Birthdays and school

If you're reading this but haven't seen the August post yet, you'll have to go to the "older posts" and check that one out too. So much has happened recently that I thought I better just get these things in here while they're still somewhat current.

So, our September starts out with a BANG around here. We have two birthdays pretty quick and school starts. We actually celebrated the girls birthdays with a little party with any family that can make it, and our sweet neighbor. Then we just do special things on each of the girls specific days.

The request this year was a flower cake. And of course what girl doesn't like pink and purple!

And if you asked Kara how old she was going to be or if she was excited you would most likely hear some thing about gum. At some point with Austin we kind of made the "rule" that when you turn 3 you can try gum...and not until then. So, as with Hailey, having gum on the 3rd b-day has been a big deal. She has done well and hasn't swallowed a single piece yet. She sure does chomp it though. You could hear her a mile away with that gum in her mouth. Every picture on I got after that was with mouth wide open chomping on gum. :)One of the many nice things the girls got for their birthdays. Uncle Jeff was a hit with the Tinkerbell umberella, and then there's the gum too....

Bike riding has been a fun thing this summer too. Kara has learned how to pedal and Hailey just taught herself to ride a two-wheeler. There is a very small two-wheeler at Grandma and Papa Reid's house that she tried out and figured that it wasn't all that hard. So we brought it home for her to keep trying on. It did help that it was so small and she felt a little more safe closer to the ground. The day of her party she really took off riding and now (after we've lowered her seat on her bigger bike as far as it will go- enough for her to reach the ground easily) she's riding her own bigger bike around pretty well. We even attempted a small bike ride this evening...until Austin's pedal fell off. Good thing we were close to home :)

Kara still gets "stuck" once in a while and needs a little push.

And now for the first day of school pictures!

Here's our second grader, Austin Jay.
And our Kindergartener, Hailey Jean.And when asked how they were feeling about starting school, this is what I got...
a little jump and arm action here...
Striking a pose with some enthusiasum...And here's the all out, jumping up and down, arm pumping, hair flinging, excited girl...
We have had a good week (short as it was). Definitely some adjusting to do for each of us. Hailey is surely more tired (and a bit cranky) the last few days, but is still enjoying each day. Austin seems pretty excited and content with things thus far. And Kara is so excited each day to see her brother and sister after school and asks several times throughout the day, "when is it time to get Hailey and Austin?" Looking forward to a great second week...

August

Well, I start out a couple of weeks into August (cause that's where I left off with in the last one). Here are a few pictures from one of my favorite events of the summer...The Reid reunion. I guess it's the country girl in me. I love going to Trevor's grandma's house (an old farm), seeing family that I really only see once a year-but always enjoying catching up with, and (my favorite) taking a hayride-pulled by a John Deere tractor - of course. :) I didn't take as many pictures as I thought, but here are a couple of cute ones...
I wish you could see Austin's hair better. It is so beautiful...well, handsome. The sun really bleached it out this summer. It's just a great golden color. I had to add this one cause pictures of him are getting harder to come by. :)
When we were riding on the hayride, I was telling the girls how the last several years I've had a sleeping girl on me by the end of the ride. I really didn't think that I would this year, I was wrong. But I don't mind. Sweet moments.
Right after that fun time we headed to Grandma Rosey's for a couple of days to see her, but also to see two of my aunts and some of my cousins that I don't get to see all that much. We got to go to a friend's pool. Here's Hailey being brave and jumping!

It took Austin until the very end to try it and then he loved it so much he wished he would've tried it sooner!

My Aunt Shelly, Spencer, and TJ. We had a great time with them! Wish they didn't live so far...
Then at the end of the month we headed north to Alpena, MI to visit some dear friends the Leavesleys. Here is Hailey and Rebekah. They played sooo well together I barely saw them the three days we were there. They went from one pretending thing to the next. they included Kara some too :) Real sweet.
Here is Austin and his best buddy, Caleb. They hit the video games pretty hard. This was the best picture I could get, and I had to trick them to look at me. :)
And last, but not least. Actually you could say that the best got saved until the very last day of August. Our little buddy, Justus Judah finally arrived! I can't really express how excited I was when I got the news. My brother got a BOY! Well, the whole family did. And what a sweet boy he is. Just so excited that the waiting is over (especially for Berta...love you sis). The kids and I took a pretty quick trip down to see them and we picked up Grandma Rosey on the way.

Yay! Austin got another boy cousin!

Already sucking his thumb!

And finally, another installment of Kara sleeping funny.