First days of school 2014

Wednesday, 8/20/14

And the month just kept rolling along.. and school started. HOW does that happen? It was just June...

BUT! These girls were excited... so excited, you can see it in their smiles :)

Lindsay 2nd grade & Lauren 4th grade... 

August 2012... 2nd & Kindergarten... unbelievable, no?

What beautiful young girls they have turned into!

And the fact that they, on their own, wanted to match... melt. my. heart.

LeaAnn 3-5mo, Lindsay 8, Lydia 4-9mo & Lauren 9-4mo

Look at this!!! Lauren 7-4mo, Lydia 2-9mo, Lindsay 6 & LeaAnn 17mo

                                                                        Lauren 4th                                                                      

Lauren 3rd

                                                                      

2nd grade - Lauren                                                                                                    Lindsay

1st grade - Lauren                                                                                       Lindsay

Kindergarten - Lauren                                                                                        Lindsay

new backpack :)

 First day for Lydia, 4-yr-old preschool, Monday, 8/25/14

I didn't get this for Lydia! I'm going to have to make-shift something... surely she hasn't grown that much in a couple weeks, right? Lindsay, 1st day of 4-yr-old preschool.

She did so good. I drove them all to school and I was really nervous.. and sad all at once for Lydia. The year before just didn't pan out, but I knew she'd love it...

And she did. And still does. For some reason she still feels so young... I always felt that Lauren & Lindsay were older and ready. How can Lydia be almost 5? Next year is Kindergarten! {sigh}... so much thinking for this mommy-mind...

And here are these older two... having a ball. This was the weekend before Lydia's first day...

LeaAnn developed hand-foot-mouth disease, ouch. Out of daycare for a whole week!  And we infected the Raefield's :( double-whammy...

Tuesday, 8/26 - after her 2nd day of school. Riding the bus both ways and owning like she's 10. We went on a bike ride to the creek... all four of them.

Still haven't lost the love for swimsuits :)

Finally got around to capturing Lydia getting on the bus :) Tuesday, 9/2/14

And I was worried???

Here was Lindsay's first day of 4-yr-old preschool & Lauren's 1st day of 1st grade 2011... 

And so, all is well in the Beyer girls' school world... More to come... and soon!

Lindsay turns 8

Tuesday, 8/19/14

Lindsay turning 8 was hard... I don't know why, I just can't believe she's 8, it seems so old. Now a 2nd-grader, loving, giving, compassionate & funny...  I hope she enjoyed her birthday celebrations (pretty sure she did ;) b/c she deserves only the best!

Here she opened her Mimi present... loving her Beenie Boo :) This was actually Monday the 18th (she couldn't wait ;)

Her birthday was the day before school started and I had to work, so she went to Maggie's house and celebrated with Kreighton, Kyle, Kael, Lauren, Parker & Owen Kress. Party pizzas, watermelon & cupcakes were on the menu :) After school we had to go to East Buchanan and drop off school supplies. We ordered chicken from McElroys and headed home so Lindsay could open her presents!

Look how big they are!!!

And then we sang her happy birthday...

Garnet the calf & Caroline's work outfit :)

Friday, 8/22/14
Lucky for me, Lola agreed to keep the littles so I could get ready for Lindsay's over-night party that night! I patted myself on the back ;) I even got the mailbox done before the bus pulled up! There was an early release for heat this day (all week actually) and it worked out perfectly as we didn't have to leave immediately after they got in the house... they had time to relax & play.

Fun girls...

Her friends singing her happy birthday

Presents! Ella got her this really neat bungy-chair... coolest thing, from Target of course :)

And then the main event! We piled in the van and headed to Marion to Airfix! A trampoline park!

I took those 3 pictures and thought to myself, who am I kidding? I'm jumping! So I put my camera in the van and bought myself and wrist band. So. much. fun.

Should have taken this pic at the beginning... they were sweaty!!

the van ride home... watching Frozen :)

We grilled hamburgers & hot-dogs for them that night and they all fell asleep about 11pm to a movie. I'd call it a success! :D

Alabama! (day 7 & the day we flew home)

Friday, 8/8/14

Our last day. So hard... you want to enjoy it...it's hard to believe that 6-days has really went by... and that reality is on the brink...

Elle went zip-lining with Donnie and the girls and I decided to go shopping for souvenirs. That was always a big thing for me, to get a tshirt from the boardwalk every year.

And when we got back, we had lunch and headed to the pool.

Ice cream!

We did go to the beach and the lazy river for a bit after the pool... but it's just not the same when you know it's coming to an end.

Love this picture!

Here is LeaAnn styling her tshirt we got her... the girl and her pulled up shorts!!! Ahahaha!

Look at these sun-kissed beauties!

Love Carson's smile in this one :)

And b/c we didn't have to drive and we weren't leaving the condo until 10am... Chris & I couldn't resist just one last visit to Florabama :) This was just one of the stages, there were 3 to choose from! And this bar (though on the beach) is where Kenny Chesney was having his one and only concert for the year that very next weekend!  I can't even imagine how amazing it would be...

Walking around, we found this...

That's a lot of alcohol!!

The next morning... the Koontz's headed out :( and as I was finishing up packing, Chris took the girls to the lazy river for one more hour. LeaAnn couldn't have been more thrilled :)

We drove back, no problems. Checked in, no problems. Camping out before our first flight. Lindsay met a friend, Lily who shared a love of American Girl Dolls :)

After the first flight...

oh so sweet...

Now in Atlanta, GA... we took the fast floors this time to our concourse, had an 1-1/2 to kill. It was 5pm, so we decided to find a spot to eat. Buffalo Wild Wings? Perfect. :) I sent mom & Jeanette a picture text that I had assured the girls that, "never-ever did Dad or I, ever get to eat dinner in an airport restaurant, so to consider themselves lucky!" Mimi replied with, "that's b/c they used to feed us on the plane!" Which is true :)

We got stuck on the runway for about 45-minutes b/c of a storm.. which was scary for the girls. I assured them that, no-way, no-how would they let us fly if it wasn't safe... the lightning stopped and we started making our way for take-off.

There was some turbulence b/c of the weather but it was so worth it when we came across this view...

breathtaking...

I just couldn't get over the colors. This was with my big camera... I couldn't get my camera phone to quite capture it this way.

Amazing...

And it came to end... rather abruptly. And even though it's pretty much taken me a month to get re-situated, it was so worth it. :) I sure hope we recreate the vacation in 2016!!! :D Thank you Donnie for organizing and pushing the envelope to have us all go, it was an awesome & super-special vacation.