Kelsey Anne is Two today!!

She was more interested in her "pippy" than taking photos!

Where does the time go? Kelsey Anne is two years old today. It doesn't seem like that long ago when we were hoping Daddy would have a little bit of time with her before he deployed. They let us be induced a week early and choose her birthday to boot! This was the only birthday we got to choose. It's a good one: 9-29-09! Daddy got to be with us for 5 weeks before he left. Although he didn't see her again until she was 8 months old, she's is Daddy's girl! No doubt about that! When we ask her, "Who's your buddy?" It's "Daddy!" everytime. We call Kelsey the little monster. She has such a vivid personality and says the craziest things. I always mean to write them down, but I always forget! She is super smart and is always listening. We're often surprised that she really, really does know what's going on! We can't imagine our family without her. She is such an amazing little girl. Soon she won't be a baby anymore and we're kinda excited about that and about all that lies ahead for our little family!

It's Party Time!

Jenna had just won the "Hot Potato" game! She was so excited!

Jenna got to have her very first birthday party this last Saturday. She was so excited. We joined forces with another family in the ward who also had a turning 5 birthday princess. We had a joint party and it was wonderful! The other mom and I put together a super fun pizza party. We made the little chef's hats and aprons for all the party guests and they all looked so stinkin' cute! We read "Curious George and the Pizza Party", the children all made their own pizzas, we played some party games, had cupcakes, and watched the girls open their gifts. All the children had a wonderful time. It was so nice splitting the work with another mom, too. It was, dare I say it? Easy? Yes, and fun, too! Jenna and Lydia were so happy to share their first real birthday party together. What a fun time we all had.

Opening Gifts at Home

Here is beautiful Jenna Mae opening her gifts on her big day. She was so excited about the gifts we chose for her. Daddy brought home the roses and chocolate. That's his special tradition. I hope it's one he'll keep up forever! Jenna is our little princess. We love her so much!

Jenna is 5!!!

Jenna is such a big girl now! We think she is the most wonderful little girl in the whole world! Jenna is kind and thoughtful. She is the most generous child you will ever meet. She will even give you the very last candy she has if you ask her for it. She loves to do crafts and cut and glue and color. Her imagination is full of surprises. Jenna is learning all kinds of wonderful things in preschool. She is learning to write all the letters and can sound out some words herself. We are so happy to have her in our family. Jenna is a treasure!

Jenna's Special Day at Preschool

For Jenna's birthday at school, Kelsey and I went to the school to do face painting for Jenna's class. It was snack time when we arrived and we got to watch Jenna be the special helper. She was so excited to be helping Mrs. Auney. After snack I painted the children's faces. We all had a good time and the children loved it! Even Mrs. Auney got her face painted, too. Kelsey Anne thinks she is just as big as Miss Jenna and got her own seat at the table and joined them all during snack time. She is growing up, too!

National Blue Ribbon Award Winners!

North Bay Elementary was named a National Blue Ribbon High Performing school by the US Dept. of Education! We are so proud of all the children and staff. We absolutely LOVE this school. They made the announcement yesterday with a big school wide party having asked all the children to wear blue for Friday. Coach Pugh, one of our favorite guys ever, came out of retirement for the big day, too. These photos were posted on the district website and I swiped them! There were only 2 schools in Mississippi to earn this distiction. We are so happy that we made the effort to find a school for the boys that we felt good about. Days like these help us know it's the right thing for our family to pay tuition for public education. We know they are in good hands!

Henry is a Bear Scout!

Here is Henry ready for his first night in his Bear Den.

He is growing up so fast!

(Yes, he's lost his beads that are supposed to be hanging from his right front pocket. I always forget to take care of that in between Scout days!)

Jenna's First Day of Pre-K!

Today is Jenna's first day of Preschool. She was so excited to start. She didn't even care that we were dropping her off. In fact, Kelsey was the only one to even get a hug! We know she is going to have a great year!

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon, thanks to Tropical Storm Lee

Tropical Storm Lee has been turning our Labor Day Holiday weekend into a stay indoors and get things done kinda weekend. Yesterday, Dustin fixed the broken seatbelt in the van and helped me hang six shelves in our family room closet for our food storage. Those are two jobs I am soooooooooooo happy to have accomplished. We've been putting them off for ages and it's super that they are off the To-Do list. The rain kept us indoors again today. We went to church, of course, and headed to the base chapel to enjoy Break the Fast with the Airman who cannot leave the base or who are hear for training without transportation. It was super fun. I think we'll have to do that every fast sunday. This evening Dustin got the Lincoln Logs out of the attic and he and the kids built this amazing "lodge"! It's pretty impressive. I like quiet evenings like this!

Jenna's First Meet-the-Teacher Night

Thursday night was Jenna's chance to head to school for the very first time to meet her very first teacher! She was so excited! We even went through three outfits and two different pairs of shoes before we knew we were finally ready. Mrs. Auney is awesome! She seems like the perfect preschool teacher. Jenna was excited to find her desk and her own hook as well as her cupcake on the birthday calendar. I think she's going to have an amazing year at preschool. Now, if Tuesday can only hurry up and get here!