1st day of Kindergarten

I can't believe how fast time flies. My firstborn is embarking on the first big adventure of her lifetime! From now until she's in her 20's she will be going to school and time will be marked by weekends and holidays. It's one of those bittersweet moments of being a parent. We have, and raise, our children for these days, our ultimate goal is to encourage them and give them the wings to go out on their own, but our gut instinct is to want to hold them close, cuddle them and force them to stay by your side. Letting go is never easy and I pray that I can always see the joy in these moments rather than the loss. One of those joyful moments I'm focusing on is asking about her day and hearing her stories as she makes new friends. How I wish I could follow her and watch her interact, but that really isn't the same is it? I also realize there are so many parents who dream for this day, and it will never come. How much worse is a dream broken then my unreasonable fear of sending her off in the world "alone".  I've also seen that even in the 2 days she's been in school there is a change in her attitude and the way she holds herself. She's maturing right before my eyes! There is a sense of independence about her that wasn't there on Monday. It's as if she's gone off now and realized she can survive on her own, and she likes it. So, while part of me wants to cry at the loss of my baby, I choose to smile, laugh, and dream of the future stories and experiences we'll both have along this new "adventure"!

Getting her just as she is waking up on the big day! Already a smile on her face!

 Her teacher Mr. Clemons. So far he seems like a really great teacher and I've heard great things about him.

 Her cubby

 Her desk

Isabel's birthday

So even though we had a party for her in July we still wanted to celebrate the actual day of Isabel's birthday! I know I say this a lot but that girl is SO MUCH FUN and such a wonderful child. She is loving and helpful (almost too much when it involves cooking!) and even more independent than Avery was at this age. I hear a lot of I DO IT, and the great thing is that she can. From car seats to picking out her clothes, she takes care of it.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl. Life would be less without you!

Mendocino camping

 We love this girl. Tay is such a wonderful girl and such help with the kids. She stayed in the tent with some of the kids so the adults could hang out by the fire.

 See the glass?

 This place is so ugly...

 Loving on the sea crab

 Isn't she the cutest

 The Miller family

 My loves...

For the second year in a row we joined about 6 other families for a weekend of good ole' fashioned camping! It's nice to see all the kids running around together, and meals are always easier with a bunch of hands. Of course they also take much longer to prepare and eat with so many people. This year we went to Van Damme State Park on the Mendocino coast. It's a beautiful place but not very warm this time of year. While the rest of our family was burning up in record heat, we were trying to keep warm by the fire every morning and night.  Our family adventure on Saturday was a trip to Fort Bragg to visit the glass beach. It's a beach that years ago had a ton of bottles dumped on it and over time the waves have washed them smooth.  The rest of the weekend was mostly spent watching the kids run around, climb trees and poke at the giant banana slugs.

Random shots

On Mother's day our church had some mini photo-shoots we could do for some fun. They had a formal scene, a beach and rock band. They aren't professional quality but I thought they were fun. Of course I'm the person who makes Ryan and the girls pose at every cutout they see at fairs. Luckily he loves me and posed for all three!

My photographer friend Kelly is horrified by the quality and the posing so she's agreed to redo the family photo. See, it all works out in the end. (we're going to combine 3yr Isabel with family)

Isabel's party

Now I know it's about a month before Isabel's birthday but we already had her party. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not that big into planning and hosting birthday parties. It's not the party part, it's coming up with a "theme", decorating, gift bags and such. I can't wait until she is old enough for a sleepover and then all I have to do is get some movies, pizza, soda and observe from a distance. Anyway, a couple of my friends out here love all that stuff and even one of the women has a child with a birthday 4 weeks from Isabel's. Since we have the same friends it made sense to have a joint party. We thought about something in the middle of the birthdays but there wasn't a free weekend so we picked this one.  It was great for me, she cleaned her house, decorated and I just showed up with some food. The theme was pinwheels and polka dots and I made a "pinwheel" cake and she decorated one with fondant polka dots. Our photographer friend took more pics of the decorations so I'll get those up later.
I think she had fun. It was a lot of kids running around and she got to open presents so it's pretty much a win. I was so excited for her present. All the grandparents and us pitched in for this really nice dollhouse. It's all wood and bigger than she is. She is great with pretend play and loves dolls so I knew this was something they could all enjoy. As you can see from the pictures everyone was interested in it.

 There were tons of boxes of furniture.

 Parker was very concerned that she put the furniture in the right spots.

 Gracie blowing out her candles

 Chloe has a birthday in between Grace and Isabel so we thought we'd sing to her too.

We love animals!

Avery and Isabel spent the day at a friends house. Between the dogs and the snakes they were in heaven! I love these pictures, it totally captures their personalities!

Avery's birthday!

I can't believe my baby girl is 5! It has been the most amazing 5 years of my life and even though I'm biased I really think she is one of the most amazing 5 year olds out there. She amazes me with her compassion for people around her. The last time I felt sick she went in the kitchen, got me a glass of water and some cheese and crackers so I didn't have to get up from the couch. She is also so very smart. The things she remembers and figures out from little pieces of conversations we have. I'm also very proud the fact that she can go on one of our 2-4 mile hikes and do the whole thing on her own.  I knew becoming a mother would be wonderful but it's so much more fantastic than I thought.

 For her birthday I actually had a real birthday party with friends, crafts and games. From the beginning she said she wanted a pink poodle birthday cake and I managed to find a cute template in a magazine. Ryan cut it out and decorated and she was very happy. It really was so cute! I was quite proud!

Even more fun was that one of her first friends as a newborn drove up from LA. Val was Avery's first babysitter after she was born so her and Lilly spend the first 18 months of their life together. Val was also a really go friend to me so it was fun to hang out for the day. It's one of those friendships where you don't have to see each other regularly but still feel so comfortable with each other.

Overall it was a very fun day and I was so thankful to have so many friends come and celebrate with us. We've met some really wonderful people out here!

 Playing the hula hoop game

 Christa and Melissa

 Kelly and Christi

 Sydney-Kate

 Lilly

 Opening presents

 Ogling the big, new PetShop toy!