First Day of School

Today was Dylan's first day of kindergarten. It was bittersweet. I can't believe he's old enough to go to school, but he certainly is ready for it. I think he was a little nervous this morning, because he didn't eat much breakfast which is very unusual for him! He enjoyed getting ready for school and was really excited to get to ride the bus! This is how he posed for the picture. Silly boy!I got him to do one normal pose for me! He watched around the corner for the bus to come. He couldn't wait to get on!
There is my big boy, all grown up! I still enjoy spending half of the day with him. He is in the morning class, so I pick him up at 11:40. Luckily there is someone we know in the same class, so we can carpool! Yeah! He really enjoyed his day and is looking forward to tomorrow.

Lauren and Ethan's check-up

Lauren's 3 year Stats:
Height: 39 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 30 lbs. 12 oz. (50th percentile)
According to the doctor, she is in the 10th percentile for height/weight ratio, which means that she is very tall and skinny. She is growing so fast! I tried to put her tennis shoes on the other day and they don't fit her anymore! I think she has grown 2 sizes just over the summer! She is doing great with going potty. She can even go by herself on the big potty! Yeah! I've waited a long time for that! She has been staying dry all night long, so I think we are done with pull-ups! She loves artsy things and is very precise with them. I think I'm going to enroll her in an art class this fall. She is such a little girl and can turn on the tears instantly. We are working on getting her to talk about her problems instead of crying about them. It is a long process, but hopefully we will get there someday! I love my little sweetie!


Ethan's 15 month stats (about a month late):
Height: 31.75 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 23 lbs. 12 oz. (55th percentile)
Head Circumference: 48.8 cm.
He is just average for both his height and weight. He is very active and keeps me on my toes. His hair is so curly, I just can't cut it now. I think it's adorable, especially when it's humid outside! He is growing up so fast! He wants to keep up with Dylan and Lauren, so he is learning things very fast. He climbed up on the computer desk the other day and was so proud of himself! He looked at me with this excited expression on his face, Look what I can do! He can open doors now, which is not such a great thing. So far, we have been lucky with the bathroom! He is my little wild child, but I love him dearly!

Mammoth Caves

My parents and sister had planned a trip to Kentucky and invited us along. Ricky had to work on Saturday, so he took Friday off and stayed home with Ethan and Jack to make it possible for me to take Dylan and Lauren. Dylan, Lauren and I headed south to Mammoth Caves right after swim lessons were done on Friday. We stayed for the pool party day, but it rained again! Poor kids didn't get to have their pool party either session. It was a little over a 4 hour drive, and the kids didn't have to stop to use the bathroom until the exit before we got off. They did great and the drive wasn't too long. When we got there, we went straight to the Mammoth Cave. It was beautiful and COLD. It was only 54 degrees down there. Luckily we brought jackets for the kids, so they could enjoy it.Looking down into Mammoth Cave.The whole group! The next morning, we went horseback riding on a trail through the woods. Dylan got to ride with me and Lauren rode with grandma. It was nice and relaxing and all the kids had a blast! (Grandma has the pictures, so I will update with them soon!)We camped at Jellystone Park for the weekend. It was really fun other than the big rain storm we got on Saturday afternoon. We were lucky and our tents and supplies were ok. Others, not so much(as you can tell by this picture)! We weren't able to cook after the storm, so we ended up eating out for dinner. The kids didn't mind at all! After the storm, we went to this rock shop up the street. They had a Mystery House that we toured and had a blast. The kids took turns balancing on this chair with the front 2 legs not touching the ground.
And this part of the house made my sister (5 foot 2 inches) look taller than her boyfriend (over 6 feet tall)!
Dylan and Landen showing off their muscles in the fun mirrors.

Sunday morning we packed up camp and headed to The Lost River Cave for a boat tour. It was beautiful and we got to hike down to the cave.
Here is the boat that we rode. To get through the cave, you have to duck down at the beginning. It was something I had never seen before! The kids had so much fun together! Thanks for a wonderful weekend!

Lauren's Party

We decided to have a little birthday party for Lauren. We had family and a couple of close friends over to celebrate with us. Lauren thought it was really neat to have her friends over for her birthday. Too cute! My good friend Wendy made this AWESOME castle cake for Lauren. I love it and it was perfect for Lauren! Thank you so much, you are very talented!
Lauren had fun opening her gifts. She got a cute, homemade skirt from my mom. She immediately took her skirt off to put it on. She loves skirts right now! Lauren and the grandmas!Lauren and Kiah (they are 3 days apart)!Lauren and Sean (they are 1 month apart)!
Thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate Lauren's 3rd Birthday! It was so much fun getting to party with everyone!