First Week of School

The kids started school on Wednesday.

We started off with a good breakfast--even Dad joined us!

Luckily, the bus picks up the kids at our driveway,

so we waited on the porch in the rain...

It cleared up just enough for me to get a couple pictures coming off the bus!

Matt is now our big 3rd grader--he loves his new class!

He's in a multi-age program with 4th graders and is really enjoying school!

They're even starting off with a bubble-gum unit--he gets to chew bubble gum in class--

that is a brave teacher to let 24 kids with bubble gum into her classroom!

Our ecstatic 1st grader Afton--she loves her class, her teacher, and her new friends

Plus, she gets to ride on the bus with one of her best friends!

It's going to be a great year!

Upstairs

So we'll just move on upstairs for the last pictures of the house.

We love this area at the top of the stairs that 

separates the "grown-up" spaces from the kid spaces

Paul's office

our bedroom--still need drapes, but we love how much space we have and the views when we wake up!

And I also have to say my favorite part of the house is the "girls' suite"

we made the hallway/bathroom/playroom and 2 bedrooms into the girl area

I just love how it turned out!

the girls' hallway

one side of Afton & Halle's room

Afton & Halle's beds

outside the "jill and jill" bathroom

the girls' bathroom

Nora's room

still Nora's (obviously)

the playroom

more playroom

more playroom

The Main Floor

Here are pictures from the main floor--just remember that we still have to do some painting, replace light fixtures, get new window treatments and do some other updating--but you get the idea!

the entry way--looking to the front door

the living room (aka home teaching room) 

but Afton has also been practicing her rock star skills in here (note the guitar on the floor)

the family room--Afton is picking up some new rock star skills watching Hannah Montana

Matt's room--I'd like to say it's usually cleaner than this, but it's not.  

Legos rule in Matt's world-he's always in the process of building or taking apart and hates to put things back.

the kitchen--please ignore all the school supplies stacked on the counters.  They will be gone on Monday!

the eat-in area off the kitchen. I just like to sit here and stare out the window.  

Mornings are beautiful in the backyard

the dining room

One Month Later...

So we've been in the new house for a month now

Here are the promised pictures--I figure I'll just post a few at a time

and give you a good look at the house.

Maybe you'll decide that you want to come visit (hint, hint)

from the street

from the driveway

the back of the house

the backyard

So we love the house and you can see why we love the yard so much--lots of room for the kids to play and the trees and yard are beautiful.  We're planning to do a little vegetable garden next year and Paul's going to hang a couple swings from those big trees.  There's also a trail that goes back through the trees to a clearing with a fire pit.  I'm sensing a lot of marshmallow roasting out there in the future!

I left my camera on the table...

...and I think Halle persuaded Afton to take her picture.

When I downloaded Nora's pictures, these two came up as well.

Halle is pretty much the boss around here--she knows what she wants and will go after it,

even pushing her older brother and sister out of the way to get it.

She still causes quite a bit of mischief--

at Grandma's house, Halle found, to her delight, a whole big jar of silver glitter.

She dumped the entire jar on herself and then tracked it to the mirror to see herself.

I can just picture her pleased reaction--probably the opposite of mine when I opened the door and saw her standing there surrounded by glitter.

We spent a few days vacuuming, 

but anyone who steps into Grandma's house will be a little more sparkly now.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Happy 6th birthday to Cousin Jacob today!

We hope you have a wonderful day!

5 Months

Nora is now 5 months old.

She loves rice cereal--the problem is that she gets so excited and her

 arms start flailing while I'm trying to feed her--she usually hits the spoon 

and gets a glop somewhere that's not covered by a bib.

She is still an awesome sleeper--goes to bed at 8:30 and up at 7:00--and she's still 

only up during the day for about an hour at a time 

before she needs another nap.

She's very chubby--90% in weight, 50% in height.  

She gets lots of smiles when we go out.

She loves to smile and laugh--the kids are great at getting her to laugh

The best part of my day is when I hear Nora "talking" in the morning.  I sneak in her room, and peek over her crib to see her waiting for me.  When she sees me, she grins and laughs, knowing that she'll get some food and cuddling for an hour before heading back to bed.

I sure love this little girl.

Happy Birthday Chad!

Happy Birthday Uncle Chad!

this is such a great picture of Chad holding his son Garrett and niece Nora--

Chad wasn't sure he was prepared to be a dad--

We're not surprised he turned out to be such a fantastic dad and uncle!

Hope your day is great!

Grandma's My Name...

...Spoilin's My Game!

I love this picture of my mom with Nora and Garrett.

She was in baby heaven having both of them around for a couple of weeks.

I would put Nora down for a nap and my mom 

would come out 20 minutes later holding the baby.

"She looked like she was waking up" was Grandma's response.

There's nothing like a grandma to make a kid feel loved!