::road trip::

We took a road trip to "Cottawatta" to see Papa Guitar & Gayle.

On the way...

lots of movies, lots of snacks, lots of "how far are we," lots of "scenery" (God bless the Wyomingites because, well, SOMEBODY's gotta live there!!), and a few naps.

Oh...and a 2 hour 2 HOUR delay

a semi caught on fire waaay up the highway, and we were stranded on I80 for a couple of hours.

Papa & Gayle took us to downtown Colorado Springs to see Uncle Wilbur (this fountain guy who plays insturments and water squirts out of them--kinda like the fountains at the Gatway).

We went here...

...where we played on some crazy playground equipment, played in the HUGE fountain, and shared some icecream.

We played at Papa and Gayle's house a lot...

they set up a tent for the bigger ones to sleep in, got them some bikes, sidewalk chalk, lots of snacks, and lots of little toys, and we had a "campfire" and made s'mores.

Chloe and Port's favorite toy at their house was the "roll it game" aka the pool table. Papa played them some tunes, and they both played some games with the kids and cooked for us a lot.

We went here...

...to see lots of cool red rocks. The kids liked walking around looking for acorns, rocks to climb, and places to hide. We saw a few rock climbers, which was pretty fun to watch.

We swam at their pool...

...a couple of times (the weather wouldn't let us swim too long)

...and we loved it!

Then time to head home.

The drive home was almost as "scenic" as the drive there. We hit a bit of weather (check out that rainbow!!), but it wasn't too bad.

We all LOVED our trip to "Cottawatta" and visiting Papa and Gayle. It was a pretty long drive (about 8 1/2 hours), but they did AWESOME in the car both ways (and so did Matt driving-the whole WAY!!)!

Thanks, Papa and Gayle for having us and making us so comfortable at your house!! Love you!

::our kindergartner::

Today was the first day of kindergarten!!


Chloe was WAY excited. She came up at 8 this morning completely dressed (shirt, skirt, shoes, backpack, and hair fixin' stuff in her hands) for school (which didn't start until 12:25). She, Portie, and Coopie spent the morning playing together and asking "when is it time to go?" all morning!

Finally, time to go...

...excited in the car.

heading in...



the three amigos...


sitting at her table...



time to say goodbye...



There she sat all by herself. My first little baby in a big classroom in a big school all by herself. I'm not with her, I can't see what she's doing, I don't know if the other kids are being nice, I don't know what they're saying, I don't know what she's learning or seeing.

I let out a few tears after I left.


After we got in the car, I told Portie I missed Chloe. "Do you miss Chloe?" I asked him. "No, I don't miss my sistay, she will be back in da cah when we go back to get hih."

So I dried it up and enjoyed the afternoon with the two bubbas.


When it was time to get her, I waited in the spot her teacher told me to (I asked her where I should wait and told her I'd be picking her up every day, and not to have her ride the bus). I waited and waited, and no Chloe. I went in to find her, and her teacher says..."oh I bet she's on the bus" I checked her bus, and there she sat.
After she cried a bit cause she almost had to ride home on the bus and her mom didn't come pick her up like she said she would!!, she was excited to be picked up from school and to tell me all about her day.



a little after school snack...


...then a little later we met Grandma and Papa Kitty at Red Robin for some dinner.

**Mom is feeling much better. She is out, and on some medicine for a couple of weeks, and everything is normal. We were scared for a bit, but things are great. Thanks to those who expressed their love and concern for her and all of us. Love you all!**

::our OWN back to school night::

We had a special back to school dinner (thanks to Nie- such a great way to make going back to school special for the kids) in honor of Chloe's first day tomorrow and Porter's next Tuesday.

Ours was less fancy...

we made some cheesestick pencils...

We also had homemade mac & cheese (thanks to Paula Deen, y'all!!), veggies, pencils, rolls, Kool-Aid, and brownies for dessert.

Nothin' too fancy, just some of the kids' faves.

I know what you're thinking...

...I should be a model, right?? haha

We ate and talked about school, food, Grandma Kitty, and probably some things that shouldn't be discussed at the dinner table...

...which brought on this face...

We all enjoyed the food...

...and the silliness.

We're glad to have had our first annual family back to school dinner. We're excited (and some of us (me) are scared) about school starting, and can't wait 'til tomorrow.

::date::

Tonight, we went here

for a couple of 1 hour Swedish massages.

And it was heavenly!

Then we ate dinner

(seems like we are eating here a lot, huh? Matt didn't get to go last time, and he wanted to try it)

Then we headed up to Grandma Snowman's

to pick up the babies...

...but not before a little 4 wheeler ride ;)

Thanks so much for babysitting, Grandma, Papa, & Jennie.

We sure love ya!

::bed head::

This...

is something I get to see every morning,

and I love it.

Don't you??

::Porter said...::

"Mom, there's

a snake in

the weeds!!"

I run over to see ...

...his little toy snake.

silly boy.