she has always been more patient than me...

best big sister ever.

birthday scooter!

he could probably use a cooler helmet.

my buddy

Henry was super pumped to help me perfect our pumpkin smoothie recipe...this was the first batch, he tasted, smacked his lips, and said, "it tastes, um, weird."

this feels like a glimpse into the future....

Happy Birthday Henry.

 All day people said "Happy Birthday", to which he said, "Happy Birthday!" with this awesome face.

"I'm 2!  No, 4!  No, 3?"

  

 And he had a pretty ridiculous party with a good 40 people, because Henry, bless his heart, is my only summer baby and his birthday always makes a nice end-of-summer bash.

 eyeing those presents.

My baby is now three and pretty darn cute.  He loves his sisters, snuggles his mama, and lives for his daddy and Jack.  He is one smart cookie with a pretty killer sense of humor.  His true happiness in life is getting his hands on markers and our house is always well decorated with his art.  

Happy Birthday to my sweet, funny boy.

tomorrow,

my baby turns three.

I feel a little like this.

Hi Fall,

you've always been our favorite.

twins.

Triathletes!

 Ready to roll!

 This is a pretty crazy event--you are pulling one kid out of the pool and running to the transition spot while the other one is hopping into the pool.  I was solo this weekend but I got to see both kids swim and take off on their bikes.  I missed Ava's second transition but I saw Jack off from his bike to the run and he crossed the finish line in time for me to run down the street and catch Ava's last 1/4 mile.

Jack passed these two coming around that corner and then he saw me and grinned big.

Ava's least favorite part is the run but she finished really strong (and still smiled):

Sara showing her guns.

I LOVE this race.  

So fantastic for the kids--they get t-shirts and gatorade and a medal (like the grown-ups!) and there is tons of crowd support.  Also, I could watch the finish line all day--the kids have the hugest smiles as they run through the fans and cross the line. 

I am SO proud of my kids.  

Competing is scary.  And there are people yelling directions and water splashing in their faces and as soon as you finish one bit you hustle on to the next but they were both so fantastic and pretty darn cute as well. 

l.o.v.e.

back-to-school!!

 I LOVE the first day of school--everyone is clean and shiney, hair trimmed and nails painted, backpacks full of brand new school supplies, the school smells like paint and floor wax, and everyone is hollering hello to everyone else.  They whole day makes me smile.

 Preschool!

 2nd grade!

 5th grade!

LOVE this sweet, sweet girl.

We got everyone settled and then I walked back by Jack's class and as soon as he saw me he gave me this grin and then ran out to hug me one more time:

What to do next?  Take my handsome only child to coffee.  

The college girl says hi to him and he says, "hey, hey, hey"...smooth little monkey.

We picked up Jemma and met Ed for lunch and heard all about her day.

I picked up the other two and took them out to hear about their days:

 Ava says her teacher (who was also my 5th grade teacher!) is actually more nice than scary (first man teacher...there was some concern) and Jack says he is sure he will be just fine...he did not forget how to read and he did not get his name on the board.

He did, however, get completely wiped out.  I caught him here at 6:30:

 and sent him to bed and then when I checked on them at 10:00, I couldn't find Henry anywhere till I turned on the light and saw him here:

snuggled under Jack.  Tough day apart.

Good-bye summer, we will miss you!

well, that happened.

The kids picked pizza for their back-to-school supper and just as I was pulling it out of the oven, it slid nicely from the pan to the floor.  All the way down the front of the cabinets.

The big kids settled for cereal but Henry insisted on pizza anyway so we gave him the part of the crust that landed on the pile of cheese and he was perfectly pleased:

last hur-rah of the summer....

When it comes to back-to-school partying, we don't mess around.  This weekend we headed to the lake (and because we slept in the great outdoors last weekend, we slept in a hotel this one!) for one last everything (dinner out, lake swim, tube, pool swim, waffles, you name it...) of the summer.

and when jumping off the boat isn't a big enough thrill, big daddy steps it up:

After a day of fun, we cleaned up and had dinner at our favorite place.  Where I insisted on taking pictures. (Ava's less of a fan these days...is it no longer cool to have your mom yell "cheese!" at a restaurant??)

Then my mom and dad joined us for a gorgeous evening cruise:

 Which was all fun and games until we almost flooded the boat in a perfect combo of bad timing, a giant wave, and five of us sitting in the front.  I don't mean a little water, I mean a flood, over the bow, into our laps, and all the way to the back.  We got soaked.  Jeans, sweaters, shoes...soaked.

They had a cold drive home in the Jeep--we headed back to the hotel to warm up in the hot tub!

After a giant breakfast in the morning, we hit the lake again:

I am not a fan of driving the boat, but Jack is always happy to do it when Ed wants a break:

Perfect end to a pretty great summer.

diving off the diving board!

 I am so proud of my kids this year--they have become crazy brave in the water and so stinking grown-up.