Wedding dress tradition: year 8

Each year, I'm even more thankful I decided to do the wedding dress tradition.  My gorgeous girl is 8.  I can't believe it's been 7 years since the first picture. 

Brooklyn turns 8!

My girl turned 8 last week! 
We celebrated over the weekend in POP STAR style-chosen by Brooklyn, of course!

These girls know how to ROCK OUT!

Oh, Brooklyn Blanche, 

how are you already EIGHT?

School's Out For Summer!

First day of summer vacay and my dear children all woke up at 9:00! Woo-hoo! It rained and rained and rained all day, but that's Oregon for you I guess! 

Here are some pics from yesterday:

The kids took an orange-y treat to their teachers: orange Tic-Tacs, orange Trident, OSU candy bar, and orange Crystal Light all in an orange cup. (Pinterest)

We so lucked out getting Mrs. Carroll for two kids, we're crossing our fingers that Gus gets her too!

This year was Porter's teacher's first year and she was amazing!

Friends since Kindergarten!

Brinley and Brooklyn on the first and last day of Kindergarten
The kids started working on their summer to-do list too!

I feel like I've got my balls all back up in the air now...

"All we are is dust in the...air."

Was I the only one counting down the hours until this moment??

Okay, after a lot of Pinterest searching and calls to my sister for her approval, I've got the teacher gifts lined out...however I can't quite share them yet, because at least one of them reads this! :)  

(She put this sticker on her face and told me she's getting it really pierced when she gets married.  Lord, help me.)

Brooklyn decided after her bath tonight that she wants to grow her bangs out, which is totally fine with me because I'm not quite sure where they start/stop or how far back they go, and I'm just cutting them all the time.  

Porter's baseball games keep getting cancelled, which is also fine with me because it's not like I really get to watch them anyway when I'm trying to keep Gus from running out in the parking lot the entire time.  

Gus is just talking up a storm, even more so when I take his Binky out.  Speaking of Binkies, did you know they aren't supposed to have one after age two?  I keep trying to explain this to Gus, but he just says, "No, my Binky!"
Also, now that he's two, I can turn his carseat forward, but since he doesn't seem bothered by it at all, I just left him facing back.  You win some, you lose some: screwed up teeth/safer in a crash. 

Nate got burned really bad over the weekend (second degree burns on his arms). There was a malfunction with a propane grill and he basically took a fireball to the chest.  He keeps thanking me for making him wear a cotton undershirt under his super flammable dry fit polo that completely melted off.  

Six days of school left...BRING IT!

Are there really only 7 days of school left? Like, I'm not ready for this...

I mean, I am sorta ready to relax and not have to get up so early, but I feel like the only mom that hasn't planned out my end of year teacher gifts, and I just realized my kids are going to be home all day every day fighting nonstop.  Ahhh, summertime.

Photo dump:

She ran her first 5K in 38 minutes!

He adores his big brother...and calls him Porky.

We rode on the Elks float in our town's annual parade.

Spirit week at school!

Crazy hat and sock day

Twin day!  
Both of my kids wanted to dress like their teachers.

The preschool teacher that I had and Porter and Brooklyn had retired.  A legend in this town!  My sister is going to try to fill her shoes, so Gus will get to have his Aunt Lo-Lo.

Happy Birthday Porter!

 

 

At 11:00 PM on Thursday, May 26, 2005, Porter Charles Barnes made his appearance-

four weeks early and a hefty 7 lbs, 2 oz.

***

Isn't it funny how moms can remember the most minute details of their baby's birth?

I remember:

which pants I was wearing when my water broke (khakis that I hated),

telling my doctor that I couldn't have the baby today because I had an appointment to get my hair done (she thought I was joking),

the song playing in the car on the way to the hospital (Fourth of July by Shooter Jennings),

thinking that getting my IV put in was going to be the worst of it,

the crazy, weird, full body shaking,

my doctor telling me that she had the song "ring of fire" stuck in her head,

every.single.moment of pushing and pushing and pushing (3 hours),

and once he finally popped out...

completely believing that I had just laid eyes on the cutest baby in history.

Happy 8th Birthday to the boy that made me a mommy!