The 2013-2014 School Year Has Begun

As instituted by my mother, it is our family tradition to take photos on our first day of school.   

Here is big E on his first day with Miss Patti: 

Look how much he has grown since his first day of school pic last year: 

Isn't it incredible how much he has changed?! 

Check out that handsome math teacher on the left.  What a guy! 

And, lastly, here is a sweet picture of E napping on his big boy cot at Miss Patti's.  This little man just melts my heart. 

End of Summer

School started this past week so blogging has been at a standstill until we get back into our new, busier rhythm of life. Since I can't quite accept that summer is over I decided we needed to have one more blog post of our final summer activities!  Here are some pictures our last week leading up to school. 

Everett with Great-Grandma Johnson.  

We had such a GREAT summer.  We were incredibly spoiled because the three of us were able to spend so much time together.  The school year is great in it's own way but I am already missing all of the time I got to spend with these two great Meyer men.  

Friends and babies--Our Third Summer Reunion

About a year ago I blogged about a reunion with some of my best pals and their babies.   Carly and Polly are two women that I dearly love and get to share my life with.  For the past few years we have lived in different cities but we've made it happen to meet up over the past three summers.  Check out how much has changed in three years! 

2011: 

 2012: 

 2013: 

We are a growing bunch. It's crazy to think that next summer there will be two more babies in this picture!!!

Meyer Family Vacay

This summer we were able to meet up with Tom's parents, siblings, and their kids at the Lake of the Ozarks (it is located in Mid-Missouri about 3-4 hours from where we live).   We rented a house for a few days so we could enjoy some quality time together.  

Here's the view from the house.  So pretty!

A highlight of our time was seeing all of the Meyer cousins interact.  There is Moses (almost four), Leo (2 months older than Everett), and Claire (about 10 months old).  The three boys played with Hot Wheels, trains, and Legos pretty much the whole time.  It was awesome. 

We did a lot of eating! 

Baby Claire, her mom--Jen, and I. 

Uncle Tom and Claire 

Tom and E making homemade ice cream. 

The boys LOVED playing games on Grandpa and Grandma Jean's iPad/iPhones.

The weather was unseasonably cool and rainy while we were there so we didn't get to do as much swimming as we hoped, but we did get to have some fun hiking and playing at parks.

Leo and Everett just happened to wear the same shirt on the same day.  They were so cute together.

The boys were chasing each other around these old ruins at Ha Ha Tonka State Park.

We were also able to stop in Jeff City for a visit with Tom's Grandma.  She is such a wonderful lady.

It was a special treat to be with Tom's family, especially since we all live in separate cities.  It was such a blessing to have time together this summer before the busyness of school begins (only a few more day of summer...!!!). 

E's first bike

Last week we had the great opportunity to spend time at the Lake of the Ozarks (in Mid-Missouri) with Tom's family.  While we were there we celebrated Everett's birthday with the Meyer family.

He actually blew out the candles on his own and didn't cry when we sang Happy Birthday--double bonus! 

You can see he thoroughly enjoyed his cake and ice cream. 

Everett received a lot of awesome gifts from his aunts and uncles--legos, books, cars, diggers.  Basically everything that Everett loves these days!  Another special gift that Everett got was his first bike from Grandpa Meyer ("Bapa") and Grandma Jean.  It is called a Strider bike and it is especially designed for toddlers.  There are no pedals but instead you use your feet (Flintstone style) to balance and ride the bike.  

Everett took to the bike right away but since we've been home from the Lake he doesn't seem to love his helmet as much.  Tom decided to show Everett how it's done (helmet and all).  

Tom's method seemed to work.  He's moving so fast he was blurry in every picture I took (that and I'm using my iPhone camera). 

I'm not going to lie...I think he is so dang cute on his little bike!  I look forward to seeing what adventures his new wheels will bring. 

Garden Update

Earlier this summer my parents helped us plant our first garden.  Here were the humble beginnings: 

Here it is now! It's amazing that all of this sprang up from seeds and water. 

Everett is proud of the garden.  He announces to anyone nearby that these are "Everett's [green] beans."

We have had so much yellow squash.  This was our first. 

Our first tomato--so dang good! 

This is our latest haul of green beans.  As my dad pointed out that we picked a "whole truck load."   Everett really has helped us with the garden. In this case Tom and I would pick the beans and hand them to Everett.  We tried to put them in the blue bowl you can see here, but E insisted that they go in his truck.  

 We have really enjoyed having a small garden at our house.  We planted our garden pretty late this year, so we were limited in what we could plant.  We kept it simple--tomatoes, green beans, and yellow squash.  We're already dreaming about what we can plant in the future because it has been so fun to tackle this garden project as a family.  Not to mention the produce really does taste so so so good!