Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Kindergarten Here I Come and Daddy's Birthday

It's Kindergarten Time!
Oh my gosh, I can't believe our little girl is starting kindergarten.  Where has the time gone????
Luckily she has been super excited about starting school and loved her teachers after Meet the teacher Night. 
 Ready for the big day!

 A new backpack and lunch box to start the year off right.
 
 Ready to go!
 
All set for the big day and probably tired of Mommy taking so many pictures!
 
Little Man ready to have Mommy all to himself!
Actually, I think he misses his sister quite a bit.
 
 
 Posing with Mommy.

 A little love from her brother before lining up.
 
 
Ready to go into the classroom.
 
Check out all those matching shoes. 
Gotta love uniforms!!!!
 
 
Daddy's Turns the big 3-5!
This year the kids were SO excited to celebrate Daddy's birthday!  We had to get special balloons, practice singing, and find the perfect present and card.
 
Watching Daddy read his cards and open presents.
 
The best part was helping blow out the candles and eat the yummy cake!

It's Recital Time

It's Recital Time
This year Larkin took both tap dance and acrobatics classes.  Of course this meant when recital time came around in June she got to be in two shows, on two different nights, wearing two different costumes. This also meant two sets of pictures, two sets of recital tickets, and two sets of videos and well it goes on and on.  And although there was a lot of running around during recital week everyone had a great time!
 
 

 Larkin in her tap dance costume.
 

 Showing off some of her acro skills. 
Man little kids are bendy!
 
 In her acrobatics costume.
 
Getting ready to take the stage!

Performance number two.
 

Visiting the East Coast in June

Time for Cooler Weather!
At the beginning of June we headed to the east coast to visit some family and get away from the heat.  First we headed to Vermont to spend some time at the farm with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Paula and to get to spend some time with Great Gramp and Claudette.  After that it was off to New Hampshire to see Shaun's cousin get married and spend time with the rest of the Moreau clan.
 
 
 The kids had a blast at the farm.  They spent their time running, chasing things, trying to drive tractors, and trying to spy that elusive bull that was playing hide and seek with us.  I think the bull won.
Fun on the porch swing with Aunt Paula.
 

 There's that sibling love!

 And maybe a little more love, this will go wrong quickly.
 
 It wasn't us!
 
 Sorry Uncle Jeff and Aunt Paula about that new lawn full
of dandelions you are going to find in the spring.
 
 What beautiful flowers!
Not sure why Mommy keeps making me smell these things.
 
 
 
Loving my Daddy!
 
 Check out my hat!
 
 Tractor time with Uncle Jeff. 
 He may not look like he is smiling, but he had a blast!

 LOVED driving the tractor!

 Check out my hat too!
 
 Posing in front of the barn.
 
 Putting out seed for all of the little creatures.
 
 Taking a little walk.
 
 Exploring the woods with Uncle Jeff.
 
 Time to chase something!!!!
It must have been good.
 
Playing a game with Uncle Jeff. 
What a great sport!
 
Look at all this grass and they had to wear jeans in June! 
The kids were in heaven.
 
No trip to Vermont is complete without stopping at Ben and Jerry's!
 
Or a trip to The Vermont Teddy Bear Factory!
 
Poor Brayden will be 20 before he actually sees the Teddy Bear Factory. 
Every time we have been he has slept through the whole thing. 
I don't think he believes it really exists!
 
What a great day. 
We got to spend lots of time loving on Great Gramp!
 
Look at that sweet family picture.
 
Hibachi dinner with Great Gramp and Claudette.
 
Visiting Grandma Carlie
 
On our way to New Hampshire.  Now some of you might think this picture looks like no fun, but I LOVE rain.  You know it only rains like once a year in Arizona so every time we go to Vermont and get rain it is absolutely fantastic!  The only thing even better was all of the family singing (yes all four of us) to kids songs most of the way there.  I'm not even joking, this was one of my favorite car trips ever!
 
Hard to tell, but that is the ocean out there.
 
A little clearer view.
 

 Getting ready for Matthew and Becca's wedding!
 
 
 It is hard to get them to both smile.
 

 
Bad picture, but here they are showing off some of their dance skills. 
What a fun reception!

Since we were so close we took a little detour to Massachusetts and stopped by to visit cousins Jeff, Lisa, Liam, and to meet our newest baby cousin Maddie.  Here is Larkin holding her before we headed back to New Hampshire.  What a sweet baby!
 
This adorable little face was my entertainment at the Phoenix airport while Daddy and Larkin went to get the car.  Good thing he was smiling because poor Daddy and Larkin were out in the 100 degree heat discovering that our car battery was dead.  Not the best way to end our vacation, but we got it jumped and drove home with the windows down just to make sure we were really readjusted to the warm weather that we had been missing!