a haircut...

He was SHOCKED by the drastic change!

Okay, not really. I only cut a little over an inch off so it wouldn't be hanging in his eyes anymore. :)

He DID however ask for a mohawk. When I explained that I would need to use the electric clippers to do that, he quickly changed his mind. I was relieved. :)

I am in love with his long hair...IN LOVE.

Destined to be a soccer mom?

I guess we will see.

The last week or two, Tate has been saying, "When I am a bigger kid, I want to play soccer ball!"

And when we go outside he likes to set up a place where the goal is and then kick it in the goal and yell, "GOAL!!!!"

He's not been showing a lot of interest in baseball like I expected he would...not sure why. I am not going to lie, I am okay with that. Not because I wouldn't be thrilled and supportive if he wanted to play baseball, but I just think that soccer and football are much more exciting to watch. Just my opinion. :)

Check out his footwork...ha...

When he's concentrating, he's either sticking his tongue out (that' usually when he's sitting still and really focused on what he's doing) or if he's concentration while doing something active, he puffs his cheeks out like this...

As you can see, he was sporting his best soccer shoes.

I love this kid.

Interview with Tate...

After Tate and I ate dinner tonight and I decided to interview him...

What is Mommy's favorite food? Bacon

What is Daddy's favorite food? Bacon too

What is your favorite food? Tomato soup

What do you do when you go to Nana and Papa S's? bounce balls

What do you do when you go to Nana and Papa P's? Play downstairs and cook

What is your favorite thing to do at home? Play with my big gun

What is Mommy's job? Work at home

What is Daddy's job? Go to work in the mornings and sometimes at night.

What is your favorite place to go on vacation? Nana and Papa S's house with the pool

What's your favorite animal? a puppy

What's Mommy's favorite animal? ducks

What's Daddy's favorite animal? kittens

What is your favorite thing to do outside? golf and play volleyball with daddy and then I like to go inside and play boxing with Daddy

What time is your bedtime? After Candy Land

What time is Mommy and Daddy's bedtime? Daddies and Mommies get to stay up...they don't go to bed. Only just kids go to bed when they're not adults

What is your favorite part of preschool? Give a bump in the Welcome Song

What's your favorite restaurant to eat at? Incredible Pizza

What's Mommy's favorite store to shop at? Von Maur

What's your favorite store to shop at? Hy-Vee

What is Daddy's favorite thing to do? go to work

What is Mommy's favorite thing to do? work in the morning at home doing stuff

What do you love most about Daddy? his heart (seriously?! oh my goodness, I love him!)

What do you love most about Mommy? your heart

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? play bowling and going outside with him

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Looking out the window with you (????)

What is your favorite meal that Mommy makes you? Meatloaf

How does Mommy make meatloaf? you put something in a pan and it turns to meatloaf

Some of these crack me up! I mean, the fact that he thinks my favorite animal is a duck is funny, but not as funny as the fact that he thinks Sean's favorite animal is a kitten!!! I LOVED his answer about when is his bedtime. We have been playing 2 games of Candyland just before bed every night, so it makes sense that he would say that! And this boy does love meatloaf...LOVES it!

Baking with my boy...

Maybe it's just me, but there is something about baking/cooking with Tate that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It is one of my favorite things to do with him. I'm not sure if it's because I always loved doing that with my mom, or if it's because I know how much he thoroughly enjoys it. Whatever it is, it is such a special time we have together. He has loved cooking/baking for as long as I can remember. He wears his apron just like Mommy and wants to do all the stirring and pouring and measuring...he wants to do it all. Today, I let him crack his first egg. It ended up on the counter when he "tapped" it a little too hard. Ha. He then said, "ya, maybe you should do that part, I might still be a little young for that." Yup, I would have to agree. :)

His favorite part is the tasting...

And the result of our baking time today are these little numbers...

We made 52 of them. I will bring several to PS-MAPP on Thursday (it's our day to bring the snacks) and will send several to Sean's work tomorrow. I'm thinking the rest will get eaten just fine by the two boys in my house!

