2015 XC Season Begins . . .

 Today was the first meet of the 2015 Cross Country (XC) season and it was GREAT!!!

Much to my great delight, all three of the little fish enjoy running so when the bigs both wanted to run XC for Lighthouse, I was happy to help coach Kindergarten with Lukey as my assistant :-)

Eli (and his buddies) were super excited for their first meet . . . 

EZ E could not stop looking at his ribbon when it was over :-)

He did such a great job but the BEST part was at the beginning of his meet ~

one of his teammates fell and Eli stopped to help him up.  I nearly cried, I was so proud of him.

His heart is so big and he tells us God gave him a heart to share Jesus with others.

YES He did Buddy!

Luke was excited for the meet too . . . UNTIL he realized that he didn't get to race.

Given that he runs most of the practices, he was NOT impressed ;-)

He finally settled for running on the sidelines and cheering on "his" runners.

He crashed when we got home so it definitely wore him out!

Alli was thrilled to be racing again and did great!

She finished strong and so loved the cheers at the end :-)

One of the biggest excitements (and surprises!) was seeing Barbie Gramma and Grandpa.

The kiddos loved their cheering section :-)

The only bummer was Daddy wasn't there but thankfully he will be at the meet next week.

To celebrate such a great first meet, the kiddos and I stopped by Menchie's for some yummy fro yo! 

"B" is for Button

Three years ago, when Eli was in the 4s Preschool class, we made 

Eli was super excited to go to JoAnn Fabrics to pick out buttons for his shirt and loved wearing it.

Last year, when Lukey was in the 3s class, he was excited to wear it.

When he found out he got to wear it again today, he was ecstatic.

The Fisher boys LOVE the button shirt. 

And the Fisher Momma is super excited with how well it has held up! 

Happy Birthday Mommy!

The 13th anniversary of 25 was splendid :-)

 Though I missed G so much, my three little blessings spoiled me.

Alli had a tough time sleeping the night before so she climbed in bed with me.

Super sweet to wake up and see that precious sleeping face first thing on my birthday.

All three were super excited to go to Panera for a "my" birthday breakfast.

Alli enjoyed a cinnamon roll, Eli a chocolate chip muffie, and Luke a cinnamon bagel.

Alli couldn't wait to give me the presents she had for me.

The card was precious and I LOVE the earrings she made me and my new "blingy" lanyard!

Lukey was extra sweet and gave me his Baby Ducky for my present ~ that is TRUE LOVE!!!

Baby Ducky is his most special lovey that he's had since birth.  

I told him I would share a snuggle with Baby Ducky then give him back :-)

It was a long day with the kiddos' activities but when I got home, I walked in to find beautiful roses from my handsome hubby, cards from family and a thoughtful gift from a wonderful friend.  

I felt so loved!

One of my early presents was an incredibly fun, bright pink bike.
I've been having the BEST time going for bike rides with the little fish!!!

Poor Eli cannot understand why I would want a pink bike instead of blue but he enjoys our bike rides.
We cannot wait to get to Kansas and go for bike rides as the Fisher Five :-)

It's been a great birthday celebration but it's not over yet . . .
The fun will continue on Friday when we have dinner with family to celebrate.

Luke's First Week of 4s Preschool

After what felt like an eternity to this sweet boy, he finally started 4s Preschool on Wednesday.

It is tough being the youngest sometimes ;-)

Lukey was beyond excited to start school and see his buddies.

Seriously, he could not stop grinning all morning.

Thankfully, the bigs were happy to pose with Luke and the school signs.

After we dropped off the bigs, we had 15 minutes to wait before Luke's class started.

15 minutes is VERY LONG to a 3 year old so we took selfies to pass time . . . 

He is such a goofball but reminds me so much of his Daddy in the first pic!

Needless to say, he had a great time once he finally got into class.

Time passed quickly and soon he was coming back out . . . 

Wednesdays are also gymnastics day so to pass time, we went to Lighthouse to have lunch with Alli.

He sat right up at the 3rd grade table and had a great time with Alli and her buddies.

Gymnastics was awesome because he got to be line leader ~ big stuff!

Then it was back to Lighthouse to help with Kindergarten library time, 

it is so much fun to be there with Eli!!!

Before we knew it, the bigs were done with school and it was time for our first Cross Country practice ~ I'm one of the Kindergarten coaches and Lukey is my assistant ;-)

Eli did such a great job and Luke was a great coach!

Alli had a blast as always.

After Cross Country, we went to Subway where the munchkins inhaled their food.

After our snack, it was off to Alli's gymnastics and Eli's soccer practice.

Lukey stayed awake the whole time but crashed when we finally got home.

All in all, great first day but Wednesdays are going to be busy!!!

Today was another great day at school for Lukey . . . it was show and tell!

He was so proud to bring in Boulder (Rescue Bot) and share it with his buddies.

This afternoon, he was so excited to tell me how he had a "very important job" today.

When I asked him to tell me about it, he explained that he was the Caboose.

{I had actually known about this as his teacher let me know he took his job very seriously!}

I told him that sounded very important.  

He told me it was and that he "didn't even go potty once" 

when it was time for him to do his job ~ apparently this was an issue 

at times with other Caboosers when Eli was in the 4s class :-)

It was such a hoot listening to Luke and Eli discuss this!

While Lukey and Alli were in class this morning, Eli and Mommy had "special time."

I scored some major points at Target when I agreed to buy Star Wars Mac-n-Cheese :-)

Then, we headed to Toys R Us so Eli could spend his birthday gift card.

