End of Summer Celebrations!

This last weekend, we had carved out time on the schedule to have nothing planned so that we could hunker down as a family before the school year started.  Kit decided to surprise us with a spontaneous trip to the desert for a quick overnight.  We have never done this with the kids and we had the BEST TIME!

On our way out the Palm Springs, we made a few first time stops:

Hadley's for date shakes!

 And the Cabazon Dinosaurs!

We stayed at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa!  

The kids minds were blown with the king size bed:

 Ducks...

 Our view!

The water area is called Splashtopia and has a lazy river, water slides, pools, a small beach area, and a splash pad:

 Eden insisted o not only having her own tube, but half walking, half floating, half swimming...

Dinner at a favorite of ours in the desert:

After dinner and our pool time, we watched the semifinalists on America's Got Talent, all curled up on the bed.  The kids could not believe that you could lay in bed AND watch TV...

We had the best time and feel like we were able to see how Ryder was feeling before school and have really sweet conversations about the upcoming year, and just have FUN together as a family!!

We loved this place, especially for kids, and we are excited to plan a trip back!

Ryder's First Day of First Grade!

Yesterday was Ryder's first day of school and it couldn't have gone better...

The night before we had everything ready, from setting our his clothes (he wears a uniform...) to getting his lunch ready and his back pack packed and his gift ready for his teacher:

The note for his lunch...

His teacher's "Survival Kit":

Then we had our back to school dinner:

 And we prayed a blessing from Joshua 1:9 over him...

(Our church made these for our us... Have I mentioned how much I love our church?)

On the morning of, we took all our traditional pictures:

Then we all got to drop him off together!

His teacher greeted everyone so sweetly! 

Ryder was still feeling a little shy but flashed her his little smile...

He was so cute and looked so small but I could see in his eyes as he was taking it all in, that he was really excited about it.  I know that we have an amazing kid and I know that he will have an incredible year!  Oh but time, if you could please slow down, I would really appreciate it!

Back to school night!

Today is Ryder's first day of first grade.  Last week we had his back to school night.  He had the best time seeing his friends from kindergarten and meeting his new teacher!

 She is a baseball fan and that just made Ryder's day!

She is kind and assertive and confident and has been teaching for the past 23 years and LOVES her job.  We could not be more thrilled that we get to have Ryder in her class!

(Ryder was a bit shy to take a picture with her...)

I am a mix of emotions thinking of my oldest embarking on these elementary school years.  Five days a week, full day schedule... I just feel like it was yesterday that we had him and here he is, such a big kid.  My emotions aren't rooted in the fact that he is in first grade.  They stem from realizing how fast it all goes.  I swear, before I know it he will be off to college and I can't do one thing about it but to be present and enjoy each step and phase along the way and pray that the Lord will go before him and guide this sweet boy to follow his voice...

We are already HUGE fans of Ms. Aarvig!

When I asked her how the first day went, she said how kind and helpful he was and he was such a leader as he kept his table "On track and in line..." Can you say first born?❤︎

it's almost time...

Next week, Ryder starts first grade... I feel like this summer went WAY too fast and provided us with so many more memories and adventures than I had thought were even possible.  It was a HUGE blessing for our family!

But as it comes to an end, I look at little moments like this from this week and realize that these days have given us so much more connection time than I could have hoped for...

She asked him to color with her and he was so happy and sweet to comply.  She colored all the princesses and he was put in charge of coloring all the animals and foliage on each page.  They sat side by side, not really saying much, other than telling each other how great the other ones coloring was.  My heart just burst and I felt myself, more than ever, wanting time to SLOW DOWN!

tooth fairy

Ryder lost his second tooth last week while he was at his grandparent camp.

So we made sure that there was a visit from the tooth fairy when he got back home!

I really can't handle how each day this kid looks older and older!!!

our shed "remodel"...

(Ok, remodel is going to far, but maybe facelift?)
We have a shed on the side of our house and since we have moved in, it has looked like this:

 Since we knew that we were going to paint the house, we wanted to finally rig up some type of door/covering so that it all could get painted at the same time.

 He will always be by his dad's side, 
helping whenever he can...

 We got the door all finished with hardware and closures...

 Then we primed it...

Even though it is NOTHING fancy, we love it!

We could not be happier how it turned out and we finally feel like it isn't an eyesore in the corner of the patio.  I also feel like it's safer when we have little visitors over!