July

We met Jason's parents in St. Louis and decided to go to Grant's Farm. It's such a great place and it's FREE!

Silly Faces!

Smiles!

Kota feeding a baby goat at Grant's Farm

The kids got to pet a boa constrictor! 

A brand new exhibit this year, was feeding parakeet birds.
It was a really cool experience, they would perch right on you while they ate!

Sometimes they would perch on your head!

My cool kids sporting their Royals hats!

Jaxon's first time jumping off a big diving board at a public pool.

And a few minutes later he was ready to try a front flip!

Oh Deer!

Back to catching up with the blog...

 I believe it was in June, the kids and I got home and the kids took off in the yard chasing some chipmunks. I stayed in the garage unloading the car, and Jaxon came running to the garage yelling about a deer. I couldn't understand what he was talking about, and finally he said, "There's a baby deer in our backyard." I didn't believe him. I mean, we live in the middle of our neighborhood, near a busy intersection, right by a school. There's no way a deer is in our yard in the middle of the day. I followed them to the backyard, and sure enough, there was a baby deer in their clubhouse.

I called the state department of natural resources, a local police officer (who is a friend of ours), and a local vet. I discovered that this is very normal behavior for deer. Mamas birth their babies and then carry them somewhere where they can hide them. People have found baby deer in their bushes, under their porches, and apparently in their children's clubhouse. The mamas leave them there and then head back into the woods, hoping their predators follow the scent into the woods. Once the mama feels like she has lost the predators, she returns to get her baby. They say it's usually no more than 24 hours and don't expect the deer to be there come morning. Sure enough, the next morning, the baby was gone. It was one of the craziest things we've experienced. We checked on the baby several times that day, being careful not to touch it or spook it.

The weirdest part? A few days later, the baby returned on its own! Jason and I went outside to work in the garden and there was the baby, napping in the kids clubhouse. We tried to stay very quiet, but Jason accidentally spooked it and it ran through a parking lot and back into the woods to find its mama. Dakota was just certain that the baby was there because it wanted her to be its Mommy.

Eventually, both of Jaxon's front teeth came out!
I love this toothless smile, but it sure didn't last long.

Back in March, I started working part time at our church. One of the perks is getting to bring my kids to work! This summer the kids spent two days a week up there while I worked. They spent their mornings playing with friends (other kids whose Mom's work at church). After lunch, we had them all find a quiet spot away from everyone else and read for 30 minutes. I thought it was such a special and precious time, I decided to get it on camera.

Happy Father's Day! So blessed that Jason was home for Father's Day and we got to celebrate him. He is the most incredible daddy and I'm so glad my kiddos have him. He wanted steak for lunch, so Texas Roadhouse it was:

SILLY FACE!

Love when we get visitors!

The kids, with Memaw, waiting on a table at Olive Garden.

FIRST GRADE

I cannot even believe I just wrote FIRST GRADE! Wasn't it last week that we were in the hospital, excitedly awaiting the arrival of our first baby? Not knowing if we would have a son or daughter, anxiously thinking about the amount of love we had for this new baby, but not knowing we had exceedingly more love than we ever thought imaginable. Ugh! All of my feelings aside, this boy is more than ready for first grade. He has been counting down the days till first grade, since the last day of kindergarten.

He is very excited to be in Miss Thompson's First Grade class. He has several friends in his class this year and thinks it's pretty cool that he has lunch and recess with 3rd grade. And it's the late lunch, this year. He loves that his teacher uses the Smartboard for a lot of daily activities, his favorite, so far, is making his lunch choice on there. He is not excited that the lunch calendar doesn't show any days with chicken nuggets as an option. Hoping September will have nuggets. Also, he told me he plans to walk by his kindergarten classroom every morning and say, "Hi," to his teacher from last year. He told me her promised her last year that he would do that as a first grader (love him!).

Three days in to school and so far, so good. We couldn't be more proud of our big guy!

First Day of 1st Grade
August 20, 2014
When I grow up I want to be:
~ A professional baseball player
~ An Air Force Pilot

On his way to 1st grade!

Waiting in line to go in to school.
He's a professional and didn't even look back to wave.

FUN!

Fun pictures that give you glimpse into our crazy-fun life:

Yep, that's her brother's underwear she is wearing as a headband.

Shopping at Old Navy, turn around to see these two models posing.

We celebrated NO MORE CHEMO with a 6 year old friend from church.
Pony rides, face painting, balloon artist, bouncy house...are just a few of the fun things we did.

Dakota and her friend, Nora, concentrating on coloring.

"Make a silly face!"

What a beauty!

My favorite dude! Enjoying the fireworks after a baseball game.

We found a geocache!

Dakota wanted a turn to be the photographer.

Dakota and her friend, Cora. I'm not sure Cora is
as excited about Dakota's hug as D is.

I have been trying to take her nap away since she turned four, but I keep
finding her asleep in random places, like under the dinner table.

Welcome Home Daddy!!

The best thing that happened in May, was welcoming Jason home safely from depoloyment. Jason was deployed to Qatar for about 2 1/2 months. He had a great experience there, but we are always glad to have him home and so proud of him for working hard and serving our country. The crews flew home on a commercial flight (they left their C 130s over there for the next crews), so it looked a little different than our first homecoming.

The sign I helped the kids make:
THESE ARE THE HANDS THAT PRAYED FOR YOUR SAFE RETURN!

The super-duper cute outfits my friend, Jessica, helped me make!

The flight crew kids waiting for their daddies.

Wrapped up in his arms at last!

A complete family again!

Kindergarten Field Trip

I loved going on Jaxon's field trip with him, last spring. The entire school spent the day at Soldwedel to explore the outdoors and learn a lot about nature. We had so much fun!

Dakota's First Dentist Appointment

Still catching up the blog.... Back in April, Dakota had her very first dentist appointment. She did awesome!