Back to School

To be perfectly honest, I was thrilled when school started.  We had a lot of fun this summer.  Don't get me wrong.  The kids were getting bored at home though, and it was just time for a change.  Anna is doing wonderfully in first grade.  She's adjusted well and is really starting to take on more responsibility for herself.  Her teacher, Mrs. Ingram, is really into the kids being independent and not relying on her or anyone else to do things for them.  I LOVE THAT!  Anna comes home happy and tired every day.  We have a good routine down though.  Things are going really well for her. 

 ;-)

 Here's my sweet girl in her new classroom right before the bell rang on the first day of school. Anna is pretty quiet in a school setting. She seemed pretty shy that morning, but I could tell she was excited to be there.

 The kids have to recite a school motto every morning about trying their best and working hard.  I love it.

 Anna's teacher actually had a baby just three weeks before school started so she wasn't there for the first several weeks of school.  Anna really liked her substitute.  Her teacher, Mrs. Ingram, is back now and Anna loves her.

 Andrew also started preschool this year.  It is so good for him to go every day.  Andrew has so much energy and is a really, really smart little guy.  I love that he gets to go and grow in a classroom setting like this.  I don't think he's really learning anything new but it's good for him to be there.

 I just adore him.

 Andrew's preschool teacher's name is Ms. Jennifer.  She's amazing.  She is incredibly nice but also is quite strict, and I love that.  She really knows how to control the classroom.  Andrew is learning to not talk out of turn and to follow the rules of school.  He comes home happy as can be every day.

 I am really enjoying my time at home.  My house is not drowning in the messes that four kids bring.  I can clean it and it stays clean for more than five minutes at a time.  It's awesome!  Jenna and I are loving our playing time.  I love that we get to spend one on one time with each other, even if it is running errands.

 

Daniel is also going to preschool.  We are doing a "mommy preschool" at home.  I got together with some of my friends to organize a preschool for our little ones who could really benefit from preschool but are just a bit too young.  It's been awesome.  There are five little kids in our group, and they are all as adorable as can be.  Daniel gets SOOO excited for preschool days.  He starts dancing around the house and just totally thinks he's grown up.  We're working on things like the alphabet, counting, shapes, sequencing, patterns, and such.  

School is great because it really gives a structure to our busy life.  I love it.  The kids love it.  Everyone is happy!

Summer's Ending

 It has been H-O-T down here in Florida.  Last summer was a total teaser.  It was a really mild summer last year.  I think this year is making up for last year though.  I am so ready for fall weather.  I know I can't complain though because living in Florida has given us the most amazing weather for the rest of the year.
One of our dear friends gave us some passes to the Tallahassee Museum back in July.  The weather that morning was awful.  It was 9:00 in the morning and we were drenched in sweat.  We ended up leaving a little early because of the heat.  However, the kids had a blast, so that's all that really counts.

 I thought these trees looked really cool.  I looked for alligators but didn't find any.  However, you couldn't pay me money to get into that water.  I can only imagine how many snakes and gators are lurking in those waters.  Blah!

 It was miserably hot but Jenna was just as pleasant as ever.

 Anna inside the church.  She was pretending to give a sermon.

 There was an old train the kids went in that they thought was pretty cool.  I can't even imagine how hot it must have gotten on those old trains.  I'm so glad I was born in a day with air conditioning.

 Last summer we went to the beach once.  This summer we've been three or four times and plan to make one more trip before it starts to cool off.  Every one of our beach trips has been incredible.  It's always really, really breezy and never too hot.  The water feels like a bath.  It's sooo warm.  Daniel is completely obsessed with playing in the sand.  That's pretty much all he does for the six hours we stay there.  We have it down to an art.  We bought a big canopy to keep us all shaded.  We bring a folding table, a high chair and pack-n-play for Jenna, and lots of sand buckets.  It's awesome.

 Always in love with him.

 Those clouds looked wicked but it never rained.

 Here's my little fish.  My big fish, Josh, taught my little Andrew fish how to body surf and they were buddies the whole time.  I loved watching them.

 We went with our friends and all the kids LOVED going on this huge raft together.  They thought they had all died and gone to heaven.

 This is as we were walking to the car.  Daniel had to have just one last dig.

 He's such a cute little man.

A Month of Days

 July is a month of special days.  Fourth of July lasts for several days in our house.  Then, there's Cow Appreciation Day, which is a big deal!  Lastly, there's Pioneer Day, celebrated by the members of our church.  It was a good month.  I've already documented the 4th of July festivities so we'll start with Cow Appreciation Day.  The kids absolutely LOVE this day.  They were so excited to get to go inside of Chick-fil-A and play on the playground.  Luckily, we saw some of our friends there and it made the whole experience more sweet.  We threw our "costumes" together at the very last second in the car.  Next year I will try and make some cute costumes.  Jenna just dressed as herself but the rest of us dressed up like cows.  It was a fun afternoon.

 Pioneer Day turned into Pioneer Week.  I really, really wanted our kids to feel the spirit of the pioneers who sacrificed so much for what they believed.  I looked up tons of stories about the hardships they had to go through and shared them with the kids each night.  We had a family home evening on pioneer life.  Bedtime stories that week were all about the miracles the pioneers experienced.  We even ate a meal that reminded us of pioneer life.  On the actual day, we had the kids dress like the pioneers did and went on a one mile walk.  We wanted them to see what one mile felt like and then explained to them the pioneers walked for more than 1100 miles in cold, hunger, and exhaustion.  I think the kids got a real sense of who the pioneers were, and that was our goal.  It's so important to remember who has gone before us and why we have what we have today.

 My little pioneer buddy.

 I also wanted to document this daily occurrence in our house.  Every night I put Jenna to bed as I rock her to sleep in her room with a bottle.  While I'm doing that, Josh is reading books to the big kids on the couch.  And every night, without fail, Daniel falls asleep mid-story from a long day of playing.  We think it's sweet.  After I put Jenna to bed, I come in and scoop up Daniel in my arms.  I take him to his bed, tuck his covers around his tiny body, brush his hair with my hand, and give him a kiss goodnight.  I love that little boy.