Brenna's 1st day of kindergarten!!!

Well the day is finally here. Brenna's first day at kindergarten. How did it go so quickly? I have to be honest this has been a year of praying, stressing, and hoping we make the right decision on whether we should send Brenna to public school or home school her. I tossed and turned a lot last night and even shed some tears talking to Ben about her growing up, and what this next phase in our lives mean. Brenna of course did awesome! I even let her ride the bus to school which she loved. I was really anxious about doing it, and when the huge bus rolled up I had quite a few butterflies in my stomach! I held it together until the bus drove away and then I went in the house and sat down on the couch and cried. Natalie was asleep so it was nice to have a moment to myself, and then it was nice to have her to hold to fill the emptiness of Brenna leaving this morning. I know it may sound silly to be so emotional about half day kindergarten, but this really is and was a huge deal to me. I love my children more than life itself and only want to make the best decisions to help them in life. I know God is with us and will continue to help us decide what is best.

They stagger kindergarten here so Ben and I were able to visit with her for an hour at school and there were only about 6 other students with her today. The entire class will be together on Friday and then the regular schedule begins next week. I can't wait for all the fun activities, learning, parties, and stories in the year to come!

Waiting for the bus which she asked me about 100 times "Is the bus coming yet?!"

Natalie's first steps (caught on tape!)

We got the camera out and got just a few steps from Natalie!

This is my first video ever so bare with me! What's some good free software to convert video? This one is only a trial and has the watermark as you can see!

Sweet corn festival

We went to our first festival back in Ohio! It was the sweet corn festival at the community park in Fairborn. It was really hot but we just didn't care because it was so nice to be around trees, grass, and familiar festival activities! Brenna enjoyed doing three different bouncy houses, getting her face painted, and sampled quite a bit of the free candy they were giving out. I can't wait for Natalie to be able to join her. We enjoyed looking at the different vendors and brought home a dozen ears of fresh white corn. I'm looking forward to grilling some of it and can't wait for the fall festivals in cooler weather!

Fun at Thomas Cloud

We headed over to Thomas Cloud Park for the first time since we've been back. It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed walking around the track as a family and watching all the soccer practices going on around us. We stopped at one of the shaded playgrounds for the girls and Ben and I enjoyed playing as well.

Meeting Mr. Bugsy

Well I finally gave in and let Brenna get her first pet. Of course she would have liked a puppy, but that's quite a while away! It was the perfect situation. A lady we used to go to church with posted on Facebook she was giving away an almost 2 year old guinea pig who needed lots of love. Well we could definietly deliver that, and she made it an even easier choice since it was free, included the cage, food, bowl, water bottle, and toy! Brenna had no idea until we pulled up and she saw him in his cage! It was so fun. She quickly changed his name from "Sweetie" to Bugsy in honor of the guinea pig off of Bedtime Stories. We've had lots of fun playing with him already.





First time holding Bugsy

So excited!

Enjoying some grapes.

Standing Tall

Miss Natalie is so busy and so fun lately. She has been standing alone more and more and I got the cutest picture of her the other day I had to share! A few others for your viewing pleasure.

My hubby is home!

Well Ben and Brenna made it home safely last night at about 8:30 pm. I unfortunately wasn't there to see the reunion between Ben and Brenna since she was in Indiana, but I did get some pictures of him and Natalie. She just kept staring at him! She fortunately did not cry and quickly warmed up to him. I think she definietly missed her Daddy and the girls had lots of fun playing with him today.

A little project

I've been trying to figure out what to put up in the girls playroom to incorporate both of them, and I finally figured it out. I found this saying at Micheal's and just loved it. That's exactly how I feel about my girls. They always make me laugh, Ben and I promise to love them and raise them as best as we know how, and there is hope for their future as they develop into young women. I thought it turned out so cute!




Here is the recent 9 month profile picture of Natalie taken at JC Penneys.

This is Brenna at about 18 months that Ben's brother Jess took.

Grandparent time!

I'm so thankful I've so had so much help from my parents and Ben's parents while he has been gone. I don't have any new pictures with my parents but I snapped a few from Rob and Vicki's last visit.





Grandmother thought Natalie should have a mohawk since it's all the rave right now!

Grandmother and D-dad

D-dad with his girls.

Natalie liked the view from up high.