Back to school!!!!!

 For our annual "welcome walk"  We made some cookies for the kid's new teachers.  Got the tags here(Welcome Walk is a tradition our school  does where the kids get to find out who their teachers are by them knocking on your door on a certain evening the week before school...it's very exciting- they love it)

 This year they asked us to decorate our door, porch or front of house...this is our cheesy attempt....we tried:)

 At least the kids did this all themselves...ladders and all- YIKES!

 Savannah and Zach wrote notes to their teachers and insisted on posting them on the door...

 Sav and her new FIRST GRADE teacher Mrs. M- she seems super sweet!!! (do you  like how one of the streamers framed the side of the photo?)

Zach is THRILLED with his "new"  THIRD GRADE teacher...does she look familiar???

it's Mrs. N...Zach's first grade teacher and a dear friend from church! We love her and are SO excited Z gets to be in her class again!

 and this big SIXTH GRADER met his new teachers (well 6 out of 8 of them) the monday before school started as we walked around the school figuring out where all of his classes are and we set up his locker...he REFUSED to let me take any pictures inside the building. Agreed to let me take one outside when NO ONE was around...good thing he didn't notice the people behind him..
I can't believe my boy is in middle school. He was so nervous this morning when I dropped him off...bawled like a baby (me NOT him), but I was proud of myself for keeping it together and  positive until the moment he slammed the door and was off...heart.broken.mama.

 

Here he is practicing his route to school on bike...It's awesome that he will be riding to school  BUT as a mama I'm so happy he let me take him on the first day..

as a little gift each we gave each kiddo a dozen pencils with their names on them... I mean who doesn't LOVE seeing their name of stuff?? Idea from here (love that site!) Even little Bells got some for preschool- starting after labor day.

This morning....

 The kids were READY TO GO, in fact, SO ready that they were headed out the door before I could get my camera settings ready....hence the blurriness

 I  am SO anxious to hear all about their first day! Now Bella and I are off to make THIS before the kids get home! 

Now if only I had that darling ruffle cake plate....

a tribute to the 2 year old!!

Our little Lily went from....

 

to this...

 seems like it happened overnight...

Oh how we love this little lady's personality!  Big 2 year old tantrums and all!! (ps- we are NOT potty training...she just seems to be obsessed with making toilet paper messes and eating her snacks on the potty ...gross- I know!)

To celebrate the big day I had some help from my 5 little sous-chefs making a rainbow ruffle cake (been wanting to try the ruffle cake for some time now..)

Here they are each mixing up a color

 can you tell which color she helped mix?

 yummy goodness in the making

 this is her "cheeeeeese" pose when ever she sees the camera come out

 there it is again!

finger lickin good!! this was one of about 3 different outfits she wore that day...Savannah kept changing her mind on what SHE deemed worthy of  birthday apparel.

 Ta-da!! the finished product! Not bad for 5 little pairs of helping hands!

We kept it simple this year and just did a family party since after all she is turning 2! (and our house was a dusty disaster from having our floors redone) So we had a birthday dinner with rainbow colored drinks!

the cute little party hat I scored for $.50 cents at hobby lobby....like a true 2 yr old, she wore it for like 2 seconds!

 opened presents!! She was all over that! each of the kiddos gave her a present..

she screamed every time she got to open another one! then she blew kisses and said "dank you"

 the grande finale...(see her kissy lips? she was getting ready to say thank you with kisses:)

 a new "beebee"...cause if you know Lily then you know how she feels about "beebees"

feeding her

taking her for a walk (on our new floors no less)

 

getting her ready for nonny (as she likes to call it)

 

then she remembered SHE is still a baby and decided to try and squeeze in..

 sibling love!

I think they were ready to eat cake!

 
first she snuck a little taste...

then took a big ole bite of her cake

 inseparable from the baby doll!

 the cake was a hit!

 I think the big girlies enjoyed Lily's presents as much as she did! 

 And of course no party is complete with out some live music...

 
and dancing (Napoleon Dynamite anyone?)

 Bella bustin a move!

 getting his groove on...

 we even got Zach to dance for the occasion!

 lots of daddy daughter dancing going on!

  

we finished the night with a few rounds of Lily's favorite... ring around the rosies. 

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We love you Lily bean! you are the PERFECT addition to our family and we are so happy you are OURS!!