School, September Birthdays and the rest of catching up

Samantha, Nick and I started school on the same day.  My class is Mondays this semester in Pearland, so I have a small commute.  No more walking to class :(  

Sam was excited that we had matching shirts.  I wore mine because I am the PTA environmental chair and I went in for lunch to help retrain the kids on recycling.  

First day of second grade!

I caught the big girls being extra sweet before Sam had to head to school.

1st day of school breakfast, we skipped special pancakes due to the craziness of life.

Since I was in at lunch time, I got to see Samantha :)

My first class went well.  And I saw a rainbow on the way home.

Zoey and I went on a playdate to feed ducks, but we also saw some pretty flowers.

Zoey got to meet her teacher.

Another tennis lesson.

A Chuck E Cheese party.

A science Sunday on motors.

 Zoey's first day of PreK 4.

A cute outfit she was excited about, the leggings have gold stripes.

Fiona did not exactly cooperate with her 3 month panda pictures.

Zoey and her dolls.

Zoey and Fiona.

Fiona has some great toys that I remember Sam and Zoey playing with.

Fiona has a habit of wringing her hands, the big girls say it looks like she is praying.  She likes to suck her thumb, so maybe she wants to know where it is at all times.

Zoey had her first soccer practice.

A fun time at the splash park.

The girls cooperated so well, but I stayed in the shade, so no great picture.

We celebrated Nick's birthday.

It was a GT theme.  Go Jackets!

Big smiles in her name onesie.

Watching Sam play flag football.

Her jersey is number 13, Nick's favorite number.

15 weeks!

We finally gave up on the bassinet, since she kept hitting the side.  She moved to the crib mom got from cousin Linda.  She proceeded to roll back to tummy, without being able to roll back, just like Zoey.  Zoey loved tummy sleeping though, and Fi got mad.  Plus she kept getting legs or arms stuck in the slats.  So lots of loooong bedtimes and many wake ups.

Zoey's first soccer game.  She mostly followed the pack.  She was cute clapping when her opponent got a goal.

So many cute outfits!  And cute smiles!

Sam won the first character award!  we are so proud of our sweet girl.

Between work and working at the house, we did not see much of Nick.  But here is proof he held Fiona at least once during this crazy time in our lives :)  Again, thank goodness for my parents, they were life savers.

 Dinosaur day during D week at PreK.

Animal print is in!

So many cute expressions.

And this post shall end with my birthday picture.  Nick's brother was injured in Afghanistan in early August in the attack on Camp Integrity.  Luckily he is recovering and doing well.  He is one tough cookie and a true American hero! But he needed help so Nick went to help him get his stuff off base, and unfortunately, he basically missed my birthday.  He flew back and rushed to teach his class, which goes until 10 at night and is followed by students wanting to talk with him.  We celebrated the next day by moving home, but it is still so chaotic.  We are working through the piles of stuff and it is definitely liveable, but it will be nice once we are fully settled again.  2014 and 2015 have been some crazy years for us Southern Kellings.  We are all hoping for a peaceful 2016 enjoying our "new" house and complete family.  Happy Fall to all!

The last of summer

Fiona was born at the end of Samantha's school year.  Nick, Zoey and I were done with the school year already.  Although Nick taught 2 in person courses and I taught one online this summer.  With a new baby and a major renovation project, summer really flew by.  After the first 8 weeks of mostly staying home, since Fiona was so young and it was so hot, we never really slowed down.

The girls like to hold Fiona.

We went to a church to serve food to those in need.

Sam is very helpful, she reads to Fiona when she is fussy.

Sam wanted to play flag football again.  They had a skills combine and she showed off some speed.

We went to a health fair and the girls got face paintings.

 A neighbor has been doing tennis lessons at our neighborhood courts.  Sam enjoyed them.  Zoey was not as motivated.  Unfortunately, they conflict with Sam's faith formation.  But Papa can work with her.

The girls see me wear Fiona and used these overalls to carry their dolls.  So cute!

 Zoey really made huge leaps in reading.  She can sound anything out now.  She just needs more work on sight words.  Such amazing progress, but less than I hoped for because of Fiona's birth and the renovation.

They opened a new splash park near us.

This amazing kid got to meet her teacher.  2nd grade already!

Sam has a super sweet teacher who happens to be the mom of a boy from Sam's class last year.  She is perfect for Samantha because she emphasizes that everyone makes mistakes and Sam needs that to counteract her unwillingness to fail and perfectionism.

Fiona hit 2 months!  She was 12 lbs 6 ounces, which was a bit heavier than Sam or Zoey.  But Fiona never misses a meal or refuses a feeding :)  She slept great when still swaddled, but when that stopped working, she went back to waking a lot.  She is now much better again, but it was rough there for awhile.

Here is the 2 month panda picture.

Some close ups so you can see her eye color.  They are already about as dark as Zoey's hazel eyes, so I am pretty sure they will be brown.

She smiles for much longer now, and is often very happy.  But her default expression looks a bit cranky.  But she loves interaction, so she smiles easily.

We tried to make the bassinet last for the stay at my parents, but she kept ending up in silly positions like this.  Although, this was also while is was slanted to help with the major spitting up she did in the beginning.  Making it flat bought us a bit more time.

Most of her day time sleeping was (and often is) while being held.  She is ok with the crib at night, but prefers arms during the day.  She is a a lucky third child since my mom is so willing to help.  Although, she still does sleep in a car seat or the ergo a fair amount.

A sweet smile.