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! 

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 :-)

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.

Bowling with Mr. J

We finally got to enjoy our auction item . . . Bowling with Mr. J

only THE COOLEST Vice Principal/Counselor EVER!!!

Missed having G with us but loved bringing Alli's BFF Emilie with us.

The excited began by getting to ride in Mr. J's car ~ kiddos thought this was so fun :-)

It was off to Subway for lunch, where kiddos got chips AND cookies with their sandwiches.

Yep, Mr. J is much cooler than Mommy!

Then it was off to Bass Pro Shops for a fun afternoon of bowling.

Such a cool bowling alley!  Seriously, fish themed bowling for the G FISHer Fam ~ PERFECT!

Funniest thing was somehow Mr. J and I also had bumpers and the kiddos did better :-)

Alli decided bowling like Mommy {i.e. through the legs} was more fun.

Such a fun day!!!

A perfect way to begin our "See you later" to Lighthouse.

Man it's going to be hard to leave this amazing school.

Thank you Mr. J for a perfect afternoon!!!

What Does the Fox Say???

Tonight, Alli and 12 of her buddies performed a dance routine to the song "What Does the Fox Say?" at their school's talent show.  Seriously, it was the Cutest.Thing.Ever.

It doesn't get much more adorable than this sweet elephant!

She loved having her face painted and posing with one of her second grade teachers, Mrs. Tarr.

It was such a fun evening for the whole family and we LOVED seeing all of the kiddos performing!

What a blessing that both of Alli's teachers and their husbands attended the show to cheer on their second grade performers.  One of Alli's classmates did a kick boxing demonstration with her dad.  The boys thought that and the sword fighting routine were the BEST, next to Alli's performance of course.  Lukey also loved the Frozen routine to "The Frozen Heart" done by some 4th grade girls, he turned to me with a huge smile and said, "that's my very favorite song!" Yes, yes it is :-)

We had so much fun seeing our precious girl on stage and we are looking forward to many more years of entertaining talent shows!!!

LCS Christmas Concert 2014

Last night was Alli's Christmas concert and she was darling.

She picked out her dress this year and was so excited to wear it.

The girl has her own style and Mommy is trying to back off and let her have fun :-)

 It was a LONG night, with the concert taking nearly 2 hours and Alli's part was the last 10 minutes.

All of the kiddos did fairly well considering how long they had to sit there quietly.

Alli was super excited to get roses from her fan club after the concert.

 Poor Luke was done for by the end so no pictures of him, but he was there climbing on Uncle Z.

Also part of the fan club was Barbie Pop Pop, Uncle Z and Uncle Tony :-)

After the concert we were so hungry and enjoyed some yummy Mexican food at a local restaurant.  

It was donating a portion of the proceeds to the school so we saw lots of friends.

A very fun and tiring evening!

Alli's First Cross Country Meet

This year {to Mommy's great delight!} Alli decided to run cross country for her school.

I could not be more excited!!!  

My dream is that all three of the little fish will LOVE running as much as I do 

{or did before the three knee surgeries!} 

Thankfully, it is off to a great start as our Pink Fish loves to run and has really enjoyed practicing with her team at school twice a week since school started.

The whole family was super excited to watch her first meet this afternoon.

It was held at Bellarmine Prep and there were TONS of schools and kiddos participating.

So cool to see all the children excited to run!

We LOVED her uniform shirt, which says "Lord, watch over me today as I run".

Thanks to the bright yellow {and her bright pink shorts!} we had no trouble spotting her :-)

Although there are lots of kiddos on her team, they broke it down by gender and grade.

These four friends did such a great job running and cheering on one another.

Alli did such a great job running 1/2 a mile and finished strong ~ her smile was priceless!!!

She was so excited to get her ribbon and snack at the finish line :-)

Of course, she was happy to pose for pictures with her cheering section . . . 

Way to go Alli, we are so proud of you :-)

We are looking forward to many, many more years of XC meets!

