Happy Birthday Karli!!!!

I can't believe 6 years ago today. We brought our beautiful daughter into this world!
Below is a picture of our silly 6 year old!

We are so proud of Karli!

It has been a big year for Karli! She learned to ride a 2-wheeler, swim under water, tie her shoes, and to top it off she has transitioned very well into 1st grade! Mrs. Ring said Karli fits right in and is excelling. She also said Karli really likes Math and she is her little helper in class. Karli was one of only 2 kids in her class to receive perfect attendance so far this year! The above picture shows Karli's award and reward for her perfect attendance.

Halloween 10/31/10

Last night we continued our Halloween tradition and went to Grandma Carmen's house for trick or treating and my birthday celebration. The weather was chilly, but Natalie and Karli decided to make a pit stop and go back out! Cameron and Sam were happy with staying in and drinking hot cocoa. Fun times!

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Halloween Party

Cameron celebrated Halloween today with his class. He was so excited for his party. The kids had different "centers" to go to with games. Now that a sink has been added to the classroom they can now have snack time! They sang lots of songs and went trick or treating. He only has 10 kids in his class, but believe me there is a lot going on!

Cameron's field trip to Blake's 10/14/10

It was all about Cameron today!

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New fall picture of the kids

Great week

Karli had a great week, she is doing really well in her new class. She is fitting in, excelling at the work they are doing, and made some new friends. When I asked her if she has any boyfriends in this class she said no, Ethan will be my boyfriend forever (he was in her old class.) Oh no! I can't believe it starts this early!

Moving on

On Monday, Karli will be starting 1st grade after 3 weeks of Kindergarten. She is excited and nervous all at the same time. She will still be at Naldrett even though it is not our home school, which is fine with us. We don't want to add another change for her. Yesterday she saw her new classroom and met her new teacher, Mrs. Ring. She seems like a wonderful teacher. I am so pleased!



Updates: Cameron is doing well in preschool. It is taking me back a few years ago when Karli was in Mrs. Sharon's class because he is bringing home the same art projects she did. It is so cute. Dance is going very well. The kids seem to enjoy it. Cameron is still warming up to ice skating. I had to bribe him the last class because he was scared and wouldn't let go of Chris. It is amazing what some sort of treat will do! I am not opposed to bribing my children!

It's official school has begun!

I can't believe my youngest baby has started school! Cameron had his meet and greet yesterday with Mrs. Sharon. This is the same nursery and preschool teacher Karli had. She was wonderful! Cameron will be at a different school, Graebner Elementary. He met all of the kids in his class and saw the new room. He met Chester the racoon from the book "The kissing hand," and was very excited about that. He was very excited and wanted to know if he could stay and play when it was time to leave.


Karli has started all day Kindergarten at Naldrett Elementary. Her teacher is Miss Spudowski who seems very nice. Karli has already experienced SAC (School aged childcare,) which is latch-key. She enjoyed it so much she can't wait to go back!


Dance has started this week as well. Karli is going to do Jazz this year. Cameron will do tap and Ice skating with Chris' help.

Weekend round up

We had a very busy fun weekend that ended unfortunately with a trip to the ER for Cameron....
Friday Karli's principal came over for a visit. I guess the principal used to be a Kindergarten teacher, so she has a soft spot for the kindergartners. She brought Karli lots of cool things. Alphabet magnets, a dry erase activity place mat, a dry erase board to practice writing, 3 books, and a pencil from her new school. She stayed for about 15 minutes and read Karli a book about going to school and answered lots of questions for Karli and me. It was really nice to have her stop by. Then Evan and Brayden (and Cara and Jay too) came over for a playdate. They really enjoyed playing with their friends! Because we have been so busy this summer we haven't seen them in a while.
Saturday we spent most of the day/night at our block party, which is always a good time!
Sunday we picked the kids up from grandma Kathy's and went to the Toby Keith concert with Greg and Tracy, which was also a fun time! The kids stayed with Natalie,Sam, and the babysitter. The babysitter took them to the park and Cameron fell on his face. When we got home I looked in his mouth he had a flap that needed to be closed on his lower lip. We took him to the ER and they tacked the flap closed with 1 stich. Cameron did awesome and didn't even cry! I took him to my work this morning for an x-ray and his teeth are ok! POOR BABY!

Patio is finished

With summer winding down, we still have time to enjoy the new patio. Next years project is landscaping around it. We are happy with the way it turned out!

Michigan's Adventure 8/15/2010

We took the kids to Mi's Adventure. They did great. It was an exhausting day, but the kids passed out making it a great ride home :) We found out Karli doesn't like rides that get her tummy and Cameron LOVES them. Karli said they hurt her tummy and Cameron said they tickled his tummy. The weather was great and the kids really enjoyed the park.

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Bike Parade 8/7/10

Our Homeowners Association organized a bike/dog parade this morning for the kids and dogs in the neighborhood. The Chesterfield Fire Dept. led the way around the neighborhood. The kids really enjoyed it!

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Almost done.

The patio is almost completed! One more day and it should be finished. I'm really excited to have a patio for some reason. Maybe because we've been here for 31/2 years now without one! I am really pleased with the way it turned out! Lone Star Landscaping is a wonderful company :)

Happy Anniversary!

