First Day of School 2015

I can't believe I have a 2nd grader!  They say that once kids start school the time just flies by, and it is so true.  This is Malea's second year of Chinese Immersion, and she is doing great!

The traditional first day of school photo shoot :)  Keith had to work so she got a picture with him early.  She had her whole outfit laid out and ready the night before.

Malea was SO excited to start school.  She loves school and I think summer had gotten old for her.  I'm always sad to see summer end, but it's good to get back in to a routine.

Malea's Favorites on the First Day of 2nd Grade:

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite TV Show: Stampy on Youtube 

Favorite Food: Watermelon

Favorite Movie: Hotel Transylvania 2

When I grow up I want to be: Teacher

Favorite Place: The zoo

Favorite thing to do: Play with friends

Best Friend: Sarah

Her Chinese teacher, Mrs. McDonald

She found her seat!

Her English teacher, Mrs. Giles

And just like that, I have a 2nd grader :'(  I don't know if I will ever make it a year without crying.

She had a great first day and was excited to come home and play with baby sister!

This is unrelated but how cute is my little family?  And Claire looks like she is fist pumping it in the air, haha

Isaac's first day of "animal school" (Teacher Lynda).  He was so excited!  I can't believe this is his last year of pre-k before kindergarten!

Isaac's Favorites on the First Day of Pre-K:

Favorite Color: Black

Favorite TV Show: Spider Man

Favorite Food: Spaghetti

Favorite Movie: Transformers

When I grow up I want to be: A Hunter

Favorite Place: Play at the park

Favorite thing to do: Play with friends

Best Friend: Kit

More evidence of Claire hating her seat, haha

Cute little poster he made at school

This was taken at the open house for his other pre-school.  He has Mrs. Sharon Foster again, and we LOVE her!  She is so great. I didn't take as many pictures this time, since he rode the bus to school on the first day :)

So excited to get on the bus!

My kids are growing up too fast!

Claire's Blessing

Claire was blessed on August 22nd, 2015.  We decided to do it at our home with our close family and friends there.  Keith gave her a beautiful blessing!

She was blessed in the dress I was blessed in, which was made by my mom.  Malea was also blessed in this dress, which makes it even more special!

My beautiful girl!

Some of the decorations:

Some highlights from her blessing:

Claire was blessed.....

.....that she will know she is loved and treasured

.....that she has specially been sent to us when we needed her the most

.....that she will be good and always want to make good choices, be strong in the church and make the choices that will lead to her making the next steps in the church

......that she is a treasure and our little piece of heaven

......she will have a family that will always love her

Sun Fu Chong, a man Keith knew from his mission in Malaysia, happened to be in town and came to the blessing.  It was really cool!

Four generations!

We're so grateful to have Claire in our family!

3 kids is like, really hard

I can't believe that the last time I posted was JULY, turns out everything they say about 3 kids is true.  It's pretty hard!  Balancing everything has proven to be a challenge. I feel like I'm drowning most of the time.  Having a new baby is always hard anyway, but three is definitely challenging.  I feel like we're finally getting through the fog of newborn baby life and things are settling down though.  I have a lot to catch up on here, Claire is now 5 1/2 months old and she has changed so much!

I'm going to do separate posts with the different things that have been going on, but here's a few cute pictures from the end of summer:

Great Grandma & Grandpa Asay meeting Claire for the first time:

I loved my wrap!  Couldn't have survived without it.

"Oooo and then what happened?" ;) haha

Caught this darling, very rare picture of my older two snuggling with each other watching the sunset.  So cute!

Had to document a monster blowout Claire had!

Love this picture of my mom with my girls! She helped me so much after Claire was born.

This is pretty much what Claire looked like every time she was in her car seat for the first 4 months or so haha.  She hated that thing. 

I was super brave and took all three kids to the pool by myself.  I wanted to go one last time before school started.  It was stressful but I did it!

Claire just chillin' on a blanket at the splash pad

Getting so good at holding her neck up! 

My girls :)

I have about a million pictures like this of Claire sleeping.  There's nothing like a sleeping baby

The baby fist and foot impressions I had done at the dental office my mom works for.  I've had these done with each of my kids.  I love how it captures her little thumb tucked in like that.  For the longest time she always kept her thumb in like that (and still does sometimes). 

Cuddling with mama :)