Shay's First Day of Joy School

SHAY

On Monday Little Miss Shay joined the trend of her brothers and went to her first day of school. It's a joy school I'm doing this some other moms in my ward and she is absolutely loving it after we picked her up  on the first day she insisted all of us call her 'shay shay the pre school girl'  all night long

The fact that every single one of my kids is in some form of school is beyond me. I kind of thought I would be in the little kid phase forever... some days it surely felt like it

I must say I do miss her. She's my little buddy. I'm so glad its only two days a week for 2 1/2 hours because I'm not so sure I'm ready for her to take off just yet

Aiden's First Day of Kindergarten

AIDEN

This little man absolutely could not wait for his first day of school! Aiden is a little different, his mind works differently and he processes requests on his own terms. So in my head I have been slightly terrified for this day... if his switch is flipped there's just no talking him into anything... There is no reasoning, compromise or helping his perspective change. If he wants to see it differently or try then he will if he doesnt, its a no go. So from experience  I know church, events or really anything is a gamble :-) As his mom I want him to love school. I don't want this to be a burden for him. So today was a big day for both of us. I didn't know what would happen when we walked into the school?? I didn't know if he would give me a high five or if I would need to peel him off of me. He was bouncing around all morning with excitement but as we got to the school and took his older brother to his class I could see that it really set in. Aiden got very quiet. My throat started to swell as we walked down the hallway towards his classroom. I could feel that my emotions were going to get the best of me. Aiden is as stubborn and as frustrating as they come but I am also his fiercest protector. I know that Aiden doesn't try to be hard, I know there is something inside his brain that we are finding out that makes life a little harder for him so the thought of not being there for him if something gets tough or walking him through a compromise terrifies me... nobody ever wants their kid to feel alone. My biggest fear is Aiden will be misunderstood. But I guess that's where faith comes in :-) ...That and Aiden was incredibly Brave. He gave me a side hug, an Eskimo kiss, told me he was ready and went back to coloring as I left the room

 

 

Mason's First Day of 1st Grade

MASON

I cannot believe this little man is in first grade! He made it quite clear all summer that he is a big kid now. He informed me he no longer wanted his Ironman backpack because he was not wanting a "character" on it in first grade. He has an obsession with Star Wars, which I'm not sure where it came from because he's never even seen the movie but it is his thing so when I brought home this backpack (even though I still think it's a "character"...oh well) he was absolutely ecstatic! He is so ready for first grade... So ready he would not hold my hand even walking to school. I can't wait to see him grow into even more of his own this year! I sure do love him

Children's Museum

Beach Day, Pacific City

We have fallen in love with the Oregon Coast. We go any chance we can get!

We decided to go spend the day with some of our friends the Davis Family at the Beach before school starts! We went to Pacific City because they have this awesome massive sand hill for the kids to play on. It was the perfect day! I will never get over how beautiful it is here!

Visitors

Grandma Cj & Grandma Wanner come to play

The first week of August my mom and Aunt wan came out for a whole week! I looked forward to this for months!!! We spent the first few days site seeing here and spent some time with Seth & the kids. Me and the kids took them to the Wildlife refuge here in Sherwood and we had such a fun time walking through it it. We did puzzles, laid in the sun, went on walk after walk just to pick wild blackberries on the path behind our house:) The kids LOVED having them here. Shay thinks Grandma Cj is her personal BFF :)

Then over the weekend us ladies got to go enjoy some time on the coast!

We started out with Seth & I's favorite hike (so far) called Thumbs Point. It's incredible! The view is breathtaking. I forgot how much of a steep climb it was to the top but they totally did it.. fused ankles and all! I was so proud of them. We were really wanting to watch the sunset on the beach but the clouds rolled in but that didn't stop us for spending the evening on there... clouds, wind, rain and all! 

We spend Saturday driving up the coast to Canon Beach and stopping wherever we wanted along the way. It was so fun! It was a weekend I'll remember forever!

We drove back home on Sunday, attended church and spend the day with my family. 

Monday, on their last evening here we went kayaking on the Willamette River and ended at the Falls. We had such a good time! 

I adore these ladies and am so appreciative that they came to spend a week with us.