Miss Marli is 5!

Today she is, officially, 5 years old! What a big girl she is, even though she'd prefer to stay "teeny." I asked her this morning if she felt older, to which she replied, "No, mom. I want to be 4 still."

I wish, pumpkin. Mommy would love to push pause.

The Girls Birthdays!

So, the end of September and beginning of October are nutso in our household with Birthdays. Mine is the 25th, Marli's is the 29th, Tai's is October 6th, and my mom's is October 9th. CRAZY!!!!!

Here are pictures from their invitations to family/friends.

Marli and Macy...

Okay, so Marli got one of her birthday gifts a bit early, on accident. Her cousins from Stanwood gave her some hand-me-down American Girl items. Marli is in heaven! Every morning, she dresses Macy, the doll, combs her hair, etc. Then, at night, she does the opposite. It's hilarious! She is, for sure, a girly-girl.

Monday was Marli's first dance class and guess who came? You betcha! Macy did...

We're Back to School!

I know some of you haven't heard from me in a while, but things have been hectic the month of August. We had to prepare for back to school, get classrooms ready, and Kevin started Freshman football. To say the least, we've been swamped!

Tai just started 3rd grade at Wide Hollow and she is loving it! Tai is a social-bug, so being at school is heaven for her.

Miss Marli just started her final year in preschool. She knows that she must learn this year, so she can go to Kindergarten and she's pumped about it!

Kevin is beginning his 13th year of teaching...old man!!! Football has been taking up a majority of his time currently. He has a very talented group of Freshmen, so he's looking at an underdefeated season, maybe.

As for me, I just ended my first week of class with Kinders. They are darling, as always. It's been 12years now with this age and I'm not sure how much longer I can do this grade. I may need a change soon.

We survived the car trip!

The girls either colored, watched videos, or slept...they were amazing! Enjoy the cute photos of them...

Trip to Minnesota via...

a CAR! I know, you all probably think Kevin and I are CRAZY for attempting this 23 hour trip with our 8 yr. old and 4 yr. old, but they were troopers! We left Monday morning at 4am from Spokane and drove 10.5 hours to Miles City, Montana. The Econolodge there was disgusting, but it was okay for overnight. Tuesday morning we got up and left Miles City at 5am and got into St. Paul, Minnesota around 5:30pm.

The girls were such troopers. Beside stopping for breakfast each morning and a couple potty stops, we didn't stop. Okay, we did have to stop in North Dakota at a city called "Steele" because, as many of you know, it's my family name. Crazy!!!

We are here until Monday morning, at which we will turn around and go back. We'll be stopping at Silverwood, so that will, hopefully, give the girls something to look forward to going home.

Visiting Kevin's brother, Chris, and his family is amazing. Since the Brennan family is so large, we hardly spend "alone" time with them ever. It has been awesome to chat without ALL the family around.

Today, we went to the Mall of America and spent a majority of the day at Nickleodian Universe. Man...it was awesome and Tai Lyn -n- Marli had a BLAST! I, however, went shopping with my 4 month old niece. Kevin and his bro did the "ride thing." It was a win-win for all!!!!

I'll keep you posted on how it all goes...

#1 Fan!

While Tai and her friends were hooping it up in their tourney, Marli was on the sideline cheering them on with all her best cheers! She even got to hold a baby, which was her highlight! Mar was a trooper, never complaining about sitting out in the heat!

Champs!

Tai and 3 of her friends played in Spokane this past weekend at Hoopfest...a 3-on-3 tournament. They went undefeated and none of their opponents scored more than 10 points on them. Kevin and I were so proud of them! They are the future of WV Basketball!

Crescent Bar on Father's Day!

After having breakfast with my Daddy, we headed to Crescent Bar in Quincy to hang out with one of Kevin's brother and family. The vacation house was amazing and our girls had a BLAST playing in the sand and tubing on the water. If only we were rich and could live on the water. Damn teacher's salary!!!!

Slug Bug!

Since I can remember, I've always wanted a convertible VW Bug... my dream has come true! Kevin's truck has, officially, become the work truck and the bug has become our second car. Kevin's loving it because he gets to drive the Honda Pilot and I love it because I get my bug! So...if you see me driving around town, don't forget to punch-thy-neighbor and say, "Slug Bug!"

Sisterly Love!

Okay, so they may be as opposite as can be, but they do love one another!

Our Cheerleader!

This is Marli's idea of basketball...eating a cookie and cheering for Tai!

Hoops r Us!

Tai's June has been full of basketball. She just ended a week of camp, begins a new camp this week, has a weekend of a tournament next Friday through Sunday, and then ends the last week of the month with ANOTHER camp. Phew! I'm already exhausted!

She loves it and is probably better than I was playing Varsity basketball at 18 years old and she's only 8. Sad, I know... she amazes me with her skills!

Summer Toes

It is a sign of summer when all our toes get pretty. Sunshine yellow tootsies...too cute!

What happened?

Marli woke up this morning with the wildest hair I've seen her EVER sport! Man, that child has some crazy curls this morning! I'm dreading having to comb through that...I can hear the screaming now!

Good Times

It has been a lazy summer thus far. We've pretty much laid around, read all the gossip magazines, and told Tai and Marli that they MUST go outside and play! Since when did little kids not know how to play outside without adults? I mean, seriously, it is ridiculous how much entertainment Kevin and I must provide for our darlings. Geesh...get those biscuits outside and play! Good times...

I bought this beach ball sprinkler the other day and that provided a nights worth of laughs and giggles, but it has since been sitting in the outside toybox. We've tried to convince them that when we were kids we spent ALL day in the sprinkers, but our words are gibberish to them. Good times...

Kev and I have come to the conclusion that playdates are going to be a must this summer. If we are going to survive the next 2 months, we must start a calendar now of activities. Good times...