Back to School {Favorites} 2014

We took our pictures and recorded our "favorites" this year--so fun to see them change!  And I take what pictures I can get.  :-)

More back-to-school pictures to come!  (hopefully...)

October Fun

Here are our October highlights:

 Lily went to a pumpkin patch!  I went along, too--it was fun to spend the morning with her and her friend, Luke.  Brahm enjoyed it too!

 

Brahm and his friend painted footballs one morning this fall.  He's pretty good with a paintbrush.

 

 This must have been a chilly day...but Lily LOVES swinging on our tire swing!!! 

 Riding bikes together.  Notice she's training wheels-free? 

 

These two goofy boys found some headbands one day.  They are too funny!!!

 Pumpkin carving time!!!

 

 

Time to trick or treat!  We had a butterfly fairy princess (again), a doggy, and a cat burglar.

 

 

And.....gymnastics!  Lily got to be part of a class again and learned how to do many more things!  She is a little athlete!

Lily Turns 5!!!

Lily once again had a birthday this year.  I told her all year long I was NOT going to let her turn 5....but she did it anyway.  This sweet little baby girl is no longer a baby.  She is a beautiful, strong-willed, considerate, sometimes-sensitive little girl who is occasionally morphing into a teenager....All too quickly.  

The night of her birthday, I was overcome with feeling so grateful that we were able to celebrate her birthday WITH her.  All 5 of us together.  She is healthy and strong.  We've seen every day (well, with a few exceptions) of her 5 years so far...and I was just so thankful for that.  To be honest, I'm not even sure where those feelings came from!  

Lily decided to have a beach party this year.  We invited a few friends over to celebrate with her--in the form of eating lots of sugar and going swimming. 

 The birthday person also gets to pick where we eat out.  She chose Sonic (for the corndogs) and so we bought three slushes, three corndogs, and Joel and I ate leftovers.  :-)  

We celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa J, too.  Lily and her friend Luke have fought over enjoyed playing together with a cash register at preschool for the last year and a half.  She LOVES that thing.  So we finally bought her one--and she also received lots of fun food and other items to go along with it.  She LOVES playing grocery store!!!

 
 

 We had so much fun celebrating another year with her!!!