Charlotte Turns THREE

Our sweet little Charlotte has turned three!

Charlotte is something else. She is the best something else there ever was. At 3 years old she is very articulate. It is always such a relief for me when one of my children doesn’t struggle with communication. This girl certainly does NOT struggle with communication!

Charlotte had been looking forward to her birthday for a while. For at least a couple months she would ask regularly if it was her birthday. We decided to not tell her that her birthday was coming up, and she woke up on her birthday morning to find tons of balloons and a banner and was so excited that it was finally her birthday!

June 17th was a Sunday, so we started the day with one present before heading out the door to church. After church we let her skip her nap and had lunch and did more presents. After dinner we had cake and ice cream. It was low key, but no less special.

Three year olds are a lot of fun, especially when you have the best one! Charlotte loves swimming, playing with her brother and sisters, and singing and dancing. We love our dear Charlotte so much and are really excited about this age. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

BYU vs Mississippi State

I wanted to surprise Adam with tickets to the BYU/Mississippi State game in Starkville, MS, which is about 2.5 hours from our house. Jane is the only child who really really wanted to go, so I decided to only send her instead of all of us going. It turned out to be a good thing we didn’t all go because it was blazing hot and humid and Adam and Jane mostly watched the game from the TV screens inside the stadium! They had a great time…even though BYU lost big time (10-35). Jane’s favorite part was the dip n’ dots ice cream daddy bought her. It was a fun experience for Adam and Jane to experience a little of our old life back in Utah with some good old Cougar football.

 

Back to School 2017

This summer was both super long and super short. I think the new school year was just quietly waiting to creep up on us.  Just like that we have a 6th grader and a 1st grader!

We went to back to school night at the girls’ school on Thursday August 3rd. Megan was DELIGHTED to discover that she had the same two teachers as last year (one week into school they decided to change this up on her and she got 3 new teachers but so far they seem great…) Her 5th grade teachers were so excited to see her, they actually squealed with excitement. They went on and on about how much they love Megan and how they missed her all summer and hoped they would run into her when they were out and about. It makes my mama heart so happy to hear how very loved she is.

Jane was SO NERVOUS about who she would get for 1st grade. She is very sensitive and does not like yelling. She was worried she would have a teacher who would yell. Well we don’t know for sure yet but her teacher does NOT seem like a yeller. She said she was so excited to have Jane in her class and had heard all about her from her Kindergarten teacher.  We walked away from back to school night feeling very excited about the upcoming year.

The night before the first day of school Adam gave the children back to school blessings. Even the little ones and mom requested blessings to help strengthen us through this next school year.

Our Dr. Johanson is also headed back to school! He accepted a position to teach high school physics for college credit at the local private school. He’ll be there 3 times a week before heading over to the university for the rest of the day. I know he will be a great teacher for those high school kids!

This year the girls’ school transitioned to uniforms which we all have mixed feelings about. They do enjoy picking out outfits that match each other and love all the fun knee high socks I bought them. They were darling in their uniforms but they’re darling no matter.

We hope this will be an awesome year. We love their school and the administration and love that it is so very close to our home. Good luck girls!

 

Charlotte Lines Things Up

All of my children have gone through a lining things up stage but none more so than Charlotte. This has gone on for weeks and weeks. I think she is getting close to the end of her lining up stage but it was hilarious while it lasted. This girl is something else and so so awesome.

 

 

 

 

4th of July 2017

We had a very low key 4th of July. We did hot dogs for dinner and did a few little fireworks in the backyard. It was just the perfect amount of celebration for our kids who haven’t always been fans of the traditional Independence Day activities. A friend gave us a huge lot of fireworks. We lit one that seemed pretty tame and it shrieked so loud and spun in huge circles and then shot 100 feet into the air. So we nixed that activity real fast…

After the sun went down, fireworks starting going up all over our small town. Alec and Charlotte were already in bed but Jane and Megan and I hopped in the car and drove out a little distance for the show. We had a great seat for some lovely firework action.

We are proud to be Americans over here in Mississippi. We have loved this last year living in this great state and seeing more of the culture and people of our wonderful country. Happy Independence Day!