the beginning of the school year.

I missed Dennis's first day of school. Obviously, I didn't take these pics... LOL. 

 ... at the bus stop.

 Instead of sending Dennis of to school, I was up at the cabin with a bunch of ladies from church. It was so fun. Our second annual girls trip. Here is the only picture I got.

 This cute girl was so excited for school to start! Ms. Liz and Ms. Lorie are her teachers. She insists on wearing a single braid every time to be like Elsa. I think she went with two braids once and someone said she was like Anna. She came home so offended.

 Dennis isn't used to being the one that has to wait around for Zola. Here he is with his friend Jaxon getting their reading done while Zola is at her ballet class.

 Zola's favorite outfit that she wore probably half of the days this summer, is for sure going to be too small next summer. This is the last day that she wore it.

 Andrew makes it hard for Dennis to get his piano lessons done. He LOVES reaching up on his tip toes. I love hearing his little notes.

 We worked HARD out in the raspberries. We thinned out the bunch so that there are actual rows! Now we have a couple of hundred plants instead of a couple of thousand.

 I love this sweet little face in the morning... He is so happy to wake up next to his mom. By the looks of his grin you would never have known he was coughing all night.

 My girl is a puzzler! She will work on a puzzle for hours. This 100 piece puzzle is coming along and all I did was sort the pieces. This is her new face, on the right, the she loves to give people. The "I'm so not impressed" look.

 Hello Target shoppers! Andrew will not sit down in the cart. So, Dennis makes sure that he doesn't fall out.

 And that right there, my friends, is why I never buy school pictures. The lady positioned his head said, "smile" in a monotone voice and hid behind the camera. I bet she never even smiled herself. No thanks, jostens, I will go to target and get a genuine smile, pick out which picture I like and spend less than $20 with a coupon for more than enough pics. He still is super cute tho. Man, he's got good genes. :)

 Dennis is learning to play the piano. He is cruising way fast through these beginner books. His teacher is very impressed with him and looks forward to having him as a student because he has the work ethic and coordination to become really good.

 ... and what do you do when your baby falls asleep early?

 This boy LOVES his daddy. When Ryan came home after not seeing us for a week or so, Andrew gave him the biggest hug on his shoulder and didn't move for a couple of minutes. It was the cutest thing... and really melted Ryan's heart.

 ... whoever said that you have to have kids 2 years apart to be friends!? My kids play soooo good together. Just look at those smiles! The LOVE is obvious. They play all day. Even with Dennis too. He is 3.5 years older than Zola. They play ALL. THE. TIME.

 Dennis made the cutest little man... and Zola was making her name. It is super fun to see that she is learning in preschool!

 ... she is learning more than her name... one day, after school, she wouldn't stop sucking her thumb. I asked her if someone at school did that and she said yes.