6 months

 sitting up
chewing on toes
loving his pumpkin and banana
chubby tummy
big smiles
no teeth

we call him
slobber bobber
grabbing goblin
mr. ben
benny boo

he is now 6 months!

river

anneliese is a lucky girl. she gets to share a birthday with her nana kay-that makes october 22nd one super special day. i'm discovering that october is one of the craziest months of the year for photographers-but we were able to make it work to take a weekend trip to spend some time with cousins. 

 the old tree by the river fell onto the bank-the kids could have played 'forts' down there for hours.

 happy birthday anneliese! and happy birthday to my mom. she has given me so much-and i really love getting to be her friend. i sometimes think one of the best things about having kids is raising them to be people you like to hang out with-
i love getting to hang out with her :)

asleep/awake

kisses and smiles

emily's 7th birthday

walks up to the meadow have become an almost daily ritual now-pushing the stroller up there in the early evening-watching the kids run on hay bales and admiring the beautiful light that happens that time of day.

so when we were trying to decide when, where and how to do emily's party-i knew i wanted to have it up at the top-picnic tables lined up and kids running down the hills.

it has been so consistently dry all summer-i didn't even think about worrying-

but, as it happens, they were predicting rain...

we decided to chance it-bobby rigged up a tent out of the 'all purpose' tarp and we loaded all the picnic tables as ben watched from the stroller.

as it turns out-it was a wonderful party. it did rain-but the kids loved it. and the adults stood under the "tent" watching the rain come down and watching the smiling wet kids. it was great.

so the story behind the slideshow-

i have been listening to this song all summer. josh garrels-jacaranda tree. i knew i wanted to use it somehow-but it isn't a typical slideshow song. it sounds kind of sad-but i don't think it is. i think it is reflective and beautiful. to me-the message is about change and loving the moments when they happen.

i included the lyrics-i hope it isn't too distracting-but they can be a little hard to understand.

we love you emily! you continue to make our lives brighter, make us see things differently and help us appreciate random bits of happiness :) 

if you want more-watch the slideshow here

goodbye to summer

this morning three very excited kids woke up, ate breakfast, got dressed, brushed their teeth and packed their backpacks with the lunch they helped make last night. they were moving fast and ready to go by 8am-even though we didn't need to leave for another 15 minutes. it was fun seeing their enthusiasm.  anneliese wanted me to help brush her hair and emily requested 2 pony tails. their hair has been wild all summer-so it was a treat to get to smooth it out and wrap hair ties around it.

anneliese had called me in last night before bed "can we go to my class first"
on the way we talked about the logistics of how we would work out the morning drop off. take the stroller or the wrap? take everyone to their classes one by one or let grant and emily head to their classes independently?
we found a parking spot in the very crowded lot. the 3 big kids with their backpacks unloaded and stood on the grassy median as i arranged ben in the wrap. i was carrying a blanket for anneliese's rest time and the kids were all holding onto it as we crossed traffic. emily said-"this is kind of fun" "it's kind of like tug a war and kind of like follow the leader". i smiled at these happy comments trying to imprint them so i could write them here later.
we decided that grant and emily could head to their classes and i would take anneliese. i could then go back and check to make sure they made it. they waved at friends and i heard 2 girls shout "emily!" as she made her way to the 1st grade hallway.
anneliese and i headed to the pre-k room. she hung up her backpack and sat down like it was something she had done everyday.  3 kids in an elementary school that is pre-K to 3rd grade. what a year!

it is an end to summer. a summer that was memorable not for big trips or events but for the expanse of it. the feeling of long afternoons of play, quiet sleep late mornings, evenings at the pool, library time, play with cousins and lots of time together.

 outside meals.

 pool time with cousins

 this is the 2nd annual quilt picture

 love this one of grant reading to anneliese-they love picking out which dinosaur they would be...

 watching the olympics was broken up with hours of pretending with all of nana's toys :)

grant and emily attended basketball camp together this year

 bonner springs aquatic center was our 2nd home in the evenings

 bobby and grant discussing diving :)

 ben liked to swim when the water was warm enough

 they are always so excited when i want to take their picture

 papa's irrigation ditch made for great water play one evening over the 4th of july break

 we said goodbye to grant's teeth this summer-no longer a perfect row of chicklets

grant did the piper basketball camp for a week

ben loves all the sound effects his uncle ryan can make

 becky comes through again as the cool aunt who loves fireworks!

 little heidi practicing her role as big sister

 my favorite part of the fireworks display-

 the lantern and the full moon

we spent some nice time at the library-picking out books and reading

dale's smile changed over the summer too!

the wild unicorn at play

 grant's dive

 this was my attempt at getting a picture of the kids in the morning. i will keep trying...

 messy outdoor fun