Katie's First Day of Preschool

Katie's first day of preschool was today! We've signed her up for three hours a day, two days a week, at a Christian preschool about three minutes from our new house.  She has a few friends that attend this preschool, including her best friend Daniel (who is in her class) and another friend named Caitlyn whom we were surprised to see today.

Katie picked out her own outfit this morning, and was most excited about having a lunchbox for the first time.  When we got to her classroom, she and Daniel ran into the class without even saying goodbye to their mommies (Daniel's mom is my best friend Sara).

 

While some moms may cry over this, I was thrilled to see Katie so excited and happy to be there.  I've been talking about preschool with her for months, and part of her potty training motivation was that she'd get to go to school when she was always successful.

Here's a video of her discussing (rather distractedly) her first day of preschool, just before we head home.

Scenes of Summer, Part 2

Five months after I posted Scenes of Summer, Part 1, and now well into winter, here are the rest of my favorite previously-unposted Summer 2009 photos! This is a long post, so I'm posting small versions of the photos, but you should be able to click on the photos to see larger versions.

July 2009

Professional Photos
We had professional photographer Liz Hough take these photos in July and have used them as Christmas presents, for the giant portrait in our living room, as inserts in our Christmas cards, and as Joshua's baptism photo.

Our little aviator:

Our best friends Dave, Sara, and Daniel welcomed baby Selah into the world on July 15. We were privileged to meet and be able to hold Baby Selah that very evening.

Joshua came to a baby shower with me:

Katie and I went to music class:

Joshua mugged for the camera:

My friend Katie S. started her own Pampered Chef business and invited me to her first show:

John's parents (JPa and Oma) took us to a nearby butterfly exhibit. Butterlies landed on Oma's leg, my shoulder (next to where Joshua was passed out), and JPa's head.

Katie and her friend Sofia blew bubbles at Sofia's 2nd birthday party -- a princess party! -- just moments before I fell down a hill chasing Katie and sprained my foot. I have photos of my foot but I'll spare you. :-)

My lifelong friend Sarah C. came to visit with her youngest son, another Joshua. The two Joshuas enjoyed meeting each other. Sarah and I have photos of us together as babies, lined up on a couch with my brother Mike and another friend Christine, so we took this opportunity to line up our own babies with another close friend, Kai, so that our children will have a similar photo to show their children.

August

Our friends Stephanie and Rafael came to visit from California, and while we enjoyed our time with them, we also enjoyed spending time with Emily and David's newborn Liana and Joshua enjoyed getting his first kiss from Abbie's daughter Meghan.

We enjoyed a day with our friends Michelle, Dave, and Allison at a nearby club we belong to.

The kids and I spent a week with John's parents while John was away on a business trip. Highlights included visiting a pet store and playing piano with JPa.



The second week of John's trip, my brother Daniel moved in with us to help me with the kids and Bella.

Daddy brought Katie a funny hat that he picked up on his trip:


Joshua fell asleep holding a ball:


Joshua posed with a Mexican flag to wish my friend Meredith (a missionary in Zacatecas, Mexico) a virtual happy birthday.



Joshua tries out the Johnny Jump-Up for the first time:


We brought our friends Eric and Mary a meal when they had their fourth child. Katie enjoyed playing dress-up with the two daughters.

Our friend Krista visits from Colorado

Our friend Krista visited from Colorado, prompting a get-together with many friends we hadn't seen in a long time. Many of these photos were taken by our friend Katie McMurry, who has just started doing some freelance photography on the side. I like her photos better than I do the professional ones above. Her website is http://katiemcmurry.smugmug.com/ if you need some nice family photos or headshots taken!




Roberts Family Vacation, Aug. 21-30

My family made its annual pilgrimage to John's parents' beach house in August. It's one of the few times our entire 13-person family was together this year. We're so thankful that John's parents let us use their beautiful house. I'm actually sitting in the beach house as I write this blog post!

Front row, left to right: Ally, Jason, Andrew, Daniel, Lindsey, me, Joshua

Back row, left to right: John, Katie, Mike, Stephen, Dad, and Mom

If you look closely at the 2nd-to-top row of windows, you can see a frog that managed to affix itself to a window twenty feet from the ground.

My parents, Katie, and Katie's cousin (Jason's daughter) Ally enjoy getting to know Joshua:

Katie shows off her tan line -- even after using 50 SPF all week, she had more of a tan than I've ever had in my life. She obviously has her father's skin tone.

A few miscellaneous beach photos:

Another Roberts family tradition: Enjoying steamed, spiced crabs at the beach. The "Honorary Roberts" in the picture is Lindsey's brother Garrett, who joined us for a few days.

Videos

Wow, you made it through all of our July and August photos! As a reward, here are my favorite summer videos.

JPa and Katie play piano together during our stay with John's parents in early August:



In August, Joshua still required swaddling in order to sleep. Here's what he looked like when he first woke up and was unswaddled:

In late July, Joshua cooed and laughed for the camera.

Katie delights in having a fan blown in her face:

Katie enjoys her first parade during the Independence Day celebration at the beach:

Katie and her cousins enjoy bubbles while visiting my grandma:

Katie enjoys bubbles by herself:



In early July, Katie learns new ways to be affectionate with her 3 1/2 month old brother: