September

Not a whole lot to report for the month of September now that the big news of Casen headed to school has come and gone.


We've been thoroughly enjoying our football days!

Casen got an award in music class for being the best behaved and has been at the top of the behavior charts in his classroom.  We're so proud of him already :)

Arya thinks she's ready for school too.  This is the outfit she chose to go in.

We discovered a massive European hornet nest in our unused attic space.  The joys of owning your own home.

I started watching this sweet little man so his mama can head back to work.  He loves to snuggle!

And Casen has missed his first good chunk of school as he's been battling a severe case of croup.  We've spent our nights on the bathroom floor in the steam so he can breathe.

Now we're settling in for the hurricane weather slamming us this weekend...happy October to us.

Our first baby is officially a kindergartner.  Tuesday was his first day and I'm so thankful that he loves it so much.  He hates to sleep and wakes up before our alarms he's so excited to go back.  We miss him, but know he is having so much fun.

First Day

Arya had a rough couple days.  She wanted to go with him.

Dinner after his first day of school.

Still super excited all the days after

Casen brought all of his supplies into school last night and met his teacher.  He already noticed the amount of dinosaur books and puzzles she has.  He is so excited! Papa and Grandma sent him the perfect Little Critter book and he is all set to head to school next week :)  I can't believe we're here already.

August

We had another really busy month, which of course means not a lot of pictures.  We've been soaking up as much family time as we can and have had one of our best months yet :)


We've spent a good share of it outside and Casen enjoyed one of his new favorite things to do, bowling.

My brother and his family came down for a visit and this kids had a blast together.  We got to have family meals and made a trip to the children;s museum.  I think all of them could've stayed there all day.

We then took our mini anniversary trip and had a blast!  The kids lived in the pool.  We had yummy food, way too much shopping, and packed into 2 days as much as we could.  Caleb has been working so hard lately with no breaks so i'm glad we were able to slip away even for a short time.

Then my mom came for a visit.  I somehow got no pictures, but the kids loved having her here.  She even watched the kids one night so I could ride a long with Caleb in his fancy new car one night at work.  It was so fun seeing what he does and I am even more proud and thankful..(they should really get more love and credit :)

And my poor sister ended up in the hospital again.  She seriously had the roughest pregnancy of anyone I've ever met and then a month later has to get her gall bladder out.  The only upside was that we got to spend a few days snuggling this crazy kid.  His faces kill me.

And in exactly a week from today our little man starts kindergarten.  I can't believe it.  But I am so so excited for him.  I know it's exactly what our smarty pants needs.  He loves to learn and can't wait to go.

6 years

I can't believe it's already been 6 years for us.  I can't remember not being together, but it also seems crazy that in total, it's been almost 10 years for us as a couple.

What a lovely, crazy adventure it has been for us these 6 years married.

I got some awesome goodies

Caleb is one of the few who knows how true this is.  I become another human being when i'm over hungry.  I'm thankful most times he can at least laugh about it.

And since he was working midnights technically on our anniversary I sent him with a basket full of small goodies to open every hour until he came home.  

Tonight Morgan has graciously offered to watch the kiddos for us so we can have a night out (so thankful since she's got a newborn of her own.)  And this weekend we planned a mini hotel getaway with the kids in Williamsburg to do all of our favorite things as a family.

 I can't wait to see what year 7 will bring!  And i'm thankful we stuck together through it all, babies, deployments, moves, and now the crazy life being a police officer brings.  I'm so proud of all Caleb has done as a husband, dad, and being the best he can be at all of the awesome and ridiculously hard jobs he has/d.

I love you Caleb Joseph :)

July

I don't have a ton of updates for July because for the first half of it, this is what our family was doing

We had a sickness that stayed in the house for 2 weeks.  It was exhausting and i'm thankful the kids gave us patience when Caleb and I were both too sick to even get out of bed.  It was Auntie Mo to the rescue delivering the kids meals.

We took the kids to their first drive-in theater.  We went to see the Minion movie and Jurassic World.  We were all a little disappointed in the minions, but love Jurassic World.  We've decided Arya is still a little too little for the movies, but Casen had a blast.

Casen has become a master cicada shell collector.  Disgusting.

Morgan has been awesome at trusting me to do her pictures with all things baby related.  I am no professional, but I just love doing it.  And good thing we got their maternity pictures in because she went into the hospital for Ben the next day

Caleb decided one day after dinner to pack up and head down to Colonial Heights to grab some of our favorite cookies.  It was a fun spur of the moment trip.

Then, the biggest July event, the kiddos got a new cousin.  Casen has already asked if we can trade Arya for Ben.  I am shocked how much he loves him and always wants to hold him.

And then finishing out the month, Bompa and Monki came for a visit.  I didn't get many pictures, as usual, but the kids loved their time here.

Casen requested a trip to CrackerBarrel when they arrived and they were nice enough to fulfill his request :)

Baby Ben

After trying to make his arrival since 20 weeks, Benjamin William finally decided enough was enough at 36 weeks and made his surprise entrance.

And he is 5 pounds of cuteness.  I love being his auntie and i'm so thankful they now live close so I can snuggle him more.

I loved taking his pictures!