Little Dragon's 3rd Yellow Stripe

Tonight, our Little Dragon earned his third yellow stripe in Taekwondo.

One more stripe and he is able to test for his Yellow Striped Belt.

He was super excited and beaming when the instructor had all of the other white belts watch his front kicks as the example for how do them correctly :-)

He cannot wait to earn his 4th yellow stripe so he can test for his next belt.

This little man LOVES his martial arts!

Eli's Kindergarten Christmas Concert

Last night this adorable little man had his Kindergarten Christmas Concert at CCA.

He was so excited to get dressed up and "look like Daddy!"

He is such a handsome little man and looked so dapper in his first tie!!!

He was so cute playing with his little buddies before the concert began :-)

We are so grateful at how quickly he has adjusted to his new school.

I have to admit that I felt more than a twinge of sadness as we got there and were sitting near the middle, only needing four seats.  Just another reminder that we weren't at Lighthouse or near family anymore.  We had bought front row seats for the Lighthouse Christmas Concert this year at the auction and the whole family was so excited for that.  Don't worry, my pity party didn't last long and I thoroughly enjoyed this adorable little Kindergartener performer! :-)

He sang his little heart out and was so precious!

So hard to get good pictures at these concerts ;-)

After the concert, we had fun taking little family pictures.

{photo by Alli}

I think the picture I got of G with his munchkins is beyond precious!!!

We got home a little after 8 and despite it being past bedtime, the little fish were wound up!

Of course, they had to eat again too {stalling} but they must have been hungry because they all downed their bananas ;-)

Definitely a GREAT night for our sweet Kindergarten boy!!!

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! :-)

Eli's Kindergarten School Picture

Somehow he looks so much older to me this year!

So handsome but that baby face is already disappearing.

How I love this precious boy and his kind heart!!!

Eli & Mommy Special Day

One of the things I am going to miss most when we move to Kansas is 

No Friday Kindergarden

The boys and I LOVED our Fridays with Alli when she was in Kindergarten.

Now with Eli, it is our special time for just the two of us while A & L are both at school.

Today, as much as I thought I wanted to come home and get ready for the movers 

{who are showing up Monday morning ~ YIKES!}

Eli and I spent the morning riding bikes together.

Before we left LCS this morning, I was talking to a friend about how I wanted to just focus on E and not on the move during our special time this morning.  My friend assured me he would pray for this.

Prayers answered!  We had THE BEST morning!!!

We decided to be adventurous and leave our neighborhood to check out a friend's neighborhood.

It required going on some nonresidential roads with decent hills.

It was precious to hear Eli chanting "I think I can" riding up the hills.

I loved saying to him, "I knew you could!"

He did AWESOME!!!

We had so much fun checking out some different parks and viewing nature.

This precious boy LOVES God so much and spent most of the ride commenting on how much he loves "God's beautiful creations with the trees changing colors"

His giggles while spinning were priceless.

I wish everyone had his joy for life and love for God!!!

When we got home, he told me it was time for some work on his bike ;-)

It was adorable watching him "work" on his bike.

I took it as an opportunity to teach him the difference between flat head and phillips screwdriver.

How I enjoyed our special time together this morning!!!

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! 

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!

Back to School Night 2015

Hard to believe it is already time for Back to School Night again but that it is!

Our 4th LCS Back to School Night ~ WOW!!!

The kiddos were super excited to see friends and "meet" their teachers.

Well, Lukey was simply excited for the ice cream that came at the end of the evening :-)

 Playing on the Playground before the festivities began was fun for all.

Eli was particularly excited for his very 1st LCS Back to School Night and seeing his classroom.

Hanging out with Miss Huber {aka Miss Kaitlyn} was exciting for all of us!

Eli was so precious sitting at his chair and listening so intently.

How is it possible that my sweet little man is starting Kindergarten?!?!?!?!

Alli's biggest excitement of meeting her teacher was getting to pick her own desk.

She made sure to sit next to two good buddies and is hoping that she gets to stay there.

3rd Grade seems so much older to me ~ how did she grow up so quickly????

Aaahhhh!  Time is passing so fast, wish I could slow it down just a bit ;-)

Praying for a wonderful 2015-2016 school year for the little fish.

I must admit though that I did tear up a bit knowing we will only be at LCS for 2 months this year.

Mommy Son Weekend

Garrett and Alli are enjoying a fabulous Daddy Daughter Campout this weekend 

so the boys and I are having our own fun this weekend :-)

We played outside in the sun yesterday then went bowling and to the Family Pancake House for dinner.  We had the best time and the boys were super excited to run into Mr. Roddy at the restaurant. 

The boys were so cute at the bowling alley and I did pretty well, scoring 101.

Eli likes to drop the ball with a thump and Luke pushes it so it goes VERY slowly, a couple times I wasn't sure the ball would get to the pins.  They had the best time, it was AWESOME!!!

Despite it being late when we got home, we decided to play in the sandbox before tubby time.

It was such a fun evening!

The fun continued this morning when we went to Lowes and sat on "tractors"

They were so good while we shopped and had a great time sitting on the riding mowers.

This afternoon, the boys headed to the beach with Barbie Gramma and Grandpa while I worked on Garrett's Father's Day gift . . . new shelves for his smoker (hope he likes it!)  

Turns out I can use power tools and levels pretty well :-)

After I finished, I drove to the beach to have dinner with the family.

The boys told me all about their fun afternoon of searching for shells, gooey ducks and crabs.

They were exhausted and went straight to bed when we got home.

Garrett & Alli get home tomorrow evening and we cannot wait to be reunited,

though we have truly enjoyed our Mommy & Boys weekend!