Esch's last day of school, too!

This is a few weeks old now, but I thought Daddy deserved a pat on the back, too - finished up his 2L year. One more to go!

We had filets wrapped with bacon to celebrate his last day of classes.

I like Gwen peeking around to get in the shot, too :)

William's (first) Last Day of School

Can't believe William's first school year is complete. When he started in late August, he wasn't a big brother yet. He sometimes got tears in his eyes at dropoff time, but quickly learned to love school, his little friends, and his teachers. (He actually has a HUGE crush on one of the subs and talks about her all the time! It is hilarious. He told us that she is pretty, has pretty hair, and "nice, dark eyebrows." Haha! Look out, ladies.)

When he heard that there would be a little "graduation," he asked if that meant that he was done with school "forever," and if he would be a lawyer. Guess someone really listens when Esch and I talk about things!

Took a few pictures in the same spot (with that darn bucket - this is the one thing we don't like about his preschool!) and will have to do a side-by-side with his first day shots. He has grown several inches for sure.

YAY!!!

He actually kept saying he was sad because "I wuv my cool," but I coached him
to be excited that it was Summer. :) Someday I'm sure this won't be necessary! 

Three year olds doing their best to sit still and pay attention to the little "graduation" ceremony in their classroom.

Ha!

William's turn! Miss Nichelle read some "fun facts" about each child and handed them their dimploma. 

Very serious.

We loved Ms. Nichelle. She and Ms. Stacey were perfect first teachers for our little student.

There was a lunch picnic outside afterwards (it was HOT! almost 90 that day) and as we said goodbyes to little friends, teachers, aides, and pulled out of the parking lot, William made sure to ask if he was coming back again next year. The answer, of course, is yes! He'll be moving to a 3-day classroom (still 2.5 hours) and after such a great introduction this year, I know he'll love it and continue to thrive. Funny how a 2-minute "ceremony" can still feel as momentous as the real thing and make your heart burst with pride. 

Amid the craziness...

There are moments like this (Gwen waking up from a nap)...

Life with two is even better than I imagined it would be. Gwen is currently at such an easy age (though our days are numbered!) because she's sitting and content to play happily, watch William, giggle at the dog and her (apparently very goofy) parents, BUT she is not yet mobile, so it's very easy to keep and eye on her and keep her safe. She's starting to rock forward to reach for things, and does a cute frog-like movement with her little folded legs (will have to catch this on video, it's hard to explain), so I would guess that she'll be crawling within a month. She is 7 months and 1 week old, and William crawled a bit after 8 months.

In any case, lately we are just in a great groove and I feel so lucky. We have busy days and I wouldn't have it any other way. On non-preschool days we always make a morning outing (library, a park, etc.). One day this past week my two little buddies and I went to the Children's Lake in Boiling Springs, where Gwen and I sat on a blanket, watching the dogwood blossoms blow off of trees and flutter down like snowflakes, while William found a suitable stick and dug in the mud "for centipedes and worms." That day was so beautiful out - and we actually got packed up in the car, headed out but not having a destination in mind. Yesterday we went to LeTort Park here in Carlisle armed with bread to feed the ducks. This turned out to be especially fun, even though we've done it before, because there were several separate duck families with lines of tiny ducklings bobbing along behind their mothers in the water. William kept squealing about the "wittle cuties!" We came home for lunch, and after naptime (BOTH KIDS SLEPT AT THE SAME TIME!) we built a fort in the backyard with some huge boxes I had from a shipment of frames for a client. We got out tempera paint and decorated the fort, which William quickly decided was, in fact, a dog house, to go along with his imaginary play du jour of Pound Puppies. When Daddy came home from studying for the day, we had dinner together and afterwards walked down the street to Rita's for some Italian Ice. 

Of course there are epic toddler tantrums, screaming baby episodes, exploding diapers, and the logistics of grocery shopping, post office runs, bank trips and other daily errands with two in tow, but - my goodness. Lately everything seems to have fallen into place. Gwen has fit into our family so easily. It seems like I hear people say this a lot, and it's becoming a bit rote, but I really can't remember what it was like before she was here with us. 

I had a record-setting month in April with photography and am so proud and happy to report that I am actually making MORE than I was at my recruiting company office job in Austin, WHILE getting to stay home with the kids. I don't love working on weekends, but we make it work with a LOT of help from both the Grims and the McCombies. I edit at night while the kids are in bed, or on those rare and glorious afternoons when they both nap simultaneously.

I have had plans of eventually printing this blog (all 4-ish years worth, so far!) in a blog book. It's kind of become a journal of our lives ever since we were expecting William. I don't want to forget the little things like  our daily routine, and am trying to take photos of everyday life... I don't want to only have photos of the kids dressed perfectly for holidays or other big events. I know I really love seeing pictures from my childhood of what our houses looked like, what my parents looked like when they were 25, or 30... and hope William and Gwennie will like to see these someday.

Here are some recent ones of our little lovies. Nothing technically special, but very special to me.

And with that, we're off to Camp Hill, the SUV packed with 9 frames and prints to deliver... just have to pack up my two little assistants, too!

Zoo Adventure

I can't believe that I let ALL of March and April pass without any blog posts. Both months were really busy with work, and while I have still been taking lots of personal/family photos, I didn't get around to posting them here.

So, even though a lot has happened - we went to Florida and saw Nain & Taid, Gran, and Dad's Dad (who I guess we now need to call "GrandDad Grim," since calling him Dad's Dad will just confuse William... a lot!), Gwennie turned 6 months old (and now 7!), we celebrated Easter in Boalsburg, we've had fun goings-on at William's preschool - I am just going to promise myself that I'll catch up here eventually, and for now, share some pictures from earlier this week.

Esch is in the middle of law school finals, and had exams both Monday & Tuesday. He needed a break and we needed some family time, so we took a fun trip to Washington for the day to do the National Zoo. It was beautiful out, not a cloud, and about 70 degrees. Both kids were so good, and we had a good, old-fashioned, all-American day complete with popcorn, hot dogs, and lions, tigers, and bears.

I know that the pictures are small. A reminder that you can click on them to view larger, and then advance through all of them that way.

Love that real smile (which is getting harder to capture lately... he is all about saying "cheeeeese!")

He was waving at a parrot here. Haha!

In the elephant house.

Love this one.