First tooth!

Our sweet little girl lost not just one but TWO teeth! This was the week where Jonathan graduated to another class at school and Bella started school. So this event through me into denial and tears on how fast they are growing up. Don't get me wrong, I love watching them coming into their own little personalities and watching them grow up. But sometimes I just want to make time stand still and my momma's heart can only handle so much.

Nonetheless, you can't stop time so I'm learning to just embrace each moment! Our Bella had a lose tooth that she was working on getting out. And with Daddy's help, it came out! Then the next week, Daddy helped the other one come out. Now our 5 year old lost her front two teeth and looks adorable when she smiles.

A sweet friend at church gave Bella a tooth fairy book for her to read and contains a pouch to put the tooth in. You'll notice the turtle in one of the pictures below. That was Mike's tooth fairy pillow his Nanny made him. We've had this for a while and it was such a joy to use it with our own children. The best part of this experience was getting to sneak in her room and give her money! That little gal was so excited about 4 quarters. (By the way, the tooth fairy is expensive in some families. Some of her friends get $5-20 per tooth! Say what? Oh no, we do a $1). Ahem, I digress. Anywho, that sweet little gal woke full of excitement and put her money in her bank.

Here's to growing up and not being able to eat apples anymore!

Update on JT

Our sweet boy is really coming into his own! Y'all, he is so much fun at this age and so full of personality.
Here's a few fun facts:
 1. His very word is "actually" and is used in conversation as follows: Me-"JT, did you go potty?" Jonathan-"Yes, I did"...(wait a few seconds), "ACTUALLY (Yes, he says it loudly!) I didn't go!!".
He uses 'actually' many times a day like this. Hilarious!

2. He likes to sleep with all his animals. And, my parents gave the kids HUGE animals - think elephant, giraffe, baby giraffe, tiger, baby tiger. He likes to pile them all in bed with him. Try tucking him in without waking him up!

3. He likes anything trucks, cars, trains, and mud.

4. He likes to show his favorite shirts to his friends at school.

5. Speaking of school, he loves going! He'll ask to go even on days when he is home.

6. He likes to "read" at night. It's fun to watch him through the crack in the door and hear him read to himself. He'll flip the pages of the book and make up his own stories, complete with voice inflections and hand waving.

7. He likes to sing Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus loves me, Jesus loves the little children, and This little light of mine. He also will ask us to sing Holy, Holy, Holy and Marvelous Grace at night time. When you sing Jesus loves the little children, you have to insert "Mommy, Daddy, Bella and Jonathan" instead of "children" and sing it really fast! He loves that!

8. He is a big helper in clearing the table after meals and is getting better at no throwing his oatmeal if it's not covered in honey. The boy likes some honey!

9. I LOVE this age. JT, you are precious to us!

Bella's first day of school

Let's go back a few weeks. We had returned from Texas and were settling back into a summer routine. I was so looking forward to long days of summer with the kids. Going on a run, scavenger hunts, gardening, playing in water, taking a bath before lunch before we're covered in mud, lunch, nap, movie, and dinner...aww, un-busyness of summer time!

But I digress, let's go back to a few weeks. I was in church getting ready to go home when a friend nonchalantly asked Bella if she was ready to start school. I laughed because we had more than a month left of summer. The said friend looked at me and then I knew and remembered. Uh oh, I forgot her new school was year round! So, that meant Bella did start in a week. Cue the tears and freak out moment right.in.the.foyer.at.church. Cue another freak out when I told Mike about it when we got home. And cue many tears that week.

We lived it up that week with "girl dates", as Bella likes to call them. One week passed, school supplies were bought, and out sweet Bella started school at her new school! She was still too young to enter first grade, even though she completed Kindergarten last year, and was enrolled in Kindergarten again. She would stay there while the school completed testing on her to gain insight on her readiness level for first grade. Turns out, she's more than ready academically and socially based on her high scores. But Mike and I decided, after many conversations and research, to keep her in Kindergarten again. We thought more long term, you know - the middle/high school years - and wanted to give her the biggest advantage for maturity. Plus, that means she's at home for longer with us before college. =)

Without further adieu, here is our sweet little gal on her first day of school.

We celebrate the first and last day of school with ice cream.

Then we came home and gardened and cooked and did a craft! I was happy to have her back home.

This momma cried all week long when I dropped her off. Hence, lots of cuddle times!

Bella update

Our sweet Bella is just growing up! Here's a little of what she's been up to.

1. She's super smart and figured out to write her name with an etch-a-sketch. Y'all, I have trouble drawing a square with this thing.

2. She likes to make an "I'm not smiling" face when she's excited or happy but doesn't want you to know. ha!

3. Grammy made a flower headband!

4. She is reading one of her Daddy's theology-really-hard-to-understand books with my glasses on in her pjs. It's 7isham. She's just like her parents!

5. We made a "Fruit of the Spirit" tree. We are going through the fruits one at a time each month. She's learned a verse on love, joy, peace, and we're now on patience. She did a great job!

Outside in North Carolina

Y'all, North Carolina has been beautiful and cooler-than-normal this summer! So we've enjoyed lots of days outside on bikes, pushing trucks, playing in the sandbox, or going to the Eno River State Park. These pictures are from earlier in the summer but they are still fun to look at!