Summer in Review



Since our last trip, I have been wanting to post about our summer. As you can probably guess, I have been spending my free time doing chores or sleeping. This baby is honestly taking every ounce of energy I have left for the day and causing me to be extremely fatigued.

 

So, last week, I started uploading pictures and I was able to finish loading the rest today to give you a glimpse of our summer.

 

We had a wonderful summer break. If you didn't see or hear from us, it was because we were pretty much gone from July 4- August 8.We took a trip to Colorado, which pictures from that trip can be seen here, went to a family reunion in West Texas, had a college friends reunion weekend in College Station and we ended our summer with a trip to Dallas to see Mimi and Papaw! It was such a wonderful summer!!!

 

 



This summer, I learned that my boys eat their watermelons very differently: Nathan, just dives in, Joseph, is very serious and concerned with each bite, and Christian, looks to see where his next bite is going to be.

This summer, I learned that my boys have some mad ninja trampoline skills and that Christian and Joseph may have a future in modeling.

 

This summer, I learned that Nathan looks super cute in this shirt and that my boys LOVE watching the Olympics (swimming and track were their favs)

 

This summer, I learned that Christian either falls ill, sleepy or becomes injured when asked to pick up his toys.

 

This summer, Nathan learned how to raid the pantry and I finally figured out why all our snacks were going so quickly.

 

This was nothing new, but my boys love to play with and in the water!

Joseph and one of his buds at VBS.

This summer, I also learned that Nathan would much rather eat off of the floor rather than eat his snacks from the bowl that I put them in.

 

This summer, Nathan became a student of Joseph's Frogology 101 and learned how to catch and handle frogs.

 Hunting for frogs.

 

This summer it happened, Nathan became a MAJOR Daddy's boy!

 

Check out these cuties!!

 

 And, these cuties at the circus, courtesy of Marnie and Poppy!

One of my highlights from this summer, was meeting with our college friends in College Station for one Saturday. This group is absolutely amazing! Even though we have had these mini reunions a few times since we have graduated, I am still amazed at how we can get together after not having seen each other in months and laugh and practically pick up right where we left off. Love it!

Here, we are staging what it used to look like several nights a week at dinner (minus the kiddos!). Just the five of us laughing so hard that our sides would ache and talking about dreams and hopes for the future. 

 





 

Obviously not the best picture, but me and my college roommate and best friend Kimmi outside our dorm hall! So many memories!

 

I am pretty sure some DIE HARD Ags would poop a communion cracker if they saw our son climbing the Century Tree. Oh well, boys gotta be boys.

 

We took our boys to Daddy Bush's library and Museum. I was very impressed at how well the did.

 

To end our summer, we took a trip to Dallas to see Mimi, Papaw, Aunt Stacey, Uncle Josh, cousin Cooper and my Grandmother. This was such a fun fun fun trip! My dad went out and bought all of Joseph's school supplies and clothes. My Grandma bought him his backpack and lunch box. Mimi took us to this awesome water park, we swam tons, watched the Olympics and ate lot of popcorn. It's our boys home away from home!



 





Oh, the older two got new running shoes, so as soon as we got home, they wanted to go to the track and try them out. Nathan didn't get new kicks, he just does everything his brothers do,

 

 

 

 



First week of school

I would have loved to post this on his first official day of school, but I didn't feel that great. But, I guess it's always better late than never.

 

Last Monday, we began a very special journey. We lept into a new phase of parenting and so far, it's been a pretty smooth transition. There are some things that were a smoother transition than I thought they would be and then there are things that I didn't even think of being a problem that I am hoping with time will work themselves out.

 

Joseph's very first day of Kindergarten was so special and a day that I will probably never forget. He was so excited about going, eating out of his new lunch box, taking his new backpack and going to his school that we have driven by hundreds of times. I was getting ready around 6:30a, thinking I needed to hurry so I could go get him up in time for breakfast, etc. As I was getting ready, he came to our room with a huge smile on his face and said, "I get to go to school today!" I hope that he will always be this excited about school. The rest of the week was very similar to the first day. He was super excited and made sure I made his lunch, signed his binder and got his backpack everyday.

 

The start of this week was a little more rough, unfortunately. I am thinking it is because he was super exhausted this morning and not because he thought school was over since he had three days off and was upset that he had to go back.

 

 I am really anxious about getting up to the school to begin volunteering and going to have lunch with him so I can get to know his teacher, the staff/administration and the kids in his class. So far, this past week, all the information I know is coming from a 5 year old boy, so as you can imagine, not the most reliable source.

 The morning routine, which I thought was going to be awful, has been great! He has gotten up on his own every morning and is very chatty. The other two have also been waking up a little before 7, so I have all the kids fed and dressed before we even get out the door. After we drop Joseph off, our only two options are to go to the Y or come home. It does stink that we are all ready for our day, but we can't go anywhere right after we drop him because nothing is open, except the Y and Walmart. If we are going to go do anything, we usually have to come home to kill sometime before heading back out, which can be a pain when you have to load to car seat kids.

 The one thing that has surprised me most is the afternoons and how rough they have been. Joseph is so exhausted in the afternoons, so he doesn't want to do anything: his school work, listen, obey, nothing! He is just spent. It's been a learning week for him and for me. He's had to learn that no matter how exhausted you are , you still need to listen to your parents and I have had to work on being extra patient and understand that he is tired.
Christian has done really well, actually, better than I thought he would. However, in the evenings, there is a lot of fighting between Joseph and Christian. They have always gotten along really well (for the most part), so this is hard for me to watch. I think it's a combination of C being the leader during the day and getting to play however he wants and Joseph being super tired so he just picks on Christian to death in the evenings now. It's been rough, but this is one of those things that I am hoping, with time, they will adjust to the new normal and our evenings will be peaceful again.

 (Pintrest idea, but you may have to click on the pic to see what it actually says)

 

 

So far, we have been pleased with our decision of public school! We have had teachable moments already, so that has been fun. Like I said above, I am really looking forward to becoming involved with his school and get to know the community of MRE better.

 

We can not tell you how much have appreciated all the support and encouraging words from friends and family. We could defiantly feel the love the first couple of days.