The Wallers

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

So Excited About These

We had our family pictures made this past weekend as a present for my mom for Mother's Day. I am so thrilled with them. Our photographer did an amazing job and it is so nice to have some pictures of the whole family. I'll upload a few of my favorites and you can check the entire album out on Facebook. So this is a long post with lots of pictures! I couldn't just choose a few! I will definitely be calling her again =)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Speaking of Teaching...

My old students came to visit again today. Elli ALWAYS loves it. Miss those guys! Can you believe my 2nd graders are headed to 7th grade? I'm old!!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Brother and Sister

I took Elli and Jackson to the YMCA child care while I got in a few minutes of exercise today. I tried taking Jackson all last week and every morning he cried. This week, now that Elli is done with school, she gets to go too. He hasn't cried ONCE now that she is there with him. That is cute enough. But then, this morning when I came to pick them up, I peeked in to see what they were doing. In a room full of children, they were cuddled up on a bean bag - laughing, really really laughing, with each other. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Jackson was crawling all over Elli (and hitting her a bit so we have to work on that part!) and Elli was just laughing so loud. There were other kids to play with there, but they were happy just being together. I didn't plan for my babies to be 26 months apart and the first year was so hard, but now, I wouldn't change it for the world. Best friends!

Summer Camp by Mom

I heard a friend say the other day, "once a dancer always a dancer" and I thought the same is true for teachers. Once a teacher, always a teacher. You can't shake it. If you are a teacher, you know what I mean. You love back to school time and seeing all the school supplies out. You love reading new books and figuring out fun activities to go with them. It just is a part of you and you can't escape it. I miss it, I really do. I'm so blessed to stay home with Elli and Jackson and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I have to let the teacher out of me sometimes hence, "Summer Camp by Mom." I am trying to do some thematic summer activities with Elli this year. We are talking 5-10 minutes a day. Something simple and easy, but a way to keep her challenged this summer. Week one: Pirates!

We have some books on pirates we will read each night. I'm still not sure how this will work or what time of day we will do our activities. Although the type A teacher in me wants a set routine for every day this summer, it just won't happen. So right now, I plan on having the activities ready and just doing them whenever we catch a down moment or when Jackson is preoccupied and will leave us be!

Beginning pirate sounds

We played pirate. Elli and Jackson are hiding from the coming pirate ship!

Even Jackson loves Summer Camp by Mom!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

And the Party!

Check out the awesome cake Grandma Waller made for Jacob. Elli got to help with the sprinkles and putting the candles in. We almost set off that smoke alarm!

Happy birthday Jacob. I love you more than anything in this world. You challenge me, comfort me, and make my heart complete. Thank you for letting me be a part of your life. Here's to 30 more! (and more and more and more...)

Lookin good babe...lookin' good!

Jackson loved the cake! Boy has a serious sweet tooth.

The Big 3-0

Jacob's parents came to visit for his big 30th birthday and we had some fun "adventures" as Elli would say. Aunt Rachel took so many fun pictures I couldn't decide which ones to include so expect a LOT of pictures.
Please note we were dressed to go to the splash pad but it wasn't open so we went exploring downtown instead - hence our attire.

Gotta love something free!

Ahoy there!

Maybe illegal but it was sooo hot! Elli isn't too sure!

Almost 7 years ago I had my bridal portrait made in this exact same spot. Now I'm back, with two kids and work out clothes. Yep - times they are a changin'!