:picture update:

My lack of blogging is mostly because I spend my time homeschooling, taking care of 3 children and the house, and also spending time with my husband. By the end of the day all I want to do is be with Josh and finally sit down to relax. I really miss blogging. But I finally found an app that will let me blog from my phone and also add some pictures so I'm hoping that will help me do a better job at updating. So here are a bunch of pictures for ya....

Sweet G feet

G loves bath time and has recently decided he wants to climb out of his little ducky

I love watching these two. Ryleigh doesn't really like to be around Grayson all that much but Emma loves to hug and kiss on him 

Lunch at the park

Grayson's first time swinging 

The kids first time at Krispy Kreme

School time!

E insisted on carrying around her frying pan like Repunzel just incase she needed to "hit someone in the head"

Big boy haircut

Emma joined girlscouts and is a Daisy!

 

Last week Emma has to be put under anesthesia to have her nose cauterized. She was having a lot of nose bleeds and since last week, she hasn't had any!

E and daddy playing with Legos!

E at her Daisy meet & greet

 
 

Emma-5 Years Old!

My sweet little Emma turned 5 back on August 30th. This was a very bittersweet day to me. 5 just seems so grown up to me. She is growing up so fast and is becoming a little girl that I am so proud of. She truly has a kind heart and I hope that she never loses that. She is well-mannered, sweet, and very appreciative of everything. After every gift she opened, she said how beautiful it was and said thank you so much. Her new phrase is that everything is "bippity boppity beautiful." Emma loves to do puzzles and she especially loves to color. She has tons of coloring books and will honestly color all day if you let her. She also has a deep love for Doc McStuffins. She got several Doc McStuffins gifts for her birthday including a Doc costume. We all have gotten many checkups lately. We didn't do a big party this year because of some different things going on but we did plan some things. On her actual birthday Josh took off work and took both girls out to breakfast. They were so excited because it's very rare that Josh has a day off work. After breakfast we went to Monkey Joes(inflatables). When we left there Emma wanted to go to Toys R Us to spend some birthday money. She picked out a little toy and then also bought Ryleigh a new puzzle with her money. For dinner we went to eat mexican food and ended that with some fried ice cream.  We also had dinner and cake with both sets of grandparents and my family. Emma had a great birthday and she is super excited to be 5!

::Kindergarten::preschool::

The girls first day of school was on August 26th. Emma started kindergarten and Ryleigh started preschool. The first week or so we spent doing some fun things as well as a few assignments. The girls are so eager to learn and they really enjoy being at home. Homeschooling is going pretty good so far. We've had a few days where Emma has had to learn that she doesn't always do the same things as Ryleigh. Naturally, Emma has more actual work than Ryleigh does so its going to take some time. But overall they do a great job and are learning a lot. We usually have school from about 8:45-11/11:30. Because we do all of our work in the morning, that leaves the afternoon for some rest time and also some play time. The girls actually did all of their school work for today last night after dinner so that we could go out and do some things today. I love that we are able to do that. We also do not have school on Friday. We only go Monday-Thursday. That leaves Friday's for field trips, errands, and cleaning. We have lots of things planned and I'm so excited to experience all of it with them. 

(my sweet Ryleigh who hates the camera!  atleast shes still cute)

 We do school work.....Grayson plays in the trashcan.  :0)

G::9 Months

Grayson is 9 months old now! Only a few months left until he's a toddler. He starts doing new thing about every week now so the last month or so has been exciting. Here is what G is up to at 9 months!

-he is wearing anywhere from 6-12 month clothes, his t-shirts are 3-6 months mostly.

-he is in size 4 diapers

-he has 4 bottles a day at 5 oz each.

-2 meals per day as well as a couple of snacks thrown in

-he munches on puffs and can also eat some little crackers

-G usually gets atleast one sippy cup of juice every day, usually about 3 oz or so

-he still naps around 3 times a day. 1 hr-1 1/2 hrs in the morning, an hour at lunch time, and then 1 1/2 hrs around 3 or 3:30

-he still has his bedtime routine that he loves that includes bath, bottle, then bed. he sleeps from 7pm-7am and rarely gets up in the middle of the night.

-this month he started getting up on his knees to crawl after 2 months of army crawling. 

-he cruises around his crib and furniture and can let go and stand for a few seconds before he sits down.

