next year or Kindergarten. We will decide that next year because I'm not quite ready to think about that!

She is such a helper. She sees her sister helping and she wants in on the action. She is quiet thoughtful when it comes to doing things for Caleb and she is becoming more aware of what is going on around her.   I think she has felt a little left out these past few weeks because of getting Adrianna ready for school and she often gets lost in the middle.  She talks quite loud sometimes to get our
               attention!  She is so full of life and excitement. I love seeing her enjoy things and discover that she is big enough to do them.

She loves books and puzzles too. She also still loves baby dolls, her kitchen set, and barbies. It's funny to realize that some of the toys we have such as Barbies and Polly Pockets were not given to Adrianna until she was much older! That's the reality of the 2nd child I guess! They get to experience things earlier than the 1st child.

She loves being outside riding her bike and playing on the swings. She also learned how to pump on the swing this year.

She still absolutely LOVES dress up. I just have to laugh at the outfits she comes up with. Very creative and goofy. Hmmm...maybe a fashion designer when she gets older..:)
I would just describe her as pure and simple joy.  She has a great sense of humor and loves to tease. She is also very sensitive to our response to her so we have to remind her that it is okay to make people laugh and have fun.   I have to remember she is just 4 and that there are still so many little girl things we can still do even though Adrianna is done with those things. Things like dolls, playing tea parties, and playing dress-up.  I am so enjoying our days so far with just her, Caleb, and me. 
Many of our days are filled with painting, reading, or just being outside.  She has been having a hard time lately going in to her class at church so we'll see how that develops over the next year as we decide whether of not she is ready for Kindergarten.
She still loves her silky and we are trying to get her to keep it in her bed until bedtime.  She has always loved silk! She is still my baby girl in so many ways but so grown up in others!

Caleb- 22 months

My boy is definitely a little lover! He loves to give kisses(sound effects included), and hugs.  He is all around a pretty happy guy. Very content and laid back. Very nice for being the 3rd kid!






He loves his daddy! I read somewhere that little boys start bonding with their daddy around 18 months or so and they start to break away from their mom.  A little sad for me but very healthy for Caleb! He is starting to get more into wrestling on the floor with Shawn and being thrown up in the air. The higher the better!  It honestly really helped their bonding when I was so sick. It kind of forced Caleb to stop whining for me because Shawn was his primary care-giver for a while. For a few months Caleb wouldn't even let Shawn put him to bed and he always wanted me. Now he will go to him very happily.





Caleb loves to be outdoors. He loves the swing and the sandbox and pretty much anything that gets him nice and dirty!
He loves Bob & Larry from Veggie Tales, Elmo, Abby, and most any Sesame Street Character. He also just recently started really liking Woody and Buzz from Toy Story.
He loves books, puzzles, and buckles. I call him my little engineer because he will find a buckle anywhere and stick with it until he clips it together. This involves car seats, shopping carts, and shoes! He seems to like figuring out things and he definitely won't let us help him.
His vocabulary is huge! He repeats most everything we say so we really have to watch it! 
Some of my favorite things he says are:

*More too-  This is when he wants something. We always ask "Do you want more too Caleb", so he picked up on the more too.

*The other day we were putting a Toy Story puzzle together and we said "There's a snake in my boot", Caleb then said "No boot!". Hilarious!

*We were eating pineapple for dinner yesterday and I was trying to get him to say pineapple. I told him to say pine and his response was "Apple"! I think he repeated that about 5 times after I said pine until we stopped!

As you can see, he still is wearing his glasses. Our next appointment is in January so he needs to wear them at least until then. We have already replaced the frames once and the lenses could stand to be replaced also!  Instead of throwing them off when he is mad, he just takes them off when he is tired.

He still adores his sister's and gets along well with both of them most of the time. He has always had a strong connection with Adrianna and he walks around calling for her most days. The only time he gets frustrated with them is when they take something he has (duh), and when they are trying to help him with something he wants to do himself. This will usually result in a high-piercing scream!

He loves the car which is great because we are in it a lot!  He also loves Veggie tales movies and Elmo.  He will color a bit that is if I'm sitting with him because he can make an entire meal out of a crayon! He is starting to really like cars and will actually push them on the floor and make the vrooming sounds. He also likes toys that light up or make sounds.
He is definitely all boy and I am just loving him! He makes my heart full of delight every day and it is so refreshing to see his joyful take on the world.   It has been a complete joy to have him in our family and experience all the new things he is discovering. I wouldn't change it for the world!

A Huge Accomplishment!

I just love seeing my kids accomplish things that involve a lot of perseverance and patience. My girl Adrianna can ride her bike without training wheels!  Shawn started working with her a little bit at the end of last year even though she didn't seem interested.  Throughout this summer Shawn worked with her as much as he could. My uncle gave us this cool bar you attach to the back of the bike so that the adult helping can hold on and help with balance.  Within the last few weeks Adrianna has been out practicing all by herself. We suggested she try and just balance on the bike first and she did that for a while. She then kept trying to ride it a little bit each day and finally today she rode down our entire driveway!!!  It was such a great way to point out to her that perseverance and determination pays off by helping us do things we couldn't do before.  I am trying not to cry as I write this because it is just another indication of how much she is growing up. Even though I tear up at these moments, I am so thankful and excited that I can be here and experience new "firsts" with our kids.

Off to 1st Grade!

I can hardly believe my little sweet pea is off to 1st grade for the whole day! She was very excited to start and have lunch at school. She was a little nervous on the first day because she hardly said a word as we were getting ready.  I walked her in to her classroom and she put all her supplies in her locker and her desk without so much as a peep!  She does have a little girl from her Kindergarten class at her same grouping of desks so that helped!  After school I picked her up and we went to McDonald's for a date so that I could hear about her day. I asked her what her favorite part of the day was and she said "Math, because I got to do patterns, and coming out on a date with you mom!".  She was very talkative and seems to like her teacher and being there all day. She is adjusting well so far. I do like the schedule of dropping her off at 8:45 and not having to pick her up until 3:45. Shawn can even pick her up on some days! It gives me more time with just Eliza and Caleb during the day and it has been great so far.
She has always been pretty independent and her Preschool and Kindergarten teachers' were awesome so they prepared her well.  She came home the 1st day and wanted some alone time! Yep, she's like her mama!

End of Summer Fun!