Kindergarten!

Brayden is now in Kindergarten! I'm excited for him to move into this next stage of life, but it seems like just yesterday he was born and I was snuggling him in my arms. Here's my cutie on the first day:

 How fun does this look?!

 New backpack

 Required First Day name tag for Kindergarteners (he didn't get lost)

 Walking to the bus stop

 No hesitation from this guy. He climbed right on the bus- what a big boy! Only one of us cried that morning...

Softball

Kenny has enjoyed playing church league softball the last few years. Our church, HBC, doesn't have enough for a whole team, so they play with Muhlenberg Lutheran. I think we only made it to one of Kenny's games this year- it seems like they were always playing at 8:00 or 9:00 pm! They don't win a lot of games, but they have a good time and the scenery is beautiful.

Softball is okay....what we REALLY want to do is have picnic, walk the bleachers and play in the dirt!

More Summer Pics

Sweet Snuggling Sisters

 Getting ready to Skype with Mimi and Pop

 Sweet Sleeping Siblings

Happy 4th of July!

What's that you say? The 4th of July was months ago? Yes, this is true. Sadly, these pictures have been hidden in my camera waiting to get to this blog forever. But they're too cute not to post! Nelson Rocks Outdoor Center sponsored the Harrisonburg/Rockingham July 4th parade and we got to be VIP guests in reserved seats under a tent on court square. The kids had a great time!

Parenting Bliss

Two things happened this week that were pure Parenting Bliss:

Bristol had her longest sleep ever from 7:00 pm to 6:30 am! I woke up slightly alarmed and had to go and check on her to make sure she was breathing. I have had a cold/sinus thing all week, so I was especially grateful for the long, uninterrupted sleep. 

Brayden had a sleepover at his granparents' house on Saturday and Brinley wanted to call him to say goodnight. Their exchange was so precious: "Goodnight, Brinley. I love you!" "Goodnight Brayden. I love you!" This made my heart so happy and brought tears to my eyes. May they always feel this way about each other!

Summer Camp 2011

We had a great summer at camp! We lived on site for the first time in 5 years and Brayden spent his days (and one night!) with the youngest boys in Sunrise. Brinley & Bristol played with Nanny Jo and went swimming every day. It was a long and challenging summer for Mommy trying to juggle and balance everything, but we survived! This was Kim's 24th summer, Kenny's 10th, Brayden's 6th, Brinley's 4th and Bristol's 1st summer. Craziest headline of the summer for me would have been on the last day before staff banquet: Mother breastfeeds screaming baby while driving a golf cart in the rain with a sprained right ankle." Haaaaa! 

Here are some of our favorite pics:

Talent Show

 Roy, one of Brayden's counselors all summer long. Brayden has a small obsession with cardboard boxes.

 Riding a horse

 Arts & Crafts with Nanny Jo

 Brinley with "Jenny Walker" who was her nanny 2 years ago

 Brayden loved Arts & Crafts, too

 This is the hair we dealt with all summer, though she is pretty good about wearing a headband now.

 Nature

 Campfire

 Sweet Brayden

 Kenny driving the tractor for International Night

 Sweet Bristol

 She dressed herself...

 Lifeguard in training

 Love this pic!

 On the soccer pitch

 Swimming every day!

 High ropes

 Kenny got to do the new Canopy Tour at Nelson Rocks

 Trying on gear during Operation Purple Camp Military Day

September 11, 2011

The lyrics to the Alan Jackson song "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" say:

          "Teaching a class full of innocent children..."

That's where I was on September 11, 2011. I was a junior Foreign Language Education major at Mississippi State, working at Armstrong Middle School in Starkville. I was in a 7th grade English class and an administrator pulled us into the hallway to tell us what had happened. I spent the afternoon glued to the television in tears. Thankful that Kenny's family in New York and our friends in DC (many on Capitol Hill) were safe.

Ten years seems like an eternity ago, but I can remember that day so vividly. We will never forget.