a little taste

just got home from a dear friend's wedding... i was away for 5 days with hallie while brian held down the fort around here. it was a treat to sneak away with my baby girl and our new prime lens to spend the (long) weekend with sweet sweet college friends. i have hundreds (and hundreds) of pictures to sort through, but i couldn't resist posting these of lynsay and derek's beautiful and delicious wedding cake.



i was too short to snap this one myself, but i commissioned the task to lynsay's friend heidi. she captured just what i wanted! and a year from now, the mr. and mrs. will enjoy feasting on the top of this cake!


lots of blog posts are swirling in my head, but math and spelling and playing outside in this glorious weather are taking precedent these days! will be back when i'm back!

daddy's home

first day of school!

we had a wonderful first day of school today! caroline has been about to explode with excitement over starting kindergarten, so she was ready to go full-speed ahead this morning. ethan and i spent a good bit of the summer catching up on first grade work since we got a late start last year and we took a month off when hallie was born. so when his math time only consisted of one lesson today, he was overjoyed! :) here is our schoolroom full of my blessings!


take a goooood look at that table because it may not ever be that clean again! but oh what a difference a year makes! this time last year, the view into that room looked like this... (hence, the late start!)


so this year, MOMMY was about to explode with excitement over starting the year organized and on time! i must say that our schoolroom is one of my favorite parts of our house. anyway, indulge me as i post the kids' "first day of school" pictures...

ethan- 2nd grade, 7 years old. man oh man, this boy's face has gotten long and skinny in the last month.


caroline- kindergarten, 5 years old. oh happy day for this girl!


amelia- mommy's "helper", 3 years old.


amelia is not doing "preschool", just playing and doing puzzles and playing and dancing playing and reading books and playing and singing and playing. ethan and caroline will alternate playing with her while i work with each of them on reading/spelling and math, and then amelia will join us all for bible, five in a row, and probably science. she will most likely be hanging out in the schoolroom during some spelling and math, so i won't be surprised if she is walking around saying some of the phonograms by the end of the year!

ethan started his very first journal today... and as if i needed more evidence that he is his father's son... here is his first entry. i told him it had to be at least 2 sentences.


i don't know if i've ever written anything that was only 2 sentences! ha!

we had a special treat after lunch to celebrate the first day of school... apple smiles! caroline found this idea in a magazine, and she was super excited to get to make them today.




ok... not exactly like the picture, but as my supervisors in grad school hammered into my head, it's the process, not the final product, that is important with little ones and projects. :) this girl loved the process and the final product!


i agree... they were delicious and were a super way to kick off the school year.

i am so so thankful to spend my days with these kiddos. God has blessed me beyond measure. way beyond.


i will hopefully be back soon to catch up on august. yep, the whole month just pretty much flew by and was consumed by car and computer issues. hallie is still growing, despite the lack of updating on here. :) see ya here soon for some hallie lovin' and some august recapping!