This year I decided to send Canden to Preschool. We worked so hard to get him potty trained so he could go. Well, he is officially a big boy now. This year as far as school goes has been PERFECT. We take Araleigh to the bus stop at 12pm and Canden is picked up at 12:05 or right after. Then he gets brought home at 3 and we leave to get Araleigh right away cuz she gets out at 3:10. Seriously. . . its AMAZING. I have THREE WHOLE HOURS Tues-Thurs to myself. . . because Livee goes down for a nap around noon and sleep til 2:30-3. It is like Christmas for me. I have been able to get all my shopping done and everything I need to do without worrying about the older ones.  Or I have found that just sitting here in the quiet and relaxing is starting to do wonders for me. :) I LOVE PRESCHOOL! Our Carpool this year is awesome. I only drive every other week. ITS TOTALLY AWESOME. And I wasn't sure about afternoon everything. . . I AM SO GLAD I DID IT. We have more time in the morning to get things done when the kids get home and we aren't pulling our hair out because they are bored for tons of hours. It breaks up the day for them and I have found we are all happier because of it. I worried about Canden with school only because I think he is the youngest. He just turned 3 and most of the kids in there are 4-5. But so far he has seemed to do ok. I absolutely LOVE hearing him talk about his day. He is so cute. 

 Araleigh has started school now and absolutely LOVES it. She LOVES her teacher Mrs. Pecha and loves riding the bus. She said to my the other day "Mom, its time for me to ride the bus home now." Ya, I said no. lol Just not ready for her to be on the bus with big kids yet. I went to a parent teacher curriculum meeting the other night . . . as I was sitting there I couldn't help but reflect on how time has flown. I cannot believe my little girl is in school now -- and looking around seeing all the fun charts and such reminded me of grade school. Her teacher asked all the kids what their favorite thing about school was so she could share it with us that night. Araleigh put down that she "LOVES LEARNING NEW STUFF" Mrs. Pecha said she tried really hard to get her to be specific but she just kept telling her . . "JUST STUFF". lol When I asked her about it I said like what . . . and she said "MOM, I love learning everything thats new and I didn't know before" . . . I was very satisfied with that answer. She is so amazing. I look at her and am amazed at how wonderful she is. She is truly a sweet spirit and I don't know what I would do without her. She has become my mini helper in every way and she is so willing to serve. I pray everyday that she will be strong and feel loved so that in the future when things get hard . . she can get through them. 

Canden being a Star Fish

I forgot to blog that this summer  I put the kids in Swimming Lessons. The teacher was amazing. Canden scream and cried for the first week and wouldn't let her go. By the second week he was putting his head in the water and walking around on his own. I was so happy to see his progress. Araleigh did super good. She was swimming long ways down the pull under water by the end of it. I am so proud of both of them for trying and working hard. 

I had to throw in some pictures on my Livee Lou. She is growing so fast and such a sweet spirit. She has THE CUTEST SMILE you will ever see. Mostly because she is ALL CHEEKS. Everytime I go to the store I get stopped by everyone to let me know how cute she is. Thank you . . I already know! lol

She is LOVING the bath recently. Now that she sits up she just loves sitting in there and splashing everyone.

She also LOVES sucking on her toes. So weird. But every time she has her foot free its usually in her mouth. She is so cute.

At Church waiting to go in -- she doesn't love being at church. It messes with our sleep schedule.

Handsome Man ready for school pictures.

Both kids ready for school.

 And here is a picture of Canden boy--- Just because he is so cute.

First day of busy life.

So on Saturday was Araleigh's first soccer game of this season. She scored 4 goals and was very excited. She loves soccer. This year is her 3rd year on the team I can't believe we have started our 3rd year in Washington. Anyways, Araleigh had 2 soccer games and I really wanted to take the kids to the Bluffs (farms) to get some fresh fruit and so I decided that was the plan for in between games. We got up to Harvest House and ended up on a tractor ride to go pick our own peaches. I think its important for my kids to be able to experience these things and each year we  have brought them up to pick fruit. The first year was Strawberries . . and that was so much fun. Mostly because I couldn't get my 2 year old to stop eating them and then was covered in juice when we went back to pay--- kinda evidence that we weren't paying for everything we "picked" lol. The last year we got apples and pumpkins. And this year is peaches. We ended up letting them only get about 10 off the orchard because most had been picked over. So we rode back to the barn and bought some in the store as well. They were SO YUMMY! Nothing better to me than a fresh peach with some sugar and cream! Canden wouldn't have it any other way than straight off the core. He kept mowing them down like crazy . . . and was sticky for that week straight because of it. Livee and Canden have been troopers about getting dragged around to the soccer games . . . even in the heat. Livee HATES being hot. But as you can see . . . she's my ray of sunshine. Her smile is contagious and those cheeks  . . . super munch-able. As stated before . . . soccer is upon us and we have now had 4 games and Araleigh has been a little superstar in most of them. She gets so excited when she get her goals.The funny thing is that she is really shy about it. Everyone always comments on how cute she is because every time she is on the field she is smiling. Her smile never leaves when she is playing. . . I didn't notice til it was pointed out to me. When she scores and we are all yelling and excited for her she just shys away smiling and moves on. She is getting a lot better this year and has so much fun doing it. We are starting Araleigh in gymnastics in October . . . we are both excited about that. Hopefully she will get what I want for her out of it.  It's always sad to see summer go but it is always so nice to start up the school year and get into a routine. Only tough part this year has been saying goodbye to our best friends this year. They moved to Seattle the end of August and its been hard since. They were our family up here so it's going to be sad when the holidays roll around and they aren't here to share it with us. 

