Welcome Home Daddy!!

We are SO excited that Daddy is finally home from his deployment. We have missed him so much! Sneaky Mommy decided that it would be fun to surprise all the monkeys with Daddy's homecoming. All three of the boys went off to school like a regular day and one of our neighbors and Mommy's friend offered to let Sophie hang out for a little while. Mommy got to go pick up Daddy all by herself, which has never happened before! She got everything ready at the house like hanging up the banners, emptying the Daddy kiss jars & changing the countdown to ZERO! Then she set off to pick him up.

First on the list to surprise was Sophie bug. She seemed very surprised, but so excited to see Daddy again! 

Next up, was to surprise the Garett monkey at preschool! He was speechless as first, which if you know Garett at all, you know that doesn't happen very often! 

After Garett got some snuggles in, it was time to head to the elementary school to surprise the big boys!! 

Tyler James had a huge smile on his face walking down the hallway towards Daddy! He had a lot to tell Daddy when he first saw him! 

Caleb man wasn't sure what to think at first. He has been asking about when Daddy would be home since he left, but he's asked pretty much everyday lately. It didn't take him long to warm up and show off that big smile of his! 

After everyone was finally reunited, it was time to celebrate! What better way than with cupcakes? We all love cupcakes, and it was a fun way to celebrate the end of Daddy's long deployment! All 6 together again, and we couldn't be more excited! Welcome Home Daddy!! We love you! 

After gymnastics tonight we opened up the special box we received last week! It had specific instructions that we couldn't open it until Daddy was home. Little did Mommy know, the monkeys knew what was in there already, but had most likely forgotten! Nana, Paca and Aunt Katie were very sneaky over one of the monkeys' visits to NC this summer and had some pictures taken of the kiddos. Some of the pictures featured this special "Welcome Home Daddy" sign that they held. Well, Nana & Aunt Katie had a hard time deciding which picture to send for the welcome home surprise, so they got a collage of all of the welcome home ones and one of their favorites of the four monkeys in the middle. What a good surprise! 

Special Instructions :) 

Watching intently! 

Silly monkeys!! 

Our welcome home banner we painted for Daddy! 

Family & friend handprints to welcome Daddy back!! 

Caleb's first 5k / Mommy's 8th Half Marathon for the year!

We traveled up to Hampton, VA this weekend for the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon and 5k. Mommy was running this half marathon as her 8th of the year (9th total) and last of the deployment!! She has done awesome with her running during this deployment, we are so proud of her! It was also special because Caleb ran his first 5k! Caleb took Nana along and they ran the 5k, while Mommy and her friend Jody ran the half marathon. It was pretty chilly at the start, but the rain held off for Caleb and Nana to finish the 5k. Unfortunately, it did start raining while Jody and Mommy were running. We went down to the finish line so we could cheer Mommy on as she finished, and by the end it was pouring. We were cold and trying to stay bundled because we wanted to cheer her on. She did awesome, especially running in that cold rain! It was fun to see her come running across that finish line! Way to go Caleb and Mommy!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Sophie!

Sophie bug is officially three years old! She is so independent, sweet, determined and has a bit of a diva side. :) She has her three big brothers wrapped around her little finger, and loves to have tea parties with them! Sophie is still loving her gymnastics class twice a week, and looks forward to learning new tricks each class. She also started preschool this year, and is loving going to school like a big girl. She loves her teachers, and looks forward to going every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Since her birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, Sophie got to take cupcakes to share with her friends at school! She had lots of fun celebrating at school, and then we had a little celebration at home. We had Mac n Cheese, one of Sophie's favorites... although she would've preferred just having cupcakes for dinner! She opened up her presents, and had a great day of celebration!

Happy Birthday Sophie Grace! 

First Day of School!

Where did the summer go? We had so many fun adventures that it went by so quickly! It was a big start to the school year for everyone. Caleb started 2nd grade, Tyler started 1st grade, Garett started his LAST year of preschool and is going M-F, and Miss Sophie started her first year of preschool, and she's going on M, W, F. They all seemed excited about the school year starting, and it is going pretty well so far! Sophie was SO excited to start going to school like her brothers. Her favorite part seems to be carrying her pink backpack!

Caleb and Tyler's 1st day! 

Caleb's 1st day of 2nd grade!

Tyler's 1st day of 1st grade! 

Extra special treat! Daddy sent us all new shoes for the first day of school! Thanks Daddy!! We love you! 

Garett's 1st day of 4 year old preschool! 

Sophie's 1st day of preschool! Garett showing her the ropes! 

Sophie's Birthday Party!

Over Labor Day weekend we celebrated Miss Sophie's 3rd birthday a few weeks early! She didn't seem to mind! We had some visitors over the long weekend so it seemed like the perfect time to celebrate. One of Sophie's favorite things to do is to have tea parties, so she had a pink lemonade tea party! We had lots of yummy sandwiches, lemonade, tea, veggies, fruit inside of a tea pot watermelon, jello lemons, finger foods and pink lemonade cupcakes! It was so fun and girly, and right up Sophie's alley. It's also no kid party without a craft, so the kiddos made special hats. The girls decorated tea hats for the occasion, and the boys decorated top hats. They turned out very cute. Check out some of the pictures!

party favors for the kiddos

birthday girl enjoying her cupcake! 

Sassy girl not wanting her picture taken!

Pictures of the little diva over the past year

Candy centerpieces

Delicious pink lemonade cupcakes that Mommy made!

Watching everybody sing happy birthday! 

blowing out her candles 

She was really into opening presents this year! 

Oooh!

Loving her ladybug 

Mason jars for the adult drinks- also their party favors

pink lemonade jello lemons

Tea hats & Top hats waiting to be decorated! 

Birthday banner 

one of the kids' favorites- PB&J sandwiches

Sophie's birthday picture with Daddy 

Enjoying the tea party with cousin Lily

Doing "cheers!" in their tea hats :) 

Party food 

Mommy did an awesome job! 

Veggies 

Tea pot watermelon!