Gracie Loves Adam

Gracie wanted to get in on some pictures Kenny was taking of Adam on September 10th. We thought they turned out so cute that we put 3 of them (the picture of their hands, Gracie kissing Adam, and Gracie leaning on him) on our wall. It's nice that Kenny's so good at picture taking. It gets us lots of good pictures. Too bad we don't have more walls.

Gracie In A Nutshell

Gracie came into the office one day to talk to Daddy. She looked just like Gracie would look everyday if she had a choice. She's such a goofy little thing. Her hair is almost always a mess, even if I do it. She's great at sneaking food and would snack all day long if we let her. Her face is always messy and so are her hands. None of this matters to Gracie and that's one of the many things I love about her. When Kenny saw her he grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures, did some editing, and this is what he got.

Back To School

Ready to catch the bus the first day of school

Another school year is upon us and the kids are super excited. I love that my kids love to go to school and I hope their love of learning and of school continues throughout their lives. School started bright and early on cold and rainy Monday, August 30th. When I say bright and early I mean bright and early. The kids had to catch the bus at 7:05 and they were determined to do so. When I learned of the new bus time I really began to wonder how long the kids would be able to get up so early (and how long I'd let them.) Luckily, the next day they changed the bus schedule and now the kids catch the bus at 7:40. That is much more doable. They love riding the bus and I'm happy we don't have to get up so early to do so.

Sarah Kate is in the 3rd grade this year. I can't believe she's that big, but she is. Her teacher is Mr. Guymon and she was very sad to learn that she had boy teacher. Sad enough I thought she was going to cry. She begged me to get her switched, but I told her she had to at least give him a try. Mr. Guymon is a first year teacher who did his student teaching at Rimrock last year. I've heard many wonderful things about him and so I wasn't worried about her liking him. After meeting him at back to school night a few days before school started she was willing to give him a try. She came home from school the first day and declared that "Mr. Guymon is the best teacher ever." I'm so glad she likes him and more importantly I've been impressed with him. He has a ton of energy, creativity, and he has an amazing ability to make learning fun. I get to help with math every Thursday morning and I've really enjoyed watching him teach. I think this is going to be a great year for Sarah and I can't wait to see all she does and learns.

Showing what grade they're in.

Ben 1st and Sarah 3rd!

Ben is in the 1st grade and that means a lot of changes for him. He gets to go to school all day which means lunch every day in the cafeteria, he gets to play on the big playground in stead of the little kindergarten one, and he gets to do a lot more learning programs like AR (Accelerated Reading) and Accelerated Math, not to mention he gets to go to assemblies. All in all it's great to be Ben this year. His teacher may be another story. He too has a first year teacher whose name is Mrs. Bodily. This poor woman has had a lot stacked against her from the beginning. She was hired about 3 work days before school started which is hard for any teach let a lone a first year teacher. We met her at back to school night as well and were a little iffy about her. We're willing to give her a chance, but things have not gone too smoothly so far. This is another blog all by itself that I'll have to write. For now, Ben loves school. He loves his new class and the fun things he gets to do. I'm happy he's enjoying it and I hope things turn around and he has an amazing year.

Sarah's Free Time

Just thought I'd share what Sarah Kate likes to do in her free time.

She's a great big sister and loves to hold Adam. It's nice having an 8 year old around to help out. I'm hoping the new baby love doesn't wear off too quickly. There's not much in life that better than watching your kids love each other. I'm so grateful for Sarah and all she does. I'm one lucky mommy.

Kids Annual Pictures

Now that Adam has finally arrived we decided it was time to take some pictures of the kids. We do annual pictures of them in the summer and hang them on our wall throughout the year. We were a little late this year, typically we do them in late June or early July, but we wanted to wait until Adam arrived. It took us a few tries, we never get a good shot of all the kids in one try, but it actually went rather smoothly. We did try to get a group shot of all of them, but that's probably going to have to wait for at least a year. There's just simply too many of them and their too young.

So here are the annual pictures from 2010. All 6 kids. Our completed family.

Sarah Kate 8 1/2 years old

Ben 6 1/2 years old

Hannah Beth 4 1/2 years old

Gracie 2 years old (almost 3)

Dan 1 year old

Adam 1 week old