Fall Fun

It's been a very fun fall so far!  Quickly fall is turning into winter as we've already been sledding.  The kids thought one inch of snow was enough to go sledding in and I think they were right, it worked pretty well :)  Below are a few of my favorite pics from the fall.  We had a wedding and Tessa loved this swing.  What you can't see is that it was pouring rain but that didn't phase the kids at all!  They loved playing in the pouring rain.  There were tons of kids there but at one point I looked over and saw Tessa just swinging away.  She was in heaven, what a fun swing!

The second picture is from the UW homecoming parade.  It's a super fun parade and as you can see from Tessa and Nolan, they were pretty excited.  Derek had football that evening but mom joined us for the fun.  It was a fun night :) 

Halloween 2013

Halloween 2013 - We had an adorable little construction worker and Minnie Mouse with us this year.  Both kids loved bopping around town going door to door trick-or-treating.  They would run up to a door, say trick-or-treat, and Nolan would ask every single person who answered the door what their name was.  He often wanted to stay at each door to have a conversation with the people who lived there but would quickly realize that the other kiddos were already moving on to other houses so he'd sprint away.  Our little guy sure isn't very shy!  Tessa had a great time too.  After we came back over to "our side of town" Nolan was ready to be done but Tessa wanted to head around our neighborhood.  I'm so glad that she did, we are lucky to have the neighbors that we do.  They were all so sweet to Tessa and several of them had special little packages set aside for Tessa and Nolan.  With most of them having grown kids, they know how special Halloween is and wanted to make it special for our kids.  Another fun Halloween!  Another fun night with the Lane crew...but I'm bummed I didn't get any pics of them!

Nolan turned 4!

As requested by the birthday boy, we celebrated Nolan's 4th birthday bowling with some of our favorite people.  He had an absolute blast.  The little guy smiled the whole time, cheered for others, tried to rush people along so he could get another turn, and had a blast.  It was a very fun evening.  Crazy that he is four already.  Life sure goes quickly but it sure is fun.  Happy 4th Birthday Nolan, we love you.  Sorry for the late post buddy, we've been too busy having fun!

Tessa's heading to first grade!

Someone was sure excited to go to school on the first day!  Tessa woke up and flew out of bed so excited about her day.  I'm pretty sure she smiled all day.  Hard to believe that she is in first grade already.  We started our day with number one pancakes for first grade.  Of course it was an extra special day so we needed to put sprinkles on it. 

Nolan has also started a new daycare.  We started our day very similar to Tessa's first day except we had K pancakes for Kelly.  He was so excited and felt like such a big boy heading there all by himself.  He's really enjoying it.  It's definitely going to take some getting used to not going to Stephie's but hopefully we all adjust.  Stephie sure was one of a kind.

Here's to a great school year for everyone!  Derek and I also started the same day Tessa did.  We sure need to enjoy each day we have because the older we get the faster the days go by.  And as Nolan would say..."Someone is almost four!". :)

Annual Fair Fun

Annual fair fun.  All of the kids had a great time on the rides this year.  Sometimes a few of them are quite apprehensive about the rides but not this year!  They loved running around and getting in as many rides as they could in the evening.  One of those things in life that make them smile from ear to ear the entire time.  You can't help but smile yourself when you see how much fun they are having :)

Camping for the 4th

The summer fun continues with our first ever family camping trip for the weekend of the 4th.  Thanks to the Lanes we weren't truly camping because we were sleeping in their camper.  It worked perfect and the kids LOVED it.  The very first day it was set up the kids were in the driveway playing in it.  They could have played out there all day long!  It was a very, very relaxing weekend full of playing in the sand and water, boating, eating, laughing, beanbag toss, golfing, talking, laughing, and just hanging out.  The kids slept awesome.  Nolan was soooo excited the entire time and when bedtime came he would immediately crash for the night!

Of course with Tessa's birthday falling on July 5 it's hard for her to not think that all the pretty fireworks are for her.  There were some fireworks on the 4th but the big display was on the 5th...for her birthday of course :)  Everyone made her birthday so special as she woke up to a birthday pancake, lots of songs being sung to her all day, getting tons of boat rides, birthday cake celebration, presents, and to top it all off her "birthday" fireworks on the lake.  I couldn't even begin to count how many times she smiled on her birthday.  It was a very special day and she genuinely loved how special everyone made it.

It sure was a fun weekend.  The pictures never do it complete justice but I captured a few pics of the kids enjoying themselves :)

 My kind of camping...sleeping in a camper right next to a beautiful lake house!

 There is always time for a quick snuggle :)

 Someone loved fishing!

 Love this picture.  Derek and the kids fishing during sunset.

 Breakfast in the camper...so exciting.

 Let the boating begin!

 Snuggle time on the hammock.

Happy 6th Birthday Tessa!

Happy 6th Birthday Tessa!  When asking Tessa what she wanted to do this year so looked at me like I was crazy!  Why did I even ask?!  Poor girl is just like her mommy, gets in a routine of traditions and doesn't want to change it.  So we once again had the crew over to my parents to swim to celebrate her bday.  A fun afternoon celebration...wild, crazy, silly, and funny.