another first...

You know the kiddo is tired when he falls asleep like this!!  I couldn't believe my eyes!!  But, he's had quite the week:  Saturday was his first experience with soccer at lil kickers, Sunday brought his first Sunday school experience, Monday was all about preschool, Tuesday was his first swimming lesson, Wednesday was preschool again, and finally Thursday brought him his first trip to the dentist!  What a whirlwind of a week, buddy!  You deserve a little shut-eye!!  :)

It just cracks me up that he fell asleep watching the Bernstein Bears movie on the portable dvd player!

Soccer!!

Jaelyn was super excited to start playing soccer!  We signed her up for a LWSA U-6 team.  She was especially excited because Daddy was going to be her coach!  So for the next 6 Friday nights, she'll be learning the game of soccer.  The first 30 minutes are for drills & the last 30 minutes are for scrimmaging!  Yay for Jaelyn!  I loved how she smiled the entire time (even cheering for her teammate who scored a goal for the other team!)

Here is Jaelyn's "team" of 6 girls!

Action shot of Jaelyn!  Gotta love the tongue out and everything!

Cheering on her team during the 3v3 game!

Jaelyn going towards a defender....

And blowing past him!

Brooke taking it all in & cheering for her sister!

5 months

What a fun age to be at!  Brooke is rolling over and enjoys being on her tummy!  She has rolled back onto her back unassisted, but it isn't the norm yet.  I'm secretly kinda glad because I like how she stays put in one place!  I'm not ready for a "mobile" kid!  With the rolling over in the daytime, brings the rolling over at night & at nap time!  It has woken her up a few times, but hopefully we'll get through it soon.  She continues to be a laid back/easy going/fun loving girl!  She is all smiles and rolls with everything we throw at her..mainly a very flexible schedule of sleep!  Her typical day is waking up ~8 or 9am (depending if she has woken up in the night).  She is usually up for an hour and then it's back to bed for her am nap.  So far the am nap has been the longest...usually ~3 hours (unless we have to get in the car to go somewhere!)  She usually goes back down anywhere between 1-2pm and sleeps for a couple hours.  She still sometimes takes a little 45 min. or 1 hour nap through the dinner hour or just after it...with going to bed between 8-8:30pm.

 One other thing that's new is that Brooke has found her toes & she loves blowing bubbles!  Such fun!!

 Can you be any sweeter?  We love you to pieces, Brooke!  We can't wait for what new things you learn to do in this coming month!!  :)

Just a goofy picture of the two kids...even Benjamin's eyes are closed, but it's still a great photo!  Ben really wanted his picture taken with Brooke, but he didn't like the flash going off!  Obviously Brooke thought this was hilarious!! :)

and then there were 2 swimmers!

 Benjamin had his first swimming lesson today!  He was relieved to know that Jaelyn would be in the pool with him.  He did great "running" the width of the pool but then Ms. Angela asked him to blow bubbles in the water and he froze up!  He did NOT want to do it!  (even though he has friendly competitions with Jaelyn in the bathtub and puts his whole face under water & blows bubbles!)  Finally after waiting and bribing him, Ms. Angela lowered his lips into the water...he did not like that at all and began crying hard and wailing for me.  Poor guy!  Thankfully we could redirect him with Jaelyn's swimming and he calmed down.  Next up was swimming on his back.  He laid peacefully on his back but would not kick his feet!  Stubborn little guy!  Anyway, he knows the drill having watched Jaelyn's swimming class for 2 years now....and knew he had to do everything Ms. Angela wanted him to do to get to play time.  He flipped out a bit when he had to jump into the pool from the edge - - but he didn't even waver a bit when it was time to jump off the diving board 3 times!  After the diving board, it was play time!  He LOVED play time and had such a fun time motoring around in the boat.  He was all smiles until Ms. Angela would look at him and then he would frown...silly guy!  :)  We'll work on bubbles in the bathtub so that he'll be more confident next week!  Way to go, buddy!  We are proud of you for having a successful 1st swimming lesson!! :)  It will only get easier!

 A camo swim hat - perfect choice for him!!

 Being stubborn and not kicking his feet...just laying on his back...even w/ his eyes closed!

 Pretty cool to have private lessons for the kids!

 He was all smiles when he was "running" (the beginnings of learning to swim on your tummy).  He actually was really fast at it.

