Senior Pictures

I had the opportunity of doing a few senior photo sessions this summer. I had a great time doing it and came home exhausted after each one! While the girls were so fun to work with, I was stressing about getting shots they would love. It's so easy for me to put Hannah in front of the camera and play that I was terrified that someone was putting their trust in me to get good pictures of their kids. I was relieved each time I got home and took a look at them on the computer. Here's a couple of my favorites :)

Nine

Nathan celebrated his 9th birthday this year with a party at the beach. Getting him to make a decision on what he wanted to do and who he wanted to invite was like pulling teeth. The always-ready-to-party kid was so indecisive. It wasn't until we told him that if he couldn't make up his mind, we just wouldn't do a party, that he snapped out of it. He decided on grilling hot dogs for lunch, playing in the water and on the playground, and having a pinata. It really turned out fun and the kids had a great time.

The one thing Nathan knew from the very beginning was how he wanted his cake. He gave very specific instructions on what he wanted and any time I tried suggesting an addition of some sort, he would say, "No, I like it just like that".

Instead of bags filled with cheap toys that break instantly, we decided to give a beach towel and a beach ball as the party favors. It was a hit with the kids and the parents!

Jack, Nathan, and Sam in their cute towels

It was a bit chilly that day, but that didn't stop them from getting in the water. Crazy kids!

Enjoying some cake and ice cream

Being goofy boys

All day, Nathan kept saying he couldn't wait until he turned ten. I'll keep nine. It suits him, and me, just fine!

What's new and a few firsts

First...

High school swim meet:

Day of THIRD GRADE:

Day of high school:

Day of high school, take two:

Both kids had a good first week of school this year. Nathan has the same third grade teacher Hannah had so it feels nice and familiar. He was a little disappointed during the summer that he was in this particular class, he had his hopes up for another teacher, but has since decided it's okay to be where he is. He already has an assignment to give an oral presentation so we're busy at work on that. We went through a huge redistricting this year, and our school is now 70% new kids. It's weird to only recognize one out of every 5 kids but Nathan now has some kids in his class he knew from young fives at Waylee.

Hannah has also enjoyed school this week. She has a good schedule and a few fun teachers. She has enjoyed meeting kids from the other middle school and has thrown herself into everything social. She is on the swim team and practice for that began early August. That gave her only an 11 day break between swim sessions, so it was a super short summer for all of us. I especially liked the fact though that she knew several girls prior to starting school. Her first day of school photo was taken at 5:30 a.m. on the way to morning practice. We had to do a re-do the next morning when they got to start school at the regular time. Her first meet was August 27th and they did great. She had an imressive start to the season, and 3 meets in now, has continued to do better each race. It will be an exciting season!

Mike is busy at work and I have started back to work at the cafeteria. I really like that I am able to be home when the kids are done with school so I can't see giving this up for a while yet. Mike is still travelling very minimally, it's great to have him here. He decided to step down as parent board president of the swim club. That was such a time consuming position and after having done it for several years, he felt it was time to move on. I am happy he decided to be done with it! I stepped down in February and it felt good to be able to not be responsible for it all. He and I literally ran the club for 2 years and it's exhausting. It will be nice to just help out. We are now completely "board" free in our volunteering capacity!