first day of school :)

jayden & duncan had their first day of school today

(sigh)

i was so excited for them both

and i think they were too

in their different personality kind of ways :)

jayden has to wear a uniform for his school.

doesn't he look so adorable in it?

my little boy is growing up!

my middle child is growing up too

look how big he looks with his big backpack

(sorry we couldn't get any real good pics from duncan this morning,

he wasn't having the smiles)

it was so cute because jayden was telling everyone that him and duncan both started school today

it was really sweet of him and i am not sure why he was emphasizing the both part -

but he did with anyone we would talk to about school

attempting a family (minus me) pic before the rush to get everyone out the door

jayden has to be at school at 9,

duncan at 9:30

they are on different sides of town.

thankfully jordan is going to take one of them

and me the other

if not - the 3 hours i have with just one child would be spent mostly running from one side of town to the other

here is jayden with his sweet teacher mrs.b

jordan taught her kids so it is so fun that she is now teaching his kids :)

i got to know her when we took jordan's students on the 7th grade trip years ago

and i LOVED her then,

so it is an added blessing that she is jayden's teacher now.

as you can see from the picture,

jayden was a little timid at first

that is okay - it is his sweet personality

i know he will love it and warm up as he get's use to it

(according to my parents i was the same way - you probably

would never know that knowing me now :-) )

i picked jayden up at noon

and then we came home, had campbell take a nap, rested

and then picked duncan up at 2:30

i took the boys for a special treat for their first day of school

we went to JD's Chippery

which is AMAZING

and a favorite for all of us :)

i love my sweet boys and i am thankful for their new school year

i know it will be a great time of growth and learning in more ways than one.

i did want to add -

jordan dropped of duncan today and jordan said he just walked in with no problem at all

it is funny the difference in personalities of our kids

i love how it is just in them

and they are different,

unique,

and special

just the way

that God made them to be.

waco

as i said in the previous post,

we spent the last week in waco

here are some pics from the week:

the boys had fun resting in chief & alice's big bed

love that the tail is right under his nose :)

and yes - i realize he is 4 and has a paci in

we are going to work on it soon :-)

we had their pictures done in salado

they turned out SO GOOD

doesn't duncan look handsome?

and we went swimming

i liked this picture because i thought campbell looked so old

(not that i like her getting old, but i thought you could really tell here)

cuddling with chief

eating breakfast and watching toy story :)

going to mayborn museum

(this will be another post - that place is great!)

i don't have any pictures with my parents,

because we weren't with them

the kids loved all the extra love and attention they got from all of their grandparents

we are so thankful for them

they are all the BEST!

jordan's bday & marriage retreat

we were in waco all last week

it was a nice way to end the summer - extra hands for me, swimming, pictures,

family, it all was good :-)

jordan came down on thursday and we celebrated his birthday

alice used the linens that i got her from india :)

they were really pretty!

what was a super nice part of this evening -

was that my parents took our kids

(not just for the night, but for 2 nights and 3 days!)

jordan had asked - (and they granted) for christmas (last year)

to have a babysitting weekend

we finally took them up on the offer

not that they haven't babysat the kids a lot since christmas -

but we "technically" hadn't used our gift

so we celebrated jordan's birthday with a quiet, yummy dinner at his parents house

and then we headed to a hotel

for a 2 day marriage retreat

it was SO good!

jordan and i both thrive off of goals and planning

so it wasn't hard for us to get excited and envisioned for what this next year is going to look like

knowing how busy our lives can be if we aren't focused and intentional about how we spend our time

so

this really helped us map out our weeks, months, and the next season

we also talked about specific things we are going to work on in our kids and certain "training" that needs to be done with them

i can't say it enough - this was SO GOOD for us!

i am super excited about this next season

and look forward to seeing how our focus and investment in certain things

will bear fruit

it's a good thing we had our retreat when we did-

because school starts tomorrow

and elevate (we are on staff this year) starts next week

so here we go

but

i

am

excited

not many more days of this in her future . . .


but she will still be wearing cute bloomers because I can't resist :)
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Ice cream and pics

Today the kids got their pictures taken in salado.
We thought the perfect way to end their hard "work" was with ice cream :)

Jayden picked "crazy color" for his flavor


Mimi came with us to help with the kids! She was a life saver! We wouldn't have been able to pick out the pictures without her!

Duncan is picking out his flavor ;)


Little miss had a cup of vanilla


And she ate the entire thing!


And she had to have some of alice's!


It was a fun time!


Happy Tuesday!

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I have said this before, but my sweet little Campbell loves her brothers toys - cars, trucks, the train table.
So I decided to pull out a tea set that she had been given to add some "girly-ness" to her life :)


Her and Duncan had fun with them.


"tea or (coffee) - (that's what my kids say because they see a certain mother drinking this all the time) :-)





There was sharing that had to be dealt with


But overall it was a good time and good to do something "girly"
for a change!


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Location:Tea Time

Sara's 4th Birthday

on friday night we had sara's 4th bday party

it was a princess themed splash park party

it was a great time!

it was also nice because there was a slight break in the heat -

so we enjoyed it all the more!

typical picture of me and the kids:

the birthday girl and a friend

they were playing some game here

campbell and sara's gigi

i don't know what was going on here, but thought the interaction was cute :)

love those little legs

(skinny, yet still with rolls)

i obviously have a preference in taking pictures :)

just kidding

waiting for the cake

another typical picture

thanks jayden for that look

sorry you are so miserable at your dear friends birthday party :)

duncan and wilson have been really cute playing together lately

the birthday princess

duncan is happy and says,

Goodbye!