Hummingbirds

These cute little hummingbirds are our evening entertainment... it's so relaxing and fun to just sit back, on the back porch, and watch 4-5 of these little guys fly in and out for food. We've gotten to know some of them and, their characters on how they play or, argue with each other over the feeder! Whats even more entertaining is watching Blackie, our cat, as she spends her evening agonizing on how to catch one of them... the birds know they can tease her and, due to the location of the feeder, she still can't get them..haha!

Slip N Slide

School may have started but we're still enjoying these last few hot days of summer! I got this fun, new slip 'n slide on sale the other day and, they've been having a blast with it! The great part is that I put it going down our backyard hill so they have an even better slide :)

1st Day of School 2013-2014

Day began for the 1st day of school! Trenton has been waiting a very long time to go to "Katie & Tys'" school and, today was his big day! He is attending the Zion Christian School 4/5 yr old Pre-K class... Mon/Wed/Fri, all day sessions. At Zion the 1st and 2nd grade classes are combined so, Tys and & Katie will be in the same classroom, under Mrs. Pridgen (Katie's teacher from last year) They were both so happy to see their old friends/classmates & teachers from last year! 

To begin the day, Casey went into work late so that he could make them a special breakfast of waffles, bacon and eggs. They had helped pack their lunches and backpacks the night before. Upon arriving at the school, they all happily went to their assigned desks and it was "see ya later mom and dad"!! I'm looking forward to having some one-on-one time with Kristiana this school year but, already, also miss having my kiddos home.

 Trenton 4yrs old ~ Pre-K (notice Blackie, our cat, in the background! She wanted to be right by the kids..)

 Tys 6 yrs old ~ 1st grade

 Katie 7 yrs old ~ 2nd grade

McCall

Last Saturday we spent the day up in beautiful McCall; with the kids starting back to school this week we wanted to do one last fun weekend with them before our summer break was over. So, we left early that morning (its about a 2.5 hour drive) and spent the day playing in the beach on the lake shore. It was an awesome day! My parents also arrived late-morning and spent the afternoon with us.  We enjoyed just hanging out, having a bbq, playing in the sand, swimming and eating yummy ice cream at a cute, local ice cream shop.  The only down-fall to the day was that Kristiana got car sick while driving up there from the windy roads... this is the second time she's gotten car sick on that road.  So, I guess we officially have a child that gets car sick in our family :(

Sunday

Last Sunday Katie Rose wanted to practice taking pictures with the "big" camera... since we were looking "cleaned up" for church I let her take a few :) She's getting pretty good!

Settlers Park

We are now in our last full week of summer before school begins next Wednesday.  The kids are excited about getting back to school... me? Not so much... I find that I'm not that parent counts down the days until their child returns to school.  I am looking forward to spending some one on one time with Kristiana this school year but, am going to miss the others greatly.  SO, the get the most out of our last week of "freedom" we've spent the week enjoying what we love the most... PLAYING! We've been to the waterpark, the library, the movies (Planes) a birthday party for Janelie, riding bikes, made forts downstairs and spent an afternoon playing at one of our favorite parks, Settlers Park. It has a wonderful play area and area of water fountains to splash around in.  It was super hot that day so, being in the water was the best place to be!

Tys Birthday

I found a few more pictures of Tys' birthday! These were from the morning of his actual birthday... he got to open gifts from his siblings and Casey & I. 

 A little bit of sibling love and silliness!!

Tys' 6th Birthday Party

Yesterday afternoon we celebrated Tys' 6th birthday was friends and family. This year he chose a Mario Bros AND Star Wars themed party (Mario decorations... Star Wars cake) His friends, the DeWinkle girls and our neighbors Dillon and Kenna, came over at 4pm for a pool party and fun in the backyard. Then, for dinner my parents, Marie, Meredith, Katie and Cory came for pizza and dessert. It was a wonderful evening of celebration!!