brooke's smile

 "Oh, you're a photographer? 

You must have such beautiful picture of your own children."

I give you, Brooke.

Literally every time.

hodge podge of paige

 Oh, PKP. 

You're a hoot, but also second grade is quite the stage. 

Paige has always been beyond her years, but it's pretty tough at

this age when she talks to us like a teenager.

Eeeeeeek.

The good news is that we still get glimpses of lil Paige, too. 

Also, rare footage of Brooke playing with a doll. 

This girl is still so easy 90% of the time. 

She's such a helper, such a nurturer, so kind, and

a rule follower to a fault. 

And beautiful inside and out. 

Paige, you're a ray of sunshine.

tate's dish

 This boy. 

Ya just can't make him up. 

We inherited some things from Josh's grandma, and 

one of those things is a silver dish with a lid and warming tray and it 

probably has a name that I just don't know. 

Enter Tate. He loves it. Like so much. 

He thinks its so cool and wants his food served in it. 

So basically my (at the time) 5 year old wants his food

served to him on a silver dish. 

It has yet to happen because we need to finish polishing it, but

it'll happen and I'll be there to document the joy on his face. 

ballerina outfit

Once upon a time, Brooke

tried on her Halloween costume

…and then never took it off again for 6 days. 

It really was love at first sight. 

God bless hand me downs. 

You can’t tell, but days are passing. 

She was so happy in her ballerina bunny costume. 

She went everywhere in this thing. 

I finally convinced her to let me wash it

…by giving her more ballerina clothes to wear. 

And then we made it to Halloween!

And a little Halloween hangover

Don’t be fooled, the outfit remained even after

the holiday was over. 

Incase you’re assuming she wore pajamas between

all of these days, You’re wrong. 

She did not. 

tate allergies part 2

Well, Tate and I headed for round

two of allergy testing. This time

we knew what to expect, so 

I treated Tate to his first cake pop! 

I packed lots of favorite books

for all the waiting (after testing…they’re

super quick to get us back)

and Tate chose to peruse the pocket Bible 

that Brooke had in my purse. 

Unfortunately this day involved

40 “scrapes” and 16 shots. 

Fortunately they gave us numbing

cream for his back. 

This kid is so tough. 

Never saw that coming based on his

toddlerhood, but man has this kid impressed

me through all of this. 

There were a few squirms as the

needles kept going in, but not a single complaint.

I’m just so proud of him. 

Some well earned rest for him. 

The results? 

He’s allergic to some trees and weeds. 

Insert allllll the sad faces for my 

outdoor loving boy. 

Allergies-because I can’t seem to remember them:

Pecan pollen

Red mulberry

American sycamore

Bayberry/wax mrtle

Mixed ragweed

Lambs quarters

Lenscale

Now to get his sinuses under control

and decide on a treatment plan. 

tate allergies

Well, we did a thing. 

We took our Tate to the allergist. 

Trying to get his sickly, allergy-ridden, 

snotty, coughy, sneezy self some relief. 

As Elizabeth told me, the allergist is

never a fun appointment. 

Poor Tate learned that first hand. 

It was all fun and games in the waiting room.

It was just me staring at this giant child

trying to figure out when he got so old. 

We never had to wait long, but the

appointment was close to 2 hours because of

how many tests were run. 

Tate watching the news. 

So glad he can’t read yet and it was just

old people talking politics and not

video footage of all the scary happenings. 

Tate has a breathing test, a CT scan,

and round one of testing. 

He gets his puffy eyes from me, 

but all the allergies from

his dad. 

We were misled as to what

the testing would feel like. 

Poor boy was caught off guard by

the 36 pricks. I was, too. 

It was so sad. 

So sad. 

Hard earned ring pop. 

He failed his breathing test. 

Twice. 

He’s still considered pre-asthmatic. 

Hoping that clearing his

(multiple years in the making) 

sinus issues will improve his breathing and

keep him out of being asthmatic. 

I am obviously not a doctor, 

so who knows what these red dots mean. 

Tiny reaction? No reaction? 

We will learn more soon. 

Because. He. Has. To. Go. Again. 

I’ll be coming with ask kinds of

treats for him. 

My poor bub. 

back to school

We did it! 

We started school!

I have so much to say about transitioning

back to school, but for now I’ll just

post pictures of my babies!

We. Hit. The. Teacher. Jackpot.

Times all 3 kids. 

Paige got the teacher of her dreams

and it’s making all the difference in the world. 

She comes home so chatty everyday and it’s adorable. 

It’s making the switch back to school so much

easier on both of us. 

(Future self-remember that time you homeschooled?!)

I’m just so proud of her. 

Tate, my shy lil bub! 

I told him he had to tell his teacher hi while

looking at her just one time…and that he

could be shy the rest of meet the teacher. 

He did it! 

Then I asked him for a photo with her. 

His response? 

“Ok, but I’m not going to open my eyes.”

And he didn’t. 

That smirk. It kills me. 

He’s. Just. So. Cute. 

I will forever love these photos. 

So far so good! 

He’s loving school and his teacher

said that he’s doing great. 

(Yay!)

Brooke is not loving that her siblings are

gone all day. 

She wanted in on the action. 

She loves school! 

She even tried to have her own desk in

Paige’s classroom. 

Then my little nugget finally got to

have her meet the teacher! 

She was soooo ready!

She got right to work. 

Her beloved teacher from last year moved up

to the next age, but Brooke didn’t get her. 

We had our fingers crossed because we loved her so!

But here’s the great news-she still got a wonderful

teacher! I can’t wait to watch this girl

flourish this year. She’s so much more

social and is thriving in her art as usual. 

Bring on her first day! 

What an I gonna do with myself?!