to kindergarten she goes.

i have a lot of mixed feelings as i sit and write this. i'm so excited for my beautiful girl to finally have her turn to ride the bus. i'm excited for all that she'll learn. i'm excited for the new friends she'll make. i'm excited for my miss mae. but a part of my heart was hurting as i watched her get on the bus. she quickly found a spot on the side i asked her to so i could take pics of her and watch her for just a little bit longer. her smile said it all, she was sooo excited and sooo ready. i saw a little nervousness in there too. but so much excitement. i tried to keep it together as she waved at me. oh so precious. i cried as the bus drove away. and then before i knew it, it was time for her to come home! such a fun adventure begins for both of us!

oh how i love miss mae! she is such a light in our family. she is the little mama of the home. she is such a great helper. oh how we will miss her while she's away, but can't wait for all the experiences she'll have.

off to second grade.

hard to believe connor is off to second grade!! he was super excited to go. he went out to wait for the bus 40 minutes early! good thing the stop is our driveway and we could all wait together. he has a wonderful teacher, ms. beus. he has lots and lots of buddies in his class {silent prayer for ms. beus}!

i'm so excited for the adventures and experiences that he will have this year! love you conna man!

connor's first day pics.

i finally loaded up all the pics from the big camera. we're limited on space on the computer {please update soon imac, i've tried to be patient} so i haven't uploaded for a while. but here's a few more we took of connor on his first day of school. 

the girls were almost as excited as he was!

first one in line {it helps to have the bus stop at your house}.

another first day of preschool.

mabel started her 2nd year of preschool a few weeks ago. she's super excited this year cause her cousin bella is in the class with her. doesn't get better than that!! she has the same incredible teachers as last year. we're so excited for her and all that she'll do and learn this year.

getting her new school shoes on.

all i can say is, what a pose.

elsie misses her buddy while she's gone.

mabel's first day was on 9-11 so she thought first day of school pics by the flag would be appropriate.

showing off their backpacks.

proud of her cute daddy.

outside the school.

mabel and bella at one of the centers.

school days.

we made it. the first day of school finally came. connor's been looking forward to it for a long time. mostly to wear his new school shoes, to eat lunch at school and to have more than one recess! 

it was so precious this morning. he was so excited, he went out 30 minutes early for the bus. too cute. i'm so excited for him and for all that he will experience this year. crazy how fast time has gone.

my sweet boy. 

mabel waiting for her buddy to get off the bus. 

thankfully for her, it was an early day!

kindergarten grad.

connor is now officially graduated from kindergarten!  wahoo!  he's so excited.  it was bitter-sweet for me.  so excited to him to go to first grade and "eat lunch at school" (the most appealing thing to connor at this point), but can't believe where the time has gone.  he's such a good boy, learned so much and made lots of friends.

i love this shot.  he was a little nervous, but did so well in his program.

diploma along with mama's snickerdoodles...nothin better to this boy.

we're so proud of you connor!!

a cute girl and her preschool program.

our sweet mabel has finished her first year of preschool.  she had the cutest program and sang the cutest songs.  she had the greatest teachers and learned so much this year!  we're looking forward to next year with her cute cousin bella!! yeah!

being silly while getting "sugared up" with cookies.