First Day of School for Emily and Lucy

Emily started Kindergarten this year. She is going to a little Christian private school and it has been wonderful! She loves her teacher and has a great group of kids in her class. Since she has a summer birthday, she will be going to kindergarten again next year at our neighborhood public school.



Lucy is going to mother's day out. She is going 4 days a week....I just can not get anything done when she is at home with me, so this works well for us right now. She LOVES to go to school and her teachers say that she is such a great helper.


this is the face we get when we ask Lucy to smile for the camera


sweet sisters!


for some reason I forgot to take pictures of the girls with their teachers. I will have to remember to do that during the holiday parties.

First Day of 1st Grade

The summer of 2011 was a LONG summer at the Cleveland House. I really don't think their was anyone as happy as I was the day school started!! Everyone at our house is much happier when we have a routine and get to see friends everyday!

Cooper has several friends from his Kindergarten class in his new 1st grade class. We absolutely LOVE his teacher!

Cooper has been growing his hair out all summer. I was hoping this would just be a summer thing and that we would get a great haircut right before school started....he had a different plan. His plan is to keep the longer hair. He likes it. So for now, he has "long" hair : )


He still really likes to ride his bike to school (and we still follow him in the car because it still makes us a little nervous!)


The whole family in front of the school


this was my view walking him down to class


Sitting at his desk


Here's to a great year in 1st grade!!

Lucy's 2nd Birthday

Our little Lucy turned two on August 19th!! How is it possible that my "baby" is no longer a baby : ( This makes me happy and sad all at the same time!

We had a pretty low key day....MawMaw came for a visit, we 0pened presents, went swimming in the backyard, and had a few friends over to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake. She had a great day!



saying she's 2


the big kids like "helping" her open her presents...


a Lucy "look"


It was all about Elmo this year


When I ask Lucy to smile, this is the face I usually get



Garrett and Lucy stood like this FOREVER. It was so cute!!


Getting measured


And just for fun, here are pictures of all 3 kids on their 2nd birthdays! Who do you think looks the most alike?? (too funny that Emily and Lucy are wearing the same PJ's in their pictures!)

Summer Fun

The summer of 2011 was the hottest summer in Texas history!! With that being said, we were really thankful to have a pool in our backyard! It did not get used as much after July, but we still enjoyed most of our summer in the pool.

The best gift given this year, was the slide that MawMaw bought for the kids. It was a big blow-up slide for the pool. It provided hours of entertainment. It did get a hole in it by the end of the summer but we will definitely be getting another one for next year.



even Lucy had fun going down the slide


Cooper liked doing back-flips down the slide and jumping off of it!!



of course Daddy is the most fun person to play in the pool with....

he does handstands


cannon ball contest


and he even does back-flips!!!


this little cutie LOVES to be in the pool!!


most of our other activities involved being indoors! The kids went to VBS and they had the "Panda Mania" theme. They had a great time.


Cooper went to Upward Basketball Camp....he LOVES basketball!!



One of my favorite things from this summer was when The Schmidt Family (and MawMaw) came to our house and watched the kids for 7 days so Richard and I could go to the beach!! It was wonderful!! So wonderful that I did not even take one picture...I was too busy sleeping late and relaxing on the beach : )

I did get one picture of Sara with the girls

I know everyone was worn out when we got back home but it was so nice to get away without the kids! Thanks so much MawMaw, Diane, Ashlea, and Sara!!

Our last big event before school started was going to Hurricane Harbor, the big water park here in Texas. We all had a great time going down all the fun water slides! I did not have the camera with me...so no pictures, but it was definitely a fun day!

Big Cedar Lodge

For the past several years we have gone to Branson and stayed at Big Cedar Lodge. Since we now live over 8 hours away, I kind of figured we would not get to do this again anytime soon. We decided it is too fun of a family vacation to miss out on, so we made the long trip! The kids did pretty good. (this trip was taken the beginning of June...still play catch-up)

Their favorite thing about Branson is riding go-carts!! So this was our first stop.



Lucy was too small to ride, but I know she is going to love riding once she is big enough!!


We love the pools and slides at Big Cedar Lodge.


Lucy loved being like the big kids and going down the slide by herself!!


Fun at Branson Landing


the kids "dancing" on the sofa : )


Love this one of Cooper!!


a rare picture of me and Richard


the kids love to do this at Mexican restaurants.....whatever keeps them entertained : )

sweet girl!



all ready for bed! (Lucy actually slept in the pack and play, but she thinks she is ready to be like the big kids!)