Fall is here

Well we officially said goodbye to summer and hello to fall this past weekend. 

With a beautiful weekend of weather, we enjoyed our first official fall weekend outside.

Marie and Andy had their first soccer game. They both had lots of support from all the grandparents plus Brooks, Bennett, and Mom.

Marie did well...she ran and stayed tough against all those boys on her team. 

I was proud of her for getting right in the middle of the action. 

Even though Andy was on call, he was able to be around much of the weekend.

It was the final weekend for the Nutty Bar Stand this season so we made our way down for this season's final treat...it was delicious as always!

 Summer evenings spent at Arnold's Park and the lake have been such a joy for us...we look forward to next year!

We also got to spend some time with the Van Beek side of the family to celebrate Alissa's birthday. 

Cake, ice cream, and non stop playing always makes for a wonderful Sunday. 

Spirit Lake didn't have school on Monday so the kids and I took advantage of the day...we played, cleaned, went for a bike ride to a park, walked around the lake, and even went swimming in the evening with Dad.

It was a full day but well spent!

(for some reason the older two are going through a "hold up your fingers when mom takes a picture" phase....)

 We are thankful for the beautiful start to fall!

Brooks - 9 months

 

Another month of growing for our Brooksy Boy.

He is trying to crawl: twisting, rolling, stretching all over the place. 

He loves to clap! Pat-a-cake is one of his favorite games.

He had his first ear infection after dealing with a cold for a few weeks. But, after a few doses of medicine he was acting as good as new!

He is showing more interest in the dogs lately. 

Both Gus and Maya are very tolerant of him.   

This month, Brooks has been spending some time away from Mom and his brother and sister at the Y daycare. For about 3 hours a week he interacts with other kids and he seems to enjoy it until he realizes Mommy is gone...we are working on that!

 He is such a happy boy who is anxious to do more...more moving, finally get some teeth (still has 0 teeth), and eat more real food!

Busy Bees

Andy & I have always lived by our calendars. 

We have several: our phones, large paper with flippable month pages, dry erase with detailed daily reminders, the "on call" calendar, and even a fancy one made by Katie with family photos.

Some are color coded, some are plain.

They used to be filled with exam schedules when we were in college, weekend plans with friends and family. Now, we are filling our calendars with our kids' schedules. 

 We have started tumbling, soccer, PTA, call, classes at the Y, teaching Sunday School, and school is in full swing. 

Life is busy, but exciting.

We are really enjoying our experiences through the local YMCA. 

Andy & I are exercising more, Bennett and Brooks have some time away from me with the Child Watch program there, we like to swim as a family, & Andy is coaching Marie in soccer.

 Even though we are seemingly more busy than ever, I feel like we are actually getting more family time together through some of these experiences. We get so much accomplished every day and we are dog tired by the end of it. I guess it's just another sign that this move was a positive one for our family!

First Day of School

We are thrilled to report that the first day of school for our big kids could not have gone any better!

We have 2 very brave, strong, and happy kiddos who are loving their fresh start.

Marie is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Bower.

She is making friends and loving the structure of her classroom...especially with no nap time!

On the 2nd day she even walked into the school and room all by herself.

Bennett likes is teacher Ms. Carol because she is good at reading books.

He is already talking about rhymes and his ABCs.

On his way out on his 2nd day, a little girl said goodbye to him. He pretended to not notice...little heartbreaker.

Mom did not cry when she said goodbye, but it was a little emotional seeing how big they are getting!

Thankfully Brooks is still at home with her to give her snuggles.

This is going to be a great year!