Adjusting to School

This one LOVES to help in the kitchen... and he has made a
habit of not wearing shirts around the house!  All boy!

They've been playing this card game every day after school!
NO IDEA what it is or how you play, and quite honestly I think
S makes up her own new rules each time;)

S's favorite teacher from kindergarten who is now a substitute
at her school and the school principal both have new puppies from
the same litter and bring them to school and carry them around.  S
came down one morning with her own puppy that she carried around
all day just like they do at school!

Both kids have been loving to play board games lately!
I need to get some more!

Now that the sun is coming up a bit later and I am up a LOT
early than during the summer, I'm reaping the benefits of
watching beautiful sunrises:)

C's been needing some "boy time" with kids his age, so I set
up for a friend to come over and play and then S was at the kid's
house playing with his sister.  All was well until the neighbor
girl showed up and things went downhill really fast!  I just
can't win!!

And, after all that, I rewarded myself with a class of vino!
Ahhh... well deserved:)

And, to cap off our second week of school... strep!!

Soccer Begins

C is playing soccer again this fall and had his first practice tonight! He has moved up to the 6-7 year old age group so he is one of the absolute youngest on the team but he held his own pretty well! He is probably the most distracted kiddo out there but his coach was good to reign him back in:)

And, apparently this coach is a really good one as they were undefeated last season and 5 of the boys were previously on his team and requested him again!

I'm hoping that C can focus and put forth 110% so that he can learn a lot this year and improve his game!

C on the right with yellow socks

Lake Jocassee

We've been itching to get up to the lake again, but something always seems to come up!  But, this morning we were determined to get there and left early!  We went to Lake Jocassee hoping that it would not be full yet.  It was not, but we did end up having to wait in line to get the boat put in and I think they must have had to cut everyone off not too long after we got there because parking places were slim!

We stayed a few hours, but knew the weather wouldn't hold out for a long day at the lake.  It was probably the most relaxing trip we've ever had on the boat.  We think that is because we got there early, it was not a particularly hot day, I pulled the truck and trailer up off the ramp(GULP!  I was so nervous driving that dually with so many people and vehicles around, and a trailer attached!!), there were so many fewer people on the lake since they do limit the number putting in at the ramp, the kids are old enough to spend most of their time riding on the tube, and we had plenty of snacks to keep everyone's bellies happy!

It was such a great time and we hope to do it again really soon!

Always so cooperative!

Racing the rain back to the ramp!

Cleaning Rooms

So you'd think I'd be relaxing and enjoying my "free time", but of course not!  I've been cleaning the kids' rooms because they were absolutely disgusting!  I ended up taking about 8 bags to goodwill and 10 bags to the trash!  And that didn't even include the clothes that I went through and pulled out of their drawers that were either too small or they didn't like and were never going to wear!  They can now close their drawers without clothes hanging out all over the place!

This took several days and was a lot of work, but now they look so so so much better!!


S's Room
Before:

She is the queen of hoarding TRASH!!  I even found a piece
wadded up in her compact!

After:

C's Room
Before:

After:

Upcountry History Museum

We've really become fond of this place!!

Their children's exhibits are very entertaining and educational too!  This time the changing children's exhibit was Storyland: A Trip Through Childhood Favorites and it was done extremely well!  The seven books there were Chick Chicka Boom Boom, The Snowy Day, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Where's Spot, Tuesday and Abuela.  We were familiar with most of these, so that helped even more to enjoy this exhibit.

We met our friends there, and because they are homeschooled, this was part of their school day and they were going to explore the rest of the museum that isn't necessarily geared towards younger kids so we went along with them.  It definitely wasn't as entertaining as the Storyland exhibit, but the kids actually seemed to like the rest of the museum too!

The next exhibit is sponsored by Harley Davidson so I'm sure that will be one to check out too!

First Day of School

This morning both kids headed off to their first day of school!  They were both super excited not only to get back to school and see their friends, but we've also joined a carpool this year and I got to drive the first "shift" this morning!  I had intentions of walking them in, but by the time we got to school, sat in traffic and finally made our way to the front, I decided that it was just easier to send them in without me walking them in!  Last minute decision didn't leave time to be sad about the fact that they've now grown out of me walking them in on the first day of school(although truth be known, S was looking forward to me walking them in and C was begging me not to! LOL!)!

Last night I went through my annual list of favorites with them!

Here are S's "Favorites" answers:

TV show - Austin and Ally

Food - Alfredo

Best friend - Shelby Kate and Goldie

Candy - Kit Kat

Color - Pink

Book - Serafina books

Activity - Reading

Wants to be - Farmer

Here are C's "Favorites" answers:

TV show - Donald Duck

Food - Cotton Candy

Best friend - Maxwell

Candy - Baby Bottle Pops

Color - Red and Black(he's on a UGA kick right now!)

Book - Donald Duck, and I'm going to throw in No David books too

Activity - Going to Chuck E Cheese

Wants to be - Policeman or in the army

Always the crazy one!

Our carpool friends!! (Goldie, Ellie and Shelby Kate)
C managed okay the first ride of being the lone boy of the group!

End of Summer

I have mixed emotions about summer coming to an end!  I am glad to not have to listen to non-stop fighting between the kids, but I'm not quite ready for extra-early mornings, schedules and homework!
Ready or not, here comes school!

Between strep and stomach bug, I've had to do some of my
work outs at home!

These two got much needed haircuts:)

S joined C in a karate class one day - she liked it okay, but
she is going to be one busy girl in a few weeks and we
are not going to put any more on her plate!

I had a temporary moment of insanity and brought C and
Olivia to the grocery with me - they were actually really
well behaved!

Amanda and I went to see Bad Moms one night and it was such
a great break!  However, $11.64 for just me!?!?! WHAT!?!?!

It's been a pretty dry summer, so he was glad to go check the
mail for me and get to use his umbrella:)

Lucky me got to go stuff envelopes at the school for a few hours one day for
Meet the Teacher night... one of the lovely perks of being on PTA...bleh! 

I saw blue hands out the back window after he finger
painted at zoo camp!

C went to a friend's pool party and they had a water balloon
fight - all the boys thought it was the greatest thing!

OLYMPICS!!!!

C had another birthday party at the water park and we all
went along for the fun!

Pizza, cake, ice cream and presents... at the water park..
doesn't get much better!

I took the kids to their inaugural Frankie's Fun Park
experience!  They each got $10 for arcades which
honestly didn't go near as far as I thought it should!! But,
then they got to use their tickets for prizes so that took up
a lot of time! 

Some last days at the pool:)

We've been playing UNO, and watching the Olympics,
a LOT!!

S's writing - she would go for a "spa treatment"!  I'm
in trouble!!

S had an orthodontist appointment and C loved it because
he was able to play video games in the waiting room!

I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I neglected to take
any pictures at meet the teacher night!!?!  As always, there were
137 forms to fill out when I got home!  Luckily, the Olympics were there
to entertain:)

More pool time:)

We celebrated M's birthday!  Instead of a cake, we did a brownies
this year!  Why?  Because 1) M doesn't love store bought birthday
cake; 2) I had everything I needed to make the brownies without
having to go grocery shopping with two crazy kids, so I chose
the save my sanity option! PS - do you see my coffee cup on the
counter ready for the next day!?!?  Buhaha!!!  I need it ASAP
at this point in the summer:)

Date Night at Purple Onion in Saluda, NC!!

We got to the gym one day and realize that C does not have shoes
on his feet!  Oh well!  In we went!  GROSS!!!

This is what we did most of the very last day of summer!
All of us super-lazy!!