And we're back!  Our computer is fixed, the kids are adorable and summer is here. There's no better time than now to reunite with the blogging world. 

Life According to my I-Phone:

1.)  Potty Training FAIL.  Three years old.  Still wearing diapers.  Declares she will wear them until she's 8 or 10 or forever depending on when you ask and what mood she's in at that moment.  

Praying (really, for real, praying) for a miracle.

 2.)  Massive house clean/purge/organization has been taking place since early September.  Less is more, we are convinced.  It feels so good.  Recently started Dave Ramsey's financial peace and loving that as well.

 3.)  Playing outside in swimsuits in mid-September was sweet.  Love that winter is taking its time.  Promised myself I wouldn't live in Duluth this winter.  Waaaahhhh....

 4.)  Long hard day at work.  Greeted by this handsome man.  Makes my day.

 5.)  Putting out fires.  Loving Lakeview Christian (Kindergarten).  Learning about firefighters, as well as speaking Spanish better than I ever have. I took Spanish in High School.

 6.)  Blessed by a boy.  A boy.  A boy.  100% boy.  He played in these shoes for a couple hours.  He says they felt "fine".

 7.)  Trips to Target are limited (Dave Ramsey), but when we go I'm sure to dress my princess in her Sunday best.  Three years ago I would have told you I never would let her go in public like this.  Her closet full of frill is useless. 

 8.)  I've been swimming a couple times a week.  It's takes great motivation to dive in, but once I've braved the cold I'm convinced this is one of my favorite forms of exercise.  

 9.)  Celebrated National Vegan day with my Vegan sister.  Found out the average vegan lives 15 years longer than the average carnivore.  Love you, Steph and you're crazy food choices.  

 10.)  Last but certainly not least.  My kids have some rockin' Grandparents.  I know it comes as a shock, but Elvis won the church costume contest and sang a beautiful song upon accepting his award...all while wearing REAL BLUE SUEDE shoes.  Too much fun.

Trick or Treat!  

The great pumpkin carve is complete.  

The anticipation was killing Brooks.  We've had the pumpkins sitting on the front porch for almost a week.

  When the time arrived to get down to business, the pumpkin guts and smell proved to be too much for both kids.  

Chloe asked for the smell to go away.

Brooks refused to reach his hand into his pumpkin because it was gross.

At least we got some cute pictures.

Happy Fall!  

1.)  Chloe loves her new car.  She likes to ride with no hands and is really good at sharing it with her brother.  Brooks on the pink 4-wheeler is an awesome sight.

 2.)  Brooks has really good soccer games and really bad soccer games.  It just depends how tired he is. This picture is from one of his best games, where he was having a blast and seemed much older than 5.

 3.)  Brooks got glasses.  His left eye is almost blind according to the first eye doctor we visited.  We are not so sure about that diagnosis.  We are going for a second opinion very soon since Brooks can't see out of his glasses.

 4.)  I love my husband more now than I ever have.  It feels so good to be in love.

 5.)  Brooks is edible when he sleeps.  He plays hard and sleeps hard, that's for sure.

 6.)  Chloe is 3.  Chloe is not anywhere near being potty trained.  We've given it very little effort.  Now that Brooks is in school, that's our next project.  It will either be very easy or very hard depending on Chloe's mood.

 7.)  Chloe and Brooks spent hours playing in this pool.  It's huge.

 8.)  "Hey, Mom! Try to get me wet!"

 9.)  Greg turned 40 last week.  We took THE BEST MOUNTAIN BIKING TRIP EVER to Copper Harbor, Michigan.  We had so much fun riding  bikes for many hours, napping, eating dinner in peace, having conversations and reading by the fire in our cabin.

Life doesn't get much better than this.

Brooks is half-way through his first day of Kindergarten.  I wonder what he's doing.  We are missing him like crazy.  

When we pulled in the driveway after dropping him off Chloe said, "I no wanna go home, Mama.  I wanna go get Brooks."  Poor kid.  She is missing him.

I'm glad we decided to skip preschool this year for Chloe.  It's going to be so good to have bonding time with her.

Brooks dressed himself this morning and was eager to get to school.  Once at school, he was mortified that we had the camera with us.  He is so shy and so sweet.  We tried to sneak some shots when he wasn't looking.

Right before I left, I whispered in his ear and asked him how he was feeling. He looked at me and whispered back, "nervous".  I didn't know that he even knew what "nervous" felt like.  

Today was a big day.  

I can't wait until 3:00 to wrap my arms around him and give him a kiss. 

Brooks starts Kindergarten tomorrow.  

He's ready and excited.  

We were very ready for Brooks to go to school earlier this summer, but both of us feel less ready tonight as the reality of Brooks being at school more than at home for the next 12 years sinks in.

I've been praying specifically for Brooks many many times today.  

My biggest prayer is that he will be protected.  He's all boy, large in stature, yet so tender and shy.  

My prayer is that he will feel safe and be kept from the emotional hurts that are so real once kids start school.  

Ugh, this is harder than I ever imagined.  

We will miss him around here.  It will be quiet and calm without him.  A new normal is about to begin and it will eventually feel right.  

The first step is going to be convincing Chloe of that. She's going to miss her brother terribly.

Chloe had a sweet little birthday party to celebrate her turning three.  The theme was strawberries.  Someone asked me if Chloe liked strawberries.  She does, but the theme was inspired by the super cute Target strawberry picnic garb that was on display in early June.  The colors were fresh and bright and we planned to serve picnic food, so it was a win-win.

Chloe had a hard time at her party.  She is SO shy and SO stubborn.  Both traits that she got from her Mama.  Chloe hid in her room for the first part of the party, hid her head in my lap for the second part of the party and needed her daddy holding her for the last part of the party.  When it came time to blow out candles on the cake, she needed both her mommy and daddy to help.  And when it came time to open presents, she had her mommy open them for her.  

She ended up giving hugs and being friendly towards the end of the party.  It just took time...like almost the whole party.  I was feeling so bad (actually I was dying) that she wasn't on her "best", but was reminded by my sweet sister Steph that everyone at the party (all family) loved her and weren't bothered by her shenanigans.  

My mom reminded me that I was the same way.  She refreshed my memory about one of my birthday parties (when I was MUCH older than 3) that I had to excuse myself, while crying, because the attention was too much for me to handle.

It seems Chloe got my personality traits, her daddy's blue eyes and a spunk all her own.

It's interesting to compare Brooks' third birthday party pictures to Chloe's third birthday party pictures. I don't think I need to explain further.