Lego's

I found a tub of legos on an incredible deal for Caleb. Cohen clearly likes them as well.

Hayride round 2 Sept

I think we definitely need 4 swings. Could this be any cuter? Just wish Cecilia was looking up. They are really getting the hang of big kid swings.

Crazy Cohen and daddy

Caleb

'I said do not throw any more hay out!' Cohen and mommy

Hayride round 1

The triplet group always has a hayride at one of the moms house. It is so much fun because she has an awesome set up and a wonderful host. Aunt Sarah had gotten all of the babies a Halloween shirt so they were looking festive so Mark Caleb and I had to join in and wear similar fall colors. Wow does Cecilia's hair glow when she wears orange!

Family photo on the hayride

They recently had some work done at their house and there was a HUGE dirt pile so of course that was Caleb's favorite part.

Cohen playing with one of the MANY toys. I swear they have 3 of everything with is great when there are literally 85 kids there

Christian was lovin on the new kittens there. He was so sweet to them and just giggled when he was holding the babies.

Cecilia...our pumpkin actually sitting on the hayride...guess she was taking a break from throwing all of the hay out.

Craft Time

Caleb decided to make some crafts and someone really wanted to help him out. He was happy to let her help out today, but I'm not so sure I was a fan of what her idea of crafts were. Most of all of those small foam pieces ended up on the floor and are a pain to pick up-ugh! But they had fun, right?

Cohen enjoying a banana

Christian enjoying a banana

Cohen's first Haircut 9-19

Cohen was really long overdue for his first haircut, but we just hated to do it. He clearly does not know what is going to happen here and seems excited.

Clearly he was not a good participant in the hair cutting experience. Stylist daddy struggled a bit with his angry customer.

Still not happy and not interested in a post haircut photo op.

Caught

Cecilia likes to climb up in her chair (she usually sits in this one) and play with the phone or grab things off the table or throw things over the ledge, but today...she got caught...literally. Her dress got stuck on the center piece so she was hanging there by her dress. Of course I did not free her,. I grabbed the camera to capture the moment.

Jammie Time

What better way to enjoy the morning and trap your kids for a group photo? They love playing in each others beds and today it was Christians.

Cecilia, Cohen and Christian

Cecilia, Cohen and Christian

Labor Day cont

Apparently someone loves the lake. Cecilia maxin and relaxin

Caleb

Breakfast! In this picture it was the first time I realized how much Cecilia and and Aliyah look alike.

Labor Day Weekend at the lake

Labor day always seems to be the unofficial end to the summer season at the lake. Most of the time we go back after this weekend but it is always so nice since it is one of the few weekends the whole family is there.

Caleb, Caiden, Nolan, Grandpa G and Preston getting ready to roast some marshmallows!

Caleb doing his thing :)

How many can I have?? Caleb, Caiden and Nolan

Aliyah and Cecilia....the only girls must stick together.

Getting ready - Labor Day weekend

Of course everyone likes to help get ready for a weekend away at the lake. Cohen was packing the cooler and Christian was helping out by handing him things and even better, closing him in so he could pop out.

Crazy Cohen

Cecilia FINALLY let me put a bow in her hair. Not the best picture, but I had to prove that it actually happened.

Kindergarten Day 2

So the second day of school Caleb came home and told me that he had gotten lost and did not know where his classroom was. He knew from that from the library you go up the stairs and turn, but he did not know which stairs or how to get to the library. So I asked him what he did and like it was no big deal he said I just asked someone and they told me where to go but he didn't know his teachers name either...he called her the wrong name. Problem being that he still did not know how to get there the next day.

So, my thoughts are churning about the no teacher and never seeing his classroom so I could not help explain and now my kid is lost at school. UGH! What happened to the name tags that would identify them as kindergartners and the extra help they would get off the bus. I called the office and they of course said that all he had to do was ask for help the next day but I did not feel like that was enough. Caleb is no dumb kid. If you show him the way he will find it but all of this mixed up stuff was not right. I spoke to another mom and she suggested I contact the principal. She was not in her office when I called and since I had to be at work in a bit I shot her an e-mail. She of course called right away, but I missed her so she responded via e-mail that she would personally see to it that Caleb was walked to his classroom. Thankfully she was great and reassuring and Caleb did not have any other problems.

Date night

Mark and I got to go out one night and since it is such an event and I thought we looked nice I figured why not take a picture. Here we are.

Of course Caleb wanted in on the photo action too. How could I resist??

So Cute!

Team work

Talk about team work. These kids really know how to work together to get into stuff. The bathroom drawer is one of the hot spots that they love to hit. Here Cohen was using Cecilia to get up higher unfortunately she could only stand it for so long.

