4

It's hard to believe, but it's true; Riley our baby girl is 4 today!!!! She has been a huge blessing in our lives and I can't imagine life without her.

She is full of joy and laughter and has a ready smile for everyone. Riley loves to sing and can be heard daily making up songs. She also loves to color and will spend hours with some paper and crayons drawing and "writing". There is nothing she does not think she can do and she has spent her life doing whatever her boys are doing. This has helped make her fearless and advanced beyond her size.

We like to joke that she is a whole lot of personality in a tiny body, but it's really true. She is a joy to be around, full of life and love, always ready with a hug, and not afraid to stand up for herself. She truly has been a joy these past four years and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet Riley!!!!!!

Halloween

We took the kids trick-or-treating for the first time this year. This is the first year we have lived in a neighborhood with kids and trick-or-treaters. They loved every minute of it and you would not believe how much candy is now in this house.

Here are a couple of pictures of my adorable trick-or-treaters. In case you can't tell; Riley is Cinderella, Seth is Ben 10, and Noah is HeatBlast (one of the Ben 10 aliens). Can you tell what cartoon is most popular at our house?

The other girls in the picture are the next door neighbors and the kids best buddies in the neighborhood. The jack-0-lantern's are the kids and we put them on the brush pile during trick-or-treating. They looked great with the candles lit, but wouldn't show up very well in the picture.

Sleeping

A couple of weeks ago we went to a family get together with Jared's family. The kids had a great time fishing, eating, and running around. While we were saying goodbye and getting ready to leave we found Noah like this. He slept for about 30 minutes like this without falling off the couch or sliding to the floor. I think he was a little tired.

Dancing

Dance has officially started in our house. After 2 years of asking to take dance class, Riley is finally old enough to participate in the dance classes at the Y.

Her favorite part of the class is ballet, but she also loves wearing her "snappers" (her name for her tap shoes).

Summer

It was a very busy summer for us and I thought I would catch everyone up on our adventures.
The kids had a great time playing with friends and we spent a lot of time at the pool or other water activities since it was so hot here this summer. Oh who am I kidding, it's still hot here. Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying a morning at a local water park.



Jared is playing in a softball league again, this time a Sunday double-header league. So we are back to spending our weekends at the softball fields.

I tried something new this summer and participated in the Dragonboat Races in Nashville on the Cumberland River. It was a lot of fun, although extremely hot that day. Our trainer from Boot camp, Micah, put together a team made up of boot campers and personal training clients. We did a great job in our first two races, but did not do very well in our final race. I will definitely be participating again next year. I don't have a group picture of all 21 of us, but here is a picture from earlier in the day.


We also moved into our new house. It was a full, busy, hot, and fun summer. I am trying to catch up over the next few days so check back for first day of school pictures and more.

Birthday Boy

I'm a little late in getting this posted, but I couldn't let Noah's birthday pass without a post for/about him.

Six years ago we got a huge surprise when Noah was born. For months we had been expecting a baby girl and then this amazing, beautiful baby boy was born. After the initial shock, I couldn't imagine life without him, and I still can't.

He is a happy, fun loving, handsome boy. He loves to draw, color, dance, and sing. He is one of the lights of my life and a true blessing in every sense of the word.

I can't believe he is already six and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Kindergarten

I'm a little behind in posting this, but it has been a hectic couple of months. We are mostly moved in to our new house and we are loving our neighborhood and our neighbors. All of our things are in the house, I just have some boxes left to unpack and hopefully that will happen before the end of the year.

On bigger news, Noah is officially in Kindergarten. He loves his new school, his teacher, and riding the bus. Our next door neighbor, Quincy, is in the same class as Noah, which I think helped make the transition a little easier. They ride the bus together and have the same class, we are truly blessed to have them living next door.

I did not get as teary as I expected on his first day, I think having Seth and Riley with me helped keep me distracted. I mostly got teary when he got off the bus that afternoon. I can't believe how big he his and how quickly the last six years have gone.


Noah's new school

Mommy and Noah on the first morning of Kindergarten.