September in a nut shell!

September arrived and the kids got to start their new school thank the Lord!! This was a busy, crazy, rough summer and we needed some good routine back in this house. The girls were anxious but got excited after they got to meet teachers and see inside the school.  It is right down the street from us so they get to walk or scooter which is great!  Grace started choir right away and is loving it,she has made some good friends and is also teaching herself guitar. 

1st day of 5th grade!

Haylee has lots of friends and hasn't missed a beat when it comes to being the little social butterfly.  We are

trying to get her to play basketball or something this winter but she's not very confident in that stuff so we'll see.  We got a YMCA family pass when we moved and the kids have all loved swimming throughout the week.   

1st day of 3rd grade.

This little boy is amazing in the water!  We are thinking of doing some official swim lessons this winter to give him some pointers because he loves the deep water, already loves to dive, swims across the whole pool in the 12 ft, but he's so little the life guards all think he's drowning.  Maybe if he knows proper strokes he can have a little more freedom.  This is how he looked on the first day of school. ;)  We like to be in our jammies as long as we can.

After the kids got their school pictures taken by Kristen's amazing friend photographer we all headed out to lunch together for tuna melts and malts! :) It is so fun to live by some family now after so long we are feeling spoiled with all the events we've gotten to see and be invited to. 

Aunt Vicki, River and Stacey

 Kelley and Elle

 The rest of the kiddos.

 Kristen and Tyler

Afterwards the "Sister's Creed" ladies took me shopping with them to some of the fun places they find their treasures for sales and where some of their stuff also gets sold.  We may or may not have also stopped to pig out eat gelato and cupcakes but where else would we get the energy for all that shopping?? ;)

This is one of their sales we drove out to in Sandpoint, Id.  I had never been there and it's GORGEOUS!!  The sale was out of town a little ways in an old grange.  The weather was a bit windy but beautiful and we had fun looking at all the fun things for sale.

Gavin was very fond of the old ice cream stand and asked everyone about 20 times "what can i get you?" :)  He wanted to take it home.

 After looking around town for the afternoon and visiting the lake for a bit we headed out to Vicki's house for some pizza and a bonfire.  Gavin and Elle were fast friends.

Adult table

 Beautiful garden and view.

Ended the night with a warm fire and some yummy ice cream!

We also got a girls night out to attend Riley's school dance/dinner fundraiser.  We had a very fun time and the girls loved seeing her dance. :)  Complete awe when she came out!

 It was a fun night with my girls.

The whole family!

So to wrap up the month we did a little of this:

Gavin and I discovered the Centennial Trail one afternoon and had lunch by the river.

We have spent a lot of time in our backyard just soaking in the fact that we now have one. :)  Jake is a happy dog in the sunshine and the kids head out to the swings/tree house the minute they get home from school.

We have a ton of projects to get done outside but I think we'll wait until next year.  For now we will just enjoy the last bit of warm weather we can get.

Lake time!

This summer was so fun at the lake and we actually got family time in August (you have to get time slots pretty early these days)!!!  It was warm and beautiful every single day!  The whole family (and then some) made it up for the whole week which was super fun for all the kids to get that time together.  We played, relaxed, laughed, and ate yummy food every day, it was great!  It's definitely a different experience living up here now and getting to go there for the week.  Makes it nice that we don't have to make the drive back to rainy Bellingham anymore and the sun will continue. :)

The kids were all little fish, as usual.  Grace learned to dive this summer thanks to Uncle Ben and Gavin liked being in the deep without his life jacket for the first time.  Our kids have all loved water but I think Gavin is our earliest swimmer and the kid has no fear of the water, it's a bit scary.  We laugh that he would drown smiling. :)

ready......

Set........

GO!!!!

Zoey out on the floaty with Whitney, Addison and Jack on the beach.

Grandma and the usual daily crafting that takes place.  I love that she does this I am so not the crafty type so my kids eat it up!!  Plus it gives us other parents a nice break. ;)

Painting bird houses.

This sweet girl was so fun to watch with the other kids, she loved all the attention and this is really the first time we've gotten to spend more than about a day with her.  They would ask her over and over what her name is cause in the cutest voice she says "yoey!". :)

This is sweet girl number two who loves to get dirty!!  Not even two minutes after she's outside and she's got a fist full of dirt. 

Content as can be.

More dirt please. ;)

These two I just want to take home with me and never let them get any bigger.  They are the cutest little friends who have a love/hate relationship but man are they adorable.

The kids all braved the slide this year and had a great time.

Uncle Paul the chef gave them all a little lesson in pasta making.  He made a couple different sauces to go with and the kids all got to eat the noodles they rolled out.  It was a hit! :)

One of many canoe rides.

Doesn't she look like a  little "who"?

The kids all got a tie dyed t shirt from Grandma so we decided what a perfect addition to the annual ice cream picture.

Zoey and Brooke in the dark at the end I realized too late so it's not the best one but at least they all made it.

Mmmmm cotton candy flavor.

Goes with the shirts quite nicely.

Saying goodbye to Granny. :(

We ended the weekend with a little target practice.  Kids had yet to shoot Daddy's BB gun so that was fun to try out.

She's a natural.

Everyone but Justin missed the targets but it was still fun.  It was really hot out there so we all went back and jumped in the lake.  Summer at the lake 2012 was another great year!