Kindergarten.

Well the much anticipated (and dreaded for me) day is here!  Miss Kadence's first day of Kindergarten! She was beyond excited this morning to get ready for school.  I don't think I even had to ask her to do anything more then once (unusual).  I can't believe my little girl is already going to school.  It is such a bittersweet time for me.  I know she will have a fantastic year, learn a ton and meet some new friends but I am not quite ready to give her to the world.  She is smart, sweet and sassy all at the same time and she has a big heart.

So as hard as it is to let her go, I know she will blossom this year at Kindergarten!

 And in the blink of an eye she was 5 years old and we were off to the bus stop!

She told me her tummy was just a little nervous but she was excited!

I can't believe I have TWO school-aged kids.

 Kenzie didn't have too bad of a reaction which surprised me.  She just looked at me and said, "KK come back home?"  This one was a little harder for me.  I turned around to walk back home and it finally sunk in.  My little lady isn't so little anymore.  Tears.

I pulled myself together and Kenzie and I headed over to the Kindergarten Center to meet Kadence.  I didn't figure she would be there already but much to my surprise when we got to Mrs. Spanier's door there she was.  She was happy as can be and chatting up a storm with a cute little blonde girl who she had met on the bus who was also in her class.  I was shocked but SO happy for her!

Kadence found her desk (right next to Mrs. Spanier :)) and was ready for the day!

Kadence and Mrs. Spanier!  How blessed are we to have such a great, caring teacher.  It made the transition much easier for Kadence (and me) knowing she would be in great hands.

When my girl got back home we celebrated with some cupcakes and she told us about her day.  I have so much love for this little girl in my heart it is unreal.  Love her to pieces.

First Day of First Grade.

Landon started his first day of first grade today!  He is at a new school with a new teacher but is not nervous at all.  He will be at Aurora Elementary school with Ms. Linn.  Landon is very easy going and just goes with the flow.  He is excited to ride the bus with the neighbors and meet new friends at school.  He didn't complain about getting up in the dark like last year so he must have been excited.

These 3 easily posed for a picture before big brother was off to school.  The Kindergarteners start a couple days later so I still have a little time with my KK.  I can't believe how much Landon has grown up in just one year.  I was doing really well and didn't even tear up until Kenzie started bawling, "My Landy, my Landy! I love my Landy, I want my Landy stay with me."  Hard not to get emotional!  I will definitely miss my boy while he's at school but I am so proud of the boy he has grown up to be.  He is a funny, energetic, tender-hearted, good boy.  We are blessed.   

The Last Days of Summer.

 We have had an unusually hot few days and we have been enjoying our last days of summer before school starts!  It was so hot we literally could only be outside for short periods of time with minimal clothing and lots of water!  Is this really Fargo?

When I first brought my camera out it was fogged up for quite some time with the temperature change between our air-conditioned home and the outside heat!  Yes, it was that hot!

 It is so easy to take pictures of these three cuties!  In my unbiased opinion.  I can't believe I will have to share the 2 older ones in a short time...oh school.

 Landon has started flag football already and Ryan has been helping coach.  The girls and I have had some quality time together while the boys are at practice.  Kenzie is sure going to miss big sister when she goes to Kindergarten, I'm quite sure she will not know what to do with herself!  Beauties!

 Nothing like a "big" movie to escape from the heat!  I took Landon, Kadence and Jack to Planes while Ryan hung out with Kenzie (she doesn't sit through a movie well at all).  The movie was great and when we got out to the car it was 105 degrees outside.  WOW!

Emma gets a lot of love in this house!  She has been loving up on the kids a ton lately!  She must know they are going back to school soon! What a great summer we have had!  Although I am not quite ready to share the kids every day, I think they are both ready to go back to school.  They both seem very excited!

Garden Harvest.

 We have started to get a TON of vegetables out of our garden!  We have had a surplus of zucchini and green onions, carrots and peas.  For some reason our cucumbers and potatoes did not grow this year!  Our tomato plants look great and we can't wait to start eating garden fresh tomatoes!  Our strawberry plant only produced tiny (but very sweet) strawberries so far which we have heard is not uncommon the first year.  We also have a lot of flowers starting to bloom!  Very exciting!  Our expectations were quite low for the first year so we have been happy with what we have been able to harvest already!

Ice Cream Treats and Aunty's.

 Why are ice cream treats so irresistible in the summer?  I think that is the one good thing about cold weather.  Ice cream just doesn't taste as good when you are freezing!  Landon had a birthday party and Ryan was working so I took the girls for a special treat.

 We had a very long time to play at the park while Landon was enjoying his baseball themed birthday party!  It was a gorgeous summer evening!

We headed to Omaha to see Aunty for the weekend.  Again, I did not take any pictures with my camera.  What is wrong with me?  I always regret it afterwards!  We bought a new "basket" for Emma to ride in on long trips.  Some friends of ours used it when they were watching Emma and said she did pretty well.  However, she did not do well with us!  Poor Emma gets so anxious in the car.  I feel bad for her but it is extremely frustrating!  We powered through and she was actually better on the drive home and even slept in her basket for quite awhile.

Jessie was at Aunty's house when we arrived and the kids were beyond excited to spend time with her! It wouldn't be a trip to Aunty's without heading to the Omaha Zoo.  We waited until Kristy and Grandma Sue were there.  The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed an afternoon of animal watching!

 It was unusually chilly for Omaha but the kids still jumped in the pool to swim!  They had fun swimming-especially when Aunt Kristy and Jessie swam with them.

Kadence tried out Aunty's hair extensions and thought she was Rapunzel!  What a cutie.  We were able to do some school shopping so Kadence was in heaven!

Ryan was in heaven when he was able to take a nap!  All curled up with Landon's blankets.

We had a great time with everyone in Omaha as usual.  The time went far too fast  and the car ride went far too slow!  Can't wait to go back!