 Trying to get a bubble out of him!

 Pouty Ben!

 Just a fun picture of Jaelyn diving through the hoop

 Ben's first jump off the diving board....

 Yay!  You did it...even going under water a bit!

All is well with the world now that it's playtime and he has the boat!!

Ben's off to Preschool!

  
Ben's first day of preschool was today.  He hasn't been too excited with the thought of going to preschool without Jaelyn being there.  On numerous occasions he's said, "I don't want to go to school"...and that was the tone this morning.  It was heart wrenching to leave him, but after getting him settled at school for almost 30 minutes, I had to leave.  He was crying really hard when I left and all I wanted to do was scoop him up and comfort him!  I kept the phone close to me the entire morning in case they needed me back at school because he was still crying!  But, thankfully no phone call!  :)  It turns out that Mrs. Pitts heard crying down the hall and came to see if she could help.  Ben saw her and went to her with open arms.  We love Mrs. Pitts!!  Benjamin ended up having his free play in Mrs. Pitts classroom (playing with his buddy Lincoln!) and then eventually switched back to his classroom after recess.  He settled into his classroom and did fine the remainder of the morning.  It was great to hear him call daddy on the phone to tell him about preschool and without any prompting the first words out of his mouth was "preschool was good, daddy!"  I'm really hoping that Wednesday's drop off is way easier and that he gets into the swing of things quickly!!

 What a good lookin' kid!

 Going to his classroom (the same one Jaelyn was in the last 2 years!)

 Getting to put up his name - he always wanted to do this for Jaelyn!

 Playing in the sand tub...all was good if Mommy stayed right beside him!

Kindergarten!

 Can it be that my baby is in kindergarten already??  Jaelyn was SO pumped for the day!!  They had a staggered start - so half the kindergarteners went the first two days and Jaelyn's half went today & then Monday with the entire class together on Tuesday.  Pretty slick, I think - - smaller class size to get to know each other better and learn the kindergarten routine!  Last night Jaelyn had a dream that her Kindergarten teacher was a pig, had blue hair and wore sunglasses!!  Ha!  To cute!  Anyway, this morning she woke up at 6:15am - - all excited to get ready and get on the bus!  With a scrambled egg breakfast, she was off...& no looking back! Mommy held back tears as she so confidently jumped on the bus...we are onto another phase in life!

 Benjamin was excited for Jaelyn and wanted to wear his backpack with her...Monday is your day, Buddy!!

 The bus stop is right in front of our house!!  SO convenient!!

 Daddy went into work late so that he could see her off to kindergarten

 What a big bus for such a little girl!!

 I jumped into the car after the bus left and got to school to see her arrive.  I know it calmed her fears with riding the bus for the first time all by herself...and it calmed Mommy's anxiety too knowing that she arrived safe and sound.  She's all smiles in the window!

 The school has it down to a science...making sure the kids know where they have to go once they are at school.  The mom's check them off the list & a 5th grader escorts them to their class. 

 Jaelyn saw me taking pictures...but didn't even wait for me to walk with her.  She was not nervous at all...off to Mrs. Pietersen's class! 

 They have to line up on the wall and wait for Mrs. Pietersen to open the door...here she is going into class!

 She remembered exactly where her table was (from the meet & greet morning) and quickly got settled in!

Wow, kiddo -your first day was a success!  You had nothing but great things to say about your 1st day of kindergarten!  I pray that you have a wonderful year - filled with joy and laughter!  I pray that you make awesome friends...that even last a lifetime!  I pray that you are a shining light of Christ to your peers as well.  We love you so much, Jaelyn! 

Rolling Over!!

We've got a girlie who's mastered the art of rolling over!  She's been randomly rolling over sense Aug. 22 or so, but now she's doing it all the time.  Sometimes her elbow gets in the way...& it's usually because her thumb/fist is still in her mouth and she doesn't want to take it out!  But, at any rate...I wanted to get this milestone in the books so to speak - so that I would remember!

Here is the sequence of her rolling over...it takes her a little bit to complete it!!  Big brother was there encouraging all the way!!

 "Yay, Broote" (as he calls her!)  He has such a tender heart for his little sister.

 All smiles that she's on her tummy - - she thinks she hot stuff!!

 And just another random picture - just because she's precious!