first day of kindergarten.

my big girl!  five years old and ready as can be for kindergarten.  how can that be?  i feel like we spent the entire summer counting down the days until her first day of school.  she was so excited!  we did some school clothes shopping with nana, picked out the perfect backpack, and made sure we got everything on the school supplies list.  kyri was ready to go!

on tuesday, august 23, the day before school was going to start...things in lincoln took a turn for the worst.  there was a propane train tanker that had caught on fire, about a mile and half from our neighborhood.  they immediately evacuated everyone within a one mile radius of the fire...we just missed it.  almost every road in lincoln was closed.  we were watching the news nonstop to see if things were getting worse or better.  the scary thing...if this thing blew up, it would have been catastrophic!  our little town of lincoln was on the major news.  they couldn't just put it out...they had to let the propane burn off.  our fire fighters were heroes that day.  they knew to put lots of water (5 fire hoses) directly on the tanker to keep it cool.  they did everything they could to keep it from blowing up.  they flew in a team from texas to help fight this uncontrollable fire. we waited.  and waited.  well...after two days, they went in to take their course of action on the tanker and realized all of the propane had finally burned off.  everyone that was evacuated (over 5,000 homes) was able to finally return to their homes.  praise Jesus!  what a scary time for lincoln.  so thankful for all of the men and women that saved our town from mass destruction.  that will be an event we will never forget!

needless to say...school was canceled for the rest of that week.  kyri's new first day was the following monday.  the kids were so anxious to start school!  kevin was off that morning so he was able to go with us to take her.  i took lots of photos of such a special day in our daughters life.  i was sad to say goodbye, but so excited for this new adventure for our sweet girl!  when we got home, kaden said, "mommy, where ryri go?"  oh buddy.  it's a good thing this first year is only a half day...we would miss our kyri girl so much!

love her.

cupcake backpack.

time to go to class...just one more photo.

kyri.

so fun to be in the same class as her buddies, micah l. and micah c.

goodbye loves from brother.

so proud of my girl.

handsome boys.

smiles after a great first day!

buds for life.

goofballs.

gabriel may not be in the same class, but they love that get to see each
other after school everyday!

we took the kids out to ice cream to celebrate their special day.

when i asked kyri how here first day of school was,
she said, "it was perfect!"

family fun day!

before kyri started kindergarten, we decided to take a day trip with our dear friends, the ernst family! we have been talking about taking the kids to train town in sonoma. so that's where we were headed! being that the jelly belly factory was on the way, we stopped there first. it was a monday afternoon so we thought it wouldn't be too crowded. well, we were wrong...i guess a lot of families had the same idea to stop to enjoy some free jelly bellies! the kids loved the tour, but i'm pretty sure they loved the candy even more. for lunch, we had a picnic outside in the courtyard. it was such a beautiful day!

sonoma train town was the next stop and the kids couldn't wait! it's a cute little place for kids to run around, ride the rides, and take a tour of the tiny town on the train. kyri and gabriel chose a couple of the rides and everyone went on the carousel. i love seeing our kids have fun together! the train ride was my favorite. they stop halfway and let the kids get out and explore the tiny town where all the buildings are their size. i just wish they had more time to look around and play, but too soon it was time to board the train.

at dinnertime, we went to the central park in downtown sonoma and let the kids get even more energy out. we found out mary's pizza shack had gluten-free pizza so that worked perfectly! can't go wrong with pizza. kev and i weren't too impressed with their g-free option and it left us still hungry. you know how to fix that? head over to ben and jerry's for ice cream! a cool treat was a perfect way to end our wonderful day with friends. brian and lauri are becoming more and more like family to us. we are just so blessed to have them in our lives. it's pretty special that our kids love each other too.

ready to take the tour!

big smiles for candy.

lookin' good in the cool hats.

there's those smiles that i love.

"more candy, daddy."

our family loves the jelly belly factory!

to train town we go!

 

 airplane ride for the big kids.

all aboard!

tickets, please!

pretty girl.

so many things to see!

jailbirds.

my little buddy.

carousel is always a favorite.

fruit snack break.

sharing his corn chex with the ducks.

always silly.

here, ducky ducky!

waiting not so patiently for pizza.

playing tic-tac-toe with the beautiful lauri.

yummy mango sorbet.

oh garrett, that's an awesome chocolate face!

i scream, you scream...

we all scream for ice cream!

family pizza night.

i decided that after waiting an entire year...it was time to tackle the homemade gluten-free pizza!  kevin and i were also not doing dairy for months and pizza just isn't pizza without cheese.  for those of you who have never made gluten-free bread...it is so tricky!  the dough is not like regular wheat dough in any way.  you actually spread it out as it does not come into the shape of a ball.  sometimes i wish gluten didn't have such issues with my family.  life in the kitchen would be much simpler.  

we made it a big family event and everyone joined in on the pizza making fun! i searched for recipes online and found a gluten-free pizza crust that seamed pretty simple.  the one i used i tweaked a bit because it wasn't getting to the right consistency.  i ended up with a giant bowl of dough in my mixer so instead of making just one large pizza, i also made a big pan of buttery, cheesy garlic bread.  oh yeah!  kev and the kids helped put the sauce, cheese, turkey pepperoni, and loads of veggies on our pizza.  i kept getting flashbacks of making personal pizzas with kyri when she was kaden's age.  she was so tiny, reaching over the counter.   now we are making pizzas together with two little ones.  so fun!  the pizza came out AMAZING and we had more than enough for lunch the next day.  after not eating pizza for a year, i realized how much i missed it when i took the first bite.  family pizza night will most definitely be happening again in the near future!

so colorful!

sauce goes on first.

kaden helped by taste-testing all the toppings.

sprinkles of cheese.

i do it, daddy.

kyri likes things just right...like her mommy.

love being in the kitchen with my kids.

tiny helping hands.

ready for the oven!

sinful.

delicious masterpiece. 

cheesy goodness.

kev's first bite of pizza since going gluten-free.

his mouth was quite happy!