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S-E-V-E-N

School Pictures

2011-2012

My Preschool Princess

My 1st Grade Super Hero

My 5th Grade Super Smart Boy

Applicious!

Driving along the river headed toward the Mall of America we found the most amazing apple orchard. It was full of yummy Honey-crisp apples! The kids raced down the hill in the wagon to see who could find the biggest apples. After several picked apples and fresh caramel apples to go we were back on the road Mall of America bound.

Mall of America

We finally made it to Mall of America. It was a place we promised to take the kids when we moved.

It was a full day of adventures!

Brylee gave Hello Kitty a hug and was in awe of the American Girl store. That American Doll girl is one well dressed doll. Her outfits cost way more than Brylee's! And of course we spent a long time in the Lego store. The kids each made their own Lego figure and we purchased a Stars Wars Lego Advent Calendar set and some Christmas presents...Brett if you are reading this, just kidding about the present part!

The last adventure of the day was taking the kids to Sea Life. How could we not take our Shark loving boy to Sea Life. I was told for a mere $75 I could swim with the sharks and not to worry they were not hungry and would not eat me! Gee no thanks...my luck would be that the sharks were extra hungry that day!

A little after midnight we made it home and the kids with half closed eyes stumbled into bed to dream about all the fun we had.

Painter Girl

I'm not cut out for this kind of labor....you know the painting kind of labor. I painted for 5 minutes and decided it was time to make dinner.

Me~ "Brylee are you done?"

Brylee~ "I'm not done until Daddy is done."

Someone should warn her that her Dad is never done. He can't sit still and is always working!

Friday Night Lights

A fun Friday night watching Brett play at half time during the high school game.

Good times!

2 Doors Down

A beautiful family lives 2 doors down. They moved here from India 3 years ago. They have 2 great kids who I have come to love. The mother knows very little English but if we take our time we can communicate a little. I picture myself living in India with my three children. I can only imagine what she has gone through. I'm sure she left her family behind in India to give her children the gift of living in America. She is beautiful and kind and I can only guess lonely. I invite her to come inside though she never stays longs. I want to learn more about her culture and share mine.

But more than anything I want her family to love Jesus the way I do. I prayed about it while jogging and my answer came through a song. The answer was to simply love them and put on my brave pants and ask if I could take their daughter to Awana. I am overjoyed that they agreed. God is good! Tonight is our first night for Awanas and I pray that God's word be hidden in her heart.

Twins

Brylee picked out this new school dress because her baby "Crystal Carol" could have a matching dress. She tried to go to school with Brylee but jumped out of her backpack at the last minute.
This was her second day of school. She jumped on the bus and asked if I would meet the bus at school...of course I did. She informed me that when she was a teenager that she would not need me to meet her at school!

Priceless

Jacob noticed me reading my bible this morning and at lunch opened his mouth and said "Mom you know the bible is worth 200 pieces of gold which is like a million dollars." To which Brett interrupted and said "Actually Jake it is priceless."

Then this Mom smiled and finished cutting strawberries.

Preschool Princess

Brylee is growing up on me. I have been an emotional wreck inside. I can probably count the number of hours that I have been kid free in the last 10 plus years and let me tell you when I got home the silence about killed me!

She goes to afternoon preschool and all morning she was gitty with excitement and kept saying "I'm so excited!" and let me know that she knew I was going to miss her! Yep she was right!

I was one of those crazy moms who followed the bus to school and convinced myself Brylee needed me to be at the school when she got off the bus. Her assistant teacher rides on the bus to help the kids. How great is that! They have seat-belts and all. I know Brylee was somewhat nervous but as soon as she saw a smiling face greeting her as she climbed the ginormous stairs of the bus she did not even look back. She loved school and wishes she could go on Saturday.

Mrs. G

Orientation Day

A Scavenger Hunt with Daddy.

Mrs. Taylor

You may be confused and think she is ready for the beach but the girl just likes to accessorize.

She started waiting on the porch for the bus 2 hours early.

I stopped following the bus when I realized the bus driver was not sure of her route and was backing the bus up in the neighborhood so I headed to school and joined the other over protective moms on the curb and waited in the rain for 15 minutes.

A big hill to climb.

and yes I followed her into the classroom! Tears shed by Brylee zero, me a few on the way to school!