Chalk Art

A couple of random pictures:

Nate and Evie worked on this piece of chalk art after school everyday for about three days. They were so proud of it! Nate made the sun and they both colored the blue around it. The pink and purple drawing above it is the grass that Evie drew. I guess she sees in pink and purple. :)

  Simon is on the move! He's pulling up on everything and taking a few steps on his own.

It's hard to believe he turns one year old on Sunday!

Outside

I didn't take any pictures in September. NONE! I tried to make up for it a little bit the other day by taking these pictures of Simon playing outside. It's hard to believe that in just a few weeks he'll be one year old! Simon LOVES outside. He's already started crying when we have to go inside. I think he learned that from his cousin Ethan last summer. :) He's crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything, but mostly he's keeping us on our toes. Stephen started calling Simon "Si" when he was a baby, but he has more recently (and more appropriately) nicknamed him the Si-monster. Here are some pictures of our sweet Si-monster:

Kindergarten

I can't imagine any child being more excited than Nate to start Kindergarten. I'm thankful we waited an extra year to send him for so many reasons, and that is definitely one of them. He's more than ready to go, and I'm ready for him to go. His first day of school was, in his words, "My favorite day ever!" It wasn't my favorite day ever, but honestly, it was a very good day. :)

Evie, on the other hand, has missed her brother terribly. I really think she was grieving the loss of him last week. She was sad and depressed all week. I tried hard to plan things for us to do, but any time we were home she was very lonely. This week has been better since her two day a week preschool has started. Hopefully we'll all be in a good routine soon. Here are some first day of school pics.

 Evie woke Nate up early every day last week. My plan was to wake him up at 7:00, but she thought 6:15 or 6:30 might be better. I won't complain too much about it because it did allow them time to play before school. One of their favorite things to do is sit and look at our family photo albums. I've made a snapfish photo book of our pictures every year since 2006. So they love sitting and listening to stories about the pictures. Now they've looked at them so many times that they tell us the stories. One morning last week they sat together and looked through the albums. I think it helped Evie's day to have some good quality time with her brother before we took him to school.

I love the close bond these two have. I pray that it stays this way forever.

Goodbye Summer

Summer is officially over for us. Here are a few final pictures just to catch up:

Evie with her red, sweaty face after playing backyard soccer. Our summer evening tradition has been boys vs. girls backyard soccer. Stephen takes it easy on us, so the girls have actually won a few. Nate cried the first time we won. It's hard losing to a girl! We took these pictures after our final game of the summer. But, we've decided Nate isn't going to play on a team this fall on the condition that we have regular Blan family games on evenings and weekends. I don't think it will be a problem because Nate and Evie both LOVE these games. They won't let us go too long without getting a game in.

I love being this silly girl's teammate!

 Simon is 10 months old. 10! He's moving all over the place. He's not quite crawling, but he can get anywhere he needs to go. He's officially the winner of our three. Nate and Evie crawled and walked late, so it's strange to have a baby moving around the house. But it's also refreshing. He's happy most of the time because he stays so busy exploring.

Nate got a new bike for his birthday. It looks so big for him, but he does just fine on it. I'm looking forward to the weather being a little cooler so he can ride more!

Nate's 6th Birthday

It's been almost a month now, but better late than never. Nate turned 6! We had decided on a Lego cake for his birthday, but as we were looking at some Lego cakes online, we came across a castle cake video. The cake in the video was pink and sparkly - very princessy - but Nate HAD to have a castle cake for his birthday.

So, instead of a pink sparkly castle, we went with more of a medieval castle. I struggled through it. The towers were harder to construct than I thought - especially since I like to use buttercream icing. I know fondant would work so much better, but I guess I care more about the taste of my cakes than the looks. Anyway, here it is. We celebrated as a family by watching the Planes movie and eating at In n Out - Nate's new favorite place to eat. Happy 6th Birthday, Nate!

Catching Up

Stephen goes back to work tomorrow, and I have one more week with Nate before he starts kindergarten. It's been a busy summer, but somehow we don't have many pictures to show for it. I'm posting the few we do have.

