Labor Day Recap

We headed up to Tennessee last Wednesday to spend Labor Day with my family. After a pretty uneventful drive, we got there around 5:45 am. Quinn wouldn't go to bed, but luckily Nana and Papa were there to entertain him while Mommy and Daddy went to sleep. We spent the next few days hanging out, eating, having fun, and aside from one issue with our car key (involving a mysterious disappearance, a $50 spare overnighting, and its grand reappearance in TN once we got home), we had a fabulous time. Quinn definitely enjoyed all the catering Nana and Papa gave him, and we enjoyed the family time and just being away. Here are some pictures from the trip!

One day we went to the Creative Discovery Children's Museum in downtown Chattanooga (which is awesome by the way, check it out if you ever get the chance). It was really neat and Quinn had so much fun. Here he is playing in the piano....

...and dressing up like a dinosaur!

Not a bad shot for a self-portrait!

Daddy and Quinn enjoyed dressing up like bees in the bee exhibit. Cute, huh?

We also spent a lot of nice relaxing downtime at the house. Quinn and Mere enjoyed some quality bonding time doing some singing and dancing.

Quinn posing with GiGi at the Labor Day lunch at the Creekside.

I guess all the fun times caught up with them.

Posing with Nana before she left for work on our last day.

Quinn and Papa!

Thanks to my parents for the hospitality...we'll be back soon!

He's 1/2 way to 7!

Quinn is 3.5 today...per usual, wow, where does the time go? I decided to do a little interview with him, which hopefully I'll remember to do as he gets older. It is pretty cute, so have a gander and enjoy!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school around here. For us, it really wasn't that big of a deal. Quinn has been going to school all summer, so for him, it was just a room switch. I was a little concerned since very few of his classmates from last year were in his class, but he seemed okay. Plus he'll see a lot of his friends in aftercare. Here are some pictures from the day.

On our way to 3 year old Preschool!

Outside his new classroom, right next to his classroom from last year.

He was supposed to be pointing to the frog with his name on it, but this is what we got.

Enjoying his after-school treat, a shake from Steak n Shake!

I'm excited about this school year, and am sure it will be a great one! Hope all those who are in school or have kids in school have a great year!

Why Hello There!

Sorry for my absence, I hope both of you weren't too bored. I just fall off the blogosphere every now and again. We have been quite busy the last few weeks with the normal summer busyness. Here are the bullet points of what we've been doing...

• Playdates
• Swimming Lessons
• Lily's Birthday Party
• Ellie's Birthday Party
• Audrey's Birthday Party
• Work
• Sweating
• Volunteering
• Seeing Friends
• More Sweating

That is a general list, I'm sure there's more, hopefully I'll get to those soon. Here are some pictures of a few of the activities.

Lily had an awesome art-themed 3rd birthday party. We had so much fun! Here are Quinn and Lily and 2 of Lily's cousins working on one of the art projects.

Lily's cake was quite delicious, and Quinn especially enjoyed the blue icing!

The next weekend was Ellie's 3rd birthday party, which was a lot of water themed fun. Her parents rented an awesome inflatable waterslide, which Quinn refused to go down. But I went down twice and it was great! I mistakenly didn't take many pictures at that party, but here is one of Quinn and his good buddy Colten enjoying some lunch.

The day after Ellie's party was Quinn's cousin Audrey's 5th birthday party. It was held in the gymnastics room at the local Y, which Quinn really enjoyed. We had a great time there too!

Here is Quinn and his cousin Aidan waiting to enjoy cake.
So, while we've been busy, we've been having a lot of fun too. Quinn is quite the party animal, as you can see! As I always say, I'm going to try and do better with this in the future. We'll see how it goes.

Two Special Boys

***Warning....I look awful in these pictures. Quinn had swim lessons, so I practically melted while watching him, then was short on time and wasn't able to clean myself up as I should. Don't worry, I haven't totally let myself go.***

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting two very special baby boys. Its not often you get to see two at once, so I was very excited about this prospect.

My dear friend Katie gave birth to her and Vlad's first baby on Thursday morning. Little Victor is just adorable, with a headful of dark hair and just a sweetness about him. I know he will be a great man and do many great things. Congrats Katie and Vlad and welcome to the world Victor!!

I don't know how Katie feels about being in this picture, but her excuse for not looking the best is pretty legitimate.

The second sweet boy I met was adorable little Kaleb. He is the son of Ross' cousin Laura and her husband Kurtis and he was born 10 weeks early. He weighed in at 2lbs 15oz at birth, and while the first few days were difficult, he is doing amazingly well. That boy is a fighter, I tell you! I'd never actually seen a baby that small, and he really looked like a normal baby, just smaller and bonier (due to lack of fat, which comes in the last couple months in the womb). When I saw him he was moving all over the place, making noise, and doing the things that most babies do. Laura said there are still a few concerns, mostly due to his apnea and the threat of infections, but his main goal now is to grow and get stronger. His lungs are working well and while he isn't eating much, he is eating consistently. Any prayers and good thoughts you can pass to Laura, Kurtis, and Kaleb are greatly appreciated.

A Sweet Homecoming

...look after the widows and orphans in their distress...James 1:27

Tuesday night I had the wonderful experience of witnessing a very sweet homecoming. Our cousins Mark and Jenn returned from a month in Russia with their sweet new little girl, Selah. She had been wanted for so long and it was so incredible to see her with the family that loves her so much. I contemplated not going because it was late and Quinn needed to go to bed, blah blah blah, but as someone pointed out, how often do you get to witness something like this? It was especially great to see her meet her new big brothers. They were so happy to see her too. Here is the whole family at the airport.

I wanted to get pictures as they arrived, but maybe we happened to get there just as they were getting off the tram on the landside terminal. Somebody's always got to be late, right? As you can see in the above picture, Selah was snoozing a bit when they arrived. I just love the picture below when she woke up and was meeting her big brother Jack. Oh, and grandma peeking over at her too!

It is so wonderful to see people really take God's words serious...and we get to benefit by having Selah in our lives!

Happy 4th of July!

I had to post a picture of this shirt, since he really can't wear it any other day of the year. I hope everyone had a wonderful day. We went over to a friend's house and had a great time eating, talking, shooting fireworks (which Quinn was completely freaked out by), and just hanging out. So glad to live in this country and celebrate such an important day in our history.