New Beginnings

Oh, my...I just realized that I mistakenly left out the post about everyone's first day of school this (er...last) year. Whoops! I was apparently too busy posting about everyone's birthdays and activities to remember that our kiddos experienced some 'new beginnings' with this new school year (which is now conveniently half-over...I really am going to get better at this blogging thing, I promise!).

K1 headed off on the big yellow bus to Junior High for 7th grade. This was her first time riding the bus as we live close enough to the Elementary School to walk, so it was a very new and different experience for all of us, but she transitioned beautifully and is doing a wonderful job adjusting to life as a 7th-grader and ('gulp') almost-teenager. Whew.

K2 moved up to 5th grade and became the 'big man on campus' of our Krew at the Elementary School. He is loving it so far, especially considering that he gets to play ball with his buddies every day (never mind those pesky classes in between!). He's experiencing his 'newness' in the music department as he joined the band this year and has become quite skilled on the drums and xylophone. We didn't realize he was so talented in music, and we have thoroughly enjoyed watching things unfold for him!

K3 kicked off his elementary career last Fall and has been doing wonderfully in Kindergarten thus far. He's not crazy about the 'paperwork,' but he LOVES making friends, and he blew us away when he tested at the 2nd-grade level for the reading program at the beginning of the year! He's an incredible reader, and the librarian has already told us that he's going to have to invest in a lot more books to keep up with K3 over the years! :)

We have an awesome Krew, and we couldn't be more proud of how God has gifted each one of them in special and unique ways. We love watching them grow and develop their individuality as each year passes. It won't be too long before all 4 of them are rockin' the schoolhouse together!

Beautiful K1 readies herself for her first bus ride to Junior High!

K2 is all set to lead the Krew off to Elementary School!

K3 stands tall and gears up for Kindergarten!

Watch out, world!!

A Web-tastic Birthday!

K3 turned 6 years old last Fall, and he chose to celebrate Spidey-style! We had a lot of fun with this theme and even decorated the house with spiderwebs (aka. red yarn) while he was asleep the night before his birthday. I tried convincing him that Spiderman had paid him a personal visit on his big day, but apparently being 6 makes you WAY too smart for silly tricks like that! It was still fun, anyways... :)

To celebrate the occasion, we took cupcakes to kindergarten to share, made homemade pizzas for his birthday meal, opened presents, and then took MORE cupcakes to church to share with our Rangers class!

(Yes, 3 out of our 4 kids had birthdays on Wednesdays this year - how odd!)

K3 also wanted to take some friends bowling at the 'Nebraska bowling alley' (aka. the Student Union) again this year, so we celebrated with friends and later shared cake with family at our house. We love birthdays!

Happy Day!!

All smiles with pizza and cake!

K3 was quite surprised to open the game he'd been asking for...

...and even MORE shocked to open the new Toy Story 3 movie!!

Posing for the camera with his awesome Spiderman birthday cake!

And rockin' the lanes with his buddies at the bowling alley!

Birthday Princess!

Our sweet princess turned 4 last Fall, and we celebrated in true princess fashion!

We kicked off the day with a play-date and picnic with K4's good friend. She wore her pretty pink crown all day long, opened presents when Daddy got home from work, and then got her choice of dinner, so we were off to Taco Bell! (Thankfully this princess is easy to please!)

Afterwards was Rainbows class at church, so we brought purple cupcakes with pink crowns on them to share with all of our friends, and then we headed home to share some cupcakes of our own.

Finally, we hosted a picnic at the park that weekend and had a lot of fun playing with family and friends on a beautiful afternoon! We got to share our fabulous pink & purple castle cake with them, too. What a royal celebration!

Baking princess cupcakes with Mommy!

The beautiful birthday princess!

Pleasantly pleased with her new princess three-wheeler!

Being serenaded at home.

Sharing her amazingly authentic princess castle (note the crumbling wall & turret on the left!) with lots of family and friends at the park.

Happy 4th Birthday, Sweet Princess! We love you!

Football...Finally!

While K1 was busy with marching band last Fall, K2 was 'kicking off' his first year of full-contact football. Football has long been his favorite sport - he plays during every recess at school and with anyone who is available after school whenever the weather allows.

He had been waiting quite a long time to play because we didn't want to introduce him to full-contact sports too early. We told him that once he got to be 60 pounds, we would allow him to participate, so he knew several months in advance that he would FINALLY be playing this season, and he could not wait to get started!

After a few weeks of practice, the games got underway, and K2 did a great job. He mostly participated on special teams, including several kick returns. The highlight of his season came in the final moments of the last game. He was playing defense against a team that had yet to score any points. In the last play of the game, an opponent had the ball and was running towards the end zone. K2 swung around from the opposite side of the field and ran like crazy to catch up with him. He was the only defender who got close, and at the 10-yard-line, he dove and knocked the opponent out of bounds to secure the shutout. What a proud moment! As his coach said afterwards, "he's all heart." :)

Posing in the new 'Panther' uniform.

Wearing #9 in honor of his favorite player, Tony Romo.

Cheering on his team from the sidelines.

Time out!

(K2 is in the center, to the left of the coach)

Returning the kick on his home field.

Catching Up!

I realize that I am quite behind in getting things posted to the blog, and I apologize. We were having a lot of difficulties with our old computer, so I was choosing not to use it as often, ESPECIALLY to download pictures. My husband was SO kind to get me a brand new MacBook for Christmas, and I have spent the last month trying to learn how to use it. Unfortunately, I still don't have it all figured out (like how to set up my old camera on the new system), but I'm getting better!

Anyways, me and the Krew are stuck at home today because of icy roads and a winter storm warning, so I will do my best to get some things from last year posted. Hopefully I will have you all up to speed very soon! Thanks for being patient!