A New Year

The kids are off at their first day of a new school year.  They were both excited to go, which is always a huge plus.  I should say that Luke said he was excited for the first day....just not the second.:)  Luke said that I didn't need to walk him to his classroom, which made me a little sad, but I know that he's growing up.  I'm glad that he's comfortable at school and confident enough to face a new year by himself.  Reagan was a little nervous, but she has quite a few friends in her class, so I know she'll do great.  Her goal for the year is to not pull any cards (their form of discipline).  I told her if she accomplished that goal, I would take her to Adventureland next summer.:) 

 Reagan by her desk

 Luke with his teacher Mrs. Reha

 Checking out his new desk

 She wanted me to take countless pictures of her posing.:)

Winding Down

Summer vacation is coming to a close.  The bigs go back to school this week, but we have had a great summer.  I'm always a little sad when the kids go back to school.  I get tired of the fighting and the "I'm boreds", but I feel like I don't get to see them that much when they are in school all day.  This will be my last year with the twins home part of the day, so I'm going to enjoy it!

We went to the cabin one last time.  It wasn't as warm as August usually is, but the water wasn't bad and the kids never seem to mine.  They did a ton of fishing, but never caught a thing!

 

We met all the cousins at the zoo one morning.  I don't know who were crazier...the 12 kids or the animals.  They had a fun time and we ended our morning with a picnic at the park outside the zoo.

 

 

All the cousins, minus Makayla

The girls are always a lot more cooperative when it comes to having their picture taken.:)

The kids earned free tickets to an Iowa Cubs game through the summer reading program at the library.  It was a beautiful night at the game and as an added bonus Jason & Kristin and their kids and Grandpa & Grandma were at the game too. 

 I tried!:)

We spent our last summer break weekend in Pella.  Ryan had to go out of town for work and it breaks up the days for the rest of us! The kids got to have a sleepover with the cousins one night and at Grandpa & Grandma's the next night.  They had fun swimming in the cold, cold pool.  I had a sweatshirt on while I was taking these pics.:)  We went to the bakery and the park the next day and tried out G&G's new slip and slide.  Grandpa took the boys fishing that night.  Luke caught four bass.  Drew didn't catch anything, but he did have the pleasure of fish pooping all over his shirt.  Gross! Drew also got to ride in Grandpa's big truck and help him plant a tree.  He got a kick out of that.  What a great end to our summer vacation!

On Lake Time

We made it to the cabin up in Minnesota once so far.  The days always go by much too quickly.  It seems like the kids always get a second wind right before we have to leave, which makes leaving that much harder.  We had a great time swimming, riding on the boat and wave runner, taking mini trail rides and fishing (or at least trying to catch some fish!).  We had fires and smores to end out the day and were all exhausted by the time the sun set.   We are looking forward to heading up there once more in August before our summer comes to a close.  What a great place to relax!

 She posed everytime the camera came out.;)

 This is a rare picture of relaxing outside.  The bugs were so bad that they would swarm your head and make it impossible to read.  Yuck!

 The kids always love this swing and fight over whose turn it is.

 Poor Morgan gets hauled all over by Reagan.  Thankfully, she doesn't seem to mind.

She even got lots of swing rides!

 

 Waiting for Grandma to give them a wave runner ride.A

Proof that they do get along once in a while! 

 This was the first year they have ridden on the tube.  It was a hit!

 I got roped into riding with Reagan.  She likes crazy rides, so the twins couldn't go with her and Luke didn't want to. 

 Fishing on the dock

 A nice picture...

 and a silly one!

 We didn't get to do our sparklers on the 4th, so they had a great time with them.

The were so anxious to go fishing, they didn't even get dressed first!

This was the only catch of the weekend...and it wasn't even edible.:(

Reagan liked to play with the minnows.

Reagan went skiing and got up on her first attempt.  She went for quite a ways, too!