Back to School

Today we had Ethan's pre-school orientation.  He will be going to the same school, with the same teacher as last year, except in the 4 year old class!  He is so excited to be in the "4's class", the big man on campus!  He will start school next week and will go on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.  Here are a few pictures from today.

Carpet time

At his first 'center'...playdough!

Math center.  Sorting beads in the ice cube tray.

Practicing writing. 

This kid is ready for school!

Southern IL Fun!

We packed a lot into Friday afternoon and Saturday!  We headed south to visit our family and we were busy!  Friday afternoon, we went to Jared's parents for the evening and dinner.  We had a great time helping Grandpa out in the garden and enjoying each others company for dinner.  

It's a big watermelon!

Cantaloupe is easier to carry

Nora and the 'water-loupe"

Ethan, Amanda & Nora taking a stroll

Helping grandma pick the peppers

Digging in the dirt...boys will be boys! {Check out those giant sunflowers}

Nora, helping with the tomatoes

Thanks for all the produce and for the great evening, Grandma Karen and Grandpa!

Saturday included some fun garage sale-ing, tree chopping, gator riding and a lot of kids playing!

Waiting for the tree to fall!

Crazy boys riding on the gator

Uncle Mike, Ethan, Josiah and Scout

Water table= soaking wet kids!

Since most of my cousins/siblings {we were only missing 2 families} were in town, we had a get together at the Squibb's house...complete with a bounce house!!  It was so much fun, and kind of crazy with 13 kids {out of 17} running around, not to mention all the adults!

Bounce House fun!

Ethan sliding down

Paige and Nora bouncing

Nora and Paige, riding in style!

Nora's turn to drive :)

Pop and Tyler going for a ride on a more size appropriate vehicle 

The epitome of summer! Barefeet, sweaty, ice cream cone and Cardinal shirt.

Here they all are!  Sweaty, but happy!!

Finley {5}, Paige {7}, Nora {22 mo}, Tyler {14}, Josiah {5}, Ethan {4}, Haley {5}, Katie {2}, Scout {4}, Callum {3 1/2}, Hazel {5}, Caleb {3 1/2}, Grant {22 mo}

What an exhausting day and a half!  But so much fun, and so glad we were able to make these memories with our families! 

Indy Vacay

This past weekend we went to Indianapolis for a mini family vacation.  We had a great time swimming, going to parks, going to the zoo and just being goofy in our hotel room.  Things started to turn south on Saturday night, when Ethan decided to get sick.  But it could have been much worse, and we are thankful that he woke up Sunday morning like nothing ever happened.  I have a ton of pictures to share...so enjoy!

PJ and iPad fun!

First up, Friday evening, we headed to a nearby park.  Such a fun time!

 

Families who rock on the springy horse things together, stay together :)

The park also had this random hill, so we climbed it :).

So sweet!

King of the hill

Family Photo Op

This is one of my favorite pictures of these two!

Our sweet, almost 2 year old, girl

Saturday, we headed to the zoo.  Indy has a very nice zoo and we had a great time!

Nora wanted down...

Elephants were Ethan's favorite (see the baby?!)

All better, now that she's not in a stroller or arms.

Water is so fun

Such a good looking kid

Ethan and the sharks (he wouldn't touch them)

Giraffes are cool

Ethan is a big bat... 

Nora, not as big :)

They are growing up so fast!

Ethan's first roller coaster!  He loved it! (except he was starting to get sick by this point...)

Riding the choo choo

Finishing the day with some ice cream

Due to the events of Saturday night (aka: puke), we decided to keep it low key and head home early on Sunday.  We found another park and spent some time there before heading home.

Swinging with my boy

Running on the jiggly bridge

Jared and Nora sliding

My favorite picture from the weekend, of my favorite people!