Marina's 1st day of School

Don had to leave for work before she got on the bus....such a bummer - crazy Caterpillar expects him to show up. :) So snapped this picture before they both headed off for the day.
Marina gets on the bus at the neighbor's house - Abby is on the left and is such a nice 1st grader
Mr Bethel is asking the kids to line up a long the wall -- but Marina is so busy visiting with her friends -- she must have a looser definition to "a line" than most school personal. It's hard to stand in a line and socialize. :)
This was about the time that Marina turned to me, waved and said "I'll see you when I get home mom!" A mom next to me said "I think that is your cue to leave." She was ready to get this show on the road.
Paige (in the jean capris) running to meet Marina when she got off the bus the first day. They miss each other during the school day - but the change in scenery has been good for everyone.
Getting off the bus the 2nd or 3rd day. I didn't manage to get there in time to take this picture the first day.
School is still going well - we are 2 weeks in now - but yesterday morning in the shower she said "I guess I won't go to school today" -- oh to have a life of leisure where you could be the boss of yourself. Sorry it's taken me over 2 weeks to post these pics.

Unpack your Backpack!

The night before the first day of school they hosted a "get to know your teacher/classroom" event to ease any first day jitters. It was nice to meet Marina's teacher - Mrs Richards and she loved putting her supplies away and finding her spot.

The room is decorated with monkeys which Marina thought was funny because Don always tells her that her name is spelled M-O-N-K-E-Y.
I'm pretty sure that the event was more to help Mommy than Marina. I felt much better after seeing where my little 5 year old would be going every single day.

JDRF Donation Opportunity

This year, I'll be taking part in JDRF's Walk to Cure Diabetes, along with one-half million other walkers across the country, as we try to reach our goal of raising $100 million.

Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, is a devastating disease that affects millions of people—a large and growing percentage of them children.There is some good news, though. For the first time, scientists are predicting that we CAN expect to see a cure well within our lifetime!

Donate Here:
http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87075223

Happy Days at Seneca

Wow convention was so special - we had such a wonderful 4 days that was non-stop with the 4 "Sticklets" Thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa Washburn and Uncle Nate. They really helped us not go totally crazy trying to manage -
1. Keeping kids clean
2. Girls hair done
3. Mealtime
4. Meeting bags (clean up and finding new activities, snacks etc)
5. Entertainment in between meetings (note the swing set)
6. Newborn "stuff" - more feedings, pumping, pacing to keep her content, ruined outfits...
7. Diapers and 8zillion trips to the potty
8. Naps for #2 and 3
9. Oh man - this list could go on forever....I'd better stop now. :)


This was the land of "milk and honey" for our kids. Peanut Butter and the honey that comes out of the bear shaped bottles was where it was at for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Crazy kids - Don and I enjoyed eating food we didn't make or pick out.
So nice to have a camper at convention. Hudson stayed at the hotel with Mom and Dad. He was spoiled rotten and it helped us out a lot - especially in the morning trying to make everyone presentable.
Grandma Stickel found these dresses for the girls that all match. They looked so cute on Sunday. Thanks Grandma. It's not easy to find something that matches in all their sizes. Good work!

More Fun Family...or Family Fun

My mom's cousin LouAnn and her husband Skip live in CA. Their sons, Jon & Jason do too along with their families. Because of the distance we don't see them very often. Jason keeps us updated with slide shows via email - but it was a treat to spend Sunday afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Williams with the whole Armstrong clan!

LouAnn was one of the first in line to get some baby snuggle time.

This is basically how Jon looked most of the afternoon.

Jon, Nate & Jason

Great Grandma Williams

Tater loves playing with PaPa

You can tell the girls are in love with Uncle Nate....well - at least my girls. Sorry Nate!

The little kids above and the big kids below.

Now here is an amazing little girl. Ellie is 6 and Jason's youngest. We arrived about 1 and didn't leave until 9 or 10 and I'm quite sure that she would have been thrilled to hold Cadence the entire 8 hours. She is so patient and loving. It was super sweet to watch her shower Cadence with her undivided attention. Now I just need her to come over a couple days a week and help me out. :) Just a rough commute.

Great to see all of our relatives and catch up in person instead of just online. Now it's our turn to visit them in the great (or so they say) state of CA. :) We're going to hold out until the kids are a bit more travel friendly....or big enough to really enjoy the adventure as much as we will. Thanks for making the trek to the Midwest - we really appreciated it.

Meeting Cadence

Another great reason to have a little party for Marina was so that the grandparents could meet Cadence.

Always special to introduce a new great grand baby!

Nana (my Dad's mom) and Grandma Lambeth in the pic below

Even Grandpa Lambeth made it - he hasn't been doing too well but it was great that Don and Barb were able to bring him for the evening.
4 generations - Grandma Lambeth is such an inspiration - She had 7 kids....I can say for sure that I'm not THAT inspired. Much to Don's relief.
Cadence is 5 weeks in these pics.

Marina's Birthday - Take 2

It was a perfect summer evening - the deck was the perfect place for the party.

Mom hired a great "griller" and the kabobs turned out so yummy.
Paige sitting by one of her favorite people - Uncle Nate!

Always girly girly for our Marina!

Poor Marina had 2 mosquito bites right near her eye and it was totally swollen shut Friday night. Luckily by Saturday evening (her party) it was a bit better and she could see out of it. Don had a lot of funny nicknames for her - Popeye etc.....

So nice to have Grandma and Grandpa Lambeth and Nana & Papa Washburn there with us. Don and Barb were visiting G&G Lambeth so it worked out great to have the family party at Mom and Dad's this year. I think that you can tell that Grammy Washburn had fun planning a 5 year old birthday party!

Thanks Mom for all your hard work - Marina loves the details so it was all worth it.