June 2017

June was filled with more birthday celebrating, baseball and softball, playing outside, church camp, another big girl bed for Miss A, visiting Pop at work, swimming, Fathers Day, Nora's first lost tooth, meeting baby Wendy and an IKEA trip.  Such a fun month :).

This was the first year Ethan could try out for a travel baseball team.  He loves baseball, so we let him tryout and he made the team!  He practiced quite a bit and had a handful of double headers and one 2 day tournament.  It was a lot of fun and he improved a lot over the summer!  Can't' wait to see what comes next for this baseball player.

Happy Birthday Ethan- dinner with our neighbors!
June 1

First travel baseball game
June 3

Nora is a good cheerleader for her big brother!

Had a great game

What a devoted Cardinals fan :)
June 4

We took a bike ride to the school to let these kids play!
June 5

Nora does great on her bike!

Crazy boys

Atley visiting Pop for the first time!
June 8

Nora made it across the shark at the pool in Salem!
June 9

Ethan had his first church camp experience!  It was an overnighter for (going into) 2nd/3rd grades.
He loved it and I think will go back next summer!
June 9

He went with his cousins, Scout and Caleb

Standing by the books of the Bible

Picking him up after a good night/day!  This camp is special to me!  Jared and I met there when we were kids!
June 10

And another new bed for Atley!  (Spoiler alert...she gets 1 more new bed before summer ends)
June 10

More travel baseball.
I love this picture of him! He looks so serious :).
June 11

Ethan, holding baby Wendy.
June 12

Nora's turn

I helped while Atley got to hold her :)!  She's such a sweet baby!

Pool days in the towels our friend Janet made!
June 13

Father's Day 2017
My world in a picture!
June 18

Annual father/son golf outing on Father's Day

Love this video!  Nora was the last batter and ran the bases, high-fiving all around!
June 21

She loved softball (and her trophy)  this year!
June 26

Ethan's travel team at his tournament
June 25

Working on tying up Ethan's old boots (with nothing but undies on).
June 26

Ethan's last game and picture with his coach :)!
June 26

Fun day out!  Mini golf and ice cream!!
June 27

Mini-golfing

Nora lost her first tooth!!  She's got her tooth and a note to the tooth fairy.
June 27

A better look at the hole :)

4 Kids to IKEA!
June 28 

And 2 strong mamas that loaded it all up!

May 2017

 May!  May!  Such a good month and another (you guessed it!) busy month!!  Bathroom is finished!  Pre-school graduation, exploring in our own neighborhood, dance recital, piano recital, more baseball and softball, last days of school, Ethan's birthday, strawberry picking and having fun!

I found the leaded window at a local antique store/botique and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it!
May 2

Bathtub and Shower (before the glass was installed)
May 4

Before and After!! (After shower glass was installed)
June 2 (It took a LONG time for the glass to be finished and installed)

Vanity area- before/after

Our small group made and served walking tacos after a service day in one of the Decatur neighborhoods.  Atley decided to lay in the fritos box to eat her lunch!
May 6

My preschool graduate!
May7

Pre-School Program/Graduation

Getting that diploma :)

Family photo after Nora's preschool graduation/program

To celebrate, we went to Krave with Grandma Terri and Pop!

Back behind the cul-de-sac in our neighborhood, there's a little pond.  I was told that there were tons of tadpoles, so we ventured back to see what we could find!  

May 7

Atley holding a tadpole!

Ethan caught some too!

Nora's turn

Such a fun evening!

Daddy and his girls...scooping up pond scum tadpoles!

It's a miracle no one fell in!

Nora's first softball game!
May 10

I love this picture!  She was determined to tag...or jump on first base. (Note the runner calmly standing on the base already!)

It was a 2 game night for us on May 12

This was Nora's first year for dance and she loved it!  I really enjoyed helping her get ready for her first recital.  She had 2 recitals.  

Beautiful dancer...Night 1
May 9

Hanging out with Ms. Jan backstage!  We loved her!
May 9

Nora's group before going onstage!
May 9

Sorry for the blurry pic...but you get the idea!
May 13 (night 2)

Pop and Grandma Terri came to see her on night 2!
May 13

Grandma Karen came to night 1
May 9

So did Liz and Nikki!
May 9

Daddy and his girls :)
May 13

I think Ethan really liked the recital!
May 13

Mother's Day with my babies!
May 14

Summer porch :)
May 15

Early birthday lunch at school with Ethan
May 16

Nora's first and last days of preschool
Sept 8/May 17

Yay for summer!

Ethan- First/Last day of 2nd Grade
Aug 18/May18

Jumping into summer!

Ethan's piano recital.  He did such a great job!
May 18

Atley was so excited to graduate to her toddler bed!! "I don't have a gate anymo!!"
May 20

Summer girl- enjoying some watermelon on the deck.
May 22

The first several days of summer, you could find these kids in the woods.  Building their "fort"!  I love it! They have continued to have so much fun down there all summer :)!
May 23

Working hard!

12th Anniversary dinner with my best friend
May 26

May 28

Ethan is 8 this year!  I can't believe we've been parents for 8 years!  He is funny (and he knows it), so smart, kind, loves his family, friends and sports!  

Birthday boy with his birthday donut!

Quite excited with his new Cardinal's jersey.  But most excited to learn that we were going  to St. Louis for the weekend to see a Cardinal's game! (among other things)

Fidget spinning Nora, on the way to StL

Even Atley got one

Cardinal tickets and a fidget spinner were the only things on his  Birthday list

First birthday stop in StL...Fitz's Rootbeer!  It did not disappoint :).

Next stop, StL Zoo!

Love this family of mine :)

Capped off the birthday festivities at Pi, pizza.  So yummy!

Monday, May 29 we started the day exploring the riverfront and checking out the arch.

Nora and Ethan

Hanging out on the steps of the arch

Measuring up against the flood water measurer.

Nora's turn

And Atley is the highest!

Melt my heart :)

Birthday boy and his mama

About to get splashed by the Mississippi

Oh Nora :)

Just leaning on the arch.

How high can you jump??

Nora girl and blue skies

Cardinal game crew! (Notice the new hat on E...his dad is a sucker)
May 29

Sisters...with an Alex photobomb

Ethan and Jared with their rally caps on...too bad it didn't help.

Nora and Atley played with the Mehrle girls, so after the game we picked them up and stopped at Freddy's for some dinner and ice cream before heading home.  It was a great weekend, celebrating Ethan!

May 31

We went strawberry picking again this year and had a blast!  We had quite the crew, and I hope we didn't do too much damage to their plants.  I made jam and strawberry pie with this years haul.

Ethan

Nora

Atley

I think we ended up with 10 lbs of strawberries!

13 kids and 4 moms!