Life lately...

Gosh, it's been a while!!! This time of year always seems to have a lot going on for us! We are right in the middle of birthday season and really getting into the school routine. It is somewhat nice to have the routine back and everyone getting a little bit of their own space during the day, but I sure do miss the laziness of summer! Even though we may be busy, we are having fun with whatever we are doing and trying to enjoy as much family time together as possible! 

Here's pictures of what we've been up to lately....

Johnny working on his flower for school....he was VERY into this project and was very adamant about how he wanted it done....including the glitter!

"working" with daddy

afternoon walk....it has been beautiful here lately!

The boys' preschool does a great job taking pictures during class and posting them online. I love to see what they are up to! 

(Charlie is in the blue shirt toward the front of the line)

Ready for school! Her new JoJo attire is her favorite! 

He loves pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

Afternoon reading time

Kelley and I took the boys to a community center play place a few weeks ago and they had a blast. We had lunch and played for several hours. Johnny found a couple of velcro circles and became a transformer. 

Charlie loves to peek in on Johnny's class when we pick him up...

Peeking in on Johnny myself after dropping him off

The barn finally got a little decoration...in the form of a Chiefs sign I got John last year for his birthday

We've started a new project at our house.....putting in a geothermal unit. It's been quite the process but I think we are going to be so thankful for it in the long run. 

Walking in to school....I just couldn't resist the backpack cuteness! 

Charlie needed a "construction site" picture

Sleepover in Mellany's room!

A dead evergreen tree = Man's work! It was all hands on deck to get it down. :) 

Peeking in on Johnny again....Johnny is really loving school this year so far and it is making my mama heart so happy! 

Early birthday presents!!! 

Ready for school!

Playing outside with Nana

Best dog ever! 

Testing out her new wheels...

Charlie 1st Day: Preschool

Charlie has officially started preschool! He is in the preschool program at Kids Alive, which is the same school Johnny is at, and will go 2 days a week. 

Charlie has been so excited for this day for over a year! Almost each day that we took Johnny to school last year, Charlie would ask to stay and play. He would be so upset when I told him no, so to be honest, I was just as excited for him as he was! 

We waited a little too long to take pictures (you would think I would learn by now) but got some cute ones anyway. Thankfully I found a shadow-y spot to get some without squinting eyes.  Johnny joined in a couple but we had already taken Mellany to the bus. 

Photo opportunity outside the school building! He watched Johnny do this yesterday so he was a pro!

Walking into the hallway, he wanted to be dropped off first. We hung up his backpack, said hello to his teacher and I barely got a "bye mom" before he was off to play with the paw patrol toys. Made me so proud (and so sad) at the same time! 

After I picked him up he told me all about the toys he played, playing outside, the snack he ate, that he went potty and was nice to his new friends and even made a craft! His teachers said he did a great job! This is super comforting to me because he is the youngest in the class so I definitely worried about if he was actually ready to be in a classroom setting or not....as of right now, it sounds like he is going to do just fine! 

Johnny 1st Day: Pre-K

Johnny had his last, first day of preschool yesterday! He is at Kids Alive again this year but will go 4 days a week. He is so excited to have Simon in his class again and is just excited for school in general--this makes John and I so happy because last year he didn't have quite the excitement and really struggled some days! Sending him to another year of preschool is going to be such a good decision for Johnny, we think. Even though he is 5, he is a "young" 5 and just wasn't quite ready academically and socially. Having him start kindergarten as one of the older kids in the class will be so much better for him; and hopefully this year will get him even more excited about kindergarten than he already is! 

Charlie wanted to take a few pictures with Johnny on his first day as did Winston (kind of... lol...). We had already taken Mellany to the bus.

There was even a photo opportunity at preschool so we took advantage of that too! 

Besties walking in to class together, both sporting John Deere Green! 

When I picked Johnny up from school, he went on and on about all the things he did in school. And he told me everything with such enthusiasm....which makes my mama heart so happy! It is so great to see him so ecstatic about school! 

Here's to a great last year!!