First Day of School and a New Addition

(who can get over Ben in his 70's musician hair?! and his shirt poking out like he has a gut- kills me.)
It really was fantastic.  No one cried, and they seemed excited when they saw their teachers.  We even got there on time without feeling rushed, which was obviously a first day of school miracle that will never happen again.

 and I only have a picture of aves at her desk and not the twins.  SO, mom fail.

And the second day they got up there and walked in with ease and excitement and then when we got to the twins teacher they got kind of clingy and cry-y.  I found out that Ben had wanted to sit with Sassy at her desk for the day the day before.  I dont know exactly how it all went down, but the teacher had let him pull up a chair at her desk and not sit at his own desk. I dont know if that issue has been resolved yet, but what a sweet teacher letting them sit together.  Just love that leniency this week.  I know there will have to be more hardcoreness next week :)
oh, and baby makes four- coming in Jan! (hopefully Dec. All fingers are crossed!)

I know four kids is kind of crazy.  When I met my new Dr, after looking at my charts he asked if I was sure if I wanted to do this?  What with all my kids already grown up, why would I want to go back???  He went on to stress that three is the normal amount of kids that one should have and I quickly realized I was pretty on par with the Duggers.  Thank you for the advice, but I am already kind of pretty deep in this.
I have definitely have my "what was I thinking?" moments, but the thought of getting to hold another chubby big headed baby just makes me giddy.
So, we are excited.  And I am 22 weeks at this point and feeling great.  The beginning was rough and I didnt feel very good at all, but I am through the rough parts and feeling so much better.
oh, and its only one baby this time.  So that's super exciting :)

Last Week of Summer

We crammed it all in.  I think we only slept in our beds for one or two days of the entire week.  It was just one of those weeks where everything exciting happens back to back.  Just love those kind of weeks.

We started it off in Tyler for the day for Ryker's fantastic bday and spent the rest of the day having our first ever go cart experience with the neighbors.  The kids LOVED it.  I dont know why I have never taken them to putt putt or to ride go carts before, but it was genius.  They thought I was the best mom ever. (Dont tell them they could have been doing it for years.)

Then, we got up early and cleaned our rooms  and got ready to go visit Julie! We have a lot of friends in one place (which we love) but we kind of try and sort it out so we can see everyone for a little quality time.  Her husband was working and it was just a huge slumber party!

Then, we headed off to paradise at my uncle and aunts lake property.  We ate until we could not fit any more food in our bodies and laughed and fished and played. It was heavenly.


Jeff even got to meet us out there after work for a night.
We did a little back to school shopping when we got home at the mall.  (started the fun with a carousel ride, hoping that would keep their spirits up for all the walking that was ahead.)

Then, on sunday, we all made friendship bracelets to remind the kids we were all thinking and praying for each other on monday.


We ended the night with a super healthy dinner of cereal.

I stayed up way too late making cheesy teacher gifts and going to every store trying to scrounge up the remaining school supplies.  Annnd I just sent candy.  Who needs school supplies.


(Whew.  So, that was about it.  I know that is all so very exciting for everyone.)
Here's to the first day! They are there right now and I am just counting the minutes until I can go get them.  I can not wait to hear how it went!!

Ella's first day of Kindergarten!

So crazy to even say that! 

Ella's first day went really great! We had meet the teacher yesterday and she seemed a little terrified. She was very quiet and I could tell her brain was spinning. I told her it was totally ok and normal to be nervous. She said she was a little bit nervous. When I asked her what made her nervous, she said it was learning her letters. Broke my heart. She does struggle with letters and sounds but we have been working on them so hard this summer and I think she is getting better each time. I am so proud of her! Speech is a big part of it and we are still in speech class every week. I know she will continue to improve, I just hate that she feels nervous about it before it even starts. I tried to reassure her how each kid learns at different times and that she is awesome and going to do great. I think she felt better about it all this morning because she was giddy on the way to school. It made me oh so happy! She was even loving the uniform which is HUGE for my sweet little fashion girl Ella. Our traditional on the way to school song is the Good Morning Song. Here is a little video I got at a red light this morning.

Look at my big girl!

