Bible Sunday

At our church, it's tradition that in second grade all children are presented with their own bibles.  It's a big deal and we were so excited to experience this milestone with Carter.  The second grade class is very large, so it was extra special to be sharing in this meaningful day with many dear friends.

During the 9:00 service, the children were presented with their bibles and were blessed by one of the pastors.  Pastor Matt performed Carter's blessing.

Such a special group of boys

Four out of the five families in our small group have boys in second grade (we're missing Samuel in this picture) so it's been a lot of fun getting to share in these milestones together.

I feel so very blessed by our church family and look forward to watching these boys grow!

So very proud of our boy

Carter loved getting his own bible and has been eager to read it, both on his own and together with us.

Carter, I pray that you will find guidance, comfort, peace, love and many answers to your questions in your new bible.  I pray that you will turn to God's word in times of happiness and struggle.  May it be the compass that guides your every choice in life.  We love you very much, Carter man!

After our church service, we gathered for a celebration with the second graders and their families.  One of the activities of the hour was a fun game looking for biblical pairs in the group.  Once we found our partner, we were lead to a passage in the bible to read together.  It was a great way to meet and connect with other members of our church family.

Kyle and Ella were paired up ~ Mary and Joseph, I believe

Kyle really is so wonderful with kids...he just has a natural way of connecting and making them feel comfortable.  Just another quality that I admire in my sweet husband.

I was able to work with Avery, such a sweet girl

I absolutely loved this special day and feel so grateful for this environment that we are able to be a part of.  I feel so very blessed that our children get to be a part of this amazing faith family.

a little bit of life ~ fall edition

Just some random phone pictures to wrap up the end of fall...

I have really enjoyed having Wednesday afternoons with Carter.  Not since he was 2 have we had any significant amount of time together, just the two of us.  One Wednesday, we headed to Big Al's for a bowling.  Such fun with my boy.

A sushi dinner date with Lyla and her family made for very happy girls

kindergarten picture day

my girl is growing up!

reading to Pops

another fun Wednesday afternoon...a marathon Monopoly game!

Carter won :)

Carter has been participating in the children's choir at church and was practicing his song for the weekend's performance (his first in front of the congregation).  He couldn't be any sweeter.  And so very serious.  I don't know why I am surprised, he is serious with everything that he does.

November saw Carter's first sleepover with his friend, Samuel...Kyle and I were at a friend's birthday party and Kennedy was staying with Grandma and Papa.  Carter and Samuel are in choir together and had their first performance that following morning, so we decided to give a sleepover a try.  The boys did great and had a ton of fun.  Unfortunately, Carter didn't sleep a whole lot and was pretty wiped out the following day.  I think we'll hold off a bit before making these regular happenings but were so grateful that the Grices were willing to have Carter over night.

A fun and full fall!

Spider Party

For Halloween, Carter's class had a pajama spider party.  They had been studying spiders in their science unit over the past several weeks, and I was amazed at all that they knew.  They were able to name all the body parts, using the proper scientific terms ~ I was impressed!  (I am sure that I could not do that in second grade!)

I was manning the spider cookie making station and the kids had to use the candy in proper ways - even number of eyes (from 0 to 8), Mike & Ikes for spinnerets, etc.  

Again, I was impressed by how Mrs. Hanson is able to incorporate learning in a super fun, very controlled way.  It is a great class, a wonderful group of kids, blessed with an amazing teacher.  I am so very thankful that Carter was placed in this room for second grade.

constructing his spider hat

my little spider boy

Carter and Lola 

Lola is one of Carter's closest friends this year and it's been a fun relationship to watch grow.  He is typically a "boy's boy" and enjoys doing fairly typical boy things, but  I love that he is able to make friends with everyone and do all types of things.

A very fun morning spent with 25 great second graders!

I love being a part of this classroom and am so very thankful that Carter is having such a wonderful year.

soccer season wrap up ~ 2013

Both kids had a fantastic soccer season this year.  

They were fortunate to be part of two great teams, with two great coaches and lots of their friends.  It was a fun way to spend our fall days and luckily we had fairly good weather over the eight weeks.

I will let these pictures do most of the talking...

can't get enough of this girl's smile

Kennedy and Ainsley

I couldn't pass up these beautiful fall leaves ~ a beautiful fall day in the NW cannot be beat

celebrating our last game ~ a fun win!

Kennedy and her sweet bff, Lauren 

love these girls

Blue Angels ~ 2013

Kennedy, Lauren, Lyla, Ainsley and Addie

silly face

Carter's team was undefeated going into the last game.  We were playing a team who we had barely beaten earlier in the season.  It started off very well, and the boys were playing great.  I think we were up by three or four goals...

but then one of our best players fell, landed wrong and broke his arm.  The poor kid was in a lot of pain and I think all of the boys were worried about him.  

And our opponents really stepped it up, scoring five unanswered goals and winning the game by one.  It was such a sad way to end an overall fabulous season.  The boys worked hard and really learned to play as a team.  They improved a lot over the season and were fun to watch.

I am not sure if Carter will play soccer again (much to my dismay, he has his sights set on football) but I have loved watching him play these last several years and am very proud of his progress.

Pumpkin Patch ~ 2013 {Joe's Place}

One of my most favorite fall traditions is our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  This year we had beautiful weather and were lucky enough to have Nana and Pops join us.  It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon!

Carter was fairly insistent on pushing the wheelbarrow himself.  And he did a great job until we started putting the pumpkins in, and then it got a little harder to push.  Or at least push straight!

Anything Carter does, Kennedy has to try as well!

Before we could choose our pumpkins and enjoy the other fun activities around the farm, I had to torture my poor family with pictures.  They were pretty good sports and I was thankful to get some good photos without too many threats!  I love the fall colors and their happiness to be at the pumpkin patch.

love this smile.  love this girl.

I don't think they could be any cuter

our attempts at family photos weren't quite as successful but I'll take it, it's not often that we get the four of us together in a picture.

Kennedy and her Nana

my girl is never so happy as when Nana is here with us.  She is Nana's shadow for her entire visit and they have so much fun together!

It was great to have Pops here with us, too.

in the apple orchard

my handsome boy is growing up so fast!

enjoying apples on our hay ride

Kennedy has taken to tilting her head and trying to be cute when we ask for a "nice smile" ~ it's so cute, but she often looks a bit like a pirate!

Another fantastic trip to the pumpkin patch!

Halloween Fun

Holidays are always a fun excuse to put together a little something for the kiddos.  

At the start of October, after putting out all of our Halloween decorations, I left these treat baskets for the kids when they got home.

Nothing too extravagant, just lots of little fun things.

The Little Mermaid came out, so that had to go into Kennedy's basket.  Arial is Kennedy's favorite princess and we had borrowed the movie a few times, but I knew she would love having a copy of her own.

a little treat, a fun shirt, a movie for Carter, new books

They were excited to dig in but nicely posed for a picture before they got started!

Sharing their excitement!

I love these smiles

And one morning we woke up and had been "boo-ed"!  The kids were thrilled and had a ton of fun trying to guess who possibly could have left the bucket of treats.  We enjoyed delicious pumpkin cookies, yummy treats and... 

mustaches!

The best part of getting boo-ed is getting to put together our own treat buckets and then going out into the night to secretly deliver them.  

We were super secret spies!

I was cracking up at their attempts to be stealth...they wouldn't make very good spies at this point.  Kennedy was laughing so loud!  I am shocked that we weren't spotted!

you couldn't contain their excitement!

Such a fun Halloween tradition!