My baby started kindergarten :*(

Does having a frowny face there make me a bad mom? I can't decide, but it's an accurate depiction of my emotions for the week that Caleb started school. For the first few days, I was just in 'GO' mode, getting everyone and everything where and how it needed to be, and getting frustrated by the pick-up line at the school (got so much better the 2nd week!!), and I think Thursday or Friday is when I finally felt it. AFTER he'd been in school for 3-4 days. :)

Caleb is going to a charter school over in Round Rock that just opened up this school year, so the school has some kinks and things to work out, but we're willing to see how it goes.

He was sure excited that first day, though... August 30th, 2011, Caleb started kindergarten!

 Look at that face...nervous/excited, and he has the same face in every picture. :)

except for this one, where it's a different excited face :)

Garrett and Caleb waiting with their class in the cafeteria, before they go to their classroom

You might have noticed the kids all look pretty similar in what they're wearing--yup, they wear uniforms, and I LOVE it! Their shirts can be red, grey, or white, and since he's a 5-year-old boy I refused to buy any white shirts for him. Getting dressed is easy in the mornings. ;)

here's Beckett giving Caleb and Garrett some final hugs

Caleb at his place at his table--see his little name and everything?? So cute! He was so happy I couldn't even get him to look at the camera.

And I have to say a BIG thank you to Nate for snapping this adorable picture of my little man.

Such a classic Caleb-face! And he looks so grown up! :*)

Can't wait to see how he grows during his first year of school!!!

probably old news at this point, but...

Did everyone get the memo??? :)

 (12 weeks, August 24th, 2011)

North baby #3, coming early March 2012!

Trip to Michigan--Saying bye to the fam

 It was definitely a fun trip to Michigan, which made it even harder to say goodbye to the family Friday night (we left early Saturday morning). My parents and brother Jon came over to Alissa and Brad's house for a cook-out, and we had delicious rhubarb pie (thanks, mama!!) and even played a game of Greed. And then it was time for some pics before everyone left.

 Grandma and B sharing some love

Grandma and Grandpa with our kiddies--Beckett and Caleb are both looking at something else, but the picture is still nice. :)

Grandpa and B--ignore B's crazy eye, I got the red out but couldn't get rid of the reflective light! 

But it's such a sweet picture I don't care. :)

Beckett with his cousin Alex--boy, Caleb and Beckett LOVED playing with him :)

Brianna (the oldest) and B

my sister's youngest, Emma, wasn't willing to uncover for a hug, so this was as close as it got

Beckett and mah seester!!!

how Uncle Brad says goodbye

the boys got a few more tackles in before bed

Brad and Lydia

and us, the crazy ones, ready to return home to Texas

It was a spectacular trip, though!!! Thank you again, Brad and Ali! We LOVED staying with you!!! :)

Trip to Michigan--Albert E. Sleeper State Park

So, Brad wins brother-in-law-of-the-year, because he took ANOTHER day off work on Thursday, and we all went to the beach! We followed Alissa and Brad and the kids to their favorite beach in Michigan, which is located in the Albert E. Sleeper State Park, in the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron. And boy, Brad took us the most back-roads way possible to get there, which actually, Kenn loved because we got fantastic gas mileage the whole time. :)

The star is where we were :)

This is Beckett. And this is as far as he went into the water.

I just thought this pic was cool, even if you are seeing my sister's, mine, and my niece's backsides.

We're so glad we put Caleb in swim lessons this year--he loves the water now! He wore his goggles and was a little fish the whole time.

snacks and drinks were enough to keep B happy

me and mah tootsers :)

Uncle Brad built a major sandcastle, and Caleb tried to help

Kenn got in on it, too

And this is a cute picture of my darling husband. I think we need to get him his own hat like that...

Beckett had some fun with some seashells that I found

So, Caleb and I actually went to this same beach with my sister and her family a few years ago. It was just he and I that went to Michigan to visit, and he had just turned 1. On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen and got some treats, and apparently that is the tradition, because we did it again. 

And Beckett is the messiest ice cream eater ever. Make sure you notice ALL the drips, from his mouth down to his feet.

 

but as soon as we were in the car to go back...

night night! :)

Trip to Michigan--Potter Park Zoo

So for the mid-point of our trip, my brother-in-law took the day off work and we all went to the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing (that's Michigan's state capital, for all you non-Michiganders out there).

