Visit from Friends!

We had a WONDERFUL Labor Day weekend. Mainly because some WONDERFUL friends came to visit us! Gretchen and Darin (our friends from college) and their kids Maya and Nolan. (twins who are 2 1/2 and precious!). They stayed with us for a few days and we had such a good time together! The guys had to work a few days so Gretchen and I were able to get lots of time to catch up, talk about crafting and photography, and have fun playing with each other's kids!

Gretchen and Darin brought the kids presents, which included some books. They loved them!
It seems like whenever we have people over we get the "kids watching tv" photo. One of the only times we can get all four together!

At one point Gretchen and I ventured to the water park for playtime. My kids love splash parks!

Maya and Nolan had never really been to one before so they weren't sure what to think. (by the way, this was the first of many different photo opportunities. These poor kids. We did a "photo shoot" the next day-Maya was our little model and the three boys...well, at least we got a few of them!)

We got lots of fun water pictures!

Waiting for the bucket to fill up and fall...

Woo hoo, his favorite part!

Jackson was in awe!

Then Nolan started to get brave and venture in with the boys.

Nolan and Cooper loved playing together!

And here's pretty Miss Maya! She loved just hanging out with the mommys! She needs another girl around here to even things up a bit!

We left the park and the kids took a great nap that afternoon! Gretchen had her work cut out for her trying to keep three tired kids awake so they wouldn't nap in the car, but she did it!

First Day of Pre-School!

Cooper recently had his first day of PK! He was so excited to go!
I can't believe how grown-up he is getting!

So far he LOVES school.

He brought his teacher a little treat for the first day (It says "looking forward to a sweet year with you-found that on some cute blog!)

Here he is all ready to go! He wasn't too sure because there was a student in his class who was crying and having to basically be restrained from running out of the room. I think that made Cooper a bit more apprehensive!

I went home very sad and missing my boy! Luckily I have another one at home to keep me company. But he kept saying "Cooper at PK, get Cooper." Jackson missed him too!

Cooper requested a special first day of school snack-Dirt! Yum yum.

It was Ben's first day of school too, so we met them for an early dinner to celebrate! Here are the two PK boys!

E went to 1st grade this year!!!

She's showing off her missing teeth!

I'm so glad Cooper loves school but I'm missing having him home! I am going to be a wreck for kindergarten I think!

T-Ball, Meet the Teacher, and 1/2 Birthday Fun!

We've had a busy few weeks lately. Jackson's birthday, then Cooper started t-ball last week. He's pretty excited about it, I think he really enjoyed soccer so I'm hoping he likes t-ball just as much. I'm not excited about practicing in 100 plus weather but hopefully it'll get cooler soon!

Here he is in the "ready" position. (in blue)
Ooh, almost!

Jackson really enjoyed watching!

Now he's in the outfield!

Now he's up to bat.

Running the bases!

Cooper started PK on Tuesday and last week we had his Meet the Teacher. Cooper loved his teacher and his classroom, and one of our neighbors is in his class. That made him feel even more excited about PK!

Cooper found his cubby!

With his teacher. We're excited about a fun year!

We had a little 1st day of PK celebration and a 1/2 birthday party. I've always wanted to do that, so this year I combined the two. Here he is with a half wrapped present.

Half a cookie on half a birthday plate with 4 and a half candles! Lots of halves! (he's covered in lasagna so please ignore that!)

That's a lot of candles!

He got his backpack and inside was a little present and MONSTER MIST! My mom reminded me of this idea. Cooper all of the sudden has gotten really scared of stuff. Things that never bothered him before like going into his closet, going in to his bathroom, etc... are now scaring him. So I made this monster mist (water, a few drops of lavendar oil, and glitter) for him to take with him. It makes bad guys and monsters disappear! It's magic :). He loves it. We'll see if it works!

Getting ready to stop the monsters!

He had a great first day of school so I'll have to post pictures of that soon!

Warning-You May Not Want To Try This At Home!

My mom got some new colored sunscreen that was so cute!
The kids had a lot of fun trying it out (E has on pink).

It made them act crazy.

Then we decided to go wild.

Maybe a little too wild.

Definitely too wild.

Then we had a tea party. Their faces have been scrubbed a little here.

This is what my baby looked like after lots and lots and lots of scrubbing.

Moral of the story-keep the colored sunscreen to a minimum!

(We did end up getting it off with LOTS of soap and a lot more scrubbing. Whew!)

Boys

I just love these crazy boys!

Hope you have as much fun today as these two have together!