Milestones

Do you ever have that moment when you just feel like everything is passing you by? I get this feeling on a routine basis and it's always about the kids.

They are growing, changing, maturing every moment of every day. 

And sometimes it makes me so darn confused.

One one hand I'm so happy that they are doing these things, grateful to have healthy children who can do these things.

On the other hand I just want things to pause for awhile. 

You take so many pictures and so many videos to try to capture it all. 

But you know, deep down that it just does not compare. It. Will. Never. Compare. 

The photo, the video or even the memory will never, ever be as good as when you were there.

Playing, holding, rocking. 

I'm trying to take it all in and just be grateful that I have been so blessed.

Okay, back on topic. The kids have reached some major milestones here recently, starting with...

My sweetie, who started walking and is now running everywhere. 

We celebrated two birthdays. Emma turning one and Brandon turning 3. 

We had such a wonderful time with our family and friends. The kids had a blast on the slip n slide and in the pool and loved the bonfire and making smores. It was a perfect day.

And of course I've already written about our newest milestone, Aubrey being a big kindergartner. Which she loves by the way!!

This was her, all smiles after we picked her up on her first day. 

Life is so good and we're so happy for these milestones.

One Year Ago Today....

One year ago today, these were the pictures I took...

My goodness, what a difference a year makes! 

Summer Lovin'

Aside from all the house worry, we really did have a wonderful summer. We had so much fun spending time together.

Early in the summer we went to Kings Dominion. We had such a blast!! The kids were in loooove and could not stop smiling.

I love how Emma's belly is overlapping her shorts in that one!

Aside from all the rides, Kings Dominion had a new thing going on called Dinosaurs Alive. It was so amazing. They created life size dinosaurs that moved and roared. Very cool, Brandon loves dinosaurs so he was especially happy to see these. 

That guy was HUGE! They even had a big sand pit where you could dig up dinosaur bones.

I would have to say Brandon's favorite part of the whole park was the bumper cars. He and Aubrey must have rode those things at least 50 times. They would get in, ride, hope off and get right back in line. He could not stop smiling!

I was really scared that Emma would be fussy since a lot of the time she would have to be in her stroller. I was so wrong, she was so great and happy.

After the kids enjoyed riding all the kids rides they could Hubby decided it was time for Aubrey to ride a 'real' roller coaster. So he found one that wasn't too bad and up they went. Aubrey hated it and came back crying!! She just was not ready for that. 

We spent a lot of time at the pool and Aubrey can officially swim on her own. She worked really hard and about mid summer was swimming like a fish in the deep end. 

Brandon loves to just bob in the water with his floaties.

Big chunky loves her pool time.

There was the fair.

The museum where they were able to crush corn like in the old days. 

Lots and lots of fishing.

Aubrey and her bestie Ava made the bible school rounds and had a wonderful time. Brandon wanted to go so bad but he was just not old enough this year. It gave me a preview of life with her in school.

Hubby's work had a huge picnic for the employees.

Aubrey had fun getting sprayed by the fire trucks.

Emma on her first moon bounce.

I'm sure I'm missing some things but the majoring of summer was spend with just us together. My favorite thing.