rest of the summer recap

I'm doing a phone dump. Most of our summer was captured on my phone because our camera made it's rounds to camp. So here we go. . . 

The kids like to play house with all the stuffed animals. This was their "family picture." I believe this is after Sophie birthed at least half of them in one day.

Girl loves her some insects and crawly things.

Breakfast cookies and good conversation at Mayor John's was a definite hit of the summer. I wish you all knew the context of this picture. But you don't. Which may make it all the more fascinating!

Mayor John (who is not the real mayor of anything) has a t-shirt from every year of the East Brady River Fest (around 25 years). He and Ted looked through the dozen or so John has in his trailer.

We had a WV Young Life Staff Day in Summersville. This is the Tuels and the Sizicks crammed in the back of a jeep going to the middle of no where to then hike further into the middle of no where.

WV Young Life staff kids. We're dreaming and praying for a YL camp in WV that these kids might go to when they are in high school.

Some of the WV Young Life staff and families. We won't talk about the fact that we were on the side of a cliff. I nearly had a heart attack. I will never go back.

Our last "Monday Funday" we went to Waynesburg to a little water place they have there with the Kozels. Kids had a great time. They we rushed home to go meet Sophie's Kindergarten teacher in our drowned rat impersonation.

Last Monday Sophie and I had our last day together - just the two of us - before she started Kindergarten. We hit up Starbucks and Target - two of our favorite places. She has been my side kick these last 3 years. And we've had a lot of fun together. And run a lot of errands. When I think about it, Kindergarten is probably way more fun than grocery shopping and other not really fun things!

So we spent more time at the river this summer than we have in a very long time. One of my favorite things was having Bill and Karen there. Bill is my mom's cousin. I grew up going to the river with their kids Kevin and Nicole, who both have kids my kids' ages. (We got to spend time with them, too!) Bill & Karen bought a camper last year and spent most weekends there along with my parents. They loved on my kids so much and it was so special. Bill and Karen even shared some dancing time at the wedding with Sophie.

Pat (Bill's brother) comes to the river most weekends too. He's the official lawn care guru. He and Ted had a great time this summer and bonded over lots of baseball throwing. (Ted improved A LOT over the summer and it was actually fun to throw with him.) Every parent knows what it's like for another adult to invest in their kids. And the bonus of having it be family is pretty cool.

With Uncle Jim & Kristen at the wedding. This pictures makes me smile!

We went to Charleston for our last weekend of the summer for a wedding.  We missed Joe and Lindsay's wedding which was a bummer. But Ben was completely blessed to be part of Brian and Paige's wedding (no pictures because he attended on his own). The GW class of 2007.

We were hoping that Cousin Henry would've made his grand appearance by the time that we went. But alas, we just got to touch Aunt Courtney's belly.

We also to see the new River Ridge - Teays Valley. Wow! So awesome! The plan was to attend church there Sunday morning but we had a car issue. So thankful we got to see it Saturday.

I got to see these lovely ladies this trip - Liz & Michele.

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 And these kids got to play together.

So, that's the last of my summer pictures. Summer in numbers coming soon.

Oh, and Henry James Tuel was born last night. Welcome to the family little man! We can't wait to meet you!!

chris & margaret

Last weekend we were at the river for my cousin Chris' wedding to his lovely bride Margaret. The river has never seen the likes of anything like it. It was a beautiful day for a beautiful couple. 

There was an enormous tent. Something like 4,000 square feet. 

Then there were the other tents to of the guests who decided to camp for a night or too. This was only a few of the others that would join or were in different places.

The wedding was catered but they also did the traditional meat over the fire.

Chris and Margaret got buckets of wildflowers. So about 5 of us (including myself and Sophie) helped do all the centerpieces. I was quite proud of us!

The tables partially done. Isn't it beautiful?

Ben dj'd.

Ernie the dog was the ring bearer. Ted really liked him.

Pre-wedding hangout. Everyone was invited to come several hours before the wedding to hang out. There was food, corn hole, bad mitten and other such fun things.

There were 5 flower girls - including Sophie. They got to pull their own flower petals from the wildflowers and decorate their own baskets.

Taking the sound system down to the river bank for the wedding service.

Flower girls waiting for their cue.

Flower girl duties.

Wedding on the dock!

Everyone stood on the river bank to watch the wedding.

After the ceremony, they got in Eugene's (Chris' brother) boat and took a ride. It was really fun!

We got all dressed up. Ate great food. Danced. Laughed. We had a great time.

Congratulations Chris & Margaret!

2013/2014 school year

 I blinked. And just like that, summer is gone. Ted started school Thursday, August 15. Sophie started today (Wednesday, August 21st). Last week we had meet the Kindergarten teacher night. meet the 2nd grade teacher night and a home visit from Sophie's teacher. The kids are riding the bus this year which has already proven to be most excellent. It gives me about a 15 minute buffer on either end of my work day which allows me to run by the post office, get gas, 10 minutes to myself at home or stop and get a sweet tea at McDonald's. And the best part? We're meeting all sorts of neighborhood people. It's really great! And the other great part? (Ok, there are 2) I do not have to sit in the horrible drop off and pick up line at school. Hallelujah!

About 2 weeks ago, we hit the "it's time to go back to school" period of the summer. They had had enough of each other and were really needing some structure. I was really needing a bedtime and some time to myself in the evenings.

The kids sat down to breakfast with wigs on this morning. So that's how we did first day of school pictures. (We waited for Sophie to start to do the actual photo shoot. Which then led to a forgotten lunch.) I think Ted can totally rock the mullet.

No more glasses for Ted. His eyes have improved enough to not need them. Originally when he got glasses 2 years ago, he was borderline needing them. But because of his headaches, the eye doctor suggested he go ahead and wear them. We later found out the headaches were actually caused by his arachnoid cyst. Last year his eyes were better than the previous year but he one eye didn't converge very well.  So we kept them. This year, his eyes are top notch. I'm slightly sad about it because he looked so cute in them. But he didn't wear them all summer, so I guess that's good.

Sophie was somewhat nervous about starting Kindergarten. Two weeks ago she cried about it one night in bed. Not one of those loud cries. Just tears running down her cheeks, silent cry kind of thing. But she got on that bus like a champ this morning. There are actually 4 kids at our bus stop that were in her class last year and 2 that are in her class again. That helps. So does having a big brother.

 Ted class of 2024

Sophie class of 2026

I think if I didn't have to go to work today, I would've really been sad to come home without Sophie. For the past 3 years she has been my sidekick. Even last year when she was in PreK 4 days a week and I went back to wrok, we still had Fridays together. Now, she has started her school career and will be in school for the next lot of years. Ben and I have a "date day" planned for Monday. We plan to use Mondays (the day I have off from work and a day he hopefully will take a 1/2 day since he works a lot of evenings and Sundays) as our dates. Then we don't have to pay for babysitters and can maybe even hit a matinee movie. Again, Hallelujah!

Here's to the 2013-2014 school year.

beach family pictures

Greg took some family pictures for us at the beach. Between the beautiful after rain sky and some serious camera skills, these are awesome!! Thank you, Greg!