Snickerdoodles with Ducky Gramma

Eli LOVES to bake and always wants to help.

Thankfully, his Ducky Gramma is one of the BEST bakers around :-)

This morning, the two of them had a fabulous time baking snicker doodles together.

Papa happily worked on a cross word puzzle as the bakers worked.

Alli and Lukey wanted in on the action too and got to help roll the dough in the cinnamon mixture.

Or "chase it around the bowl" for Lukey :-)

He was quite good at counting the number of cookies on the pan.

Such a fun morning of making memories and Garrett will be thrilled to find his favorite cookies waiting for him when he gets home from work! :-)

Fire Station Visit

Tonight, one of the men in our Life Group at church invited us to hang out at his fire station.

It was a HIT with all of the families!

All three little fish were super excited to learn that they would get to do this tonight.

They even helped make some yummy popcorn for the firefighters.

Aside from climbing all over the fire trucks and engines, the greatest excitement came from trying on the gear.  Pretty sure it's unanimous that Mark (the firefighter) is now the coolest dad in the group according to all the munchkins ;-)

The bigs thought the boots were super cool!

Alli was feeling pretty strong being able to hold up the gear and clothing.

Luke was the first one to check out the gear.  When Mark finished showing the kiddos how he gets in his suit, he told them they could check it out and ask questions.  While most people stood there, Lukey went right up to the front and said "I want to wear that hat!"  It was heavy but he assured Mark that he was "super strong"  Too cute!

Eli was enthralled with the boots and helmet, putting them on any chance he got :-)

After touring the station and having some snacks, it was time to go home, much to the disappointment of the little fish.  What a blessing to have met these wonderful people and to have these unique opportunities for fellowship.  We are incredibly blessed!

Starting School in Kansas . . .

Nothing like jumping right in!

We landed in Wichita Tuesday afternoon, had fun exploring our new neighborhood and house, and got ready to start the new school.  All three little fish are at the same school here, which is so nice.

Lukey is still going M-W-F but is now in the afternoons.

He was excited to start on Wednesday and his new teacher and friends are as sweet as can be!

Neither boy was too excited for pictures so I decided not to push my luck :-)

We got to Luke's class a bit early and he got right to playing.  

When we picked him up that afternoon, he was all smiles.  

Though, as you can see from the picture, he was worn out!!!  

He was in bed before 6:30 and slept until 7 this morning.

While Lukey was in school, the bigs had the opportunity to tour the school and meet their teachers. 

Alli and Garrett even got to buy new spirit shirts ~ Alli was so excited to have "gone shopping" :-)

 Eli chose to be introduced to his class, who are so welcoming!

The kiddos kept walking by us in the hall saying "hi Eli, I'm your new friend"

Eli also had his assessment yesterday and passed with flying colors.

He got to show off everything Miss Huber had taught him this year :-)

Alli was a little more reserved, which we expected but she was all smiles this morning.

She decided the new jumper isn't as bad as she thought initially and she looks darling.

We put in her Lighthouse hair bow to give her some comfort and she was thrilled.

Great thing is today is picture retakes at CCA so the kiddos will be getting more school pictures and will be in the yearbook ~ Alli was thrilled!

 After dropping off the bigs, Lukey and I went to Target so he could spend his birthday money ~ super heroes, paw patrol, and Legos ~ life is good!

We are now anxiously awaiting 3:45 when we can go back and 

get A & E to hear all about their first days.