Happy Birthday Mom!

Sue and Becky in the back. Mom, me and Jane sitting.

Mom...aka Grandma B. turned 80 last week....doesn't she look great! Dave and I took a quick trip Saturday to Illinois to suprise her at a birthday dinner my sisters planned. It was great to be there and see her expression. I wish the girls could have gone but we thought it would have been too long in a car for such a short trip. They spent the weekend at Grandma & Grandpa Sharpe's having their own fun.

Happy Halloween

The girls had great fun this Halloween....even Ella. She did dress up and planned to stay with daddy to hand out candy but caught up with us a few houses down the road and then loved going door to door. The school was collecting candy for the troops over seas so the girls loved going through their candy deciding what to keep and what to part with. They all gave up quite a bit. The school collected 4,000 pounds in all.

Digging in to carve pumpkins.

Taylor....aka "The Cowgirl"

Ella...aka "The 50s girl"

Emma....aka "A Monarch Butterfly"

Major Update!!

It has been over a month since our last post. What have we been up to? Well....I have been trying to settle into a routine of getting 3 little girls up and ready for school on time, packing lunches/snacks/water bottles, checking back packs and homework folders and that is just the morning. Taylor is doing very well. She is doing great in all subjects and has really improved in math. She is still taking piano lessons, as well as, a hip hop and jazz dance classes. Emma and Ella are loving school, too. They have both counted to 100 and are working on letter sounds, sight words, simple reading and journaling. Emma is continuing with her swimming and dance class and Ella....well she is just being Ella. She loves to do anything outside.

Apple Picking

Last weekend, we had great weather and went on our family apple picking outing at MacQueens Orchard. I can never tell what the girls like best. Picking apples, climbing the trees, eating apples or eating homemade donuts and cider.

Late Summer Fun

End of the season tomato picking and...

....eating. The girls went to Grandma & Grandpa Sharpes to pick tomatos and of course ride the lawn tractor and wagon.

Watch out! Taylor's behind the wheel.

School Days

The school gang!

Back L-R: Tanner, Ethan and Matt.

Front L-R: Ella, Taylor, Ashley and Emma.

The girls on their first day of school. Emma and Ella starting kindergarten(can you believe it) and Taylor going in 3rd grade. Wow....what a day! I must admit that this day was much easier for the girls than it was for me. I was so proud to share this day with the girls and held in all my tears until I got home. The girls and I filled each others pockets with kisses and hugs to use throughout the day which helped. Emma & Ella were so excited the night before that they had a hard time settling down to sleep and were up bright and early dressed and ready to go. This was all good but made for a very long day and crabby evening after a full day at kindergarten. Things have gotten easier now we are into a routine after a couple weeks. They are all loving every minute!

Meeting Sara, the school therapy dog, on the first day of school.

Taylor with her teacher, Mrs. Mahler. This is who she was hoping to get. She had heard she was the "cool" 3rd grade teacher and she seems to be great!

Ella and Emma with their teacher, Ms. Kronmann. This is her 1st year teaching and seems to have lots of fun learning activities planned. The girls come home excited and ready to go back every day.