First Day of School

9/9/09 Was the our first day of school. The kids were so excited and I was too. Timmy is in 1st grade and Maura is in Pre-K. Timmy reassured me that he didn't need me to take him to school or to his class, that he knew where to go, and that he wanted to ride the bus. At first I was a little worried, but then I felt proud that is becoming so independent and agreed to let him go by himself (even though he admitted to me that he was going to miss me while he was at school...those things are worth a million dollars). Maura was excited too. She has the afternoon session and asked me all day long if we were going to be late and if it was time to go. When we got to the school, she went into the door and never looked back, but when she got home she asked me if I cried while she was gone because I missed her so much...what a sweet little girl. I have to admit that I wasn't that sad for school to start this year...more excited than anything; excited for them to start a new adventure.

The new backpack

Waiting for the bus

Heading to the corner

away he goes...

The new backpack...about as big as she is.

Ready to go in and start!

Eternal Flame

N0....I'm not talking about T.J. We hiked to this little beauty on Labor Day. Its a little flame that is all natural and it runs behind a little water fall. It was really cool. The hike was fun and wet. The kids had a lot of fun with their walking sticks and jumping in puddles along the way. T.J. carried Topher in a pack we borrowed from our friends. All of the kids climbed up to the top of the falls (thanks to Cory). They thought it was awesome! Everybody had a really good time getting out and enjoying nature.

The flame behind the falls.

Timmy and his walking stick.

Maura getting ready to splash in a puddle.

T.J. packing Topher around.

Topher enjoying the ride.

The view from the bottom.

A step back...if you look to the left in the whole, you can see the flame.

AZ trip

Here are some pics that were taken while we were AZ. I forgot my camera so I had to steal from Cassie and Richard...I hope that's ok.

This may have been the only moment the boys were not slapping or pushing each other.

Topher at the AZ Grand Resort

Maura and Jada

The girls wanted to dress alike all week. They always wanted to look like twins.

Sick Maura (ear infections and bronchitis)

Some of the kids in their matching shirts.

Papa giving the boys Horsey rides.

Maura enjoying the sun.

Some of the Webb grandkids.

Me and Alex (Klint's) He was reciting all of his animal sounds for me.

Topher and Shelene

Timmy sporting his "just out of the pool" hair.

Maura looking jet lagged

We decided to take a trip back to AZ while TJ was on break. I was a little leery of a plane ride with an 18 month old baby and rightly so because the trip to AZ was TERRIBLE!! Topher whined and screamed and wiggled and bucked...you get the picture. It was really bad. Every time he fell asleep the flight attendant would come by ask if we wanted snacks or drinks. Needless to say, we were so happy to get there. We had so much fun staying with Drew and Cass, visiting with all of our families, seeing baby Bentley, swimming and celebrating TJ's birthday. If Maura hadn't been so sick, and we hadn't had to take her to a Dr. without insurance....it would have been perfect. We had so much fun. We wished we could have stayed longer to see more of everyone. Thanks all you AZ peeps for seeing us and putting up with us! We love you!

Lucky!

We have been reading a lot of books this summer. At our library ever time you checked out 10 books we got to put in a raffle ticket to win a bike. When we got home from AZ (post to come soon), we had a message on our phone telling us that we had won the boy's bike! Timmy was so excited. We went to the library the next day to get it. Everyone there made a big deal about it by clapping for Timmy and taking his picture. He felt really special. What a lucky kid. (Now he just needs to learn to ride a bike without training wheels)