Star Wars Legos and a Nerf Blaster made for a very happy boy.

Lukers was only too happy to see his brother's new goodies when we picked him up from school.

These boys LOVE their Star Wars Legos!

Overall assessment of Luke's first week in the 4s class = 2 thumbs up!!!

He had THE BEST time and can't wait for Monday.

2nd & 3rd Days of School 2015-2016 = A Fat Lip :(

The second day of school {Spirit wear for Eli} started off so well . . . 

He was super excited for another fun day at Kindergarten.

AND Alli and her buddy Lilja were happy to pose for a pic together outside their class :-)

All was going so great . . .  both kiddos were happy and smiling at the end of the day and ready to play with neighborhood buddies for a while before Karate.  Even better, G was coming home that night so we were all looking forward to seeing him.  

Around 4pm, while talking to G on the phone, I called Eli over the walkie talkie to let him know it was time to come home to get ready for Karate.  Less than a minute later, I heard the screaming.  

I quickly hung up with G and opened the front door to see our wonderful neighbor 

carrying Eli to our door ~ his face covered in blood.

While running home, he tripped over a neighbor's bike and landed on his face, biting through his top lip :*(  He was in so much pain and it was clear a trip to the Doc was in order.  My dear friend was fabulous and took Alli and Lukey so I could get Eli to Urgent Care.

He was a trooper but he was in a lot of pain.

Thankfully, he got in right away and they were able to close the wounds with glue.

I am amazed by how resilient this little man is, after ice, Tylenol and getting glued, he was ready to eat some Subway and wanted to go home and play some more ~ Wow!!!

The next morning, he looked worse as far as swelling and scrapes but he said he felt better.

Mr. J even gave him a "Brave Boy" prize so life was great!!!

This was all the smile he could muster with his fat lip :-)

The best part about this day was that Daddy was home!!!!!!!

All three kiddos were thrilled to see Daddy and are looking forward to a fun weekend.

First Day of School 2015-2016

I still cannot believe that summer vacation is over ~ it went by so quickly!!!

But here we go for another school year with our now 3rd Grader and Kindergartener.

Although she was excited to see her buddies, Alli wasn't too sure she was ready for summer vacation to be over.  Eli, on the other hand, was beyond excited to begin Kindergarten :-)

After I made lunches and went up to wake the bigs, I found Eli already up and ready to get dressed.

He could not stop grinning and telling me he was a "Lighthouse boy" now.

I got such a kick out of him wearing his backpack while he ate breakfast :-)

Though not nearly as excited, Alli wanted her hair curled for the first day of school so she was in a fairly good mood.  Plus, she LOVES french toast so it made for a happy morning.

She was so excited with her new teacher {Mrs. Mathisen} and having best buddy Lilja in her class.

Both kiddos were troopers with our traditional "sign" pictures.

Thank goodness!  I will be so sad if they ever fight me on this ;-)

I get such a kick out of how they aren't too far off in size and even wear the same size shoes!

Eli's great excitement, besides starting "big" school was taking his lunch.

It was definitely a hit because he ate every last bite ~ something Alli has never done ;-)

When we got to school, we dropped Alli off first then headed to Kindergarten.

Eli was not even a little nervous, just ready to get started.

He agreed to a couple pictures but really wanted to just get down to business ~ he had a coloring sheet to do after all!!!

It was so fun because Luke and I got to help with Eli's class during library.

He was so cute with his classmates and giddy to be checking out a Star Wars book.

They both had a FABULOUS day and were all smiles when the day was over.

It was definitely a GREAT first day of 3rd Grade and Kindergarten!!!

After school, it was off to gymnastics and soccer practice . . . let the fun begin :-)

Last Day of Summer Vacation 2015

I cannot believe how quickly this Summer vacation flew by!!!

On our last official day of Summer vacation, we decided to squeeze in lots of fun :-)

The morning started with Lukey's "Meet the Teacher"

Lukey is so excited for school to start and chatted nonstop in the car on the way there but then acted shy when we got to his classroom.  That didn't last long as he headed for the blocks and began playing.  The morning got even better when his best buddy from last year showed up, turns out their in class together again this year and they had a blast building (and destroying!) block towers.  Two new little boys joined in the action and the four of them appear that they will be great buddies :-)

He also had a blast making a "snake" bracelet with Mommy.

After a fun morning, we grabbed the bigs from the Ellis Fam and we all headed to Chuck E Cheese.

2 moms + 7 excited kiddos + lots of other families with the same ideas makes for a fun afternoon :-)

These four loved being in a cage :-)

After a couple of hours of playing, 

we parted company and I took the kiddos to BluBerry's for some frozen treats.

Always a hit!  Once again, Lukey ate all the candy and none of the frozen yogurt ~ silly boy!

With all of that fun, I guess we wore out the little guy ;-)

Poor guy crashed in the car and continued snoozing on the couch for over an hour, 

until it was time to leave for karate (bigs) and Ducky Gramma's (Luke).

While Luke snoozed, the bigs took the opportunity to play with buddies and Alli insisted on taking pictures of Mommy on the last day of Summer vacation too . . . 

Gotta love the silly face! :-)

After karate, the bigs and I enjoyed a fun dinner talking about what we looked forward to most in the coming school year ~ lunch, recess and friends are high on both their lists :-)

Then it was time to read "The Kissing Hand" and a special note from Miss Huber,

complete with "magic confetti" to help Eli sleep.

They are both zonked now and hopefully dreaming of a great 1st day of school.

Praying for a great first day for all!