Her classroom theme is Bugs. They are all called a Bug so of course I went full throttle with that and made a very cheesy teacher gift. We filled a mason jar full of bug candy and covered the jar in bug foam stickers too.


When I picked Ella up from school she was all smiles. She said she had a wonderful day and she even answered my 20+ questions. I am so so thankful for such a great first day!

 To celebrate the night before Kindergarten, Bob took Ella on a special Daddy Daughter date last night. He took her to the nail salon first. He even got a manicure and pedicure with her. Ha! I would have loved to see that in action. He said that Ella was so happy. Such a great dad!

Even though it looks like Bob might have a clear polish on his nail, he does not. They just buffed his nails so good that they shined! He was so funny about it.

They then ended the night with Ella's favorite. Breakfast for dinner at Cracker Barrel. While they were gone, McKenna and I set up a little surprise in their room. We have moved them to two twin beds this last weekend and are still in the process of making headboards and waiting on new comforters. (more on that later) I had this old vanity that my Mamaw gave me years ago. I decided that it would be the perfect piece next to Ella's bed. She loves to express her creativity in her clothing and hair styles. Since uniforms kinda holds her back I thought it would be fun to have her own little space to fix her hair. She was so excited. She just kept saying, "Mom, I love it!" over and over. Those really cool Barbie sheets were also a fun surprise to Ella. She was thrilled!

I saw the headband holder idea on pinterest. It is just two oatmeal containers that I glued fabric around. It works perfect! I think I need to make a third one already. That girl loves a headband. She was so excited to be able to see them all at once.

I read The Kissing Hand and The Night Before Kindergarten to the girls last night. That was the most emotional time for me. The Kissing Hand get me every time.

So overall, it was a WONDERFUL first day and I couldn't be happier! Praise God!

Summer Catch Up.

I have been so behind on blogging this summer so I am just going to mashup a whole bunch of posts into one. Hopefully this will get me to where I can post things that are up to date. Ok. Here comes a whole lot of random summer happenings...

We loved getting to have a late night playdate with Julie and her girls while both the dads were on call. The girls had so much fun making sugar cookies. We made our own sprinkles by dropping food coloring into sugar. McKenna and Lily were our sugar taste testers.

They rolled a ball of sugar cookie in the sprinkles and then we cut the ball at the top twice. It was supposed to make a flower shape. It was still more like a blob.

I had seen on Pinterest that if you mix a little powered jello into white icing it makes a great colored icing. The only jello I had was blue raspberry but it really was so good. I can't wait to try it with other flavors. The girls seemed to like it too.

Did you guys know that Lowes has craft days?! And it's free! Bob and I took the girls to a workshop where they made a car from Toy Story. It was so much fun! Bob helped McKenna make hers and I helped Ella. I joked at the beginning that we would finish ours first. Turns out Bob and McKenna finished first and I put our wheels on backwards...

Bob was the fun dad who had the great idea to pull down a piece of plywood to create a race track for all the kids. It was a huge hit! 

I was hoping Ella's car would have some sort of magical speed with the wheels on backwards. Not so much... Sorry Ella. 

Some family walks/bike rides.


Chip break.

Bob trying to teach by example.

One of the crafts that McKenna's sweet teacher did with them at school this summer was painting cupcakes. She made the cupcakes out of spray foam. The stuff that you use to spray on pipes and stuff to fill in cracks. I thought it was the coolest idea so we did it at home too. 

I filled the cupcakes up about 3/4 full. I let them dry overnight. They were puffed up and ready to paint by morning.

 

Lots of fun pool time at my parents house.

And in our backyard:)

One day during some much needed rain showers, we made some rain art. The girls colored on canvas with markers and then set them out in the rain to spread. Basically just a fun way to get the watercolor look.

We painted lots of masterpieces.

Even on faces.


We had dinner over at Kristen's new house a few weeks ago with Lindsay and her fam. It was a dream come true! All the parents and kids together is pure joy.

After dinner we went downtown for some ice cream.



I think that brings me up to speed now. Can't believe summer is over! Hope everyone else had a fun and crazy summer!

I will be back with a first day of Kindergarten post! I can't believe it! Today is the first day so I can't wait to hear all about it!