2nd 1st day of preschool

It is back to school time at the Hess house. Professor Melissa headed back to school this afternoon, but not before Charlotte headed back to school for her second year of preschool this morning. Yes, that means that next year, Kindergarten will begin...don't get me started. Here are a couple pics of Charlotte that we took this morning and after picking her up.

She picked out her dress for the first day. It has doggies all over it. Oh, and her shoes light up too. You are only 4 once...right?

We may or may not have been eliciting smiles by flying pieces of candy into her mouth while shooting. Just a little tip if your kids aren't smiling.

She insisted we do a picture with "golden" her newest favorite stuffed animal. Charlotte can't wait to take golden to show and tell.

That's the Charlotte smirk we all know and love...

A shot by the brick wall at school.

Charlotte's teacher had a special box for Charlotte to keep all of her own supplies in...pretty cool!

Just checking things out...

Getting to work on her paper...

Parents brimming with pride after practicing writing her name every morning, all summer. And she nailed it!

And to cap things off...lunch at Skyline Chili...her favorite!

Ollie even got to partake.

And time to update the growth chart.

Mommy pointing out how much she's grown since last August.

And, "oggie too"

charlotte's 4th birthday party

Last weekend we celebrated Charlotte's 4th birthday. Friends of ours have a rule that kids aren't allowed to chew bubble gum until they turn 4, so we've been telling Charlotte that ever since she's been asking about bubble gum. She decided that for her 4th birthday she wanted it all to be about gum and candy, so when a cute little girl asked, here is what we came up with.

Charlotte checking out her slideshow before all of her guests arrived.

Here is a little sample of the spread we put out. Looking at these pictures makes me want to brush my teeth, but all of the kids seemed to love it!

Here are all of the craft bags waiting for all of Charlotte's cousins and friends.

Decorating aprons.

We read a fun book, called Bubble Gum Bubble Gum about a few animals that got stuck in a wad of gum on the road. Lots of fun!

Here are some of the kids decorating their cupcakes for later.

A shot of the dinner table

And time for presents...

Melissa found a bubble gum machine piñata and this is what ensued.

Eventually we just beat the thing open with our bare hands. Either way, lots of candy and toys hit the floor.

Right after that we gave Ollie and Charlotte a gift for both of them that some of our family helped us with. Their faces say it all.

Finally, 4 candles for the birthday girl.

Hard to believe our baby is already 4. Can't wait to see what this little girl does next!

charlotte is four

Today, Charlotte is four years old. So many changes in just one year. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

October was here and quickly gone...

Although the month of October is one of my favorite months of the year, it is the busiest month for our family and so it goes very quickly!  So quickly that we do not have time to put up regular blog posts.  So here was our October.  In between crazy schedules we enjoyed some fall fun. Charlotte really enjoys decorating and this years decorating day was lead by Charlotte herself.  She did a great job helping me inside and she did the outside of the house with a little help.

A couple of weekends ago we went to Shaw Farms to pick pumpkins.  We met Grandpa and Gibby and got to ride a hay ride (best deal in town), saw some animals, played at the farm and Charlotte got to take a farm train ride.  She was thrilled as you can see.

Later that evening we went to Grandpa and Gibby’s house for dinner to carve pumpkins.

On Halloween night Grandpa, Gibby and Tiki came over to partake in our block party with neighbors.  Charlotte and Oliver were Elsa and Olaf and not to be out-shined, Gibby and Tiki were scarecrows!  We had a delicious dinner and then all the kids took off for trick or treating adventures.  Charlotte knew exactly what she was doing as she had already trick or treated at preschool that morning.  Oliver just thought we were taking a walk with the whole neighborhood.  As soon as we walked up to the first house and he saw that he was getting “treaaaaaats!” he was off and didn’t slow down.

We had a very busy month and got to do some really fun things as a family.  Now it is November first, it is snowing and we have banana bread in the oven!  We welcome November and some lazier schedules!

-melissa