Big Day

Yesterday was a big day for Jake.  His top right tooth (the third) finally popped through.  We've been able to see the white under the surface for over a week.  On top of that, we went to the playground where he learned to slide all by himself (even without a push), and he had his first peanut butter sandwich.  Both were a huge hit!

Only Took 10 Years

10 years ago this weekend we were moving into our new house.  How do I know it was this weekend?  Well, it was 2 weeks before our wedding, and it was the weekend of the neighborhood campout.  We saw the signs as we drove into the neighborhood and thought, "How fun!  This is the coolest neighborhood.  We're definitely going to have to do that!"  10 years later, we finally made it to our first neighborhood campout.  No pictures, but it was a super fun time!  It's nice because everything (including food and camp fire) is already setup at the field at the bottom of the neighborhood.  All we had to do was bring our tent and chairs.  It was perfect weather, and the perfect place to run around and have fun with neighbors and friends.  We all enjoyed hot dogs and s'mores...except Ellie, who ate "s'nores".

Color Run

Saturday John completed his first 5k!  A while back I saw an ad for this color run and thought he might enjoy it.  He was excited about it, so I signed us up.  He's trained a little bit on the track at the Y.  This Saturday was the big day!  We went to the race while the girls did "girly things" with Buck and Jake.

 Each runner got a color pack (colored cornstarch).  I didn't want to carry them through the race, so we had a color fight at the start line.  It was fun!

 Unfortunately we had to wait 30 minutes in a bunch of people before we reached the starting line.  By that time John was already done.

 The 1st 2 miles were a bit like pulling teeth.

 Somewhere around the 2 mile marker, we got some encouraging texts from home, and it gave John and second wind (thank goodness! I had already pulled out all the stops...singing fun songs, challenges like getting through the color stations without getting hit with color...you name it).

 From that point on, John tried really hard.  He ran and walked, but seemed to start enjoying it and did a great job.

And we finished!!!  Way to go, John!

Back to School

 Time for another school year.  We had a really fun summer.  A few weeks before school started, I wasn't anywhere near ready for it.  We were just having too much fun (and sleeping in wasn't so bad either).  The last few weeks before school started, though, reminded me how much the kids need that routine.  They were all very excited about school starting, and eventually I was, too.

 Buck decorated the kitchen table for their first day (did I ever post about the super fun chalkboard paint on the kitchen table?)

 Everyone did a great job getting up and ready the first morning (that has since fallen off considerably).  Ellie's first day wasn't until the following Monday, but she wanted to have her backpack for the picture. 

 Of course these monkeys had a silly picture.

They were both excited about school, but Eve was NOT excited about the ream of paper in her backpack...or the fact that John was putting his arm around her for the picture.

 This might be my favorite (and most telling) back to school picture EVER.

 Once we got to the parking lot, I convinced Eve to put her backpack in front of her and smile for a picture.  This picture is also very telling.  She was so excited for school and proud of her lunchbox, backpack, dress...well, everything.
John is in 1st grade.  His teacher is Dr. Mahaffey.  I think he's going to be fantastic.  He teaches grad level education classes at Furman and USC Upstate on nights and summers.  He has 9 children, and is a 22 time Ironman!  He is very kind and softspoken, and seems like a fantastic teacher.  John is excited, and so far has loved every minute of school.
Eve is in Kindergarten and has Mrs. Ferrel and Mrs. Smith.  She has also loved every little bit of school.  She's learning the dress code, "No noodle straps", or spaghetti straps as you and I might call them.  From the way she talks, she's been quite the social butterfly.  She pulled her first ticket (disciplinary measure) on the 8th day of school.  It was for talking.  I'm a little surprised she made it that long.  While she's loving school, she's not wanting to do homework.  It's very easy for her, but she's pitched a fit and screamed about how hard it is.  The second day of homework (7th day of school), we put together that the frustration is coming from exhaustion when she fell asleep at 6:00!  Once she gets into the swing of things, she's going to have a fantastic year.

Jake, Ellie, and I were so happy to pick them up at the bus stop the first day!  It's the most fun part of school, you know.

Not to be left out, Ellie started preschool!  I took her out, just the two of us, one night to buy supplies.  It was just about one of the cutest things ever.  She's mentioned preschool at least once a day since we signed her up in February.  She was just a tad bit excited.

 On the first day, she was so very proud!

 Posing...

 Jumping...

 And ready to get in the car!

Ellie has Mrs. Douglas and Mrs. Gray (Eve's teachers from 3K), 3 mornings a week.  She had some pretty high expectations of school, having talked about it for several months.  Her teachers have not disappointed.  Ellie walked straight in and got started with her playdoh the first day.  She was a little shy the second day, but didn't have any problems.  By Friday she hopped right in again.  Each day she's been disappointed to leave, and has told me all about what she's done.  She is absolutely loving it!
Jake has enjoyed his first few days as an only child as well.  All around, we're having a great school year so far!

One Day...

Doesn't this look sweet?

This wasn't quite as it seems.  There's a story behind it.  On the way home from church one recent Sunday, John and Eve were arguing and being particularly nasty to one another.  I decided to let it go since it's hard to discipline and have them listen while in the car...and they think they're getting away with it.  When we got home, I pulled them aside in the driveway and sentenced them to 5 laps around the cul-de-sac hand in hand.  It took a long time for them to both decide to work together and finish it out.  Buck thought it was picture-worthy.  One day they'll thank us for it...or seek counseling for it.

Hiking

We had a bucket list for the summer.  I think we got to almost everything.  One thing on our list was hiking.  We decided to go to Paris Mountain and it was such a fun time!  So fun, in fact, that when there was a really unseasonably cool day a few weeks later, we went again with Grandma.  These pictures were from our first trip.  Poor John got stung by 2 bees before we even left the ranger's station, but we pulled it together and really enjoyed it.

 

After our second trip to Paris Mountain, we hit another item on our bucket list...gem mining in Hendersonville.  The kids LOVED it!

 We found lots of pretty treasures.

I think we enjoyed the shop as much as, if not more than, finding the treasures.  There were so many neat things inside, and they weren't fragile!  There also was a magnifying glass, which was cool.

Pier

I was flipping through pictures from John's camera and realized there are some good pictures from this summer where we had his camera, but not mine.  Here are some pictures from the pier while we were at the beach.  What a neat experience...and so many nice people!

 John got to hold his first shark!

 One guy let him reel one in!

AND, just as we were leaving these nice guys pulled in a sting ray and let us "pet" it!

Summer Rain

We had a ridiculous amount of rain this summer.  At "meet the teacher" for Plain Elementary, the principal said there were 5 days without rain, and I believe her.  Lots of those days had LOTS of rain.  Then again, lots of those days just had pop up thundershowers, several of them being bed time or later.  That mixed with temps well below normal (we only broke 90 a few times, and even then, just barely), it's been one of my favorite summers.  We made the most of the rain.

I picked up a pretzel kid from the grocery store a while back.  One day when we needed an activity, I pulled it out, and it did not disappoint!  We really enjoyed it!

 I was pretty proud of my pretzel.
On another rainy day, we decided to just make the most of it outside.  It's not often we have a warm rain that isn't paired with lightning, but this day was perfect.

 Poor Jake doesn't have a raincoat of his own, but we had a really cute pink one that was just his size.  He seemed to enjoy himself just fine.  He loved splashing in the puddles.

 Just one of the girls :)

 Not to worry.  John broke him in as one of the boys.

Rain isn't so bad after all!