1st Day of 1st Grade!

Last Monday, Payton started first grade! Wes dropped Brady off at Oma and Opa's house before school, so he snapped these photos at their house before they headed off to Twain. I think that my parents have the exact same picture of me from about 25 years ago...except I wasn't holding a bird. Gotta love our animal lover PR! Payton's new teacher is Miss Gloor. Miss Gloor is young, very nice, super organized, and Payton seems to really enjoy her so far. Like Auntie Abby, Miss Gloor uses a light system for behavior...red through green, with blue being the best! Each day, Payton colors in her take home planner the color of light that she earns. Payton got four blue lights in a row! She is adjusting to her much longer days, and being a responsible and respectful student. We are very proud of you Payton!

Payton's Ears

Last night, we headed over to Claire's Boutique at the mall for a very important milestone. Payton will be starting her very first day of first grade tomorrow morning, so we thought we should celebrate the occasion with something she has been asking to do for several months. Payton wanted to get her ears pierced. Here is the play by play of the event...

Before: Payton is all smiles. Aware that it will "sting a little", Payton is feeling brave and ready to go.
Daddy is asked to use hair clips to expose Payton's ears. Daddy LOVES doing hair!The nice Claire's lady marks Payton's ears with marker dots. Notice the change in Payton's expression...she is starting to sense something is up...I'm actually very shocked that this picture didn't turn out blurry. This is just as ear #1 is getting pierced, and Payton jumped approximately 12 feet into the air. Here's where "stinging a little" turned into "hurts really bad"Daddy is now replaced by mommy who has to console/hold down Payton's arms in order to pierce ear #2.All done. Hopefully this will prevent any requests for additional piercings for the next eighteen years...A full recovery thanks to a lollipop.We are very proud of our big first grade girl!

Go Broncos!

Last night we joined 20,000 other Bronco fans and attended the free pre-season practice at Invesco Field. Yes, 20,000 people came out to watch PRACTICE. More on that later.
In order to kickoff the football season properly, we had to tailgate for a few hours before practice. Kim, Brad, Ernie, Todd, and Wesley enjoying some parking lot fun.
Ella and Cohen enjoyed their first Bronco outing...
Brady fits right in with all of the guys.Payton could have cared less about the football, but she had a blast roller blading in the parking lot!This guy wasn't with us, but anyone who gets this decked out for practice deserves to have his picture taken.Brady is yelling "Go Broncos!" in this shot.We even got interviewed for the website broncosplanet.com. Brad and Ernie showed off the youngest Bronco fans and gave their predictions/opinions about the season. They also interviewed Brady and Payton who gave their shout outs to the Irish and Brady Quinn.At 6:00, practice began. So we headed inside and found some seats.
And here's the main reason the Syers Family went to practice. Go Brady Quinn!And here's the main reason why the remaining 20,000 fans attended practice. Tim Tebow, sporting his "rookie hazing" Friar Tuck hair do.Tebow (15), Orton (8), and Quinn (9).
We had a great night. Go Broncos!

And The Tie Goes To...

THE BOYS!

That's right. We found out yesterday that Wes and Brady, along with our newborn SON, will outnumber Payton and I come December...we had our 2o week ultrasound and within the first five minutes, we definitely knew we were having a boy. I won't publish that picture for the world to see...we'll save the parental humiliation until after he is born. :)

Here's a profile pic of the little monkey.

I think this video footage is pretty unbelievable. The things we can see when they are only 1 pound and 7 inches from head to toe. Can you see his hiccups?

Look closely at this one. It's a close up of the little monkey's face. You can see his mouth is wide open at the beginning, maybe a yawn? Right towards the end, you can see it close.

We are so thankful for this new little monkey. Soon enough, we will be a family of five...

Soaking Up Every Last Bit Of Summer...

Sunscreen Footprints...

There's No Place Like Home...

...especially when your new nephew Cohen gets to live in the same place!
Brad, Jayne, and Cohen moved from California to Colorado a few weeks ago. Brad got a teaching job at Arapahoe, so it will be fun to be coworkers as well as siblings. It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but we are so glad they are here!Hangin' with Uncle Brad...
Payton loves her Auntie Jayne!

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, (1999 is starting to seem like a VERY long time ago...) a group of girls went to college in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
During their junior and senior years, they lived together in this house on Woodcliff. They slept, ate, studied, hung out, but mostly, they laughed A LOT.
All of the girls still look back on those memories and smile. So, they get together every once in a while to catch up, relax, and laugh some more. This time around, they stayed in this beautiful house...
On this lake.They putzed around on this pontoon boat,
They swam (well, more like floated) in the water,Acted a little silly (we were without our kids you know),They even squeezed in an evening booze cruise :)When they weren't in the water, they talked, ate (A LOT), and had a great time.
And of course, there were some pedicures, a movie, and some shopping.
All in all, it was an awesome reunion. What a blessing it is to have lifetime friends.The End (or they lived happily ever after).