-a week or so ago he took his first few steps. he has taken any since then but I'm sure it wont be long.

-he is mamas boy. I am by far his favorite person right now and he prefers me to do most things for him

-he is a people person and loves to look around at different things.

-G loves to be tickled

-he loves to talk.  he babbles so much but can't really make out too much ofcourse. ;)

-has two bottom teeth and top one poking through

-can climb the stairs!! and he is fast so we will be getting a baby gate soon!!

-still loves Mickey Mouse!

-sleeps with his paci

Grayson has developed such a sweet personality. He loves to play and be around everyone and we are loving watching him grow!

::little man::8 Months!

This past Sunday Grayson turned 8 months old. He's getting bigger and bigger every day. I just love the baby stage so much because I love watching them learn new things. Here is what G was up to this past month! (I will post pictures when I take them within the next few days)

-he is wearing anywhere from 3-9 month clothes. He is in 9 month pajamas, 3-6 month t-shirts, and 6 month onesies. 

-he is in size 4 diapers. 

-G is still eating 5 oz at a time. He is having a bottle every 3 hours or so be he also gets baby food in the morning and afternoon and he snacks on puffs alot.

-he is eating puffs by himself now and can pick them up and put them in his mouth by himself. 

-his crawling has gotten a lot faster. He is still army crawling but I have seen him get up on his hands and knees some so maybe he will start crawling that way soon.

-he can sit himself up when he is laying down and he can also pull himself up on his knees. He wants to stand up so bad. When I am sitting on the floor playing with him all he wants to do is grab onto my shirt and pull up. He loves standing and bouncing. 

-G is still loving bath time. 

-he takes 3 naps a day. an hour and a half around 8:30am and 12pm and then about an hour around 3:30pm. He goes to bed between 7and 7:15 and sleeps until about 6-6:30. I'm working on getting him to sleep till 7 but for now, this is where we are at. He has had a rough week with teething and has been getting up some during the night but he normally goes right back to sleep. When he isn't teething he sleeps all night long.

-he has two teeth but the top teeth will be here any day. His poor gums are so red and swollen.

-he is so ticklish and he will belly laugh so loud.  

-he likes to sit and look at books while I read to him.

-he is currently very attached to me. He wants mama and only mama. It's cute but also tiring.

-he can make the "B" sound

Grayson is just the sweetest little boy and we are having so much fun watching him learn new things!

::Kindergarten::

How in the world is my little baby starting Kindergarten this fall?! Emma will be 5 on August 30th. She missed the cut off day by 1 day! So, she can start Kindergarten this fall or I could technically wait until next fall and she still wouldn't really be behind. Josh and I have been thinking about her schooling (and really all of children) over the past year or so. It is a BIG decision and one that we do not take lightly. About a year and a half ago or so I brought up the topic of homeschooling. I honestly thought Josh would shoot down the idea and there wouldn't be anymore discussion about it. I was surprised when he said he thought that would be great and he was all for it. That began our serious discussions on what we wanted for our kids. It's a very personal decision for each family. And it's actually the hardest decision I've ever made in my life. Choosing how your children will be educated shapes their whole life. I went back and forth for months on whether I wanted to homeschool and also whether I thought I could actually do it and make sure that my kids would learn the things they needed to learn. I wanted to give them the best possible opportunity to succeed and do well. After many many discussions we have chosen to homeschool. I am very excited about this and Emma is also. By homeschooling I am able to teach them how they learn best and I also am responsible for things that they are learning that are not school related. Josh and I have many reasons to homeschool but I don't feel as though I need to explain them all. I do not want to come across like I don't agree with people who send their children to public school. That is definitely NOT true. Homeschool isn't for everyone. I am going to try this first year and see how it goes. I imagine it will be a year by year discussion on whether we should continue or not depending on how it goes. I am very optimistic though. I know that everyone doesn't agree with our choice and I know there are probably many people who have a much different opinion than we do. We know that there are pros and cons to homeschool and also public school. But we also believe that the pros outweigh the cons for homeschool. We really appreciate the support that we have been given and we hope that you all will continue to support us as well as our children. I am looking forward to this coming school year and also keeping you all updated on how we are doing with this new adventure!

:little boy::

BOY, (n): a noise with dirt on it

This sweet boy has blessed our family for 7 months. He has the sweetest little grin and the most loveable personality. We just adore him so much. 

All photos by: Images by Autumn