Mother's Day Out!

Today was Avery's first day back at MDO at our church. It's now called Sonshine Kids Academy (formerly WEE School). She was so excited, and I was even MORE excited! I love my kids to death, but MDO just fills my life with joy :) She has Miss Merrie and Miss Kathy, the same teachers Aidan had two years ago. She's in a class with Cousin Sage, and her friends Hailey and Becca. Looking forward to a great year!

Miscellaneous

We are getting into the groove of a school routine around here. Aidan had a great first week! He had one random tearful morning on the second day, but other than that he's been all smiles. Avery and I have enjoyed our time together. We went to the Indoor Safari Park with some friends on Friday, and we had Cousin Sage over to play on Thursday. It was definitely a different dynamic without Aidan running the show! The girls just played quietly with girly toys, and it was so nice :) Avery is now doing gymnastics in the morning, and this week we'll also start a pre-ballet dance class. They'll both be on Wednesday mornings back-to-back, so we'll see how that goes...if it gets to be too much, we'll drop one :) She also starts MDO this week. I think I'm way more excited than she is!

With friend Hailey:

With Cousin Sage:

Some pics from the new Aquarium in Grapevine we went to with Kaelyn and our MOMS Club the week before school started:

One Day Down, 2000+ To Go!

Aidan had a terrific first day! We woke up on time thanks to our rarely-used alarms (my biggest fear was that I'd roll over and it would be 8:15...we are not early risers!) and Daniel helped me make some pancakes that I turned into happy faces and served on the red plate. Aidan was SO excited...no anxiety whatsoever, at least none that I could tell. We all four rode to school, and when we pulled up to the Kindergarten door he quietly said "I don't want to go in by myself..." (remember, car drop-off only!) but we saw that some older kids were helping the younger ones out of cars and into the classes, so that made him feel tons better. He walked right inside, and that was that! No tears from anyone :) Avery and I met up with some good friends for a "Tears & Cheers" lunch, and other than that we had a great Mommy/Daughter Day! After we picked Aidan up at 3, I tried to get as much out of him as I could. He's never been one to go into great detail about his day ;) Some tidbits I did get were: it was a LONG day (that was the first thing he said, ha!), he did "everything," he made friends and his teacher was nice, he counted to a thousand, he read, he played on computers, this is Red Week, tomorrow they go to music, and he ran out of time at lunch and didn't get to eat his rice krispie treat (luckily I have it for after dinner). We called Daddy and some family members, then after some playtime with Avery (they missed each other!) I could tell that Aidan was REALLY tired, so he's just vegging out right now. We'll go to bed early and start all over again tomorrow!! SO thankful for a great first day, and I hope everyone else had one too :)

His lunch: a turkey/cream cheese/tortilla roll-up, a go-gurt, apples and pretzels to dip in PB, rice krispie treat, and Capri Sun!






On our way!

There he goes!

Post-school treat at Yogurtland:

Ready for Kindergarten!

Aidan heads off to kindergarten TOMORROW! I can hardly believe it. He's ready though, and we are all really excited for him. Last week we went to Meet the Teacher Night, where we got to go to his classroom and see where he'll be sitting. We met some of his classmates and his teacher Mrs. Heidelberg who is SO nice! I was really glad I brought my camera because we can't go in with them on Monday morning. They just get out of the car at the door...quick and painless, like a band-aid :) I'll try to post tomorrow with an update on how everything went!

Great-Pa and Gamma

My mom came to town on Sunday after spending a few days with my grandmother and my aunts in New Mexico. So we loaded up our car and visited my other grandparents in Abilene for a night. It was so great to see Great-Pa and Gamma!

Great-Pa taking Aidan for a ride on the trail wagon. I love how Aidan is looking at his great-grandfather :)

Water hose fight! For some reason Avery opted not to participate.

Avery and Gamma:

Avery and Great-Pa:

Watching some Looney Tunes with Gamma on the iPad:

Teaching Great-Pa how to play Angry Birds:

Great-Pa showing off his homemade varmint trap:

Playing the same Hungry Hungry Hippos game I used to play with my brother and cousins growing up:

Our Version of a Rain Dance

We had a "cold front" of 90 degrees one afternoon last week, and it even looked like it might rain! So I figured that getting a huge outdoor project going was a surefire way to end this crazy drought we've been having. It wasn't, but at least the kids had fun :) And it did rain a couple days later!

Mobile Uploads

Here are some pics from my phone...I put a lot on Facebook but never really thought to post them here!

Spiderman!

Corn on the cob:

From Aidan's trip to the ER last summer when he fell on the stairs and got a gash on his forehead:

Baylor Homecoming with Katy and Hannah (I love the faces they're making):

Hanging out in bed (this is from way back when Avery still had her binky...sometimes I miss it!):

A massive mess the kids made one night:

This happened to be the picture in my phone right after the one of the mess (I guess I needed it!):

Avery in her Sue Sylveser-type track suit from my grandparents:

My little princess having a meltdown at a Sweet & Sassy birthday party (she really did have fun, just lost it towards the end):

Practicing reading while waiting for Avery at speech class:

Aidan and his friend Tate at Chick Fil-A:

Riding our bike and trike:

Just hanging out in the nightstand:

Fun with potty-training :)

Being sweet:

Avery getting her first pedicure at the salon! She's gotten a couple more since then...it always chips off after a week or so, but I love that it's so cheap and it's a treat for her!

Watching The Wizard of Oz for the first time:

Aidan with the game ball he got (for making great plays) after a t-ball game:

My sleeping nomad on the bathmat (I have found him in the weirdest places!):

Daddy's new office (Mommy hates looking out these high windows but the kids love it!):

A picture that Aidan drew of me at school...check out my nice rack!

With our friend Kaelyn at the library:

Avery enjoying a bubble bath:

Daniel and Aidan putting in my new mulch (Mother's Day gift!):

My new car that we got in May:

Me and my friend Julia before running a Firefly 5K back in June:

A cute picture of Avery (notice Cinderella in the background...she has recently become VERY into princesses!):

Daniel and the kids relaxing at our church's annual pool party:

Aidan shopping for school supplies!

My bestie Jenna and I doing our best Lucy-and-Ethel-at-the-candy-factory impression on Lucille Ball's 100th birthday!

Grammy and Aidan sporting some wax lips:

After graduating from swim lessons:

Avery and Cousin Logan (I love Avery's pouty lip):

Some blackmail material for Aidan's rehearsal dinner slide show!!