Celebrate Everything

I love this time of year...the cooler weather, football starting, windows open, more of a routine. I love my neighborhood and the girls who I have met here. I love that I have several people in my neighborhood with small children that I can sit and drink coffee with in the mornings and talk openly with. I love that our dear friends live only a few doors away and are always there whenever we need them. I am actually happy that our air conditioner broke yesterday which forced us to open the windows and get some fresh air. I am equally happy that it is getting fixed tomorrow before the heat wave comes later in the week. I am so proud of Tate and how he did at his first day of preschool and just cannot believe how quickly he's grown up. We have found a church that we enjoy. Things just seem to be going great.

This is my new wall art...it's hard to tell in the picture, but it's about 4 feet tall by 18 inches wide. I think the last 2 words are my favorite...Celebrate Everything. Simple, but I love it.

So why shake things up? Why change things now? I am so certain about adding to our family and about taking this next step in adopting again. I am so so anxious as well. I know I have mentioned before that I am unable to disclose any specific information about our next adoption as we are adopting in a different fashion then before, but this time more than the last, we are handing it all over to God. We have found ourselves feeling like we know what's going to happen, we have a plan and then God opens our eyes to something else...something we never expected we would be considering. It's so amazing (and scary sometimes!) the things that God puts on our hearts. We are so blessed to have such super supportive family and friends. Wow. Even some say they wouldn't ever consider choosing the same path we are choosing, but they are still so supportive. I hope each and every one of you knows how much we appreciate all of the support and encouragement you have given us. We have quite the road ahead of us and we appreciate your prayers.

First Day of Preschool!

And just like that, Tate's in school.

I wanted to cry, but I didn't. Sean was with me which is probably why I didn't...he might have thought I was nuts. However, I did tell him that I felt like I wanted to cry. Had I been alone, it might have been Niagra Falls. I mean, I am just so proud of Tate and cannot believe he's growing so fast! It's kind of bitter sweet. I'll miss him each day for the 2 1/2 hours he's gone, but I know I'll grow to really enjoy that time to get things done!

He willingly let me hold a "1st day of school photo shoot" with him today. :) Well, willingly for about 45 seconds. That's all I needed. Ha.

And we had to get pictures with Mommy and Daddy too!

Oh how I adore him...he makes my heart feel like it might explode!

And each day I will pick up Ava from daycare (which is right by the preschool) and take she and Tate to preschool together. Today, she was chomping at the bit to get to school. These two were SO SO SO excited!

And this picture is absolutely my all time favorite picture of these two. Oh my goodness...what happened?!! They were JUST babies!

I took this quick video of the kids while we were waiting in our car line to drop them off.

And then they walked in just like they'd always been doing it. No nerves or fear, just sheer excitement!

After preschool, we picked them up and decided to celebrate their special day with a trip to Sonic. They were total chatter boxes the whole way there telling us all about their day! It was so adorable!

And then there was silence...

I am so proud of BOTH Tate and Ava and love them both so much. Watching their friendship grow as they grow up together is so special and I am so glad they have each other!

a rebellious teen...

She looks like the youngest rebellious teen I have ever seen.

A glimpse into Cassie and Paul's future maybe??? :)

Pink hair and no shirt...soooo Ayla. Oh, I love her!

And her hair is actually more pink...not sure why it looks so red in these.

a wild and crazy birthday party...

Tate and I went to Muscatine this evening to celebrate my dad's birthday with him, my mom and my sister and her family. Sean had to work, so he didn't make it.

We ate a yummy dinner, gave Dad his gifts, ate cheesecake...

...but not before we sang Happy Birthday and my dad blew out his candles...

Just after eating cheesecake, we noticed a rainbow outside. It was so nice out, so we sat outside for a bit...

My mom got my dad a hummingbird feeder for his birthday and so we say and watched 2 hummingbirds eat off of it. Those little birds are so amazing!

Yup, it was a wild and crazy birthday party! ;)

I loved today...

