First Day of First Grade & Preschool

It's hard to believe it's this time already!  I'm thankful, though for the wonderful summer we had, for Hannah's new teacher and for the blessing of being in good school district.  The transition to 1st grade was a whole lot easier for Hannah and for Momma.  She popped right out of bed in the morning and was ready to go!  She LOVES her school!  

An apple for her teacher 

 My beautiful little girl ready for 1st grade.  She wants to be a scientist when she grows up.  

 Isaac loves her so much and is so proud of her.  

 She picked a "littlest petshop" backpack this year.  

 So fun to get to school and see familiar faces.  Look at those smiles!  

 BIG hugs from Isaac!

 Hannah and her new teacher

 Now...Isaacs turn.  I'm excited to get to do 4 year old preschool with him at home...he's pretty excited too!  On his first day, we went to a kinderealm and learned all about nighttime animals...he loved it!  We also set up his calendar binder and started reviewing letters and sounds.  When Isaac grows up he wants to be a construction worker. :)  

Family Camping

We had another great year of camping with my family.  The cabins we stay in are perfect and it's so much fun to share the camping experience all together!  

S'mores!  

 Nana and Hannah :) 

 A Day at the Beach...

my little digger...

 Abby loves the sand too!  

 Ethan is our little fishy...

 Uncle Tim helped them build the coolest sand castle on the beach.  

 Isn't it nice to just sit and soak in the rays?!  Yeah for summertime!  Yeah for family!!  

31 weeks

...getting closer with less than 10 weeks before we meet our baby girl!  

Summer Vaca Part 2

 The second part of our vacation was a visit with some of our dearest friends.  We enjoyed visiting with friends in MI.  It was fun to see Jeff and Amber's new home..what a blessing for their family.  Such a special time!!  

Kids picnicking in the back yard 

 friends...so happy to be together again!

 time for dessert!

Love these girls so much!  

 The a few of the dads played a game of baseball with the kids.  I love the expressions on their faces in all of these pictures.  This is serious business here...

 I love, love, love this pictures of these sweet girls.  What a joy it has been to watch them grow.  They posed themselves like this and I just love how each one of their personalities shows in this pic!  

Summer Vacation

We enjoyed such a lovely family vacation in Indiana and Michigan this summer.  We went out to Lake Michigan and enjoyed the beautiful beaches and dunes...the perfect family vacation.  

This was our first night.  We found a quiet, private beach and enjoyed an evening by the water.  

 Hannah wanted to be a sand mermaid :)  

Isaac wanted to join in the fun as a merman :) 

 30 weeks with baby #3 

 Enjoying the hotel room 

 It's pretty fun to get to hike in our bare feet :)  All the sand made hiking sticks quite necessary :)  

 The kids and their trail guide 

 Nature center at Indiana Dunes State Park

 Washington Park Zoo, Michigan City  

Isaac loved the tigeers  

 These stairs were just the beginning of our climb up a tall tower to see Michigan City.  Isaac was pretending to be Flynn Rider climbing to rescue Rapunzel.  

 The view from the top.  

 and back down...

 This was a small zoo..but it's always fun to visit different zoo's and see the different displays of animals.  The kids two favorites were the Otter and the Monkey's.  The otter display had a tube that went through the water.  The kids were able to sit in the tube while the otters swam over their heads. They were very playful and fun to watch!  

 This little monkey was stuck inside of this play ball.  He was so funny to watch as he would stand up and waddle around with the ball around him. 

 Seth took us to the Warren Dunes one day as well.  This was the spot that he vacationed as a child, and was excited to share the experience with us.  The Dunes are just beautiful.  

 More hiking :) 

 We spent a while playing at the waters edge after our hike.  We wet our feet, threw in rocks, and searched for rocks... 

 Hannah found a petosky stone.  This was the perfect souvenir to take home from our MI vacation!  

 My boy....

 More sand castles  

 We spent the whole day on the beach!  It was warm in the late morning afternoon, and by later afternoon we got a breeze and it started to cool down...perfect time to fly a kite!  

....more vacation fun to come :)