End of Summer Cook Out

Our cul-de-sac is a wonderful place.  Simply wonderful!  We have amazing friends and families that want their children to be good, kind and productive citizens!

Last year we were part of the yearly traditional End of Summer Cookout.  Everyone cooks out and eats in the cul-de-sac.  The kids have lots of fun.  The best part?  The hightlight?  The s'mores!  This year I was busy eating and totally forgot to snap pics of the food!  But I DID get pics of the s'mores!  What a sweet way to end the summer!

This is too divine for words.... You must try it!

Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon

Al, together with his friend Mike, signed-up for and then dutifully trained, for a 1/2 marathon.  The whole point?  To raise money to put towards our adoption.  How awesome is that?  The race was on Sunday, but since I did not have to work on Friday, we used Al's hotel rewards and left Friday morning- we left Al at the hotel to work- and the kids and I drove 10min to the beach where we played for over 4 hours!  It was glorious and we all had a spectacular time!  

We picked-up Al, grabbed some dinner, and then headed to the Convention Center to get his race packet, check out all the goodies, and then hit The Boardwalk.  There we enjoyed a ride on the Ferris Wheel- something we have always wanted to do- and it was worth it!

Everyone slept great that night!

Both kids LOVED boogie boarding and got rather good at it!

The Convention Center!

Boardwalk Fun!

Saturday morning, we packed up at our hotel and headed back to the beach and to our next hotel.  We would be staying in this hotel with our good friends the Ws!

Our room was the tippy top left!

What a view!

 We were so excited when the W's joined us!

The men enjoyed some boogie boarding- it was all to prepare them for their Big Run in the morning...

The men left at 5.45am, and Karen and I, together with the kiddos, met them at the 1 mile marker, which was only a few blocks walk from the hotel.

Cutest cheering section ever!

High Fives and moving on

We walked back to the hotel, ate a yummy breakfast, and then hauled it from 33rd St to 13th street to see them run across the finish line!

Stopping to see Ariel's Dad

Addie LOVED the huge hermit crab

Al!!  He finished with an official time of 1.55.35

SO proud of them!

Cooling off with a dip in the ocean

Proud of her Daddy

SO proud!

We promised the kids we could enjoy one other special treat- Kohr Brothers!  We did just that on our way home- yum!

Alden also added to our family, Moonshine, his hermit crab.  He had been working very hard to show us he was big and mature enough to handle the responsibility.  Moonshine is one feisty hermit crab, and thankfully he seems to get along with Sunshine just fine- they did come from the same store....

This was a really spectacular way to end our summer!  We just may need to make this some sort of tradition....

Meeting Teachers

Thursday the kids got to meet their teachers!  We have known since the last day of school who they would get- and have been super excited all summer about this!  I have been praying for these ladies all summer- they will be such an influence in my kids' lives!  I really feel blessed to have such wonderful and caring ladies helping guide Adeline and Alden!  It's going to be a great year- one that stretches us all, but will have a good outcome.

Alden got Mrs. Mountcasel.  She is simply wonderful!  I really think she will be good for Alden.  The theme in her room is baseball- how much more perfect can that be for my baseball-loving boy?!  She also has lots of experience of working with reluctant readers- that's Alden again!  He is excited to be in her class- and we are excited for this journey we will all take together!

Adeline has Mrs. Blevins this year!  The Perreca and Blevins' families will be incredibly close this year.  Mr. Blevins teachers across the hall from me (Lisa) and I have their middle daughter in my math class!  Good thing we think highly of each other!  Adeline was excited to see a few friends in her class- her main bff, who she has been class with since Goddard, is not in her class.  While she was sad about this, it has been an excellent life-lesson- which is one of the key reasons why we send our kids to school.  Already Adeline is busy working on The Scorpion Challenge (90 questions that must be researched and then recorded in a notebook), and her poster about herself.  I love that she is already motivated to work so hard and the school year hasn't even started yet!

Teacher Work Week

Teacher Work Week- I try to make it fun for the kids!  This year was no exception!  They were excited to go back to Goddard- they missed their friends.  And there were lots of fun things for them to do once we got home, too!

Our pool throws a Back to School Party for the kids- and Monday night was K-2nd!  Our friends Gray and Aubrey joined us for dinner and so did The Boys!  After dinner, we all headed to the pool where we swam, at free snow cones, played some games and ended the evening with Candy Bingo!  How awesome!

It isn't terribly exciting- but the kids are really into games- and we tried to end many evenings playing one of their choosing.  This pic just cracks me up!

Tuesday we picked up our friends Gray and Aubrey so their mom could work in her classroom.  We hit up the local McD's- they have $1.69 Happy Meals on Tuesdays!!  So for super cheap I could earn some mega Cool Mom points- done!

What do you do when it rains and you wanted to play at the pool?  You puddle jump all the way home!  Please forgive that these pics are fuzzy- the kids did not stop jumping!!

We had fun getting back into the groove of the whole school routine!

20 Questions About 6 Year Old Alden

1.  What is your favorite color? Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Legos

3. What is your favorite tv show or movie?  Gator Boys

4. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Popcorn

5.  What is your favorite outfit? My Richmond Kickers shirt and black soccer shorts

6. Who are your favorite friends?  The boys (live across the street)

7. What is your favorite creative activity? Building with Legos

8. What are your favorite animals? Lion, leopard, cheetah, and tiger

9. What is your favorite sport? Whatever I am playing- swimming, soccer, baseball, basketball and tennis

10. What is your favorite part of school?  Art

11. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play tennis with the boys (he just got a racket for his birthday)

12. What is your favorite drink? Gatorade

13. What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas 

14. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? NiNi (blanket)

15. What do you want to be when you grow up? Work with Gator Boys

16. What is your favorite thing to do with your sister? Go sledding with her 

17. What do you love about yourself? That I can ride a bike on two wheels

18.  What do you pray about? I ask Jesus stuff

19. What’s your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Have Daddy-Dates and build Legos

20. What’s your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Read

Alden's Pool Party

This was a big year for Alden.  Not only did he turn SIX and need TWO hands to show how old he is, but he had the first not-at-home birthday party!  The pool is a pretty big part of our life and it's super close, so it only made sense to have it there!  An added bonus was that I didn't have to clean my house! Lots of friends and family came and helped us celebrate and I think it's safe to say that everyone had a blast!

Ready to EAT!

PopPop and Al helped get each kid their plate full of food- pizza, watermelon, veggies (with Ranch), a juice box and napkin

After eating, the kids went back to swimming.  Lots of fun was had!  I took oodles of pictures, but for the sake of space, I chose only a few here....

The diving board was a huge hit!

Adeline loved having so many friends to play with!

The Birthday Boy!  He seriously did have fun even if he doesn't look like it....

Alden adored his Swim Team Coaches- and he insisted on inviting them to his party.  AND THEY CAME!  He was SO excited!  They not only came, they came with gifts and swam with him!  That just made his day- thank you!

Coach Dillon, Alden, Coach Megan, Adeline, Coach Allie

Alden asked for an ice cream bar instead of cake and ice cream.  Easy!  Karen had a fantastic idea of pre-scooping the icecream into little cups- which I did and it saved tons of time!  Each kid got a cup and we topped it with their choices of whip cream, sprinkles, chocolate chips, crushed oreos, gummy bears, chocolate sauce and even a cherry for the top.

Blowing out his candles

Enjoying ice cream on the diving blocks....

Friends excited for Alden to open their gift

Surrounded by sweet friends!  I hope this is a fantastic start to a great year, Alden!