Emma's 1st Day of First Grade!

The moment I have been dreading has come. Emma is in 1st grade and at school all day! We miss her here at home but she is loving school so far. She has a great teacher this year and I am excited to see everything she will learn.

 She went into 1st grade at 6 yrs old and wants to be a "fashion and jewelry designer" when she grows up.

So grown up. 

I wish they could stay little forever!

The Color Run

The Color Run 5K was a blast! We had a team of 7, 3 moms and 4 girls! We made awesome tutus to run in and just generally had a ton of fun. Here are some pics from the "race". I say that loosely because this race is not timed and our girls decided to sit down on the side of the street for a granola bar break halfway through. It was hilarious!!

 Grandma, the girls and I ready to go!

 My good friend Randi and I with our girls at the starting line.

 Ellie was none to happy we got her up early for this event. She climbed in her old stroller, pulled her headband over her eyes, then her sunglasses and pretended to be asleep. Nice. 

 This was just after the granola bar break. In fact I think Emma still has a mouthful in this picture. The girls decided there tutus were itchy so they took them off and wore them on their heads. Hahaha! They got several laughs from other runners.

 A colorful Emma!

 A colorful Ellie. She loved the yellow powder!

We finished! 

 This one is of Grandma and the girls.

We were some of the last to pass over the finish line thanks to the 20 min granola bar stop, but we made it! It was a blast. 

We will be back next year Color Run!

Shiny New Earrings!

We have always told Emma that she could decided when she wanted to get her ears pierced. She has never been interested until a few weeks ago. Suddenly she HAD to have earrings- and before she went to school. So we packed into the car and went to Clair's. She loves her new earrings!

My Unexpected Birthday...

While my birthday is always a fun time, this year I got a special "present"... food poisoning. Yep- super nasty, week long lasting, severe food poisoning. Awesome! Thankfully I am over the worst of it and just in recovery mode! We still celebrated and thanks to my family at the cabin- an early celebration- and to Ben when we got home, we still had fun.

 This was my surprise when we got home! My sweet husband- who hasn't made me a birthday cake since we were dating- made me a brownie cake! I couldn't eat much but it was great! He even had fireworks all ready to go! Best Hubby Ever!!!

 Since I was down and out I took a chair for the show this year.

 Ellie decided to jump in and get everything ready to go for Daddy!

 Ben entertained the girls with snakes, smoke bombs and sparklers while we waited for it to get dark.

Thank you to all my family and friends that sent birthday wishes and helped me celebrate!

Love you all!

A Trip to the Cabin

Luckily this year we were able to visit the cabin for a week in June! Unfortunately Ben had to work- but the girls and I headed over on our own. The cabin is always awesome and has a view you could stare at for hours! This year there were even tons of hummingbirds! One night we counted over 40 hummingbirds within about 15 min. Crazy! Here are some fun pics from our visit.

Emma the hummingbird whisperer.

As long as she held still- and Ellie was inside- she could get hummingbirds to land on her finger while they ate. It was awesome!

Ellie tried a few times but was just to wiggly. :) 

She can't seem to hold still for more than about 10 seconds. 

Hahaha!

 Geodes!

Grandma took the girls to get their very first geode. The girls were so excited! 

They even got to crack them open themselves!

Thanks Grandma!!!

 

 

Playing with the bears!

 Auntie Rissa gave Ellie her 1st haircut!!!

Thanks Auntie!

Ellie with Auntie Ashley and Uncle Caleb.

She could not get enough of Auntie Ashley this trip!

Emma loving on Auntie Ashley!

Our trip to the cabin was fun as always! Four wheeler rides, beautiful scenery and much much more. My Mom is awesome when we visit! She is always helping with the kids, cooking us great food so I can have a break too and giving lots of loves. 

Thank you for everything Grandma and Papa!!!

Zoo Daze

Zoo Daze at our zoo is always a blast!

 Its filled with animal encounters, face painting, fake tattoos, food trucks and of course the butterfly encounter! Here are some fun pics from that day!

 Look closely... there is a beautiful butterfly in here!

Emma and the lioness just hanging out!

Emma Graduates Kindergarten!

It is so hard for me to believe that Emma is all done with Kindergarten! I never seem to get used to how fast she is growing up! However- we are so proud of our little girl and the awesome job she did. Perfect grades all year through! Amazing!

Before and after picture

The first and last day of kindergarten.

She has grown so much already. Where did those cute cheeks go?

NOW: SUMMER IS BACK IN SESSION

YES!!!