First Day of School!

Here are the boys on their first day of school, looking slightly sleepy...
Things went pretty smoothly, considering our mornings had been quite slow and leisurely for most of the summer. Ben was getting a bit worried about being late though, as evidenced by his body language in the shot below.

Once I got a shot of the 3 boys in their backpacks, it was off to school...by bike for the first time! We don't bike very often, since the boys usually ride the bus home, but we do "scooter " to school if the weather cooperates. Gracie enjoys the stroller ride and the fresh air helps us all wake up. It's great living only a few blocks away from the school...





Here is Ben with his third grade teacher. It is apparently a tradition for her students to have their picture taken with her at the beginning AND the end of the year to see who has grown taller than her...looks like he has a ways to go...







And here is Josh and his first grade teacher, who had Ben 2 years ago...She is so excited to have him in her class, however I feel the need to remind her how VERY opposite they are. We'll see how this year goes...
This picture of them wasn't actually the first day of school, but was at the end of the month, when he was chosen for the character trait award of the month, which was "responsibility". Great job, Josh!




And this is a tradition that we started a couple years ago-the blackboard cake. A little something sweet to look forward to when their first day is done....

Holding Fast to Summer...

How could it be a school night already? And how is it possible that I am mourning the end of summer as much as the kids and their teachers? I guess it's a testament to the fact that, as cliche as it sounds, time flies, each year goes by faster, etc, etc. However you want to say it, it's just too true.


We packed a picnic dinner on Monday night, skipped soccer practice, and headed to the beach to enjoy the last bit of true, unburdened summer....
The boys had a blast just being boys....


And Gracie, despite having just eaten a good dinner on the boat, attempted to consume as much sand as she possibly could, as I tried to get a couple artsy photos.

I just LOVE how protective Ben always is of her....


I really will miss having the boys home during the day..and I think Gracie will too!
OMG, I love these guys!

Farewell sweet Summer!

"Grace" Roses

These are Gracie's roses that she received from Mommy and Daddy as a gift for her baptism. They took a few months to get established, but are in full bloom now, and SO gorgeous, just like our very own Grace.

Goin' Green

Over the summer we took a leap and switched from disposables to these gdiapers (or green diapers) and they've been working out well. I honestly can't remember what got me turned on to them initially, but when I did more research and learned about the tons and tons of garbage that disposable diapers produce, and the fact that they take 500 years to break down, it really wasn't a hard sell. They come with these cute outer coverings, a plastic liner and disposable refills, which can be flushed, tossed or composted. We actually don't trust our system enough to flush 'em, so we have become official composters with a black plastic bin out behind the shed. Only the wet ones can go in there, but between those and our food scraps, we have cut our trash output in half. Not a lot of effort for quite a big difference-plus how cute is that "g " on her bum? ;p

Honestly

Isn't funny how brutally honest kids can be? It's innocent and cute, but sometimes it does get you where it hurts...
Gracie has very fair skin and lots of visible veins on her forehead, eyelids and most notably, the bridge of her nose. While in the waiting room of the doctor's office for her last well visit, a cute little 2 1/2 year old girl came up to us, to admire and say hello to Grace. After observing her for a minute or so, she asked me, "Why she have magic marker on her face?" I tried to explain-who knows what she understood of it...Maybe next time my reply should be, "Oh, her big brothers did it."
Then today Ben had a friend over and he was chatting with Gracie who was charming it up for him. He then said, "Gracie's cute. She has that blue thing on her nose. She reminds me of a mad scientist with those, you know, vein things all over her forehead."
Aye, just what you want to hear about your baby girl...
Other people have noticed and asked what it was, or what happened. And those that don't ask, are wondering to themselves, I'm pretty sure.
For awhile I thought the vein on her nose was fading, but I think more likely I'm just becoming blind to it. If I mention it to Patrick, he's quick to tell me that I'm vain (pun intended I think...).
But since we're being honest, it bothers me.....
Because, again, let's be honest, this world can be a cruel place sometimes and isn't it natural to want to shield our children from that as much as we can?

Cheerios-mmmm!

Here's Gracie auditioning for a Cheerios commercial.....(I think she should get the part, but I might be just a little biased!) ;)

Gracie's 8 months old! (and on the move!)

Ahh-I have been such a delinquent blogger these days, I'm sure I've lost what few followers I have!
It has been such a busy and wonderful summer with so much happening that it's hard to know where to start! (ESPECIALLY when you work for an hour on a post and it disappears with one false move of your mouse! Grr!) At any rate, teeth are falling out, teeth are coming in, babies have been baptized, mountains have been climbed, new sports have started, and on and on...I think I'll start with some of the biggest highlights from Gracie's first summer...


This photo was taken one hot afternoon when I put her down for her nap in just her diaper. When she woke up and we went in to get her, this is what we found.... Note her diaper behind her and the proud look on her face...We might want to nip this in the bud ASAP! ;)
And here she is enjoying the couple of weeks of pool weather we had.
Splashing in her baby pool...

Swimming with cousin Sara...

And cooling off with Daddy....

I have tried several times to get a sweet 8 month shot of Grace in this ADORABLE dress (my favorite hand-me-down to date!), but it's become more difficult now since she is mobile!

There she goes.....

And here she is helping Mommy keep the carpet free of lint....

And here she is "live"-just love the "cheerleader" in the background! :)

We've had some fun in the "food" department, too! Cheerios have been a huge hit for the past month or so. Here she is telling the audience how much she loves 'em....



blogger not cooperating-will try to upload "cheerios" video in new post....

But THIS week she has discovered something bigger and better... She sits in her highchair and squawks until she gets some of Mommy's toast and jam. Now I just break it up into bite-size pieces and she eats a whole piece!


Happy 8 months, Gracie-poo! I wish I could freeze time here for awhile. We love you to the moon!