iPhone Photo Dump - September

There were no spare photos from August, but here's some random moments from September.

Our friends Mitch and Luana, parents to Ollie, Austin and Anneke are moving back to Australia soon, so we've been trying to get together often for playdates.  Here's Ollie and Kate on the way home from the park.  Too sweet.

Wes enjoying lobster at Nola, a New Orleans themed restaurant on our 9 year anniversary.

Our neighbors passed on an awesome play structure that their older boys don't use anymore.  Here are the girls helping get the backyard ready for the new play structure.

Watching Papa...

Excited for Halloween.  Adele calls this her 'So Yoda' costume.

An after school ice cream treat with her friend Indi.

Sporting her fun glasses from her teacher that her table got for good behavior at school.

Swinging at the park...

6 and a half

Emeline hit 6 and a half!  I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by.  She will be 7 in no time.

We continued our little family tradition of a half birthday cake decorated by the half birthday girl to celebrate.  This was using up some leftover cake and frosting from another project, but she got to put all the embellishments she wanted on it.  Here are some pictures....

So what's Emeline like at 6.5?  Where do I start?  Here are some things about her, in no particular order...

She's in 1st grade with Maestra Anna.  She has a wonderful teacher who is very patient and kind.  She's learning to read and making some good improvements this year.  She prefers math over reading, but she's starting to enjoy reading books by herself.  

She is still as active as can be, and is enjoying playing soccer this fall.  She's been learning how to pass and work with her team.  It's really fun to watch all the girls on the team have more strategy than in previous years.  We got a larger play structure in our backyard and she loves climbing, swinging and jumping on it.  She's into the idea of American Ninja Warrior, and wants to make up hard obstacle courses to try.  She still loves riding her bike and asks to do more skateboarding, but we've had less time for the latter lately.  

She started Girl Scouts this fall and is a Daisy.  She hasn't done too much with it since it's only recently started, but she loves being part of a group, and the uniforms are fun too! 

She has a very compassionate heart.  She cares a lot about other people when she has the emotional space.  She has some big emotions that have been hard to manage sometimes, but when she's calmed down she asked Jesus to come into her heart to help her.  She's asked a lot of questions about what it means to be baptized.  Her thoughts of God are definitely growing, and we try to answer questions and let her experience God at her own level and pace.  She loves to help and take responsibility to do things, and she enjoys getting to do more and more on her own.  

Emeline loves to be goofy.  She loves to tell jokes and laugh at all kinds of silliness.  She has a sweet smile and a wonderful laugh. 

Preschool Cuties

Adele is moving up to PreK at Pasitos at the end of September.  Here are some pictures of her and Kate around school this last month.

First Day of Preschool

Kate and Adele started back up at preschool the week after Emeline.  Kate is starting her last year of preschool, she'll be off to kinder next year!  And Adele started the year in the 2's program, and will be moving up to the PreK class in about a month.  

Here they are all ready to go...

Walking in to school, spare clothes in hand ;)

Ready to play!

Birthday

I felt very celebrated on my birthday this year.  Our babysitter, Gloria, is so thoughtful about special occasions.  She watched the girls on the Friday before my birthday weekend.  She had the girls make this art project of kisses for mommy.  Pink kisses on canvas sealed so I can see these sweet lips forever :)

Not only that, but she and the girls decorated the dining room and my bedroom door with butterflies, a poster, and (yes!) my very own piñata!  She and the girls also made me birthday cupcakes.

On Saturday morning. I woke up to my birthday present from Wes, a brand new GIANT KitchenAid mixer and a delicious breakfast.  My old mixer's motor was starting to act funny, and I really needed one with a larger bowl since I make double and quadruple recipes of things for cake projects.

That night, Wes and I went to see a musical rendition of Catch Me if you Can, featuring our friend Lydia.  It was as super fun show, and afterwards, Wes surprised me with having friends meet us for drinks and cake at a restaurant nearby.  The pictures didn't turn out to well in the dark, but he got me a delicious cakes from Susie Cakes, and we had an awesome time with friends.  I was so touched that people came out to celebrate, especially so late after the show.

On my actual birthday, we had a sharing lunch put on by the Nicaragua team, and a church pool party.  That day turned out to be a busy, one, but still full of fun, and I felt very celebrated indeed!

First Day of First Grade

And just like that, school started back up again.  We had a very full summer, and now it's back to the routine.  Emeline started first grade!  She's growing up so fast.  Here she is on her first day of school.

All ready at home...

At school...

Walking in with her class, and her friend Hadley.

Summer Gymnastics

Kate and Emeline did gymnastics over the last year, but Adele got to do a mommy and me class with me over the summer.  We had a few more gymnastics classes after our vacations to wrap up summer.  Here are the girls on their last day of class.