Pierce's Preschool Graduation

Singing one of their songs during the graduation program.

Pierce and Holt with Caroline. Thank you for the lego set and silly bands, you scored big!! Thanks for spending the day with us too!

Pierce with the triplets, some of his favorite buddies from class this year...Eli, Ike, and Max.

If someone would of told me before I had children that I would of cried over my son graduating from preschool I would of laughed. But to think my baby is finished with this stage of life was a little bittersweet. He had such an amazing preschool experience. To say he loved his TK class this year does not even do it justice. He did not complain one day about going to school and left each day so full of joy. We could not of handpicked better teachers who loved him so well, loved Jesus, encouraged him, made learning exciting and fun, and put so much into their class. It was such a sweet group of kids who all really loved being together. As we walked out of graduation, Pierce said “mommy, can I still come visit my friends next year.” Of course I said yes, because it made me sad to think that these kids will move on and make new friends which is a good thing, but right now seems a little to sad to think we have moved past something that was so innocent and such special year for all of us.

Field Trip and Updates

Pierce and his buddy Drew. They were in class together this year and had weekly playdates. They both love fishing and being energetic, fun boys!

Strawberry picking Field Trip with Pierce's class. As you can see from the boots we went after a rainy day. It was a fun day, we enjoyed the juicy strawberries too!

Camden is full time walking and busier than ever. For some reason mommy had this misconception in her head that once I made it through a year with three it was going to get easier. Oh I was wrong. How do we forget that each new stage brings new challenges. I was ready for her to walk but I forgot what came along with that...the stairs, the cabinets, the climbing, the chasing, the scraped knees, etc. I must say, I did kinda believe girls were not as busy as boys, but I'm not falling for that with this sweet girl. She has no fear and out climbs her brothers at this stage. If you ever walk into my house at about 5 in the afternoon and think someone broke in and ransacked my house, no need to worry this is the norm lately as I can't seem to come up for a breath to even straighten up.

We had her one year checkup with week after her 1st birthday. She weighed 18 lbs 14 oz (still not big enough to turn around in car seat) and was 281/2 inches tall. I think 10% for weight and 25% for height..so she is still our little peanut.

I started to delete this picture of Holt from my camera the other day. And then thought, no this is my Holt. This is how Holt walked into class just about every day this year, usually with his hands over his eyes. This is what he does when you say you are taking pictures or whenever he is pretending to be shy or just being his silly self.

This picture says it all. This is Holt and Foster. Foster's mom was Holt's teacher this year and Foster was in Pierce's T-K class. About a month ago Holt decided Foster was his new hero. We are still not quite sure why but we are thankful Foster was such a good sport about it. Each day when we dropped Pierce off, Holt had to go in and give Foster a hug. He also usually took him drawings or presents he put together from around the house.

The Cake

Just slowly checking it out and feeling it on my fingers...

I think I like this..

Oh yeah, its yummy. Thanks Tricia!

This is really fun, I like this sugar stuff!

Here's a link to more birthday pics I uploaded to snapfish:

http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2332949002/a=18404324_18404324/

Birthday Girl

Look how much I've grown...

So I'm not one for putting bows or headbands on babies with no hair, however I was in the store the other day and saw this and had the thought that I didn't ever want to regret never seeing that cute little head with peach fuzz in a headband, so we had a photo shoot in it this morning. Maybe by her 2nd birthday we can manage to get a bow in her hair :)

Gran and Pop got her a chair. She loves it!!

Looking at her new book mommy and daddy gave her.

Camden Walking

Camden has been really in to walking today. We'll have to see if it last, but she's pretty excited about it as you can tell from the video.

Happy 1st Birthday Camden!

The top three pictures Hope did for me last year the day after Camden came home from the hospital. I don't think they ever made it to the blog in the craziness of those first days home.

At the hospital.

1st Days at Home

Camden is one today! I can hardly believe our baby girl has been with us a year. It has flown by way too fast. She has been such a blessing to our family. I still have days I can't believe that I have a girl. She is petite and delicate and already cuddles her baby doll. She will sit on my lap and suck her two little fingers and be content for minutes (this is new to me, the boys would sit for literally seconds). She finds comfort in putting her hand down our shirts, sounds strange, but its sweet to me. She loves her brothers but can get overwhelmed with all the roughhousing. She knows when she's getting into something she's not suppose to yet turns and looks at me with a mischievous grin. She has melted her daddy's heart and her brothers already protect her. She has finally mastered sleeping and has taken to milk and her sippy cup. She loves books, especially ones with things she can touch or animals in them. She walks when she wants to but still loves to crawl. She loves any kind of snack food, I think this is genetic :) Camden we love you so much and can't even remember what our life was like before you entered it one year ago!

Beach

Camden loves to point and loves finding the fan.

We got to spend last weekend at the beach. It was Camden's first time out on the beach in her swimsuit, as last summer she was an infant and spent most of the time up a the house. She seemed to enjoy herself.

I love this picture, as she discovers the feel of sand on her fingers.

Playdate and Heart of Gold

Camden and I get have to lunch dates with Amy and Charis while the boys are at school sometimes. We couldn't convince Camden to sit still beside Charis for the picture. It is so special that Amy and I had girls so close together, I look forward to them growing up together and hopefully being as blessed by friendship as I have been by Amy's.

This is where we were finding Holt several nights in a row when we'd go into check on the boys before we when to bed at night a couple weeks ago. Pierce didn't have a clue Holt was ever in his bed, as Pierce usually passes out the minute his head hits the pillow, while Holt talks and plays for at least an hour most nights.

Pierce has such a huge heart and also loves drawing and writing. He came home from school a couple weeks ago and told me he wanted to make cards for all his classmates. He came up with all the drawings himself during quiet time and then took all of them to school to hand out. He is always making cards for people or drawing pictures to give to friends. If you can't tell, the pictures are: a couple princesses for the girls, a volcano, storm, a gun, a tacle box, space shuttle, Christmas trees, a bubble bee chasing a yellow jacket, chasing a wasp (this is how he explained it to me), a plane, and a bus..i think.

He also loves stickies and will leave us random notes around the house. Sometimes I'll come home from running errands on the weekend and when I walk up to the garage door there will be a note that says Love U Mommy or Mommi. I found these posted above his cabinet one afternoon. He loves so well and also forgives graciously. He is always building huge lego creations or towers with our blocks. He'll come home from school and I'll have to tell him Camden or Holt accidently knocked over one of his projects. His response will be "Its ok mom, I can build it back." Amazing how our kids can be examples to us by their actions.