Ella's First Day of Kindergarten 2013

Yesterday was Ella's first day of Kindergarten.  Where has the time gone?  I was not ready for this.  I knew I would be sad, but I didn't expect to be emotional.  Yes it's true, I cried.  I held it together until she couldn't see me.  She was excited, but definitely scared and nervous and I didn't want to make it worse.  I knew she would have a great time, but still it seemed so awful to watch her walk into school so scared and unsure.  Of course when I picked her up a few hours later, she was back to her bubbly, happy self.  She quickly exclaimed "I love kindergarten"!  I shed a few tears again when she hugged me, but this time because I knew she was going to be okay.    

 Ella with her teacher, Mrs. Cornia.

For the first day of school they put out red carpets for the students to walk in on and then the parents get to cheer them on as they walk into school just to show their support.  Kinda fun.  

Canning Season... It's that time of year again

Yesterday my neighbor and I canned 75 pounds of peaches.  To say we were tired of peaches would be an understatement.  My feet were so tired and my back hurt so badly by the time I went to bed last night.  We started at 9:30 in the morning and I finished about 9:30 that night.  It would have taken substantially less time, but we have six munchkins between the two of us, all under the age of six, so someone always needs something.  I now have 30 jars of peaches in my cold storage room though, so I'm happy.  Now onto the next item... salsa.

They sure are pretty when they are all bottled like this.

Happy Birthday Baby Evan!!!

Where has the time gone!?!  I can't believe you are one year old already.  Evan you are such a joy to have in our family.  You are sweet and mild mannered, which I really appreciate.  You are stuck to me like glue, which is sometimes really inconvenient, but I secretly love it because I know I'm your favorite.  You are as cute and squishy as they come and I love to eat you up... your little back rolls taste especially yummy.  You always have a way of making everyone around you happy.  And you are becoming quite the little feisty and adventurous guy.  We love you Heavy Evy!!!

Yellowstone: Part 3

 Here we are on our last trek into the Park.  

 The Grand Prismatic Spring was beautiful.

 The steam looked amazing.

 These kids and smells.

 They were promised ice cream if we got through Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring.

 They also got to play at the park.

 Aww... sand angels.

 Our last campfire.

 This kid wasn't letting anyone take that marshmallow from him.

 Someone liked her smore.  Pucker up.

 The Vest.  This was Andrew's vest when he was a baby.  Everyone one of our kids has worn it at least once.

 We went to a bear and wolf rescue center.  The kids really liked the wolves.  We also got to see the bears search for food that was hidden in their home.

That bear flipped over that rock like it was nothing.

Here we are on the drive home.  They were exhausted!