September cell phone dump {picture overload}

Realized that I had a bunch of cell phone pictures to share on here, the quality isn't the greatest, but that's because often times my children play with my cell phone and finger print the heck out of my camera on my phone and I forget to wipe it off before I take pictures on it. I haven't been real great with my regular camera since I got my phone back in May, I need to get better about pulling the camera out. I've missed out on a lot of picture opportunities lately because I have been too lazy to take out my camera. I now get what people mean when they say you have a ton of pictures of your first born and less of your second, third, fourth, etc. We do have a TON of Amelia and quite a few of Paul, but the pictures definitely have become fewer and fewer the more kids we had, there are definitely less of Adeline and Stella, but I'm also almost 3 years behind on printing my pictures, I should really get on that. I joked with Kevin that I'll have to ask for Sam's Club gift cards just so I can get caught up on our pictures, then I'll probably have to ask for photo boxes too to store them all in! The last time I printed a full year of pictures was right before Addie was born and I got caught up on printing 2007 and 2008. I've printed bits and pieces of 2009, but I think my best bet would to be to start from the beginning of 2009 and then I can have them all in order! I may have to make that my new years resolution to get caught up on printing pictures and getting them organized and then staying on top of them! I found this great blog article about preserving pictures, and I think I need to put it to use at my house!

Anyway, onto the pictures!

Paul and Adeline playing Toy Story!

Paul enjoying the beach at Elk's Camp Labor Day Weekend.

Cousins Hazel and Stella going for a ride together!

Paul and Addie trying on their Halloween Costumes from Grandma Carrie.

Labor Day Weekend--Going for a ride on Harvey.

Cherry Bombs for Danielle's 21st Birthday

at Elk's Camp Labor Day Weekend.

Travis and Kirsten.

Amber and cousin Cole.

Addie enjoying the beach, it was too cold to swim, but she could still enjoy the sand!

Stella wasn't so sure about her big girl carseat!

Stole my water cup!

Chicken Foot with Travis and Kirsten

Travis and Kirsten came for a night back in September, we really enjoyed their company, stayed up way too late, but we had a good time! They were headed to see friends in Mankato the next day, they were having a costume party in Mankato so Travis modeled his costume for us...

Paul and Addie enjoying their name pancakes!

Sleepy sick girl! 

Poor Stella had a fever for a few days towards the end of September, she just wanted to rest and Adeline wouldn't leave her alone.

Poor girl didn't even move when I set her on the chair, normally she'd crawl off right away, not when she's sick!

The last weekend in September we headed north to take out docks at the cabin. We enjoyed dinner at the cabin that evening and then we had a fire, first one we enjoyed their since the 4th of July, when we vacationed there in August it was too buggy for a fire! My dad and Kevin burned the wooden dock, it was the perfect solution to not have to put it in again next spring, however they'll have to figure out how to reconfigure the other dock and purchase more to add on! I think the wooden dock was a thorn in their side taking it out!

October has been off to a slow start for pictures, more on that later. Hopefully by Halloween I'll have some pictures to share!

First Day of Kindergarten Connection

Paul had his first day of preschool on Wednesday, September 21st. So far he LOVES it and asks daily if he can go to school. Hopefully his love for school continues once he starts kindergarten next year!

Stella's First Birthday Party! {picture heavy}

Can you believe it? We celebrated Miss Stella's first birthday a month ago? I wish I would have posted these pictures right away, but life got away from me and I never got them on here. We had a great turn out for her party, everyone had a great time and Stella received some great gifts as well. We had a back yard bar-b-que, Kevin grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, I made a pasta salad, baked beans, potato chips and homemade chip dip. I also made a cupcake cake into the shape of the number one and also made cakepops. My mom made rice krispy treats pops and Grandma Mary made her famous mints!

Stella stole Logan's juice box!

My Godson Jameson

Cousins---Brenna and Paul

Taylor giving Rylee, Cadyn and Clare a ride in the wagon.

Granny, Zane, Amber, Hazel and Papa Dave

Amber and Hazel

Birthday girl enjoying her dinner

Lucky girl!

Not so patiently waiting for her cake!

Grandma Carrie and Hazel enjoying a cake pop!

Clarabelle

my Godson Logan

Cadyn and Stella---Cadyn is 6 days older!

Cadyn

Rylee

Yummy cake!

Stella's First Birthday

This is our big birthday girl on her birthday, opening her gifts from her brother and sisters. The kids each hand picked a gift for her, out of all of them, her favorite is her sock monkey.

First day of school...

Well we have officially survived the first week of school and are now onto week 2. Amelia is doing fantastic this year and it makes my heart sing with joy to see her work come home this year. As some of you may know we decided to hold Amelia back another year and have her do kindergarten again. We had to make our decision back in March at conferences, it wasn't a easy decision to make. Probably the most difficult decision we've ever had to make since we became parents. Amelia struggled so much last year and I struggle to share this with our readers because I don't want to be judged on my parenting. I feel felt like a terrible parent for even having to hold my child back, I felt there was something Kevin and I didn't do to help her along the way. Amelia is very shy in new situations and has a difficult time adjusting, pair that with lots of big HUGE changes in our lives last year when school started. I quit my job a couple weeks before school started, Stella was born the second day of school, meaning Grandma got her on the bus Thursday and Friday while I was in the hospital and the whole following week, we didn't really get to establish a good routine until about the 3rd week of school. Hearing that my daughter was struggling in school was very difficult to swallow. She started special ed in December, I hate those words "special ed", one more thing to make me feel like a failure as a parent. I finally came to terms with our decision in June, then I started having a difficult time with it about the time classroom assignments were mailed out and then parents of classmates/friends from kindergarten started posting their child's first grade teacher assignments and it knocked me right down to the ground again, I started feeling sad for Amelia that she wasn't going onto first grade with the rest of her friends. I ignored every mom who asked me who her first grade teacher was, I just didn't have it in me to tell them that she wasn't going to first grade. I know I shouldn't care what other people think, but this is one thing that is a huge struggle for me. Now that school is into full swing, Kevin and I are seeing Amelia make great strides and it's definitely making us feel better about our decision, she is doing wonderful so far and it's great to see the improvement she has made since last year. The hardest part now is when we congratulate her on doing well on something is her asking if she can go to first grade now, that breaks my heart to pieces. Great thing is, she's making new friends, seems to really enjoy her new teacher and is becoming a little less shy.

Here are some pictures of our sweet girl on her first day of school. I just love her! She loves to wear dresses and loves this pair of "jegs" (jeggings) as she calls them.

Thank you for all your love and support with our decision, you all know who you are.

Little Girlfriends...

This is Addie and her little girlfriends Kaelyn and Rylee. All three girls were born within 9 days of each other. We recently were able to get an updated picture of all three girls together, it's fun to see how much they have changed in the last two and a half years.