beauties

karis received an early birthday present from my brother & sister-in-law. aunt m has a degree in entemology and karis is completely fascinated by bugs - roly polies and butterflies (she's terrified of bees and flies becaues they.....BUZZ!)

anyhow, karis received the gift of a few butterflies for her birthday and also a butterfly kit to use next spring when the time is right. it will be fun to watch the full development and stages of the life of a butterfly!

we released the other butterflies today, but not before an overnight with us and a good meal of oranges! :)

legacies

We had a great time celebrating "Bella Grace's" birthday tonight with extended family at "Chick-a-fil-a". EVERYONE was able to make it! :) We LOVE to be with our family. It helps that the kids are all getting old enough to be somewhat independent in their play. My neice (12) has taken an interest in Bella and my nephew and Karis are best buddies.
Anyhow, I thought I would share a picture of ALL of us! From Gramma (93!) all the way down to Bella (3), it's quite a clan. (Karis & Seth are in the play area so they aren't in this lovely shot!)

a favorite photo

In honor of Bella's 3rd birthday, I thought I would post this recent picture. It's one of my all-time favorites!

They're growing up...

Well, this has been a little bit of a tough week for me. Not only is my oldest daughter starting 1st grade, but my baby turned 3! I can't say it's happened fast...I have been with them almost every day of their lives. I have watched them grow and develop day-by-day. I am so grateful for that! It's a privilege (despite some challenging days)!

So, Karis wanted me to roll her hair up in curlers for her first day of school on Wednesday. She wanted "LOTS of curls". So, here's how it turned out:

We worked on it a little and calmed it down before she had to go and by the time she went to catch the bus, she was delighted with it. We thought she looked pretty grown up:

Karis is already loving her teacher and making new friends (no idea where she gets that social "bug" from!) She also LOVES riding the bus TO and FROM school every day. She's really only on the bus for about 10 minutes, but that's enough for her!

Isabella celebrated her 3rd birthday yesterday. What an amazing kid! She really is something else. For her birthday, we went to Toys 'R' Us and they gave her a birthday crown and a nice mylar balloon. As we shopped, everyone kept saying "Happy Birthday". When they asked how old she was, she would say, "I'm six today!" At home, she knew "3", but somehow, she thought it was funny to tell people she was six. We'll have more of a party tomorrow evening at "Chick-a-fil-a" (that's what she calls it) with some extended family (Grammy, Papaw, Great Grammy Florence, Aunts & Uncles and cousins). She has requested a pink cake with pink frosting and she picked out a "3" candle and some fun candles a couple weeks ago. :) We did go to Bob Evans (Isabella's request) for dinner and here are some fun photos from that!