1st Day of Kindergarten!

Well, the day has come! My Caserman has started Kindergarten! He has been really excited for kindergarten to start. I took him out last week to get a cupcake and to talk about kindergarten.

I asked him what he was looking forward to about kindergarten and he said, "Playing with new toys... No, meeting new friends!". When I asked if he's going to miss me he just giggled and when I told him I will miss him he laughed even harder - he just thought that was a crazy idea! We talked about a few more things and then he asked, "Mom, how many days until 1st grade?"
So today was the day Case starts Kindergarten at Oak-Park Carpenter Elementary! All week we have been having the countdown until today! He woke up early this morning and got to go with Daddy to pick out doughnuts for the whole family.
Pictures from our morning...

 He always likes to get one of his backpack!

 1st Day of Kindergarten sign - he said when he grows up he wants to be a Firefighter!

 On our way!

 Sadie and Lincoln were very happy for Case. Sadie pretty much knew what was going on, but Lincoln just jumped up and down all morning without any idea of what was happening!

 We were really excited to hear that Case's friend, Davis, is in the same class as Case! These boys have a lot of fun together and it was wonderful to tell Case he would know someone in his class.

 Surprisingly, I didn't shed any tears this morning!

 On his way into Mrs. Thompson's class. We are thrilled that Case has such a great teacher!

It was a little hard to leave, but I know that he is going to have such a wonderful time learning and playing with new friends! We are so thankful to God for this sweet boy and we are praying that Kindergarten will be a wonderful time for him!
Hard to believe the difference... this was Case on his first day of preschool, two years ago!

Lincoln Turns 1!

My baby had his first birthday... I can't quite believe he is already 1! It was fun to have a little celebration for him with some of his little buddies from our church nursery. Hannah and Brookie also came down for his birthday weekend which was so nice! We decided to do a little monster theme, I think Lincoln loved it!
I made these little felt masks for the kids to look like monsters - they were super easy to put together and turned out really cute.

 We went pretty small on the snacks since the guests are all pretty little! We had caramel popcorn, Fritz's soda, and my friend Emily made some adorable monster cookies!

 We pretty much just snacked, chatted and watched the little ones play! 

This is Lincoln and his best buddy, Clara. They are only 10 days apart, she sits right behind us in church so they love waving and babbling to each other!

Case and Sadie were the only "big kids" so thankfully Hannah could provide a little entertainment for them!

 Little Asher was so cute in his monster mask!

Since Brooke was here, I took advantage of her artistic abilities and she made a little monster picture peek thru!

 

 I made Lincoln his own little monster cake to dig into. He was actually pretty smart and just went for all the frosting!

 

He eventually realized he didn't need his hands and just went for it!

  

 Lincoln, we are incredibly grateful to God for adding you into our family! Your are our little sweet boy who just loves to be held, snuggled, held, snuggled, held and snuggled! It's all you want! You are quick to laugh and love any attention from your siblings. You love bananas and are happy to play with a ball for hours. You just bring so much joy to our family! Happy Birthday, we love you so much!

 

Preschool Christmas Parties!

 In December, the kids had their /Christmas program and parties at preschool! It was such a fun morning. They got all dolled up and couldn't wait to go to preschool!

Sadie had so much fun at her Happy Birthday Jesus party! Each child was given a character to color from the Christmas Story and Sadie was given Baby Jesus!

 Then her teacher read the Christmas story and each child got to hold up the character they colored when the character was mentioned in the story. Sadie was so proud when she got to hold up Baby Jesus.

Matt was out of town so I went back and forth between Case and Sadie's classes. Sadie's class was quiet and sweet and Case's was a lively party! They had several games and Case loved it!

 

 

After the parties we got to go to their Christmas program. I didn't get any pictures because I wanted to videotape the whole thing for Matt. The kids were so cute and had so much fun singing all their Christmas songs they had practiced.

"New" Swing Set

A sweet family in our church had outgrown their swing set and were so kind to pass it along to our kids! Case and Sadie were SO excited to have a swing set in their own back yard and I have loved all the fresh air they are getting!

 Lincoln will happily swing in the baby swing and watch them play for hours!

Halloween

Matt and I were away from the kids again this year for Halloween. It's such a bummer to miss seeing them trick or treat and hand out candy. Before we left on our trip we had the kids dress up in their Halloween costumes and we carved pumpkins together!
 Our little Nebraska Cheerleader
 

Batman and Batman!

 

Case LOVED his Jack-o-lantern!

Last Soccer Game

We had a really fun season of soccer games! Case loved it and especially enjoyed playing with his buddy, Isaac. Brooke and Hannah were here visiting for his last soccer game and our neighbor, Darrel, came as well. Case was so excited to have an audience just for him! He scored 2 goals and my sister got some great shots of him playing.