Preschool!

Karis is all ready for school, but I'm thinking she needs to get our of her jammies first and her hair must be done.

So excited!

I adore this picture....it's truly Miss Karis.

Smash It!

I loved how her smash cake turned out. It couldn't have been any cooler. The pictures tell the story. She was less than thrilled in the beginning that her hands got dirty. After a little flinging and hitting some of her audience she finally went to town.

Presents!

Had to stop for a cracker before continuing to 'open' presents. She actually has a couple still to open up.

Cupcakes....

Chocolate cupcakes with a whipped frosting

Rainbow cupcakes with buttercreme frosting

Locust

Gross, but kind of neat at the same time.

Waiting....

Chief knows it's just about time for the big girls to get home.

Happy Birthday Ryanne Ella Claire!

It sure doesn't seem like its been a year already.....

Rainbow Cupcakes!

I thought it would be best to test out the cupcakes I want to make for Ryanne's birthday party on Sunday. They turned out pretty well. Now I just need to make more tomorrow as well as a smash cake for the birthday girl.

It's been a LONG week!

Does it make me a terrible mother if Brennan cut his bangs at school on Tuesday and I just realized it tonight? I did tell him if he cut his hair again I would shave it and color it pink.

I think I'm going to like this

I think we've finally got this all figured out.

I pick Brennan up from school every day. He could take the bus, but he would get out at the middle school and the buses are crazy up there. Plus, I like knowing who has him. When I pick Brennan up from school we also pick up one of his friends and bring him home with us Mon-Thurs. We're home for about 10 minutes before his mom arrives to pick him up. On Friday's the friends mom is going to pick up both boys from school and they'll have a playdate. I am going to love this! I will be able to put the little girls down for an early nap on Fridays and not have to wake them up to leave to pick up the boys. YES! This is always a great thing in my book.

Taryn takes the bus from her school to the middle school after school each day. She then meets Jadyn and they both walk home together. Though I did tell them due to rain that if it was raining don't wait for the other and just come straight home. This gives the girls a little extra independence and let's them know that we trust them enough to wait for the other, cross at the cross walk and come straight home. (You'd all be proud of me, I only waited outside the door for them the first couple of days) It does help that we are less than half a block from the middle school. =)

Growing up!

Jadyn's Collage

Jadyn had to come up with a collage for her language arts class to introduce herself. We came up with a bunch of pictures of her doing things she likes. She had to do a presentation in front of the class explaining her collage as well.

Daddy's out of town

Kolin's out of town until some time tomorrow afternoon. He's got a conference to attend over in Dubuque. It's too bad that the conference was this week or we would have gone with him had it been earlier in the month. We have good friends that we haven't seen in a while who live there. The conference is being held at the Grand Harbor Resort & Waterpark. The kids would have LOVED the waterpark!

Edited to add: It's probably a good thing we weren't able to go this time around. The waterpark was closed! =( Though it would have been nice to hang out with Erin and the kids for a bit.

Something is wrong....

Taryn: Something is wrong, mom. I didn't wake up any different today.

Me: What do you mean?

Taryn: I'm not growing! I'm still the same!

Me: Yes, you are growing. You grow everyday. You just might not notice it.

Jadyn: You really only grow once a year, Taryn.......

Does he look excited to you?

Brennan was so excited this morning. He was bouncing..literally. I can't wait to hear about his day when I pick him up.

Mommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Brennan:

Ryanne just ate a dog biscuit!!!!! It's disgusting and she's going to turn into a DOG!

First day of school for 2

It was a 1/2 day today. Both girls walked home without a problem...though tomorrow will hopefully be smoother.

Jadyn actually lost a tooth tonight so she said it was a perfect day all around.

Excitement is in the air....

Jadyn & Taryn start school tomorrow morning.

New experiences are headed their way. I am so excited for both of them and can't wait to see what this school year holds.

Showers have been had, clothes, shoes and backpacks are ready for the mad rush in the morning.

I'm sure Jadyn will be up at the crack of dawn....just waiting...... The middle school starts 30 minutes later than the elementary and high schools. Two of her friends will be dropped off at our house and they'll walk to school together. It should be fun for all of them.

Back to school night!

Jadyn had her back to school night tonight. Basically it was a self-guided tour so that the kids could all find their lockers, get the lock combos, drop of all the school supplies and find out where all the classes are.

The 5th grade classes are pretty much in one wing. They do interact with the 6th graders, but have almost no interaction with the 7th and 8th graders...which I really like.

I'm sure the first week or two is going to be stressful figuring out everything and going from class to class. There are 9 periods in the day. She will have 2 main teachers that will split 6 subjects and then of course gym and art are thrown in for this quarter.

Jadyn is really looking forward to lunch so that she can sit with her 2 best friends. Supposedly if you bring cold lunch on the first full day of school you can pretty much pick where you want to sit in the cafeteria.

My name is Karis

Cheering!

With 2 1/2 months worth the practice, today was Jadyn's first football game to cheer at. The heat was scorching and I was burnt to a crisp by the time the game was over. It was great to watch her cheer and throughly enjoy herself in the process.

Class lists came out this afternoon! Brennan was excited to find out who is teacher is and who is in his class. He knows a couple of the girls, but none of the boys. I can't believe he'll start Kindergarten in just a week.

The kids are excited!

School starts next week and the class lists will be posted at each of the schools this afternoon. I hoping that Taryn & Brennan will know at least some of the kids in each of their classes.

Jadyn got her schedule last week at registration. I still can't believe she'll be in middle school this year. She has back to school night on Monday. She'll be assigned her locker and get her combination lock. She'll also be able to tour the 5th grade wing and we'll be able to find all her classes so she doesn't get in on Wednesday morning totally blind and not knowing where she's supposed to be going.

Of course

She doesn't want her bottle. That would mean she'd have to stop eating with the puppy....

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Goodbye to an AMAZING woman

And another....

Sleepover, that is. The older 4 thought it would be fun to set up the sleeping bags and have a sleepover in Jadyn & Taryn's room tonight. One would have thought that they would all be exhausted from the big sleepover last night, but that's not the case.

Sleepover!

Jadyn & Taryn asked for a sleepover this year instead of a birthday party with friends. Kolin and I decided that each of the girls could have 2 friends over and it just so happened that they both picked sisters.

At one point I was truly outnumbered and had 10 kids (all 10 and under) all to my self.

Brennan ended up going over to a friends house for his first ever sleepover. That left Kolin and I will 8 girls. Last night and this morning went really smoothly. Everyone played together nicely and had a lot of fun.