8 years ago today Chris and I got married! It was definitely one of the happiest days of my life! We have been together now for 14 years and he is such a wonderful husband and father! I am a lucky woman to have him in my life! We are happier and more in love than we were on that day, which I never thought could be possible.

Back from Ludington!

What a great week at Ludington this year. Every day was sunny and warm! Good thing we brought our sunblock! The Water was very warm this year! Some of our activities included, floating down the Sable River to Lake Michigan. Then the adults had fun on Lake Michigan with the kids boogie boards! We boated to the sand dunes every day and some of us even went water skiing, tubing, swimming, Salmon Fishing, regular fishing, watching the beautiful Lake Michigan sunset, walking on the Ludington Pier. Many pictures are posted on facebook. Here is one of the kids walking on the pier.

Cameron's big boy bike.

Cameron was so excited to get a big boy bike from his cousin Sam. Little mama Karli is right by his side to make sure he doesn't fall. Such a good sister..... she helped get him up the driveway :)Summer is going by too fast. Karli and Cameron surprise me more and more everyday in the pool. Karli is doing great with her swimming and can swim the length of grandma's pool. I can't believe Karli will be starting Kindergarten soon and Cameron will be starting preschool. Where have my babies gone?

more babies ready to leave the nest soon!

The nest of barn swallows on our porch have 4 baby birds. They look like they are outgrowing the nest and soon should be flying away. It's a good thing because I have a MEss to clean up on the porch :)

Up North and more.

For the 4th we went up to Lewiston for the weekend. We went to the Lewiston beach and ran into some friends from home. We rode the 4 wheelers, went blueberry picking, roasted s'mores and hot dogs in the fire pit just to name a few activities. The weather was great. The traffic was not so great. A good time was had by all. Below are a few pics.

Some other fun things this busy summer: Cameron now does cannonballs in to the pool without holding his nose, or wiping his eyes when he comes up. Karli had her 1st sleepover with her sisters this weekend.

New Summer hair do

Now that Karli's recital is over, she wanted to cut her hair for summer. She wanted it chin length again. I am happy because there will be less tears while brushing and she looks cute too.

Baby swallows

If you look really close there is a baby in there. There are actually 4 babies, they are so cute! They are starting to get their feathers :)

Our shining star

Saturday and Sunday was Karli's Pom Dance recital. She did great! We are so proud of her. It can't be easy at her age getting up on stage. At the end of the recital there is a finale dance put on by all the dancers and Karli took on a motherly role helping out a petite 4 year old so that she wouldn't get trampled by the crowd. I love it. Here are a few pictures from her recital.

Brocolli

Wow! This is my first year planing a graden and I did not expect the brocolli to be ready so soon. I actually picked some a little too late as it has started to flower.

Karli's Preschool graduation

It's official Karli will be a Kindergartner in the fall! Karli has had the pleasure of having Mrs. Sharon for the last 2 years of preschool and Cameron will have her as well. Karli loves Mrs. Sharon and as she walked on the "stage" she said she wanted to be a teacher when she grows up. Karli was lucky to have her grandmas there to see her graduate. Karli's preschool has been a great introduction to education and school!

FYI these pics were from my moms camera and I can't seem to get them any bigger :(

Mrs. Sharon with the "sistas" and Cameron

Karli saying what she wants to be when she grows up.


Karli and Mrs. Sharon

Our house is the place to be

We now have barn swallows making a nest on our front porch out of mud. After investigating these birds on the Internet it says:

If the nest is approached by a predator or human, the entire colony will mob the intruder using aerial acrobatics. We have found this to be very true :)

project

Over the winter Karli and Chris made a bird house together. We were pleased when we found a very pretty bird had made a home there. After some investigation we found out this bird is a tree swallow.

2 wheeler!

Let's just pretend this is the first video ever of Karli riding without training wheels all by herself. Actually it's her 2nd time. For those of you that haven't heard the story, I lost the 1st video. It didn't upload to the computer and I thought it did, so I erased it (I know I will never do that again). It's OK because this video is just as special because she turned for the first time in this video, which she was afraid to try. Way to go Karli!

Recital dress rehearsal

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Yesterday was Karli's recital dress rehearsal. The kids spent the night at Grandma Kathy's because I had to work and Chris did not want to be responsible for hair and makeup. The song in the slideshow is the song she dances to, "Little Willy."

A few things...

I took this picture shortly after Karli went outside to play. I walked in the family room and she had been playing quietly and I had to take this picture! Like mother like daughter, can you say anal or OCD. Everything is in a line and organized. I'm surprised they weren't color coordinated too :)



This is a picture of Cameron after an afternoon at the Nature center with Karli's class. You can't see his shirt but it says: "This is my bug shirt"

My weekend alone

This weekend Chris went up north and the kids spent the weekend with Grandma Kathy. I worked on the landscaping all weekend with my dad and grandpa. It was totally worth it! I will no longer have to fight with the grass creeping into the landscaping beds! My dad found something that works great and will not come out! It turned out awesome! Before pictures:



After pictures: