First Day of School....

Kindergarten, 2nd grade and 4th grade...here they come!!!! The kids were SO excited about school. They all have great teachers and we are looking forward to a wonderful year!!

 

I know it's blurry...but the boys were so cute walking together!

Joshua walked right into his room and sat down...ready to work!!! No tears...he was excited and we were quickly forgotten! :)

And when I picked them up...it was all smiles again. Everyone had a great first day with lots of things to tell me. It's a whole new time in our lives...having all 3 in school all day. The house was pretty quiet today. It's going to take awhile to adjust!

And...we went out for our annual ice cream treat with friends afterschool. Ice cream to top off a great day!! Yum!

Birthday Celebrations....

Joshua really wanted a "friend party" this year....so we decided on Lego theme. We had a bunch of Legos out for the boys to play with, a race track for Lego cars, a pinata, cake and ice cream. 3 friends from NPDS, Sullivan, Christopher and Kyle...he had a blast!!!

 

And when your birthday is on the first day of school...it makes cupcakes extra fun!! (By this point in the day Joshua was done having picture taken!!!)

I had this idea for a birthday chair cover for awhile...and finally had time to make one. I donated it to Joshua's teacher for her classroom and it was on his chair today. I think kids will love having this extra special chair decoration for their special day!!!

Happy Birthday Joshua!!!

Our littlest one is 5!!! Time flies. He is such a spunky little guy and makes us laugh all the time. He is full of life and just happy to be here. We love you Joshua!!

 

Beach Pics....

Brenda always offers beach pics while we are there, and this is the first year we've done them.

 W-O-W. I think they are amazing!!! I'm not sure which one is my favorite!! She is able to capture their personalities sooooo well!!! And the kids had a blast while she was shooting!!!

 

Surf, Sand and F-U-N!!!

Our Third Annual Northwood Beach Trip...what a fun time!!! There were 5 families that went (one joined us for just the last 2 days). Just moms and kids for the first 3 days....4 moms and 10 kids!! It was a bit wild. But the big kids were great helpers and we had such a good time!!!

We took the jetty boat to St. Joe's Island (aka Shell Island). Lots of shells, blue water and big waves!! We even saw 2 sea turtles as we were waiting for the boat to pick us up!

 

This is a priceless picture of Sophia, Finola and Rylie!! It's hard to believe they've been a little threesome since Ms. Pena's class when they were 2!!

 

 

On the Dolphin Watch boat...Finola and Sophia like to sit up with the Captain!

It's hard to tell, but we saw SO many dolphins!! Some came right up next to the boat and we even saw a mommy and baby!

And of course the boat ride wouldn't be complete without a pirate attack!!



They drop the nets and drag them for a bit and then put everything they catch in the touch tank. This trip was extra good!! 2 puffer fish, several crabs, an eagle ray (like a sting ray), 2 baby sting rays and some starfish!

 

 

 A group picture with the pirates afterwards. Joshua did not want ANY part of the pirates though.

 

It's not a complete beach trip without a trip to the candy store. Where else could you spend $25 on candy in about 10 minutes??

 

 

This trip we also found a new ice cream place. Joshua had to have the Crazy Colors flavor.

 

 

 It just happened to be Shark Week on the Discovery Channel while we were there. The kids pretending to be victims. :) 

Lots and lots of play time on the beach...

 



 

Dyed feet and hands were a result of our tie dying project. It was so much fun and the clothes turned out amazing...our hands (and Joshua's feet) took a couple days to get back to normal!!

One of the best parts of the trip was having The Sand Castle Man (I'm sure he has a real name!!) come and give a lesson. Two hours on how to build sand castles the "right" way! It was so much fun.

The kids loved and it really worked hard the whole time. They each had their own tower to build and design. Sadly I didn't get a group picture of all the towers. We all learned a lot though and the kids can't wait to go back next year (armed with 2 buckets from Lowe's, a shovel and plastic forks, spoons and knives....that's all you need!!!) and build some towers!!! 

 

 

 

 Our last night we went down to the beach in all the tie dyed clothes for smores and glow sticks. What a crazy bunch of kids!! They had SO much fun and though there were a few bumps during the trip, we all had a great time and made some wonderful memories. So blessed to have such great friends to vacation with!!