The Next Phase

Last week was Keren's last week with us!  I can't believe it.  Time really does fly.  Keren started watching Maddy when she was at daycare, starting at 3 months old.  We left the daycare and Keren started working for us about 3 and a half years ago and she's been with us almost every day since.  

It's time for the next phase, Camryn will really flourish at school and Maddy will benefit from going more than 2 days a week as well, but change is hard.  I know the girls will probably adapt quickly, but Matt and I, we've been spoiled!  Getting the girls out the door in the morning and staggering our schedules to arrange drop off and pick up will be a new challenge for us.

The girls both start school/summer camp at their preschool next Tuesday...wish us luck!

We tried to talk to the girls a lot about Keren going to work for another family and the changes and how they'll both be going to school.  Maddy decided last week that she wanted to pick a book of hers to give to Key so she would remember her.  It was such a sweet gesture and we wrote in the book and gave it to Keren on her last day.  We also got her a necklace with a key on it since our girls made up her nickname and have always called her Key.  I pulled in to the driveway on Friday and just started crying haha.  Wow....so many changes ahead!

I made this video for Keren and showed it to her on Friday.

We've been so fortunate and blessed to have such a wonderful person watch our girls these last few years.  We wish Keren all the best and hope to keep her as much as part of our family as possible!!

So let's see, last week, besides knowing it was Keren's last week and having this sadness looming over me, we had a great week.  We spent lots of time outside and swimming.

Camryn covered Cash with grass while Maddy tried to brush him.

Maddy had her last day of her first year of preschool.


We swam....Here's Matt and Maddy kicking away...



Camryn took to the water like a fish....



And Maddy swam around like she always does.  She seems to be loving her swim lessons every Friday as well.  I'm so glad the girls are getting more time in the water and getting more and more comfortable with it.







On Keren's last day the girls and Keren went over to some friends house, whom they spend a lot of time with, and had a very fun last day.  They all played and had lunch and wore themselves out!






Camryn LOVES the dogs.  Both girls love the dogs but they seem to go through phases.  Camryn has definitely been giving Cash lots of extra love and attention lately.



She kept wrapping this blanket around him and saying "my baby".  Camryn doesn't talk much and usually when she does she's hard to understand but lately she's talking so much more and much clearer too.  I look forward to seeing how much she grows going to school and being around all those other kids all day long!





Saturday morning we went blueberry picking with friends.  We had a great time but being that the blueberries are so delicious there were quite a few beetles and bugs and Maddy quickly got sick of the bugs and wanted to be held...she was also exhausted.  She loves waking up early on the weekends.  She told me the other day she wakes up early on the weekends so she can watch cartoons in mommy and daddy's bed.











I asked Kendall to smile with her blueberries!



The blueberry bunch.



After blueberries Kendall, Avery, and Delaney gave Maddy her birthday present.  They had to miss her party and were so sweet and got her a present anyways.  The girls were all anxious to open it.



She got Anna, Elsa, and Olaf!!



And some hugs...



All the girls watch anxiously as Matt gets the dolls out of the box.



Saturday night our neighbor had his annual summer kick off barbeque.  The girls LOVE his chickens and were in the coop visiting their friends.





On the way to the BBQ Camryn fell and got a big old boo boo that we quickly fixed up with about 4 band aids.  The girls were so tired from their busy day that we took them home early and Gammy came to cuddle and watch movies with them while Matt and I got to spend a little more time hanging out with our friends.  It worked out perfectly for everyone :)



Yesterday we just hung out and played around the house.  The girls were having a blast playing with their basket of bows.  I think they played with them for an hour or two throughout the day... Funny the things they decide to entertain themselves with.



Camryn had fun with some headbands...she's such a little ham.





Last night Maddy was blowing bubbles and asked me to take a picture so I could send to Kirra.  Kirra is my friends daughter who will be 1 next month and Maddy remembered Kirra liked playing with bubbles last time they visited.  So she wanted to send Kirra a picture of her blowing bubbles...she's so cute!

Maddy also seemed concerned yesterday and I asked what was up and she said she didn't want to grow up.  I told her I don't blame her being a kid is amazing and she said "no, I don't want to grow up because I don't know what I want to be.  I want to be a princess but I don't want anything bad to happen to me."  I asked what she meant and she meant, she wanted to be Cinderella, but she didn't want to have to be Cinderella when the step-mom and sisters were mean to her, or she wanted to be Rapunzel but didn't want to be locked up in the tower.  How funny!  She finally decided she wanted to be Sophia....good choice!

Spring 2014 Family Pictures

Since Camryn was born we've done family pictures twice a year, in the spring and fall.  We just had our latest photo session so I wanted to share the pictures.   This session was probably one of the best ones we've had because as the girls get older they are more willing to cooperate and just play and have fun while we get pictures taken.