Kansas City Zoo with B&E

My husband had kids very young so Charlie's brother and sister are significantly older than him.  I've always worried if he missed out with siblings, I was so close to mine when we were growing up.  But then I realize that having older siblings is awesome and other kids should only BE so lucky.  They are all off for summer and B&E were able to take Charlie to the zoo all by themselves while Matt and I worked.  Charlie must have been in high heaven getting these two all to himself all day.  He worships his older sister and brother.  It makes my heart swell to think of them all getting to spend such a fun day together. 

It rained and hailed all day.  I kept texting B to see if they were getting out of there.  She responds 'We bought ponchos!' Total beast, I would've bolted at the first rain drop.  Ahhh, to be young.  They were out there ALL DAY.

This one cracks me up

This one is my favorite from the day.  I bought B a season pass, so when Charlie is home with boring mom and baby during my maternity leave, this can be a regular thing.  Best Summer Ever!

Last day of Kindergarten and lost his first tooth - big day!

The face I got when I told him to smile for his last day of school....and water all over his shirt from brushing his teeth.

All smiles later!  We adored Miss Riddle as a teacher, she will be very missed.  Charlie has already asked if he can call her. 

We get home from our big day and his loose tooth finally came out!  It's been loose forever but he wouldn't let us pull it. It was literally turning brown. Ew. So when he showed me how it wiggled, I smacked his elbow and it popped out.  Lots of blood and tears quickly turned to excitement.

Tooth fairy didn't show up...we already lost the tooth before we could put it under his pillow. Do you know how small first teeth are?? I was scared to find it but Charlie actually found it Sunday night.  Note to self, don't let the 5 year old keep track of the tiny tooth.

Can you believe this is a first grader???

Should have made them a bit more similar, but you can see how much he's grown!!

34 weeks - exactly 6 weeks to go!

6 weeks from today, this little baby will be here.  I'm getting very excited and very anxious.  We have so much work going on at the house.  Work is crazy for my husband and me, we have t-ball and the end of the school year looming.  (Child care is a nightmare when school is out, I'm a big advocate of year round school #workingparentsunite!) so all of that puts a lot on our plates.  It's starting to get warm and I'm swelling up like a balloon.  Wedding ring had to come off and my feet look like a toddler's.  So, I'm turning into a house, but look at my pre-natal hair!  I forgot how awesome your hair gets when your pregnant.  I will miss that. I've been pretty lucky so far that it hasn't been that hot, but it's coming...I can feel it.  I've started having weird dreams.  Last night I dreamed that I forgot to feed the baby for three days, the night before that I dreamed that I couldn't find the baby.  It's terrible, you wake up in a total panic.  I'm still feeling pretty good.  I had terrible stretching pain the last 2-3 weeks and that seems to have passed.  Now it's just the discomfort of being so very large.  Charlie is SO helpful.  He will run from across the house to come pick up something for me.  He says 'I know you can't bend mom cuz you got a big belly!'.  We've had a little acting up which I think will get a bit worse when the baby gets here, but we are prepared.  It's going to be a big change for him but I think he'll handle it well.  He's going to be a great big brother and talks about his new role all the time.  Plus, he's pretty much king emperor around here, it'll be good for him to not be the center of the world for a bit.  

And just like that, Ethan's 16

I can't believe this kid is 16.  He's a total weirdo (aren't all teenage boys??).  But he's a good kid.  Very passionate about 159 different things, which I love,  He's SO excited to get his license - watch out KC!

Matt's wrap job, just put it in a blanket

Big boy bow!

Fletcher goes PSYCHO when they shoot the bow- just look at him!

Only way to stop him from impaling himself in the line of fire