Playing catch up with the blog....

Now that we're almost done with November, maybe I should get the rest of October pictures up, huh?  Cash's Kindergarten class went on their first field trip.  Millie and I tagged along to help chaperone.  It was also school spirit week and "crazy hair day" which explains Cash's spike hairdo.

This is a picture of both Kindergarten classes together.

I have a tradition of taking pics of each kiddo on their birthday, a special photo shoot just for them.  Here are Millie's 2 year pics that I took at Avery Park.

We had two little birthday parties for Millie.  It's tough to have a big party for her, given they have to be inside at this time of year and our house starts to feel cramped with more than a dozen people.  Especially if those people are of the small, energetic variety.  The first party was with Nana and Papa then we had a second party with Millie's cousins and our friends, the Smiths.  We had a Minnie mouse cake and a silly string shoot out.  I'm so terrible at making sure we take pictures at the parties because I'm so busy hosting.    I've tried handing that responsibility over to Josh but he always takes 2 obligatory pictures then sets the camera down and we once again end up with no pictures.  Someone has to give me some tips on how to handle it.

For the harvest carnival this year Cash wanted to dress up as a Ninja Turtle.  I made most of his costume, excluding the mask and nunchucks.  If you have a son between 5 and 10 years old then you probably need no explanation for my costume but I was April, the Ninja Turtle sidekick from the cartoon.  Millie was, no surprise here, Minnie Mouse.  She loves her costume and especially the little ears.  She wears them all the time.  Josh was in Bandon for cranberry harvest the week of the harvest carnival so I took the kiddos solo.  We had a lot of fun playing Bible themed games and Cash won a drawing and came home with a new bike!!!  I was so excited for him, I almost cried.  I've never won anything in my life and I'm so glad that I signed him up for the raffle.  What an awesome blessing!

Family Pictures

This is totally out of order chronologically.  I forgot to post about our family pics back in September.  Whoops!  I wasn't thrilled with how they turned out.  Cash was running around and really not into posing for pictures.  Apparently he thought the photographer wanted action shots.  Millie kept pulling her headband down over her face and instead of smiling for the photographer she eyed him with a great amount of suspicion.  We got a few decent ones but considering we could have spent an entire weekend at Sunriver for the cost of this photo session, I had set my expectations pretty high and ended up disappointed.  These are the best ones.

Love, love, love the Fall!

I've taken so many fun pictures lately which has inspired me to actually put up my 2nd post within the course of a month.  Miracles do happen!  First up, Santiam Christian had a Grandparent's Day and Nana and Papa were able to come up for it.  It was special for them to be a part of it because it had been over 3 months since we had seen them and because Cash is the only grandchild they can do these things with.  After the school program and classroom tour Cash went out to lunch with them.  We also had a small birthday party for Millie (the first of two) while Nana and Papa were here.

A trip to the pumpkin patch as a family.  Sometimes Josh opts out of these things but he agreed to go this year.  He even took charge of the picture taking and got some cute shots of me with the kiddos! Also let me just say, I never look this good (without the help of photoshop anyway).  I should have Josh take the pictures more often!

 

Off to Kindergarten...

Oh my gosh, this is so overdue! Cash started half day Kindergarten on September 6th at Santiam Christian School.  His teacher is Mrs. Mason, who has a very sweet gentle spirit.  I have to admit, I was a little concerned Cash would walk all over her but he responds to her quiet gentle directions amazingly well.  I may need to borrow some pages from her play book...  Here are a couple of pictures from Cash's first morning. 

You can't imagine how much I missed this kid.  When I picked him up I told him, "I missed you sooooo much Buddy."  His reply was, "In four hours?"  It's true, he was only gone four hours but that's still considerably longer than the 2 1/2 hours he went to preschool last year.  Here is a picture of him running towards me when I came to pick him up.  When he's a teenager and refuses to be seen with me I'm going to show him this and remind him that there was a time he would throw his arms out as wide as they would go and leap into my arms.

Cash's school has a carnival at the end of September each year.  I took both the kiddos and the highlights for Cash were playing life size Angry Birds and dunking his principal, Mr. Ness, on his first throw at the dunk tank.

Last of summer...

Oh my gosh, summer is officially over and Cash starts Kindergarten NEXT WEEK.  Can't believe it!  I have a lot of pictures to share from August but I will try to be selective as to not overwhelm everyone.  I am trying to build up my photography clientele again.  After 5 years out of the game I have been trying to get some practice in.  Millie was my subject one afternoon.

Josh's job has been a real blessing to us.  His company often treats all of the employees and their families to trips and special outings.  This month we all went to the Family Fun Center in Wilsonville.  Our family had never been there and we all had a blast.

 I really put this go kart to the test.  Cash was super impressed with his mom's racing skills.

Last weekend some of Josh's fellow salesmen from work got a house in Sunriver and we all spent 3 days there riding bikes, playing on the playground, and at the SHARC water park.  Since we have a gravel driveway and we live on a busy road, Cash hasn't been able to learn to ride his bike without training wheels.  There are awesome paved bike paths throughout Sunriver which was the perfect opportunity for him to learn.  He didn't even need any help learning either.  Josh took off the training wheels and Cash just took off.  For Millie I got a child seat that bolts to my bike so she could join us on our bike rides.  She LOVES it.  I can't even go out in the garage anymore without her pointing to the bike and asking for a ride.