5 years

Dear Espen,
You just turned 5 years old and I cannot believe what a fantastic, friendly, whip smart, funny, good mannered, cheerful and good-looking boy you are. I have nothing but love for you, the kind of love that you can't describe, the kind that makes your body ache because a million hugs or kisses can't show it. You are my one and only buddy and I am lucky to have you in my life and be your mom.
Love,
Mommy

the kid is in kindergarten

Espen's first day of kindergarten was a few weeks ago and this year was so much different then last year when he started pre-k at his school and I'm not just talking about Espen's hair. It was still exciting and 'new' but Espen was like a whole new kid. Last year his teacher had to coax him to her side and he looked a bit terrified, this year it was like 'see ya, I got this under control, been there done that'.

He settled right in, with his buddies from last year and that was it.  He's been having a great time so far, he and I talk and talk and talk about what they did all day, who he sat with at lunch, how was p.e., art, what songs did he learn. It's amazing.

On Sunday night, for Espen's last night of Summer we went out for a little celebratory fro-yo!






















This guy was next in line to start school. Jeremy started at Phoenix Law this year and we couldn't be more happy and proud of him. xoxo lover.

half day fun day

Espen's school had early release last Friday so a bunch of his classmates decided to get together at the park next to the school.

Before we headed over there we took a minute to look through these incredible binders that his teacher put together for all of the students. Each book had writing samples and drawings and photos from throughout the year. It was such a nice gift and Espen was so proud of it!

There were 11 kids from Espen's class and a ton of other kids too at the park playing in the water feature...we spent 4 hours there and had so much fun. The kiddos played while us mom's got to chit chat and relax, it was a good afternoon.










{ian dumping water on espen and yes, those are bags for picking up dog poop}










{tired of getting his picture taken}

listen up, peaches

I wasn't sure if Jeremy would be able to recover from Saturday night but somehow he did and although it was a bit later in the day than we had intended we actually made it out to Schnepf Farms for their annual peach festival.

Jeremy wasn't in the mood to drive and apparently I wasn't either because not only did I miss the exit for the 60 East I also took the 202 north instead of south out in the east valley, who does that! We got to the farm with about an hour and a half to play, which really, was plenty of time. The line in the bakery was out of control, grumpy people waiting in line, not even certain that they would get a fresh baked pie. We went to the front of the line, grabbed a frozen pie and were out of there in less than 5 minutes. Not only were we able to get a peach pie, we got some ice cream & candy for Espen, fresh squeezed lemonade and some peachy delish salsa and hot sauce too! We even had time to take a hayride to the peach orchard to pick our own peaches.

By the time we got home and had dinner our pie was perfectly thawed and ready for baking and holy crap, it was the best pie I've ever had.

Disclaimer: this post is loaded with photos of Espen. ha.


{espen and his skunk}




{my peach guy and our peach pie}




{espen picking out his ice cream and baseball cap cup}




{not sure how this happened, but we had the whole trailer to ourselves and it was awesome!}


{probably should have had lemon or coconut flavored, every picture of espen from here on out is filled with blue teeth/tongue}


{seriously, who do i think i am in this picture. antm, what?}


{peach pickers}




{me and my peach}


{family of peach pickers}


{our peach booty}


{skunky now wearing the sticky baseball cap}


{love that jeremy and the woman behind are sitting the same way with their thumb on their chin because really, who sits like that!}


{about to get baked}


{lovers}


{kissers}


{farmer espen, washing the peaches, notice all the un-ripened green ones, espen picked them, ha}


{cooling off}


{not cooling off fast enough}


{while i anxiously waited for the pie to cool off, these dudes cuddled}


{finally!!}


{fly fly peach-uh pie...jeremy? that was for you}

And on a side note, this morning before Jeremy left for work he set up Espen's big brown bear at his desk and when Espen saw it he went insane. It was SO funny. He quickly went from cracking up to teacher mode, explaining to me that he needs to teach his bear how to play games on his dad's computer...


{i can't get over espens casual stance}


{taking this seriously}