Audrey is 5!

On August 23, Audrey turned 5!  I can't believe it!  My mom, grandma, and I took Audrey out for a fancy lunch at a tea room.

Then, we headed over to the mall to fulfill Audrey's long-time wish: to have her ears pierced.

This face cracks me up.  We were worried for a minute there that she would only have one ear pierced, but she was really brave and let them do the other.

 What a big girl!

We also went to a salon to get our nails done.  (Yes, it was a different day, but I stuck it in here anyway.  We were supposed to do it at this point, but ran out of time.)  Audrey thought she was something pretty special, even getting special flower designs on her nails.

 She requested a strawberry cake, and I tried to make it look like a flower.  It was pretty much a failure, but oh well.  It tasted good.

She received lots of fun gifts: Barbies from G&G Allphin, cool hair accessories from G&G Hall, and new earrings from us.

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Swimming at Grandpa and Grandma's!

We used our new neighborhood pool a few times, but our favorite hot weather hangout was my parents' pool.  We had lots of fun days there.  

On Labor Day, Rebecca, Brad, and family joined us for some pool fun.  

Soon, the kids combined swimming with Legos.  Who knew?!

Grandma Gibby loved watching her great-grandkids swim.

Starting School

Clayton's cousin, Rebecca, had the brilliant idea to have a back to school party on the day before school started.  She planned all kinds of fun games, like pin the name on the backpack.

and pack your lunchbox relay races.  Thanks for the fun idea, Rebecca!

Luke and Clay on Luke's first day of school.

First Grade!

 On the bus.

Getting off the bus and going into the school.  Yes, I was one of those moms.

Ready to start.  And looking a little bit nervous.  He did great, though, and is excelling in school.   His teacher, Mrs. Hendrickson, is amazing.  His class is small (18 kids), and he is making lots of friends.  And, best of all, he is talking like crazy!  Hooray!

Audrey's Pre-K didn't start for another few weeks, but here she is trying out the covered wagon at Meet-the-Teacher.  This year, the theme is about Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I think this is kind of neat, because our Elementary school is Wilder Elementary.  Laura lived in Missouri for quite a bit of her life.

 Audrey and Laura

FINALLY, it was the first day of school!  Here is Audrey getting her name tag from her teacher, Mrs. Kim.  

Audrey is also loving school, although she wishes she could be in Kindergarten and ride the bus with Luke.  I try to tell her to enjoy this last year with more time with me.  She is not impressed.  :)  Although is was kind of sad that she missed the Kindergarten cut-off by 22 days, this year is already helping Audrey so much.  She is learning tons and having a great time at school!

Lake Fun

Although my parents assure me that this was a light lake summer (not nearly enough lake time), we felt like we have never spent so much time on the lake.  We were able to go with them to their lake house on several occasions, and it was always lots of fun.  And, Audrey almost always threw up on the way.  Nothing like super windy Missouri roads!

 Alex!

Skipping rocks from shore.

Luke succeeding at kneeboarding!

Getting ready to ski...

Not this year, but he was a really good sport and kept a smile on his face the whole time.

We love the lake!