School Days

Well, we now have a little over a week of school under our belts and so far it's been going pretty good. The kids seem to have really nice teachers this year so that always helps :-). I have to admit that I didn't really know how to feel on the first day of school. Everyone was asking me if I was "OK" with Chandler starting Kindergarten & honestly I just tried not to think about it too much! He was really excited to go to school & it was kinda fun seeing him grin from ear to ear on that first day.


They are too cute!













McKenna didn't know how to feel being at a table with all boys!!












Chandler's cute little grin :-)













Now that some of the "newness" of school is wearing off I do miss the kids a little during the day, but Maya and I have found plenty to do to keep us busy all day. I don't know that this will be an "easy" school year, but I do think the kids are going to grow a LOT this year. They both really enjoy school (didn't get that from me or Jonathan!), which is such a blessing. Field trip month is also just around the corner, so get ready for cute farm pictures soon!

My "baby" turned 3!!

Last Monday little Miss Maya turned 3 years old! She still feels like my "baby" in so many ways. It's kinda hard to think of her as a big kid now, but I'm sure that will quickly change once this new little baby gets here.

She had a pretty laid back birthday this year & we didn't really have a big "to-do" or anything, so she just got to enjoy getting presents from all the family members all weeks long (everyone dropped by to give her a gift on a different day).

Nana and Papa came by on her birthday & gave her a pink Webkinz kitty....












...love at first sight!













The princess nightgown was a HUGE hit as well!


















I did feel a wee bit guilty for not throwing a "big" party, so last Friday night we got together with some friends & had a "sorta kinda" party-LOL! Translation: "I made a birthday cake for a 'end-of-summer' BBQ we had with some friends & we all sang Happy Birthday to Maya" ...and we threw in a few more presents for good measure!

This is a birthday tradition for Maya...she has a "crying" picture from every birthday party so far. Some day she will come to appreciate all the attention that is poured on you when everyone sings to you at the same time...but for now she's not so fond of the Birthday serenade.








She is however fond of the other birthday tradition where people give you gifts!












Ahh, the "Fur Real" pig she had been wanting for so long!


















The cake wasn't too bad either :-)

THREE YEARS WITH MAYA!

Newborn

First Birthday.


















Second Birthday.














Third Birthday!

Ta Da!

We got the boys room mostly finished this weekend and I love how it turned out! We still have some more work to do, but at least we have a crib now-woohoo! I have to say I'm pretty proud of how my bargain hunting turned out. We got the crib for $60 & it's in great shape! I originally bought the bedding for $40, and I thought that was a great deal & then 5 days later I was at Target with Tricia & we saw the exact same bedding marked down again to $19.99. So, like any good bargain hunter would do we bought the $19.99 set and a few days later I returned the $40 set ;-). Grandma Earle came along and bought all the cute little accessories to match the bedding, because that's what grandma's do....buy all the cute little "extras" that parents never shell out the $$$ for!





































It's a bit of a "tight squeeze" now that we have all the furniture in Chandler's little room, but I think we found a way to make it work for now. I'm still not sure where all the clothes are going to go...but we will deal with that in a few more weeks. One thing at a time...one thing at a time........

We are on the downhill!

Things are really starting to pick up here at the White manor. I enrolled the kids in school this week & their first day will be on August 18th! I'm having a hard time letting myself believe my little Channy guy is going to be in big kindergarten this year! We went back-to-school shopping last weekend and got them all their school supplies, so now it seems waaaaaaaaaay too real!

While we still have a little bit of summer left we are trying to enjoy it when we can. We took the kids to the pool last Sunday & boy was it HOT! We had a great time swimming, but even the pool water was a bit warm. Looks like things are cooling down now, but I'm in no hurry for fall to be here just yet. I still have way too much to do!

I found some cute baby bedding at Target & it was even on sale (really on sale!)!





This is what the bedding looks like :-) Not too bad for $19.99, eh?












To be honest, I just picked out the bedding, but my mom and sister bought it all for me :-). Seeing that this is my fourth baby, I probably won't have a shower this time, so my sweet, sweet family is still seeing to it that I get a few new things for this little one. We now have the crib and bedding, so at least we are now acknowledging that we have another child on the way-LOL! If all goes as planned we may even have the boys room painted this weekend and then we can set up the crib and start pretending like we are ready for this baby to come.

In case you are wondering why I don't already have all the baby stuff I need, well.......truth be told this little guy was a bit of a surprise, and I actually sold almost ALL of my baby stuff last year at a garage sale! So, now I am having to replace all the stuff I got rid of (including a crib, bedding, clothes, baby gear, blah, blah, blah). So far I'm very fortunate to have my sister who was smart enough to hang on to all of her baby gear, so I'm borrowing several things from her to use for this little guy :-). Thank goodness it's garage sale season too! We got our crib for $60, and my mom has been finding cute little outfits, onsies, and pj's at garage sales too. All I really need to buy now is my double stroller, a diaper bag, a bottle or two, a few binky's, a couple of boyish blankets, and lots of diapers. I think I'll be pretty much set after I get those things. Well.......those things and a whole new closet organizer that can accommodate clothing for 4 kids! But that project has been a long time coming......

Sorry for such an ADD kind of post....I really do have more thought-provoking things on my mind these days, but I'll wait until the kids are in bed to delve into those things-LOL! For now I leave you with my (almost) 31 week belly shot :-).

*These pictures are headless because I have to set the camera on top of the dryer and put it on the self-timer to take the shot. I guess if I was only 5 ft tall then my head would make it in the shot, but alas, I'm a wee bit taller than that!