September birthdays!

Shaun made me a delicious hazelnut cake with chocolate shavings! 

Claire drew our family picture and decided we needed it in the car!

My Birthday was on sunday this year. I thought it was going to be kind of lame but it was so great! Friday night my friend Amy said, I'm watching your girls shaun will be taking you on a date!!
The girls did awesome at her house and Shaun and I enjoyed a wonderful date!!
Then, sunday we met with friends for a big dinner and cake. It was so fun and so great to be with friends!

A few days later Claire turned 5!! Crazy to think because I remember my 5th birthday so well! Kate and I took cupcakes to her school and Kate was in heaven being there!

Chocolate cupcake making!

Claire eating her Gluten free donut for breakfast!

Claire Loves ponies right now! She was thrilled to get a pony shirt for her birthday! She got spoiled from all our family and neighbors.
Right now she loves preschool, loves playing with Kate, such a sweet and smart girl. She loves to play pretend, dress up, and her favorite thing in this entire world is her stuffed sock monkey! She takes monkey to school with her in her backpack every day and has to sleep with him at night. sometimes she still naps but mostly just wants to play during quiet time. She loves to draw and her coloring is getting so awesome! Her teacher at school calls her Claire bear and has been fantastic! We are so grateful for our sweet girl!

Claire starts preschool!

 There are a few really good options for preschool in our area. Last spring when I was checking them out I really felt like this was the place for Claire. It's a really hard preschool to get into. It's with the Baptist church so church members get first sign ups. But my friend works there and she told me that there was 1 spot available. The morning of registration I went at 6 am to get in line and thankfully I was there first! Claire got that last spot!
Her teacher is new to this school but has taught preschool for over 20 years! She is incredible!

 When I read this at the open house I couldn't help but tear up...this is exactly how I felt about my students. Claire will be well taken care of here!

 Kate wants to start school too...

 The first day of school came and Claire was very excited to wear her new outfit she picked out. AND she was thrilled about her pony backpack!

Marie is in Claire's church class and in her preschool class! 

Once we got to school the tears and unknown started setting in. She didn't want to get out of the car, leave me, leave kate, etc. I was doing fine until Claire started crying. The biggest challenge was I thought that she wasn't supposed to bring her "friend" monkey. It's a sock monkey she takes everywhere. The teacher said she could bring it and they would transition her to just keeping it in her cubby. That helped immensely!! When we were walking away I left Claire with my friend Amy that works there...kate kept saying, "why are we leaving Claire, she's crying, she's sad, etc." Talk about pouring salt in my wounds. The next few days slowly got better and better. They have a system where you can pull up and drop off/pick up your child without having to get out of the car! That was a huge help. No longer did I have to stay goodbye, then goodbye again.
Claire's preschool is M-F all morning. I think it will be a perfect prep for her since next year will be ALL DAY kindergarten. She missed the school deadline by a week but I'm glad she gets to be with me longer!
Kate misses her while she's gone but the space has been really good for the girls too. Claire is learning a lot and really blossoming!

August

 We spent A lot of time at the pool this summer! The girls loved it and it was was a great way for em to cool off!!

 Claire's getting really excited for school to start!!

 Mama needs her windows washed...

 AND.... WE ARE HAVING A BOY!! so exciting!

 riding bikes inside is much better than getting mosquito bites outside. :/

 Some last few mornings of fun with Claire before she's off to school

 I Love when these girls play so nicely together!

 Shaun's boss had a big birthday party for her daughter...that was turning 2! They never thought they would be able to have children and out of the blue she got pregnant. It was a farm theme party with farm animals and a pony for the kids to ride! The girls had a blast!

 Cute family photo from the party!!

 Another favorite place...ZOO Splash pad!

Claire loves to draw and practice her letters!!

JUNE

 Yay for fixing the front door so Kate can't escape! The other day (In June) I was at a meeting and Kate opened the front door, walked across the street and was looking for our neighbor. Miss independent!! Luckily my neighbor was home, saw kate and brought her back to our house! Shaun didn't even know she was missing.

 Getting things organized! YAY!

 outside water to cool us off!

 This girl is quite the walker (if she wants to be!) She can keep up with all of us!

 Ready for church!

 Garden helpers!

 Claire likes to dress Kate up!

 Father's day I had Claire draw pictures of things she loves to do with Dad!
her comment was: "Look how funny- Dad is holding me with only 1 arm!"

 One of our favorite times of year! BLUEBERRY picking! We were blessed to get several gallons of blueberries!

 It was all fun until Kate accidently stepped on an fire ant hill. It's hard to spot them by the blueberry bushes and she got chewed up. The sad part is they sting and burn for days. Poor little Kate!

Madeline is our neighbor's granddaughter. The girls love when she comes to visit!