Family Portraits

I decided to just do portraits in one trip this year instead of three.  We got fewer pictures taken but it probably cost us less in the long run (even though we got several pictures to take home). (!)

These are Meighan's 6-year-old pictures (even though she doesn't turn 6 till December 16, Dawson's 3-year-old pictures (even though he turned 3 in August) and a new family portrait and picture of the kids together.  Meighan doesn't take a bad picture and we got some decent ones of Dawson smiling this year!  Yay!

Here's several of the best ones:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Pictures

This is "old hat" for Meighan, but this was Dawson's first school picture.  Not bad for school pictures!

Kindergarten (Fall, 2013)

Pre-school (Fall, 2013)

Playing in the Rain

Meighan has been wanting to play in the rain.  So tonight it was raining after supper so we let the kids play in the rain!  They had an absolute BLAST!

We have an area out back that collects lots of water when it rains.  Makes a great splashing puddle!

 

 

Luckily, it was also bath night!

 

Happy 3rd Birthday, Dawson!

We invited family up last Sunday for Dawson's birthday but not too many came.  He enjoyed opening his gifts and seemed actually more interested in the clothes than the car he got.  Maybe he'll be a style-conscious guy!

 

 

 

Then ON his actual birthday today, I picked him up from school and took him to Barnes & Noble.  I had a coupon for a free cupcake or cookie through the B&N Kids Club for his birthday.  I ordered a sandwich for my lunch and shared with him.  Then we shopped for a couple of books for his birthday present and went on home for his nap.

 

THAT'S a big cookie!

Dawson's First Day of Pre-School!

Can you believe it?  Dawson is starting school already!  I've been looking forward to this day!  I'm going to have some ME time for a couple hours every school day!

Dawson's First Day of School pictures:

 

He picked out his Elmo backpack himself.  It's perfect for him!

Meighan's First Day of Kindergarten

Wow!  Our little girl has started KINDERGARTEN!  She's only been with us for a little over 4 years (although she's always been our daughter!) but already she's starting Kindergarten!

My goal is to take a picture of each kid on their first day of school each year so that, along with their school pictures -- as geeky as they might be sometimes -- we can compare and see how they grow each year.  So, this is this year's First Day of School picture(s).

 

 Yes, she has an Angry Birds backpack.  She picked it out herself.

Estes Park Vacation!

I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS!  When Tony suggested a few days in Estes Park, CO, I was all for it!  I booked a motel with a pool, playground, extra large room and in a convenient but quiet location.  Then we just had to wait.

We left August 7 and came home on August 11.  That was about right with two little kids.  I found out a couple weeks before we left that my brother's family would still be there when we got there so we had supper together and then played mini golf.  We rode horses the morning after we got there.  It was perfect weather.  We shopped a bit and then went back for naps.  Then we took advantage of the pool and hot tub.  Ahhh, the hot tub!  We also got to see a herd of 20 elk near a property near us.  We took lots of pictures of them.  We were told that they come down out of the mountains about once a month and they happened to pick that day.

The next day we drove up Fall River Road and stopped several times to touch the cold river water and see the beautiful scenery.  We got LOTS of great pictures!  Towards the top it started raining, then sleeting, then hailing(!), then snowing!  It was 40 degrees, after all!  While we were at the top it started raining even more so we hung out for a bit in the Visitor's Center.  Soon after we started down Trail Ridge Road, the kids fell asleep but I took even more pictures!  We saw two big horn sheep, a coyote and some huge elk on a high mountainside.  Almost back to Estes Park we saw three more elk just laying in the grass.  We did a little more shopping downtown before going back to the hotel.

Saturday we had our family picture taken in an old-time photo place.  Quite fun!  And Dawson was so cute as cowboy and Meighan as an Indian!  We then drove out to Bear Lake.  We almost didn't get a parking spot as they were full but someone pulled out just in time so we got a place to park.  We decided to walk around the lake.  Shortly after we started, we had a family picture taken and then it started raining (and hailing on us!) so we ran back to a canopy until it stopped.  We decided to go around the lake the other way this time.  We got so many great pictures because the sky was so blue that day and there were so many fluffy white clouds in the sky!  I have a couple that I may print bigger and display somehow!  When we got back to the place we had a family picture taken, it started to lightly rain again!  I guess we weren't supposed to be in that spot!

We drove back to town and Dawson had JUST fallen asleep.  We found a parking place and went to Subway for a late lunch/early supper.  His short nap was NOT enough!  The kids played on a little playground for a bit and then we went back to the hotel.  We tried and tried to get Dawson to continue his nap but it was in vain.  Meighan and I went down to the pool for a bit.  She was braver this time and did more in the pool than just get in.  I sat in the hot tub for a short time again, too.

We decided to go play mini golf again and then we came back to the hotel and got the makin's for s'mores that the hotel provides every night if you are interested.  This was a fun little activity.

On Sunday, we got up, packed, loaded the car and checked out.  We got gas before heading down Big Thompson Canyon.  More beautiful scenery but I didn't take anymore pictures.  We ate breakfast in Loveland and then stopped for gas and lunch in North Platte.  Including those two stops it took us 10 hours (and those were NOT very long stops).

I put together a slideshow with music of some of the over 500 pictures we took on the trip.  It is 11 1/2 minutes long but I'm quite proud of it.  It's the first one I've done in Windows Live Movie Maker.  It was quite easy and I'm sure I'll make more!

The Tooth Fairy Came!

She got a golden dollar!

 

The Tooth Fairy responded to the note, too!

First Lost Tooth

She finally lost her first tooth!  Problem is, she didn't realize she lost it until she felt it missing from her mouth.  She has no idea WHERE she lost it so she had to leave a note for the Tooth Fairy explaining she lost her tooth and she was sorry.

Holt Picnic

Today was the annual Holt Picnic.  We like to go to this since it is close to where we live.  It was great to see friends and meet new friends!  It was warm but there was a breeze so that made it bearable.

The first thing Meighan did was run to the slide.  Davis (the boy behind her) was afraid.  She told him he could sit on her lap and to "trust God" (learned from Bible School LAST year!).

 

Daddy took Dawson down the slide.  He went down by himself later but I missed a picture.

 

Cool picture of 8 kids eating lunch.  The 3rd from the left is the newest American citizen, having come home just 9 days previous!

 

 

She had a Ninja Turtle painted on her face!

Happy 4th of July!

We went down to Murdock for the parade.  I thought Dawson would be all over and wanting to be out to get candy but he sat on laps the whole time!  Meighan was nice enough to bring him some candy.

After the parade we went to my parents' to eat some lunch and then we came home for naps.

In the evening we met Tony's family to watch the Ralston fireworks.  Not the greatest place in the world for kids because they are building a Menard's there and there's lots of dirt and uneven ground.  Maybe we can go see fireworks somewhere else next year -- that's safer for kids.

 

Cool little dude!

 

 

 

 

 

After several tries, we finally got a decent family picture.

 

And I got to experiment with my new camera on fireworks pictures.  I had a few good ones!

 

 

 

 

Summer Haircut (and temporary mohawk!)

Dawson needed a haircut so Tony was going to take him in on Saturday and they both get haircuts.  He kept threatening to have Dawson's hair cut and styled into a Mohawk.  I had to go along and take pictures.  He's going to be SOOOO much cooler with a short haircut this summer!

Starting the shave

 

Quite long before she styled it up!

 

 

Mohawk!

 

She had kinda funky hair, too!

 

 

All done!

 

Then he got a blue sucker!

 

All ready for summer!