Today was a great day. Lots of "girl time" for me. :) Tate slept in until 9:30 this morning! Score! So already, the day was starting off great. :) Then, Lora came over and we got to chat the morning away while I did her hair. Then, my mom showed up and we went to lunch and shopped for fabric and items to use to decorate for some bridal showers she's having. We might have also snuck a peek at some shoes and various other fun things. ;) I got a new piece to hang on my wall in the livingroom (picture to come later) which I am SUPER excited about. Then, we came back to my house and waited for my dad to meet up with us and we relaxed and chatted a bit before heading out to dinner where Sean met us (he worked all day) and we ate a great dinner with my parents outside, Tate ran around like a chicken with his head cut off while the adults chatted and laughed until way passed Tate's bedtime. We got home and since it was already way passed Tate's bedtime, we agreed to play Candyland with him (twice) before he finally got to bed at 10pm. I might add that I won one and Tate won one...poor Sean. :)

We know that there is likely a limited time that Tate has left in our family as the only child...I think I am starting to remember that more and more often and am trying to give him more and more attention now while he still gets it all. He's going to have a big adjustment here in the near future and I pray it goes smoothly.

I am tired after a super fun day. I am so blessed to have the friends and family that I have. I feel so good tonight.

I couldn't resist...

Occasionally I will share some of my images I take of clients on this blog.

And these of 7 day old Boden, I just couldn't resist!

I got to spend a couple of hours with him and his adorable older brother and super sweet Mommy this morning. It was super fun to get some snuggle time with this tiny little sweetheart!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I can't believe it's been a year since I wrote THIS POST about my dad on his birthday. My how time flies! We will be celebrating with him on Sunday. Looking forward to it!

And honestly, there aren't enough words I could write that would do justice in describing what an amazing man my dad is.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Love thy neighbor...

We are extremely blessed to live in such an amazing neighborhood that is filled with great people. We truly have enjoyed every new neighbor we have met and are blessed to have our dear friends The DeCooks live only 2 blocks away as well as a couple of other newer friends we've met. We've longed for this type of neighborhood for as long as we've been together!

As I mentioned earlier this week, we invited a new neighbor and her son over for coffee and a play date (aka...adult conversation for the mommies!) a couple of days ago. This little man lives only 3 houses up our street. It's going to be so nice to have them close by...

Tate and George got along great. They both like long hair and the Hawkeyes (or wait...maybe their parents like long hair and the Hawkeyes...whatever) as well as Icee Pops and toys. So it's a perfect match, right?! :)

It was fun getting a couple of hours to sit back and have some good conversation and get to know yet another wonderful neighbor!

Thank you Emily and George for coming over...we'll have to do it again soon!

Welcome to Preschool!

Tate and Ava had their "Welcome to Preschool" day today. It was an hour long, shortened preschool session where the parents attended with the kids. Tate was soooo excited...

Ava is in Tate's class and I think the adults and kids are equally excited about that!

We had a bit of a crying bout (hence the red eyes) because the sun was too bright for Tate's eyes. That's why he is not standing in by the sign.

After our little photo session...it was time for us to go into preschool!

First, they hung up their backpacks on their designated hooks...

Then they went to wash their hands and headed in to put the frog with their name on it on the column that says "present" for attendance...

Then they picked a letter on the rug to sit on. Tate and Ava stayed pretty close to each other the whole time we were there...

The Welcome Song got the kiddos loosened up. There is a part that tells them to do a little boogie and both the kids thought that was pretty funny and joined in...

Then after a story and play/craft time, it was time to line up and wash hands before snack time...

Then it was snack time!

Notice Tate's concentration here. It was the first lesson he had in preschool...how to pour his own drink. I know, the thought of Tate taking on that task made me cringe a bit. He's not the cleanest or most careful kid on the block. ;) He was really paying attention and was so excited to be able to pour his own juice!

Notice the tongue. It always comes out in moments of sheer concentration...

Both of the kids poured their juice like they'd been doing it their whole lives. I think they were pretty proud!

After snack time, preschool was dismissed! The kids are ready for their first full day on Monday!

Weren't they just born?! I mean, c'mon...preschool already?!!!!

Yikes!