Ethan's first day of kindergarten!

Monday was Ethan's first day of kindergarten!  He was so excited and couldn't wait for school to start.

Proud daddy and momma!

School starts at 7:45 and we can walk Ethan into his classroom at 7:30.  Eric will take him to school most days and I'll pick him up.

Ethan's awesome teacher!

We walked out of the room as Ethan colored. I must admit I teared up a little leaving our big boy.

Mr. Cool walking out of his first day of school.

In Ethan's own words, he had a "great, great, great, great day. A FANTASTIC day!" 

a day in the life of Ethan

  

Ethan started his day off at 6:45 a.m. and had his favorite breakfast of waffles with peanut butter and syrup. 

After breakfast, the boys played inside with their train set.

 

Computer time!

The boys love playing under our oak tree.  The shade of the tree is the only way we survive the 100 degree days.  That, and frozen Go-gurts!

Then the boys put away their trains so they could play with their Legos.  Ethan loves Legos and could build things for hours.  Notice the two big, red buckets against their doors?  They are filled with the boys' action figures and the boys put them there so Lauren can't open the doors and mess up their Legos. Poor little sis!

Then we played a mean game of Uno.

More fun in the tree.

The evening turned out to be nice even though it was over 100 degrees today.  It was cloudy, so we actually got to play outside in the culdesac with friends. 

After dinner and bath, the boys went to bed at 8:15.  When I went to check on Ethan an hour later, he was fast asleep inside his pillow.  What a crazy kid!

I'm so glad I got to document one of Ethan's last days at home before he heads off to kindergarten on Monday.  It seems like just yesterday I quit my job to stay home and take care of my little baby boy.  I'm very excited for this new phase of life for him, but I'm going to miss him like crazy! 

a day in the life of Lauren

Lauren's day started off bright and early at 6:30 a.m.  Right away she wanted to play outside with her brothers.


Breakfast with a begging spectator.

Lauren loves books!  She wants to read all day long.

Snuggling with Kirby.

My mom painted a ladybug rock for Lauren and she loves it!

Lauren had fun with bubbles for the first time.  She must have blown bubbles for at least 20 minutes straight. The way she says "Bub-bull" is so cute!

Nap time!

She had a great time playing dress up with her brothers and Madison.  You may have noticed she was wearing three different pairs of shorts today.  She kept sitting in water outside and getting them soaked. 

Then it was bath time and off to bed at 7.  Poor baby ripped off her fingernail the day before, so she cried every time she accidentally bumped it.  Just wanted to keep it real with this picture since she wasn't smiles all day long!

That night I snuck in Lauren's room to take a picture of her asleep.  I had never dared to possibly wake her up before, but I decided to take the risk.  As you can see in this picture, her eyes opened the second the camera snapped.  Thankfully, she went right back to sleep.  I don't think I'll be taking anymore sleeping pictures of her anytime soon!   

a day in the life of Austin

Austin's day started off bright and early at 6:45.

Cereal and cartoons in the kitchen

A juice box break after a scooter ride.

Fun with markers

Austin's fabulous, requested lunch. 

The boys have been loving playing on the computer.  They would play on PBS and Starfall websites all day if we would let them.

We beat the heat by playing on the water slide.  Austin is a daredevil!

Austin was put in time out, but his sister and brother joined him just for fun.  Moral support I guess! 

I sure love this little sweetie!

After a full day, he fell fast asleep at 8. 

I hope you enjoyed a day in the life of Austin!

done, done, done and almost done

I made my very first dress for Lauren and it looks so cute on her!  We had her 18 month pictures taken by Alison Eden on Monday and she wore the dress.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!

I posted this polka dot strawberry purse in my Etsy shop.  Any little girl is sure to love it! 

Ethan starts kindergarten in one week!  At the kinder orientation last week, they informed us that the kids will have rest time during the day and will need a beach towel to lay on.  When Ethan and I headed to the store to pick one out, at first we got a thin Toy Story 3 beach towel.  The thought of my baby boy laying on the hard floor on a cheap beach towel did not give me the warm fuzzies.  On our way to check out, we walked past some throw blankets and I got the idea to "make" my own beach towel out of the super comfy throw.  I folded it in half and sewed it up around the edges.  Now my sweetie has a thick, soft blanket to lay on that is the right size and will fit in his locker.  It may be pretty obvious on the first day that Ethan is my first baby going off to kindergarten! 

 

After 2 years in the making, Lauren's full size quilt is almost done!  Last weekend I pieced together the backing and all I'm missing is one thing...

An embroidered note from me.   I have a vision of a hand embroidered note on my special notebook paper fabric on every quilt I make for the kids.  Problem is, I can't embroider.  So now I'm off to learn quickly, so I can ship it off to be quilted!

pics from our week

Austin found a tiny frog and named him Hopper.  He's been really good at finding critters lately.

Eric took this picture of Lauren watching TV all nice and comfy while I was out shopping. 

Ethan fell asleep with his cowboy vest on the other night.  I just had to take a picture of our little buckaroo.

so big!

It's obvious that Lauren is our third kid since she is licking a lollipop and munching on kettle corn at the young age of 17 months. I can guarantee you that Ethan never had "big kid" treats at that age. Lauren wants everything her big brothers have including juice boxes, popsicles and candy.  Our baby girl isn't going to stay little for long trying to be as big as her brothers!

you put what? where?

Today Ethan had an impromptu trip to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor.  Apparently the best place to store an awesome green ball you find on the ground, is in your ear.  Ethan neglected to tell us about it, so we didn't find it until two weeks later when Eric just happened to see it last night.  The doctor visit was quick and painless. It might have been a little too enjoyable since he left with a prize from the office treasure box and a lollipop.  Hopefully he still learned his lesson even though he had fun at the doctor!

Crazy kid! 

my assistant

Since my assistant is very demanding of my attention and sewing notions are not very kid friendly, not much sewing is going on during the day around here.

This little stinker is quite the handful, but so very sweet!

craft hope homies

A couple weeks ago, Erica hosted another Craft Hope girls' night to work on their latest craft project.  Our goal was to make hand towels and washcloths that would be used to clean turtles that were effected by the oil spill.  We all brought old towels and t-shirts and cut them to the necessary sizes.  We filled a huge tub with towels and Dawn dish soap.  The creator of Craft Hope lives here in Austin and personally delivered our towels to the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies.  It was so exciting to see pictures of our towels making a difference!  The thought that some cute little turtle will be cleaned with my old Gristmill t-shirt makes me smile.

You can read about the other projects we've done here and here.

I'm very excited about Craft Hope's latest project!  They will be working with ConKerr Cancer to provide pillowcases for terminally ill children in hopes to put smiles on their faces while in the hospital.  The deadline is September 15th and I can't wait to get started on my pillowcases.  Craft Hope has free patterns on their websites for anyone who would like to participate.  Happy sewing!