I was pleasantly surprised by what a cool zoo it was. Although, it lost a LOT of points with me for not having an elephant. ::sigh::

Kenn and Caleb at the front of the park

Caleb had to try this, of course

Beckett petting a bunny rabbit

This kid is fearless--he'll pet anything he's able to

I thought this one was pretty good, actually

Beckett makes a good joey ;)

I think we wasted a good 20 minutes waiting for this lion to do something cool. I guess I did get a pretty good picture.

Caleb with his favorite animal, the rhinoceros

And they had one of those bird-feeding exhibits! Kenn and I did this at the Hogle Zoo in SLC 2 different times, and we love it. I wasn't surprised when Caleb refused to hold his stick because he didn't want the birds landing on it, but the rest of us had a ball.

Beckett would've done this all day if we let him

Caleb was very happy with his snow-leopard souvenir, though. :)

After the zoo, we ate a late lunch just outside the gates where they had a great playground and some picnic tables, and then we stopped by a specialty food market for my sister to pick up some crazy Egyptian grain that I can't remember the name of (she and my niece are allergic to wheat), and while there we got some Turkish Delight to try (because we'd all seen the first 'Chronicles of Narnia' movie and we're geeks that way). And, well, this is B covered in Turkish Delight. At least he enjoyed it. :)

A nice, messy end to a fun day. :)

Trip to Michigan!--Frankenmuth

Hey, we went to Michigan for a week in August! Does anyone really know what we did? NO! Of COURSE not, as I have yet to blog about it at ALL!

But now you can find out. :)

So we drove for a couple days, and got to Michigan Sunday night. Crashed at my sister's for the week. Monday was spent resting and recuperating from 2 days in the car with the boys. And then on Tuesday we spent the day with my parents, and went up to Frankenmuth.

Now, if you've never been there, you should definitely go. It's a fun little touristy town, and it's home to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, which I kid you not is a wonderland in every sense of the word. The place feels like MILES of Christmas, it's amazing. I had actually never been there that I could remember, and it was so fun to look around. The boys loved seeing all the ornaments and decorations ("Santa!! Snowman!!"). Good times were definitely had by all. We even got this year's ornament, which looks like this one, except it says 'Caleb 2011' instead of Robert.

So after wandering Bronner's for a while we were pretty hungry, and if there's one thing Frankenmuth does well it's FEED people. We went to Zehnder's for a family-style chicken dinner, and it was AMAZING!!! I can eat, a lot, as Kenn could definitely tell you, but even I was amazed by how much I actually ate at lunch. There was fried chicken, buttered noodles with cracker crumbs, cranberry relish, 3 kinds of bread, mixed veggies, cheese spread, cottage cheese, gravy, mashed potatoes, and even ice cream for dessert. I was impressed that they even had some things that were Caleb-safe (he got some whitefish, and he LOVED it). Fabulous meal. :)

So you stuff yourself, and then you go outside and take a picture of your face on a giant chicken! Such fun! :)

And that day was all about the food. We went back to my parents' house and just hung out and watched Caleb get violent with a game on the Wii (hilarious!), and then went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner, and after dinner we HAD to go to Uncle Ray's Dairyland. This place was my favorite ice cream place all growing up. It's in Fenton, and it's been there for so long, and it's wonderful.

Beckett enjoying his ice cream cone

Caleb got one of those sugary slushie drinks, and was quite happy

My mom might kill me for posting this picture, but it's the only one from the whole day with either of my parents IN it!

So my heart was set on having a Fried Egg on Toast, which doesn't sound like ice cream, but it is. It's a slice of pound cake, topped with vanilla soft serve, then that's topped with a peach half. It's so yummy, and I tried to get one when we went a few years ago and they didn't have any pound cake. So I was still hankering pretty bad for this, and Kenn went to the window to order and the girl looked at him like he was crazy when he said it. Apparently, it's no longer on the menu! But Crazy Dave, who is Uncle Ray's son and now owns and runs it, heard us, and said 'We haven't made a Fried Egg on Toast in years!', amazed I even remembered them. I explained my predicament, living in Texas and getting up there rarely, and he offered to go to the grocery store down the street to get pound cake and make me one! Of course I accepted, I mean, I'm not stupid. :)

So about 10 minutes later he comes out the door towards us yelling "Fried Egg on Toast! One Fried Egg on Toast!" and I may or may not have jumped up and down like a 5-year-old.

But it gets better...

He made me TWO, AND he didn't let us pay for them!!!

This is me with Crazy Dave, and the deliciousness. :)

It was awesome!!! It made my WHOLE day! They tasted perfect (yes, I ate both. How could I not???) And it was so happy and wonderful and fabulous.

Greatest. Place. Ever. If you're ever around there, definitely go. They serve nothing but goodness. :)