Alli's first day of 2nd Grade!!!

After a fabulous summer vacation, today was the beginning of the 

As much as we all enjoyed our summer break, these three munchkins were pretty excited!

No more sleeping in, but then again, our kiddos think 7:30 is sleeping in so it's not too bad ;-)

All three were excited to get up this morning for school, of course, only Alli actually starts today!

It is so hard to believe that our sweet baby girl is now in 2nd Grade.  

Where did the time go???

She was happy to see her lunch packed and backpack ready to go when she came downstairs.

She requested ham and cheese frittata, apples, cheese, and bunny grahams for lunch :-)

She was a trooper taking pictures during breakfast and the annual tree pictures.

Then there were more pictures at school too . . . love that she loves having her pic taken!!!

She has her good buddies in her class and is super excited with her teachers!

She sat right down and got started on her word search.

All smiles when the boys and I left.

I cannot wait to hear all about her first day of second grade!!!

It's not even 10 and her brothers have asked 

at least 15 times when Alli will be home ~ they miss their big sis!

Guess we're all excited for her to come home :-)

What time is it????

FUN RUN TIME

What I heard shouted many times by the students this week at Alli's school :-)

What fun Alli had!

She completed 40 laps ~ way to go Alli!

All week long, Big Dog and Thunder (the two guys running the fun run) 

had music blaring outside in the morning as the students arrived at school - a huge dance party.

Alli, Eli and Lukey all LOVED going to school this week ~ asking to go early.

High fives were a must with Big Dog and Thunder!

Of course, after hot, sunny weather all week, it was raining this morning ~ bummer.

Oh well, run was moved inside to the gym and went great.

I worked all three sessions and had a blast watching the kiddos but 

my favorite was definitely the 1st /  2nd grade session, they were by far the cutest!!!

How cute are they as they excitedly waited for their turn to run???

There is no pacing yourself when you're little ~ they had one speed . . .

sprinting as fast as they could the entire time

I ran most of this session with Alli and had to sprint myself to keep up with her!!!

It was such a blast!

After I finished with the final session, I was able to join Alli for Fun Friday recess.

She and her buddy Caitlin were being silly little monkeys.

By this time, of course, it was sunny and beautiful.

Perfect because anyone who ran at least 30 laps got to dump water on Mrs. Ripley.

I'm pretty sure the entire class got to do this :-)  Poor Mrs. Ripley was soaked but a great sport!

It was such a fun day and Alli was so proud to have raised $530!!!

Lighthouse Reads 2014 ~ 1st Grade

Another year of Lighthouse Reads is behind us.

In 10 weeks, Alli had to read 1000 minutes to us and we had to read 1000 minutes to her.

Just like last year, we started off reading Priscilla (Mommy's favorite childhood chapter book).

Alli likes it so much that she asked if there are any more Priscilla books, turns out there is a sequel.

So we ordered it and enjoyed it as much as the first, and Mommy cried again!

Also like last year, Alli didn't want to quit at 1000 so this year she hit 1700 minutes.

She was so proud of herself and we were pretty proud of her too!

After the assembly, we went for some Menchie's just like last year.

Way to go Alli, love seeing you enjoy reading and showing off your two medals!

You rock baby girl!!!

12th Man

Go S E A H A W K S!!!

Rooting for the Seattle Seahawks in style :-)

Love that Alli's school had casual dress today with a Seahawks theme.

Alli loved the shirt and headband from Barbie Gramma!

Winterfest Fun

The kiddos LOVE going to Winterfest at Alli's school!

All three of them had a BLAST on the bounce houses, playing games, eating and hanging out with friends.  Alli LOVED spending the evening running around with her first grade buddies, especially Lilya and Liam.  Eli and Luke proved how comfortable they are at the school, taking off by themselves to play games and bounce ~ we had a chat about that one :-)

A fabulous night and just one more reason we LOVE Lighthouse!