This has definitely been the year of selfies...

and lately its also the year of bus selfies...

It's never a good day at work when this happens...

And yep the other side of the plug was stuck in the wall outlet!!

Pretty much speechless today...

She is beyond amazing... most days... I can't believe how much she's changed in just the past few months... seriously could she be any more beautiful??

We are into the full swing of school around here and she couldn't be any happier... no locker woes this year!

The difference of a year...

2013...

and this year... 2014

We had Back to School night last week and as usual her teachers love her... I mean what's not to love about a kiddo that absolutely loves school!

She didn't make the second cut of the Volleyball team and she was more disappointed then she led on but she was a brave girl and went and asked the coaches what she could improve on so that she could try out again next year... so very proud!!!  She is currently taking a training skills Volleyball class to help her with her overhand serve and already she's been able to "feel the difference."

She will be starting Basketball soon and is currently into the whole social scene of middle school... texting... instagraming... going to school games... hanging out with friends.  Fun times!

Walker has been keeping up with the 5th grade homework... so far it hasn't been as brutal as it was when Ainsley was in 5th grade... really hoping it stays that way!!

He's not thrilled with the constant reminding to read but once he sits down he gets into the book... dare I say enjoys it!?!

He is participating in the 100 mile club at school... it's a program where you work on completing 100 miles during the school year.  It's been a good alternative for him to do while he's been in the soft cast.  Later this week he goes in for yet another X-ray... seriously hoping its the last one! The budget would really like a break from the x-rays!!!

Just like that he's done with football for the season...

Poor kiddo never even got to play in a game.  The second x-ray taken this week showed his wrist was not fully healed and so it's another 2 weeks in the soft cast.  Another x-ray will be taken again at that time... no guarantees that it will be healed enough to play and so we had a long talk with him when he got home on Wednesday... tears where shed on the inside for me and on the outside for him he truly liked football.  It was just one of those freak falls this year.

He was given the choice to continue to head to practice and try to learn what is happening or try again next year.  He opted to try again next year mostly because the coaches didn't know if he was there or not and he didn't like just standing there... too bad they didn't try to include him and make him feel like a part of the team.

Looking forward now to the basketball season in January for him.  He did however look super handsome in his football game gear!

Here it is another brand new school year...

SHE: Is always excited as soon as the school supplies come out in July and is usually counting down the days UNTIL school starts. She's had so many big changes this summer... glasses have been replaced with contacts and she's now into the wearing of make -up.  I actually took her to the Mall... more precisely the Clinique counter to get a lesson on how to take care of your skin, what colors to wear and how to apply.  Which was such a great thing because they stress the "less is more" approach.  And she looks fabulous if I do say so myself!

She had a great first day.. was super excited to have a good friend in her "homeroom class" and even more exciting they got to partner up to be locker partners.  Today will be the actual day of going to different classes since the first day they always stay in their "homeroom" and talk about the rules.

She is in the middle of trying out for the school Volleyball team... she's super nervous since there are 39 girls and only 11 will be picked to be on the team.  They have tryouts all week and then on Thursday we get the results.  I am so proud of her for putting herself out there to try and I hope she will be proud of herself how ever it goes down on Thursday.

She is not thrilled about having her P.E. class first thing in the morning because as she puts it, "I don't want to look all sweaty once I start off the day looking so cute!"  She will be starting Algebra this year, will continue on with Choir and got a fun class of Intro to Art that she can not wait for.

HE:  Was not counting down the days until school started... was dreading it only because schedules change there is no minecraft playing or YouTube watching until the weekends.

He was extremely happy to have a boy teacher this year.  It should be interesting to see how that affects his learning and interests this year. He already came home with a new series he wants to read because his teacher talked about it in class.

Hard to believe that this is his last year at Elementary school this year... sniff sniff.

He is still wearing the soft cast for at least another week but did not want to wear it for our traditional "First Day of School" Pictures. He is keeping everything crossed that he will get the okay to play football next Tuesday at our Dr. appt.

Two kiddos growing up way too fast for their parents!...

We started the football season with awesome new cleats...

and Walker was super excited for the first day... of "real" football meaning it was the first year for tackle.

Second practice he fell on his arm and we iced it... gave him some medicine and sent him back out to practice... by day 3 he still complained about it but only at football practice and so I got him a wrap to wear at football and he said he had the best practice ever.  Day 5 he got his uniform stuff...

Day 7 was the first time in football pads and he was beyond excited... the helmet seemed to go on just fine, but off seemed to all but take off his ears.  After the football practice he said, "Well I know how to get my helmet off easier... just get all sweaty!"

Day 8 of Football I decided to take him to the doctor just to get that wrist checked..(insert another Mom made me feel bad for not having it looked at)  It was a bit swollen but he only complained about it after football and I just thought it was sprained or bruised.

The Doctor sent us over for an Xray... this was how he felt about that!  On the way over he says, "Well I'm sure its not broken because I drink milk!"  Me too buddy I say, if it was broken it would have been extremely painful... it's just good to double check these things...

This was the verdict... Distal Radius Buckle Fracture!!!

and this is his current accessory for the next 2 weeks...

We go back now in about a week for another xray to see if he can get back to football... he's completely bummed out about missing the first game and being part of the gang at football practice.  I hope to see him back out in the field instead of on the sidelines just watching...(he's taking a knee behind the blue shirt coach).

He's a You Tuber wanna be...

Currently he is begging for his own You Tube channel... he practices and is perfecting his minecraft content... has been playing/watching too many minecraft videos... is thinking his future job should be playing and editing video games.  Oh my between Ainsley, Walker and Stewart constantly discussing Minecraft I have to issue Minecraft free zones around the house!

Poor Luna got stung by wasps last weekend... I saw one land on her while we were in the backyard working and when she snapped at it I took off running (since I'm allergic).

I was able to get a hold of the vet on duty over the weekend to find out how much benadryl to give her.  She curled up next to me on the couch and let me put cold rags on her face...

Poor lil puppy... she was back to her quirky little self the next day though.

Every year I'd get super excited when I started to see the first raspberries appear...

In the past couple of years I've gotten just handful of them (at best) and had longed to do make something with them.  This year starting in mid July this was the bounty every couple of days...

I spread them out on a cookie sheet to freeze individually and now I've currently got 3 gallons worth of raspberries in the freezer with more to pick!  I've been bookmarking all kinds of recipes to try and have got to get them canned and done in the next couple of weeks... especially before the crazies of work and school kick in.