Canden watching Araleigh's Game. He LOVES Soccer and can't wait to play.

Running hard after the ball.

Canden and Carson Ross . . little buddies

Showing her mad skills off. We love her!

My cute kids on the tractor ride to pick peaches. 

Livee and me also waiting for the tractor to pull us.

Picking em' some peaches. They were so good!

A New School Year

 It's a new school year and I HAVE A KINDERGARTNER. Say WHAT? This makes me feel soooo very old. This year Araleigh is going to Afternoon K. I did this because all of our friends up here are doing that as well as Afternoon Preschool for the boys. I have to say --- it has been WONDERFUL! I am so used to getting up and being ready to go by 9 to get her to school. . . but now I can take my sweet time and because its in the middle of the day it breaks it up so the kids aren't bored ALL DAY after noon. Araleigh was SO excited to ride the bus this year. I have chosen to let her ride the bus to school but I am picking her up everyday. I have such anxiety about her riding the bus with older kids. I don't like the thought so I am being miss overprotective and picking her up. She said to me today "Mom, I think it's ok now that I ride the bus home as well." She wants to but not gonna happen! It would be different if she was riding with kids she knows but there is no one on our route that she knows. So as for now I will be getting her. I keep thinking life will slow down once the routine is in place but it just keeps going faster. All my kids are getting so big so fast . . . I am so sad that Araleigh is in school now. Next will be WAY harder for me. She is such a huge helper to me I am not sure how I will cope without her! I am so proud of her and who she is. I hope she has a great year and makes lots of friends. She already loves her teacher and is just so excited to be a big girl now. 

Araleigh getting on the bus for the first time ever. Then I followed her. :) 

At the school she got off and was bubbly as ever. All of us were waiting to greet her at the school to take her into her new class.

Standing in line after play time getting ready to be taken to class.
These are Araleigh's friends from church: Mallory Rich & Brooklyn Hillman
They are in her class and she is SO

At her desk for the 1st time. She gets to sit by Brooklyn!

Mrs. Pecha greeting the kids and welcoming them to Kindergarten!

Canden pushing Livee out of the school. He was really helping mom he thought! He was so confused why Araleigh wasn't coming back home with us. Luckily he will be at school next week and it won't even matter to him!

Livee Lou Hou

Miss Livee is now 7 months old. SERIOUSLY? It is going by soooooo fast. She is such an angel. I just love her so much. She is still stubborn. She has been sitting up by herself since last month but refuses to roll over. SO WEIRD. She HATES tummy time so I just think she will never be mobile. I started giving her rice puffs a while back. SHE LOVES THEM. These pictures are her trying them for the first time. She was trying SO hard to pick them up by herself but still hasn't figured out the pinchers. She just grabs a load of them in her fists and sucks til she catches one. She has the most amazing smile. Its contagious. Right now I am trying to debate weaning her because we will be going to Disneyland later this month for 8 days and are not taking her . . . . its so hard for me to think of doing this. Little Miss here will not take a bottle or sippy so we are really scratching our heads trying to figure out how to deal with our circumstance in the coming weeks. Her and my mom just might be joining us. She has always been so chubby . . . but she is starting to thin out now . . but her cheeks are as munchable as ever. She has the sweetest spirit and she absolutely completes our family. My favorite part of the day is when Cory gets home . . . all three of our children beam especially Livee. During the day she has to be near mommy at all times or she has this major pouty lip -- but when Cory comes in she just glows. Right now she is teething super bad . . so life is a little harder than usual. She is grumpy alot and doesn't sleep well through the night still. She gets up at least once a night still to nurse. Right now her current fav's are rice puffs, sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, and applesauce.