1st Day of School- 8/6/12

I am still in awe that I have a Kindergartener. I was emotional all weekend. We went to Meet the Teacher on the Thurs night before school started and I could hardly keep myself together. So it was no surprise how anxious and nervous I was all weekend for school to start. Monday morning did not go how I had invisioned it. I did make a big breakfast, but we had to wake Autumn up at 7:30 so that we could leave by 7:45 and it just felt rushed. I did get a quick picture before we left.

Since my morning picture wasn't all that I wanted it to be I figured we could make up for it after.
This picture is when I picked her up after her first day. She was so excited to see all of us.

When we got home I did the picture that I planned to do in the morning but we didn't end up having time to sit down to have her write out what grade she was in. I have loved all the ideas on Pinterest for first day of school photos and I admit I am a perfectionist and would've loved doing something cute and clever with perfect penmanship, but there is something special about a childs handwriting, so I decided against all the ideas I had seen and originally planned and went with this. I admit I got onto her for writing too big, but then apologized because did it really matter? She still got all the letters on there. And it's her writing. I will treasure seeing how her writing skills change over the years.

I get to walk Autumn to and from school, I truely feel extremely blessed to live so close to her school that I can walk her to and from. There is about 10 houses in between the school and our home. The heat is pretty intense on our walks after school and she drags her feet but I feel like we talk more and get those few minutes to communicate about her day that we wouldn't get if we were in the car. She is loving Kindergarten so far and we are enjoying what time we get with Autumn in the afternoons and evenings. We definitely miss her when she's not here.

Hardy Reunion 6/1/2012

Drews sister decided a few months ago that we should start doing family reunions with just his immediate family. Her in laws own a cabin in the white mountains, so she set a weekend and every one came up. The cabin provided us with a free place to stay, and all we had to worry about was food and cleaning up before we left. The reunion was so much fun, I am so glad we went. We loved every minute of it. It makes me wish someone in my family had a cabin that I could enjoy more often. :) (Or maybe Drew and I should start saving for one.) I don't really care for the outdoors, I don't like to be dirty, can't stand bugs, and camping isn't my thing, but this was just right. We were out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature (no internet/cellphone service), in a beautiful cabin that accomidated Drews parents, the 5 children (with 3 spouses), and their 9 grandchildren. We've been back up to Drews parents place since the reunion and the entire way Autumn kept asking if we were going to the cabin, it's definitely something she loved as well.
The cabin-

A homemade swing set kept the kids entertained-

Uncle Clark could get the kids swinging really high-

A real tree house, there were a bunch of broken boards and tons of ants but the kids liked it. There was also a zipline that went off from it, my kids were too little for that-

We did lots of rides on various 4 wheelers-

There was a table large enough to let the grandkids eat first, then the adults would eat-

The first night the adults stayed up and played Apples to Apples-

A huge fire pit with benches. Drews dad was making his dutch oven potatoes-

Aunt Candace brought bubbles for the kiddos-

These girls are 3 months apart, and I have a feeling they are going to be best buds-

Trek, Bailey, and Lyla- only 4 months separates the oldest from the youngest.

We did family pictures-
Drews younger sister and her fam-

My fam-

Drew's older sisters fam-

Drew's younger sister and younger brother-

Drew's parents-

Everybody-

Drews parents and his siblings-

The siblings-

All the adults-

The grandparents with the grandkids-

After pictures we hopped in the 4 wheelers and went to Pottery Hill. We went looking around for old pieces of pottery, some people found some real treasures...



 After that the littlest ones needed naps, so most of the adults went shooting.

 Uncle Josh has an awesome 4 wheeler for kids. Weston and Autumn loved it.

 Then we had the Hardy Family Olympics- which were mainly Minute to Win It games. It was fun, and funny.
Stacking the cups-

 Who can pull out the Kleenex's the fastest-

 Shake the ping pong balls out of a tissue box-

 Move an oreo from your forehead to your mouth-

 Stack 6 Ding Dongs on your forhead-

 And the olympics ended with a round of horseshoes-

 That night we decorated frames with all the kids-

 And there was a ping pong tournament.

We had a great great time. It was nice to spread out, and have so much space around us. The kids had the best time. They ask about going back all the time. We are blessed to have such a wonderful family and to have made such amazing memories that weekend. We can't wait and are already looking forward to the next time we get to go up there.

Memorial Day Weekend 5/28/2012

Memorial Day Weekend was a great weekend for us. We had a lot of fun. On Sat. we went to a park in our neighborhood and let the kids play. Drew also taught them how to play frisbee. That was pretty comical.

My sweet Bailey.

Playing Frisbee.

Drew showing Weston.

On Sun. I coordinated what they wore to church. I thought it was so dang cute and tried to take a picture, but this is the best I got.

Memorial Day was really fun too. My sister had the idea to have a water day in the backyard, so we pulled out our slip n slide and she brought her water snake. The kids had a blast. We also bbq'd. There were steaks, burgers, bacon wrapped shrimp, hot dogs, potato salad and chips. It's nice to have a family member close by to celebrate a holiday with. And I love that my kids get to play with their cousins so much. It's something I always wanted when I was a kid, to spend time with my cousin's. So I am glad the kids all enjoy being around each other.

Cute cute Ben.

I love these pictures, 2 seconds before Christy's dog, Cannon, was drinking the water shooting from the snake, and immediately Ben followed suit.

Then the slip n slide came out...Parker taking a run for it.

Weston is the most uncoordinated kid I know. Love it.

Autumn's turn.

I love Parkers face in this pic. After this he retired from slip n slides. He slipped backwards and hit his head and he was done.

Ben wanted a turn.

Mark had the solution.

We enjoyed some otter pops.

Mark tried to get Parker to go down again and he didn't want any part of it.

So he played basketball.

Ben makes some adorable faces.

My beautiful Bailey slept through most of it but came out towards the end.

Mark and Christy.

These two little boys crack me, they can argue and pick on each other, and then the next second Parkers pulling up a chair and asking Weston to sit next to him so they can watch Autumn. Love it.

It was a great Memorial Day weekend. No pics of food, or anything. But we did enjoy some great food. I believe we also played Just Dance Kids and Christy sure knows how to move. :)