First Day of School 2012

So, I'm only a month behind posting things.  That's how things seem to go lately.   Anyway, the kids started school again on August 27, 2012.   I was working that day so Blaine did the first day of school duties, including getting the requisite pictures.  

 Garrett is in the 5th grade this year.  Wow!  Time flies!   I love to get pictures of them with their backpacks loaded down with all their school supplies.  In years past, he had to lean forward to keep from falling over from his huge back pack.  Not so much this year.  He is getting so big and is such a great kid.   

He wasn't too excited for school to start this year because his group of friends wasn't going to be at school with him this year.  One of his friends is being home schooled, two go to a different school and another was in a grade below him.  He was really nervous about getting a new group of friends to hang out with at school.

 (Love the hair, eh? )  

No worries, though.  He is having a great year, likes his teacher, his buddy Topher moved from 4th grade to 5th grade and he has a good group of friends to hang out with.  He has even discovered that he loves to play football.  (Heaven help us!)

 Miss Hannah started kindergarten this year.  She was so excited to start school.  She goes to afternoon kindergarten and has an awesome teacher.   She also had a friend in her class that she knew already so it made her not feel quite as nervous.   Look at her huge backpack.  She also had a grocery bag full of school supplies too!

 Hannah is also enjoying the school year, loves school and loves playing with her new little friends at school.  Ironically, her bestest little friend is the daughter of a boy who lived across the street from us growing up.  (If you can follow that).  Small world.

I am enjoying the school year, getting back into a schedule and a normalized rhythm of things.  It makes me happy that my kids are such good kids, have great friends, great teachers and are loving school!

Happy Birthday Blake #1!

My baby Blake turned 1 on July 25.  I can't believe he is 1 already.  He seems so little.  With the other kids, I was excited at each milestone (don't get me wrong, I'm very excited for each of Blake's milestones too!) but I have not pushed him as much as I may have pushed the others.  I'm letting him be a baby just a little bit longer, I think.   You don't want to walk by your first birthday like the others?  OK.  You still want a bottle? OK.  Pacifier?  OK.   

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Here is a picture of Blake the morning of his birthday.  He may have just gotten up from a nap.  Still has bed head.  (On a side note, while I love my beautiful bay window in the kitchen, it makes for annoyingly bright pictures at times).   Anyway, he is such a happy baby.  Here he is showing you patty cake.  He loves it, especially the rolling part.  He says "roll, roll" with you and does the actions.  Love it!

I decided to get a little creative and made monkey cupcakes for his birthday.  I like the kids to have a cupcake for their first birthday so they can devour it by themselves.   The cupcakes turned out so cute, even if my family thought they were cows.  Still cute.

We gave him this walker toy for his birthday.  Subtle push in the walking direction.   He loves it and its so cute to see him walking around with it.  He pulls himself up to things and walks around them and can even stand up in the middle of the floor and just stand there.  He will walk holding one finger of yours but won't walk on his own.  Silly baby!

Some things about Blake at age 1:  He likes to think he is as big as the other kids and has as many teeth (he has 5).  He likes to eat anything he can get his hands on, especially apples, bananas, watermelon, green beans, bread, corn dogs (see above), chips (scares me), popcorn (also scary), peaches, pears, etc., etc.  He basically eats anything we hand him.  As long as he can feed himself.

Here is his birthday cupcake complete with the candle.  He had to be restrained to he didn't burn himself.  He was very excited and not quite sure what was going on but figured if we put something on his high chair tray, it must be for him to eat.

Checking it out.  It had mini M&M's and mini Oreos on it.  Yum!

Obviously figured out what it was.  Now does he like it?

Yep.  Loved it!

See him eating this apple?  There were no bites out of it when he found it.  He went to town on it!  No choking either. (knock on wood)   He is not our choker child.  Swallows lots of stuff.  (His molars are now starting to come in so he is even more excited to eat stuff).

So happy to be left to eat his apple.  See his cute little teeth?  His front top teeth have a space between them.  So cute. So sharp!

Some other things about Blake:   

*He is our most easy going child (since Garrett).

*He loves music.  He loves you to sing to him or to listen to music.  He will dance to it or relax in your arms as you sing.  Very handy during church.

*He is 30 inches tall (around the 50th percentile)

*He weighs 21 pounds, 13 ounces (around the 30th percentile)

*He loves his siblings and loves them to play with him.  He does not, however, like to wrestle with them.

*He is a tease just like the rest of the kids.

*He will let you know in no uncertain terms whether he wants something offered to him or not.  He bats it away if he doesn't want it.  He has done this since day 1.

*He is a pincher with he sharp little nails.  He will pinch the skin on your chest or neck with his little fingers.  Ouch!

We love our little guy so much!  He is such a happy baby and has been such a welcome addition to our family.  We love watching him grow and are so glad he is part of our family.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE!