Fall School Picture

Photos courtesy of LifeTouch 

 Beautiful smiles courtesy of our Creator

Dawson Kindergarten

Fall 2013

Gabrielle 3rd grade

Fall 2013

Labor Day Highlights

A handful of poor, grainy iPhone photos document our wonderful Labor Day weekend
The highlights included:

Time at WD's farm shooting round after round of Daddy's 22
The kids are a pretty good shoot
Running in the fields alongside the cows
Little Miss getting her hair caught in the bob wire fencing and pulling with all her might to get lose only to leave a huge chunk of hair dangling from the wire
True story
Burgers & Beans & Beer Oh My!

Sunday we drove into Branson to White Water
Kids had a BLAST!
Daddy & Mommy had a blast!
McKenna once again proved herself fearless

There was no picture taking amidst our fun so this one pulled from Google Images will have to suffice

We shut down White Water, changed and headed to the nearby Tracks for the boys to burn off some testosterone racing Wes and Levi on go karts whilst the girls fed quarters into the candy machines

Daddy treated us all to Andy's Frozen Custard before loading up and heading back into Springfield
T'was a good, good day!

Monday we left Springfield and drove to my brother's beautiful home on Lake Lotawana, MO 

The kids spent HOURS swimming, jumping off the back of the boat & playing on the tube

We ate more delicious burgers and dogs off the grill with all the fixings and sides

Our Labor Day was complete after a long ride on the pontoon, visiting and taking in the sunset

A big thank-you to Wesley for taking the city out of our kids; to GG for the wonderful gift of memories made at White Water; and to my family for my Leo fix and a relaxing time at the lake!

Back to School

I feel as if if summer was over before it even began. Circumstances prevented us from doing many most of our usual summer break activities. No trips to Deanna Rose, no strolls around the Overland Park Arboretum, no berry picking, no picnics at the local parks, no day trips to the water parks, no time spent at Okoboji, no long weekend "vacations" as we had planned for. And you know what? The kids never complained. Not once that I recall. They were troopers playing nurse to their Daddy. They enjoyed pool time when I took them or they were invited with friends. They crafted and played in the house and out of the heat. When it wasn't horribly hot and humid they would get "lost" for hours in the backyard digging, building and playing in their "clubhouse" or in the cul-de-sac out front riding scooters and bikes. I feel as if I blinked, summer is over and and it's the beginning of a new school year.

Life has a way of doing that at times.

Flying by at warp speeds.

This summer was without question one of those times in our lives.

Gabrielle 3rd grade at Meadow Lane

Teacher, Mrs. Maci Lindsey

Dawson morning Kindergarten at Meadow Lane

Teacher, Mrs. Anita Davis (her 1st year teaching at ML)

McKenna "attends" McKennagarten 

Teacher, me if I count as one :)

This picture was taken on Dawson's 1st day of school. The girls were just as excited for him as he was to be starting school and asked if they could take a picture with him. Heart swoon!

These last two pictures were images I shared on Instagram with a fun retro filter applied.

Somehow I had a false sense that the busyness of life would slow down with the bigs in school and my mornings home with Little Miss. 

I consume myself with busyness filling my days to the point of exhaustion where I collapse in bed the moment the kids are tucked in exerting only enough energy to mindlessly watch a bit of TV before giving way to fitful sleep.

Just this morning as I read my daily devotional in Jesus Calling this stood out to me:
"Spending time alone with Me {Jesus} can be a difficult discipline, because it goes against the activity addiction of this age." 

True dat! 

I love being back in a weekly Bible study that has me in the Word daily and is challenging me to make space for quiet time to listen. 

"Bring your moments to Me, and I will fill them with vibrant joy." Sarah Young Jesus Calling 

To our kids,

We wish you the best school year possible!

Do your best. 

Be an awesome friend. 

Learn lots and come home and share with us all that you have learned. 

We love you lots!!

Out of the Mouth of our Babes

Recently said and heard from McKenna Jane:

• She states on repeat that she attends McKennagarten (she combines McKenna and Kindergarten). It's the cutest thing ever. Trust me on this :)
• She will spout out at random times and with much conviction that "Daddy is my BFF. My BFF is Daddy!!"
• On the subject of Daddy - that toddler sized teenager calls him Travis more than Daddy. Stinker I tell ya!
• And on a more literal case of Out of the Mouth of my babe, we "gifted" all her pacifiers to this beautiful babe on her birth day.

Makayla Grace Rigdon, born August 23rd. 

This teeny princess may be giving me a case of uncontrolled baby feva'!

• My personal favorite - just this morning she hugged me tight and said "I love you Mommy" to which I replied "How much?" and she responded without hesitation "Too much!" Melt.my.momma.heart!

Recently said and heard from Boo:

• Dawson has shown us in a very audible way just how much he loves and misses his sister when she is at school. Each and every day he will ask multiple times "How many hours before Gabi is home from school?" "How many hours has it been? "How many more hours now?" Goes to prove she remains his favorite play mate even in the midst of their battles at times.

• When asked how school was or what he did in school his pat answer is "We just colored a lot and counted to 5 {again}." 
• I am attempting to transition the kids from processed snack foods to healthier options so when it comes to snack time I will often hear Dawson ask "Is this healFhy?" It's so cute when he says it that I don't even attempt to correct him. 

Recently said and heard from Gabs:

• I'm not so sure about sharing this one, but I'm at fault and will take ownership. I was pretty sure I heard a "cuss word" slip from her mouth about a week ago but didn't draw attention to it as I wasn't 100% certain. A day or two passes and this time I'm confident she says it. She was standing in front of the full length mirror doing her hair when I hear from the bedroom " ..... pisses .... " Take note that I have ZERO recollection of what she said other than dropping the P word. I jumped to action in asking forgiveness in her hearing me use the word and explained that it isn't to be used again. 
• This wasn't so much said or heard but written. Gabrielle was the victim of some foul play by her brother and the neighbor boys which resulted in a cute note of apology being delivered the next day to her. She left it lay on the counter for a couple days when I finally asked her to take care of it. I assumed (you know what is said about this word) she would simply throw it away. Not so much. She replied to the apology by writing directly underneath "SOOOOOOO not cool, but I accept your apology" and delivered it back into the hands of the offender. Hilarious! 

Didn't this one get the memo that she is only a mere 8 years of age? Stop growing up already! She cares about her clothing, her hair, her body image, how she smells (daily use of unnecessary deodorant & Baby Soft perfume), if her teeth are freshly brushed and flossed ... the list is endless. This has allowed for some very fruitful conversations about our self image, self worth and how each of us is seen as beautiful in eyes of our creator. Our sensitive soul cries when we have such discussions saying how much it means to her. 

Life is an adventure with these three, but a ride that I'm learning to embrace and appreciate every high and low.