and so it begins

Jake started Kindergarten today.  The house seems very quiet and empty with him at school, but i guess it is something we will have to get used to.  Last night he was very excited to be starting school.  This morning he was a little bit nervous, but that wore off quickly.  There are 2 kids in his class that he knows from church, and they happen to be sitting all in a row, so i think that helped calm his nerves.  We are excited to hear all about his day.  He has some great teachers, so i think this will be a good year for him.

This is his locker

and here is his desk.  He is growing up WAY too fast!

beatin' the heat

The last couple of days, the kids have enjoyed playing in the sprinkler in the back yard.  It isn't super hot here, but it is hotter than they are used to.  It is amazing how far a little water will go in keeping them entertained.

It looks like Grace will be a sun worshiper.  Too bad all she will do is burn and peel, burn and peel, then burn and peel some more.

where to begin...

We have had a great summer.  The one downer is that Brooke was deployed for about 3 1/2 months.  He is back now, and we are very happy about that.  The kids and I spent a couple months in Vancouver where we got to spend lots of time with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.   Now we are back home in Clovis with lots of yard work and house work to catchup on.

Sunday was Jake's 5th birthday.....wow, how time flies!

Grace was a little disappointed that she didn't have a present to open.

ok, she was ALOT disappointed.

In other news, we will have a new addition to our family at the end of November.  We had an ultrasound yesterday and were able to find out what we will be having.

Any guesses?  not that you can tell from this picture, but the tech was pretty quick to tell us that it is a girl.  So, it looks like more pink for us!  We are very excited and feel very blessed that she is looking healthy and that things are going good.

That is our summer in a nut shell.

ice ice baby

Yesterday afternoon, we were all enjoying the nice day and spending some time outside.  I brought out a cup of ice water to sip on and as usual, Grace stole a drink from it.  She ended up spilling most of the water and ice on the ground...no biggie.  I would have never guessed that for the next hour playing with ice on the patio would have provided such entertainment.  As soon as it was all melted, i would dump another cup full of ice and they would continue to play with that and watch that melt.  This went on until it was dinner time.

While i was taking pictures, Jake decided to ham it up for me....

And while i was taking pictures of Jake, Grace took over my chair.....and cup (again).

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

Birthday girl

Yesterday was Gracie's Birthday.  What a fun day we had.  We enjoyed our morning, then headed over to Burger King for lunch.  After her nap, we had planned on going to the zoo, but when we got there at 3:45, we found out that it closed at 3:30.  boo-hoo.  So, we played on the playground at the park adjacent to the zoo.  After we ate dinner, we broke out the cake and presents.  It was a fun day and I can't believe my little girl is 2 already!  how time flies.

eggs

Tonight we had some friends over to dye easter eggs.  I thought it would last about 5 minutes, but they kept dipping and re-dipping the eggs.  It was great fun and we ended up with some cool looking eggs.  Gracies hands will be greenish blue for the next few days, oh well.  You will notice that she selected the perfect head wear for the evening....reindeer antlers.

gooooooaaaaaalllllll!

Today Jake had his first soccer game.  Spring has been teasing us here....70 degree weather, then snow the next day.  Today was SUPER windy and cold.  We bundled up and headed out to the field.  He did great and had fun.  I think our next game should be a bit warmer.  Here are a few shots of him in action.