Emma's off to school

Well, the day has arrived that we have to send Emma out into the big world of elementary school!
Emma was really excited to start the day

She even wanted to eat with her new backpack on
Then it was time for the annual beginning of school picture...

Someone else was excited too!

That's better

One more

We all headed out to walk Emma to school

Excited!

Emma knows just where to go

Posing in front of her classroom door

Peeking inside

Finally! We are seated and ready to start the day!
Hoping that all our friends have a great first day of school too!

A trip to the Jelly Belly Factory

Before the start of school, we decided to take a little field trip up North to one of our favorite places....

The Jelly Belly Factory!

We had a great time touring the factory and getting some special treats.


Ian was really good about keeping his hat on, which was a requirement during the tour

Emma and our friend Owen waiting for the tour to begin
We were not aloud to take picture during the tour, but imagine huge vats of sugar and flavoring mixing together to make a rainbow of amazing beans. Ian really liked all of the machines and robotics to watch.
After the tour, we taste tested some of the product.


They were a hit!

Ian also really liked the Jelly Belly car... can you sense a theme here?

After the factory we ate lunch at one of our favorite places, Chick-fil-a. This is the closest one to our house and it is about and hour and a half away, so this was a real treat!

Emma goes to Vacation Bible School

Last week, Emma, Ian and I spent each morning at church participating in their annual Vacation Bible School. The theme this year was Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus was a boy. This was the first year that Emma was old enough to participate and she had a wonderful time making friends, playing games, hearing stories at Mary's house, and making crafts at the Marketplace. I also volunteered this year so Ian participated in the preschool program. Here are a few pictures that another mom took and shared with me. Sadly, there are no pictures of Ian because I was working hard providing snack for over 250 campers; but it was so fun seeing him walk to the playground with all his little friends. Here is Emma on the last day of Camp:


Emma and her tribe

In the marketplace making banners

In the marketplace music shop

Snack with friends

Sewing beanbags with friend
Emma had a wonderful week and it is so fun to hear her singing the songs she learned and repeating the bible verses she learned each day.

Adventures in July

The rest of July was filled with fun at the pool, the playground, and a few special field trips with friends.

We met some friends at a new playground to us about 30 minutes from our house

The highlight of the playground was this awesome slide

Emma coming down

Ian enjoyed the bridges

and the swings
The next day, we took Ian to the movies for the first time!

Ian really liked the popcorn!
We went to the summer dollar movie of "The Pirates who don't do anything" and he did great!

Ian versus the Sprinkler

One of the funnest moments for Ian over our weekend in Minneapolis was his adventure with the backyard sprinkler! Our usually cautious little boy jumped right into this and had an awesome time playing in the water!

Getting close!

Running through

Running away

Emma decided to join in the fun

Happy Girl!

Ian decides to help the sprinkler out with the watering

Wet boy!

Pure Joy!

July 4th in Minneapolis

Once again, I am pretty behind with blogging, so get ready for lots of posts to catch up! Over the 4th of July weekend, Dan was able to get us last minute tickets to Minneapolis to visit his brother and sister-in-law and their new addition, Keaton. It was a long, delayed flight and our bags got lost, but we made it and had a great weekend with the family!
One of the main reasons for our trip was to meet this little guy:

Keaton is a real cutie!

and Emma loved hanging out with him

She also enjoyed making funny faces with Aunt Tricia

Emma was really excited about the science kit that they got her

But she was more excited about hanging out with Keaton

Scott and Tricia live within walking distance of this beautiful lake

Ian was not sure what to think of Keaton.....

But everyone knows the way to this little boy's heart...

Hold him down!

Its the trolley (or has he calls it, the choo choo!)

Happy boy!

"Hanging Out"

The end of the line
Back at home, Emma and Uncle Scott broke out the science kit

Good thing someone was reading the directions!

Some of our finished experiments

We also hit the children's museum. Hanging out in the toddler room (Ian was off exploring)

We had a great time hanging out and meeting this new guy! Thank you Scott and Tricia for hosting us for a great weekend!