Blankie babies - Aug

Caleb has always loved the blankies that my mom has made for him and still has what we like to refer to as a yarn rag. When I was pregnant with the babies I of course wanted a hand made blanket from grandma, but I knew that for one was a lot of work and for two I knew I would need as much help as I could get when they got here from her so I didn't want to use up her precious time before hand. Much to my surprise at the 'Bath' I was given a box with 2 blue and 1 pink hand knitted blankets, just like the ones Caleb loves. I was so excited that she spent the time to make them for the babies.

You never know what you kids are going to cling to and fortunately and unfortunately all of my kids have loved their pacifiers and blankets. Here they are with their lovies.

Cohen decided he liked one of Caleb's smaller blankets that my mom had made so he handed his blue one off to Christian. She also got him another green one with a bear on it. Green blankies and green pacifiers.

Christian clings to the original blue blankies and his blue pacifier. He, like Caleb sometimes used his blankies as floss so there are quite a few loose strings that have been tied up. Grandma made him another blue one, but the originals are his favorites

Cecilia has the original and of course Grandma made her a back up too.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten morning started with Mark making pancakes for breakfast. Caleb told him that he makes the best pancakes in the whole entire world so of course Mark was thrilled to make them for him. Caleb was not as hard to wake up as I thought he was going to be but 6:45 is definitely WAY earlier than his 9am wake up. This is actually a big adjustment for me too since I was used to rolling out of bed at 7 and then being lazy for awhile before we had to do anything. Now it is rush to take a shower, get Caleb and the rest of the kids up, fed and out the door to walk to the bus stop by 7:40.

During breakfast Caleb got a call from his 'friends' aka cousins Caiden and Nolan. He had a good conversation with him while enjoying his pancakes. I think what really was supposed to happen was that aunt Trisha was calling to tell Caleb to have a good day and the kids took over the call.

Mom dad and Caleb before heading to the bus stop

There are lots of kids at the bus stop, and one of the kids is actually in his class. He w as really excited when the bus showed up and ran off. No tears from this kid. I didn't think it would bother me, but I was a little sad to see him seem so grown up. After the bus picked him up we went to school to meet him off the bus and go to the parents boo hoo breakfast. This is Caleb after he got off the bus. He was excited to be at school.

After the conversation the night before Mark and I could not resist taking a picture of this sign we found in school.

When we got to school we walked Caleb in but were not sure where to go since he did not have a classroom. We checked with the other kindergarten teacher and she said that we needed to go to the library. We met his teacher and she seemed very nice. Caleb told us that he was fine an that we could leave him. Mark and I headed to the boo hoo breakfast to chat with other kindergarten parents.

After picking up Caleb from the bus I got home and there was a message that he was absent. Knowing that I left him with his teacher an just got him off the bus I was not too concerned, but obviously wanted to know why they called. Apparently they had two name tags for him so when the second one was not given out he was marked absent. Seemed to be first day flubbers so I was understanding about the situation. Had I been home when they called I might have freaked a little especially if I had not taken him into school.

All and all the first day went well. Caleb seemed to be excited about school...mostly about the playground, but still happy to be back.

Family Photos - July

Cecilia July photos

Christian July photos

Caleb July Pictures

Twas the night before Kindergarten

Its the night before kindergarten and I am not sure what to think about how tomorrow is going to go. I didn't think that I would be bothered by him going to kindergarten, but I'm not so sure anymore. He's been in school for the last two years but we had meet the teacher night yesterday and we were supposed to meet his teacher, see his classroom and go for a short bus ride before the ice cream social. Well, as of yesterday he has no teacher and no classroom and that really bothered me. I know it is for the best because now there will be two classes of 15 instead of one with 30 kids, but still. So, tomorrow I guess we are all going to meet his teacher provided they were able to hire one. The plan is that he will get on the bus and then I will be there when he gets off the bus to take pictures.

I'm not sure that Caleb really understands what the big deal is about him going to school since he has been going to school for the last two years. Everyone keeps saying things to him about is so now I am worried that everyone is making too big of a deal about it. I do think he is excited about riding the bus but tonight he told Mark and I that he is worried about the bullies because God told him about them four hundred thousand ninety five years ago in his dreams. I just figured that when he mentioned bullies he was thinking of a movie like A Christmas Story but who really knows and once he pulled the whole God thing into it I was confused.

I am most worried about how I am going to get him up in time to make it to the bus stop which is about 15 houses away. I figure that I will need to drive to the bus stop and then the babies and I will walk up there for pick up. It should be interesting since it is SO early and he is not good about going to bed. Mark promised him that he would eat breakfast with him so I'm sure he will be excited to get up. Heck, the babies like waking him up no matter what so that will be fun!

Benda what? Bendaroos!

It was interesting when Caleb started pre-school two years ago that they talked about how kids progress as they get older with their art. Over the last year or so Caleb has really come into his own with describing and drawing pictures and the progress has been really neat to watch. This is just one of many pictures that he has made, but I thought it was cool because it was made out of bendaroos and it was on the wall next to my bed. He said it was a guy holding a balloon and can ice cream code with two scoops.