Creativity

I feel like I was born to think out of the box especially when it comes to planning parties. Sometimes my ideas are hits and sometimes my ideas are complete disasters...We're in birthday party planning mode again at our house as Sam is nearing his fourth birthday. We're planning a Planes Party and I thought I'd take some pictures of him in the "airplane" position on the trampoline to have the actual sky in the background for the party invitations. At the last second I thought I'd have him wear his goggles to look like one of the Wright brothers. Well, this is what I got...

God love him!

Six

September:

The crisp autumn air, the crunch of leaves under my feet and the gorgeous sunsets always brings me back to the magical time when we brought home our Baby Laura. 

She's six now and seems to mature more and more everyday. She asks me about my day, is beginning to read and write, loves girl talk, & wears a sleep mask to bed at night! I love her to pieces!

First day of school

Laura is officially a kindergartener! She's three days in and says she loves it. In the past three days she has said the following things which tells me she's listening:

"Raise a quiet hand"

"I can earn an opportunity for a prize"

"Put your bubble in"

Enjoy the first day of school photo shoot!

Sam's a Schulz photographer. There's no doubt about that!

Cousins

The Boyd girls came to spent a couple of days with us. While they visited, I only used paper plates and almost all the meals were eaten on the deck so I had minimal clean up. It was great having the girls over to mix it up a bit during the dog days of summer. Laura loves being in between Maisie and Molly's ages and always positions herself right in the middle of the two girls. She asked me if cousins can be BFFs. I told her cousins make the Best BFFs. ❤️

GG and Papa Camp

The kids went to GG and Papa Camp for six days in July. The kids had a great time at camp. They played with cousins, fed cows, picked vegetables from a gigantic garden, went to a library carnival, made a fort, rode four wheelers, jumped on the trampoline, swam in the pond, played in a hide-out, and listened to GG read Junie B. Jones books. How lucky we are to have healthy, willing, & loving (grand)parents to host a "camp" that the kids will remember fondly forever. We are beyond blessed!

 

Eric and I "survived" while the kids were away too. 

Fourth of July

The annual 4th of July pond party was a hit. Here are my top ten things I'll remember about 2015.

1. Perfect weather 

2. Zoe coming with Mike & Denise. Sam really liked her, but never learned her name and kept referring to her as "that girl."

3. The adorable cabin in the woods.

4. Aunt Judy's minute to win it games never getting old.

5. The cousin fibbing alliances have started. "I have no idea how that happened, but if you find out let me know."

6. Eric's ear injury. 

7. Chris Welch's surprise fireworks.

8. Slip 'n slide into the pond.

9. The fire dept. stopping by. 😁

10. "Life is good."

*My pictures are limited. See Heidi's blog, Boyd Babes for more pictures.

Father's Day

For Father's Day Eric told me not to do anything extraordinary this year. Let me tell you that my love language has never been and will never be "gifts". I wasn't planning on taking a trip to Hobby Town to buy him something that he probably didn't really want and would be returned eventually anyhow. Instead of material things, the kids and I planned a special day just for Eric. It started off with Sam waking up early and bringing into our bedroom home-made presents he helped wrap the day before that were hidden in his closet. Sam & I snuck downstairs to make coffee, waffles, and scrambled eggs for Eric to enjoy in bed. After forcing Eric to eat loads of food, we went on a family run and poor Eric ended up pushing the jogging stroller the whole time in extreme humidity. Next, the "boat moms" and I organized a Dads on the Lake afternoon for Eric and the "boat dads" to be on the lake without kids. (It sounded like they didn't quite know what to do with themselves without the kids in tow though.) Finally, we had a delicious summer meal of sirloin kabobs with grilled vegetables for dinner. Unfortunately, I'm not that great at the grill so Eric had to do all the grilling. As the sun was setting and the kids were playing in the play house (actually Sam was working on the play house roof), it was evident that it turned out to be an extraordinary day because of an extraordinary dad.