One of the best parts of this summer has been riding around in a brand new Honda Odyssey. Stephen was Teacher of the Year for his school district, Burleson ISD, and each year Honda of Burleson awards the teachers of the year with a brand new Honda to drive for the summer. Needless to say, the 2013 Odyssey is quite a step up from our 2001 Sienna. We have to give it back this week, but it has been so much fun to ride around in all summer!

A family photo with the Odyssey. You can see this picture a little better here.
Thank you, Honda of Burleson!

 Nate reading to his sister. Nate has really taken off with his reading this summer.

 And I don't know why he's holding her hair bow. 

 My bright-eyed baby.

 Nate and Evie still love to hold their baby brother. He's just not as hold-able
as he used to be. Sitting behind him works out much better for everyone!

Stephen reading to his boys. Simon was a bit uninterested.

Road Trip

Another summer means another insane road trip for us. This time we drove from Fort Worth to Lake Forest, IL to Lewisport, KY to Fort Thomas, KY and back to Fort Worth. Simon handled his first road trip like a champ. He fussed and cried some, but then again so did I. Who wouldn't after being in the car that long? Nate and Evie took turns throwing up - Nate on the way there and Evie on the way home - but other than that they traveled well. I love my family, but I really hope I don't have to be closed up in a car with them for that many hours again for a while. Here are some highlights from the trip.

First stop: Lake Forest. We spent the first weekend of our trip with my brother and his family near Chicago. We hadn't seen them in a year and a half, so it was really good to catch up with them. They live near Lake Michigan, so we got to go to the beach one day.

It was a beautiful day for the beach. The high was only in the 70's, 

so the water was too cold to swim in.

Simon getting his feet wet.

Evie and Sam taking a chip break.
I thought they were SO cute sitting there talking and eating!

This girl loves chips!

Stephen and Simon with Nathan and Will.

Erica with her three boys.

Nate and Sam

High five!

My boys.

Next stop: The Lewisport Blans. Highlights in Lewisport were riding Granddad's tractor and four-wheeler, watching Cameron and Katie play softball, Evie's first haircut, "camping" with cousins, fishing with Granddad, and roasting marshmallows for smores. The kids went nonstop while we were there and had a blast!

Aunt Annie gave Evie her very first haircut. All her baby curls are gone, 

but at least she doesn't whine and complain every time I brush her hair now. 

Thanks, Aunt Annie!

Looking even more like a big girl with her haircut!

Making monkey bread with Cameron and Katie. 

Shaking the cinnamon sugar onto biscuit dough.

Big Timmy and Little Timmy (and Nate). 

Simon Timothy was named after his Uncle Tim.

Fishing with Granddad: they used these little minnows as bait.

Evie was a very patient little fishergirl. She caught two fish!

Nate had a hard time sitting and waiting for the fish to bite. 

He's too busy to sit and wait! He kept reeling his line in before 

any fish could bite. He did somehow manage to catch one fish. 

One of the catches.

Watching Granddad unhook the fish to throw him back.

Looks like she's about to take a bite!

Even I got in on the action - as long as I didn't have to bait

my own hook. Thanks, Granddad!

Last stop: Northern Kentucky. We planned our trip around the birth of my sister's baby, so her house was our final stop. We didn't want to be waiting around for a baby to arrive. :) Ellen Ruth made her entrance on June 18th. Unfortunately we didn't do a very good job taking pictures while we were there. Too many babies to take care of I guess! Here's a few that Stephen captured.

Good morning! Simon and Ethan catching up on life. 

We hadn't seen Ethan since their visit shortly after Simon was born, 

so both of these little boys have changed quite a bit since we last saw each other. 

Ethan is still just as sweet and cuddly, but busier than ever!

Soaking up some time with baby Ellen. Sweet girl!

 Simon couldn't keep his hands off Ellen either. He's ready for her 

to run and play with him. Maybe next summer, Simon.

They started construction across the street from my sister's house 

while we were there, providing great entertainment for the kids.

Simon got to sit and watch them from inside.

Evie said again the other day, "I love baby Ellen." We miss you!

I really would've liked to visit more family and friends than we were able to this trip. My hope and plan is that we will in the future - when the kids are older and we don't have a baby in tow. Traveling will get easier, right? If it won't, please just lie to me and say it will.