Final festivities

So our move to Colorado is on the count down, but we had 2 fun things left. The first one was more fun for the kids than me and Bri. I had promised I'd let them have one more bake sale. They had their last hoorah sleepover and the next morning we had the bake sale. I made the treats the night before so they'd be ready to go. Unfortunately for Brian I had a photo shoot that got switched to that morning so he got stuck on bake sale duty. The kids had a blast and in the hour and a half they did it they made over $40. I was thinking this could be a great job. I'd make the stuff and pay the kids $5 to sit there and I'd made profits on the rest. Just kidding.

As soon as the bake sale was over we headed up to the farm to MaryBeth and Eric's house for their annual apple cider party. There were tons of apples and everyone just took a turn doing the various job to get the delicious cider. There were some real dark rain clouds that eventually did pour down for a little bit. Some stuck it out, others waited in the garage for it to clear, which it did. It was a fun final party with everyone.

Rain to a child

Everyone loves a good ol' rainstorm, especially children. I remember running out in the summer rain and just jumping in puddles and listening to the thunder. My kids are no exception to the excitement. Glad we got in a few good summer rain storms. The older kids were in school, but Bella and Charlotte had a good time. Charlotte lasted a lot longer than Bella which is why there are more pictures of her. Love all the huge smiles.

Fall Fotos

Yep.... that time of year again. Instead of school pictures each year, I've taken my kids pictures. This year Elizabeth said, " Mom, why can't we just get the school pictures like everyone else?".  Wonder if they'll resent me for it. Ha! So..... here are this year's:

Liz:

 Caroline:

Cooper:

Isabelle:

Charlotte:

And a few "outtakes" :

Film makers in the making

One Sunday we didn't have family dinner with the rest of the clan so the kids wanted to make a movie. They decided upon Cinderella. They did pretty much everything, I just videoed it for them. I thought it was so clever and cute. They will love watching it when they get older, well, the love it now.

Elizabeth was the evil step mother-

Caroline was Cinderella-

Cooper, was of course, the handsome prince-

 Bella and Charlotte were the evil step sisters-

Quite  the cute cast if I do say so myself!

School

Well school did start, even though it seemed like this day would never come. Cooper was a little excited and a little nervous. He said he didn't want to leave me, so for the last few weeks before it started I kept telling him how fun it was going to be.
The girls were excited and ready. Elizabeth asked if she could kiss me before we got to the school. I guess we're reaching that point, but I was just glad she would kiss me at all.

 Cooper had half day Kindergarten so he didn't start until after lunch.

We took him into the school and waited while they talked to them about a few things, then they got up to walk to their classes. He turned around and waved to me and it melted my heart.

 The afternoon was pretty calm with just Charlotte and Bella. We read books, had lunch, took a walk and then went to the end of the street to wait for the kids at the bus. They all came off happy and had a great first day!

Jumpoline

Charlotte calls the trampoline the "jumpoline".  She loves when Brian jumps her high on there so I had to capture a few shots. Love her expressions.

The rest of summer

Here is the rest of summer in no particular order:


Time at the playground at Grandma and GranChud's:

 A ride on the horses at the farm (aka Grandma and GranChud's):

 A lot of trampoline time. Love this one:

Cousin sleepovers:

Outside time with chalk:

An FHE lessons prepared by Liz and the cousins:

 

Good ol' just being outside together:

Reading

A little naked reading time? Sure. Why not?!

A little heaven on earth

Summer can be a little overwhelming with all my sweet little stinkers. They all want to go do fun things and I do to, but by myself it just sounds like too much work. We've gone to the park a bunch and played with cousins a lot, but we haven't made many day trips. Today I was ready to head out and I looked up online trying to find a place we could go play for a few hours. I came across Merli-Sarnoski Park.

 This speaks summer to me. I love it!

The first time we went, there were only 5 other people there. It was like we had the whole place to ourselves. The kids were in heaven and I was enjoying myself too, so it was a win win. Before the season was over, we went 2 more time. Unfortunately I didn't find out about it sooner, so our time was limited. We did make the most of it and made sure we got Brian up there too. I feel like it was a little secret that we found. Beautiful!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of my kids together. Love the fun of summer through a child's eyes.

Picture Fun

So I had this picture idea in my head for a while of one I wanted to do of Bella. She was actually pretty excited about it and it worked out pretty much how I had envisioned it, and that's always nice.
Here are a few of my favorites:

 Then I figured since it was boy stuff, I better get some of my boy. Loved ho these turned out too:

 Elizabeth wanted to jump in on the action which I was more than happy to do. Hers were a little more pop and playful:

Then I had to get a few more of just her cuteness and not her silliness. I love both sides, so I had to capture both.

Always fun for me to take my kiddos pictures. Maybe one day they'll appreciate it.