First Grade!!

Yesterday was Joshua's first day of school!
He is officially a first grader, and so far he is loving it!
He seems to really like his teacher, and he was thrilled to have his little kindergarten buddy in his class again, as well as lots of other friends and familiar faces.
It is amazing how much easier it was to leave him this time around; knowing he knows the people I was leaving him with made such a difference.
I was still sad to let him go, and we still miss having him home during the day.
But...I didn't cry this year like I thought I would!! {at least not too much} :)
And I have been reminded of how fast the days really do pass, and before we know it he is home with us again.

YAY! We love 3:00!

Here are a few pictures of the big day:

What a handsome boy he is!

And one of Grace, too! The cute girl...
she wouldn't let me do her hair. She is really into having it down lately. Drives me semi-crazy, but she still looks adorable and she is happy, so I can deal with being semi-crazy. :)

And I think that is it!

Hope the back to school transition is going smoothly for you, too! :)

...I can say that this year

...next year I'll have to take them both to school, and I'm going to be a wreck!

Consider yourselves warned! :)

Up for an online Crop?

I have found this new online scrapbook website that I love called My Scraps & More and they are having an end of summer Crop! I haven't participated in an online crop for a while {like... a couple of years!} so this looks like fun. Besides, I need something to do to stave of the my-son-is-going-back-to-school-blues I'm feeling! Come join the fun!

Also, the owner, Tammi, has a great online store, and she always seems to have some kind of special going on. So if you are addicted to pattern paper and cute embellishments like myself, you should go check it out! ;)

Have a great day!

Dear Summer.....please don't leave!

On Tuesday, Joshua will go back to school and start first grade.
I am excited for him to find out who his teacher will be and who will be in his class.
I am excited for him to learn new things and grow in new ways.
I am excited for him to see his friends again and to make new friends.

I am a little bit sad for me.

This summer has been wonderful. I have loved our slow mornings, our laid back days and our relaxing times. I have loved the things we have done with out going far or spending a lot of money. I have loved that it has been a lot of time together. I feel like it has been a summer full of simple joys....just what I needed.

I was a bit worried about what it would be like to have Joshua home for the summer. I was afraid that he would be bored with just us, or worse, that I would go crazy because he was so bored. :)
I didn't want to be the mom who, with a huge sigh of relief, pushed her kids out the door on the first day of school after a long summer. I wanted to enjoy our moments together and be grateful for them. I wanted to miss him at the end of the summer!
I definitely got what I wanted this summer! :)







I have loved that this summer was as just great as I had hoped for.
Except now I feel like I am sending him off for the first time all over again. :)
I know it is good for my kids to go to school, and I have loved the experience we have had thus far with the Elementary School and particularly with his kindergarten teacher.
I know that while he is not home he is in good and capable hands.
And I do really enjoy the one on one time I get with Grace, at least for one more year.
But Grace and I sure get lonely when he isn't around!! We just have too much fun being together!

Looking forward to next summer already!

My Delightful Girl

I made this scrapbook layout the other day, and I loved it so much I wanted to share!

It looks nothing like what I had envisioned when I started, but sometimes that is when I end up with my favorite pages! I used Crate Paper's Emma Shoppe papers and some die cuts from SEI, as well as some mini alphabet letters from October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket, and MME. Fun stuff! :)

I love these pictures of Grace. They were taken on Easter of 2010...doesn't seem that long ago in my head, but she has changed so much! I love how carefully her hands are folded...she was trying so hard to sit perfectly for the pictures! And sitting still is not easy for this girl. :)

Oh, my Grace Ann...

She really brings so much joy to my heart! She is beautiful, and funny, and silly, and smart, and helpful, and loving, and spunky, and sometimes even ornery...all rolled up in one little body! And she talks a mile a minute!!

I feel such a great responsibility to help her realize the wonderful potential she has for good in this life! I know she will do amazing things. The title is perfect for a page about her because when I try to think of a perfect word to describe Grace, DELIGHT is the word that comes to mind! Love this girl! XOXOXO

I think they call it a "Staycation"....

Well, staycation, mini-vacation, quick trip, weekend getaway...

whaterver you call it, we had a grand old time!

We took the kiddos down to Lubbock for the weekend for a little bit of time away. It was so much fun! It was really nice to enjoy some time as a family and to do some fun things together.

We started off with a short stop over in Canyon to check out the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum. Joshua has been really into history lately, so we thought he would especially enjoy it. They had a fun blackout game for the kids to play; they had to look for certain items and mark them off on their papers, then they could trade in their completed paper for a bookmark. It was a fun way to learn a bit about where we live.

Then we headed down to Lubbock where we found our hotel and did a little school shopping. After that Bryan took the kids swimming and I got to go to the temple. What a blessing it is to have a temple {semi} close by! I could feel the peace just walking throught the gates....I love going to the temple!

The next day we did a little more school shopping and then we went to the mall and took the kids to Jumping Jungle. That was their one request, to go there, so they had a blast jumping around for an hour and a half. Where on earth do they get that kind of energy!?!

Next, we met up with our friends, the Williams, at the Science Spectrum. It was so fun to see them, meet their sweet new baby girl, and visit and play for a while. We sure are grateful for their friendship, and we are glad it has continued even though we have moved away!

Then we went to dinner with them at one of our favorite local places, said our good-byes, and headed home.

So I know it wasn't much, but it was really nice to get away for a bit and just have fun. Maybe we will have to make a "staycation" a yearly tradition!

Party Time!

Two weeks ago we celebrated a special occasion at our house...

Our house's birthday!

We like to have a bit of a party every year on the anniversary of the day we bought our house....so we've done it a whopping two times now! :)

I am pretty sure this is a tradition that will hold, though, as the kids love it and, really, who's going to complain about an extra opportunity to eat cake?! Especially house cake.

It is fun to take a minute and think about all the things we have done in this house in the last couple of years.

We have made a lot of changes to the place, inside and out.

We've taken down wall paper, painted pretty much the whole house, replaced light fixtures, torn out bushes, fixed up the porch swing, and put in garden boxes and a sand box (thanks to our dad's for doing that one!). I love that we have been able to make it ours!

And we have made so many memories here already! We've had our first Christmas all by ourselves, we've had family game nights, we've had dinners with friends, we've celebrated birthdays, we've had family come to visit and we actually have room for them to stay with us!! That is the part that I love the most! Room for everyone!

So, happy two years to our house!

Here's to many more years of fun memories within your walls!