Meet and Greet Festivities

Preschool meet and greet day started with a family breakfast with Mimi and Bop Bop, then it was on to meet our new teacher! We waited for our turn...

Then Mrs. Tricia brought us in and wowed Abby Jane with a fabulous book of pictures telling us all about her and her family. The highlight was a picture of her daughter, who's getting married this fall, trying on a wedding dress. Four-year-old translation: Mrs. Tricia has a princess in her family.

Blythe and Joy had no hesitation busying themselves in the kitchen and bringing us various treats while Abby Jane and I were talking with her teachers.

 Excited girl and her sweet new teachers, Mrs. Tricia and Mrs. Becky!

 We went straight from the school to the pool for a quick swim with Ericka and Grant.

 Miss Ericka had cupcakes for the kiddos to celebrate Abby Jane's fun morning, conveniently left over from Grant's big boy party the night before (the one where they celebrated him moving into his new big boy room in preparation for his baby sister's arrival in November!)

Don't believe Blythe's face here- the twins were equally jubilant over their fun morning and yummy cupcakes!

Bananas and flaxseed

Poor some flaxseed in a bowl, pass out bananas, and take it outside if you can. Refer to flaxseed as sprinkles if you like. Be prepared to end up going through a whole bunch of bananas if your little monkeys are really in the mood. This was a six-banana morning.

 Some people might prefer to eat bananas and flaxseed with wings and sunglasses.

Zoo in the summer

We actually went to the zoo twice this summer! The idea of the Atlanta zoo in the summer sounds JUST awful and hot and miserable, but somehow, it was a really great experience both times we went! The first was with cousins, and the second was with our sweet friends, the Joneses. It was a wonderful morning to change things up and enjoy that precious family!

 We got an up close and personal moment with the lion, who also graced the entire zoo with a thunderous roar!

 Blythe holding down the fort on the gorilla photo op.

 The kids' favorite part of the zoo in the summer- the cool mists!!

 We just barely made it to the petting zoo before the bottom dropped out and we got soaking wet on our way out. But it was a perfect morning!

 Linds got this on her phone- I love this girl and am so blessed and refreshed by her sweet friendship!

Dress-up

I'm getting caught up. I was reviewing the last few weeks of pictures, and I have a boatload of fabulous pictures. It appears to me that what my girls most enjoy doing when we're not rushing out the door is putting on dress-up clothes as soon as they finish breakfast, and then the party really starts. And this happened on pretty much a daily basis during the summer. The following collection is from a couple of such mornings.

In case you didn't see this on a previous post, this particularly fetching leotard is circa 1986, when I took tap dancing. It's the most coveted item in our dress-up repertoire, and is best worn with a flashlight to shine on the sequins to create dazzling sparkles on the walls and sisters.

 Blythe the flying fairy.

When I was a little girl, we had a special coffee table my dad had made when he and Mom were poor newlyweds, and it was sturdy enough for us to dance on top of. When Jake and I were newlyweds and bought our very first piece of furniture, it was this coffee table, and my one caveat was that it be sturdy enough for our kids to dance on if they wanted to. Exhibit A...

Simply wearing your shades during breakfast can really help you get your game face on for the after-breakfast dance party. 

 It's the little things that snazz life up.

A Day in the Loveliest Village

In the beginning of this month, the girls and I went down for a day in Auburn! We had the delightful pleasure of seeing our sweet friends the Muncies and the Millers. We've known these sweet friends since our newlywed days, and there weren't all these little people back then! We so enjoy keeping up with these sweet families, and I was thankful they were able to get together for our last-minute trip!

We started the morning with some bouncehouse fun at Froglegs, perfect for after our little morning road-trip. Then we were off to a delish lunch at the Chicken Salad Chick. If you haven't been and have one near you- go! They have something like nine different kinds of chicken salad. Fabo.

Next, we went with the Muncies for yogurt at Chill, where the Muncie kids are literally poster children and our children only wish we were local and went often enough for them to be, too. :)

By this time, they were all hot and tired, but we had to document the oldest five of the crew. Little Mac was with his mama. From left to right, three two's, one five, and a four year old!

No trip to Auburn is complete to our family without walking around Samford lawn. These are the steps where Jake proposed to me!

Blythe and Joy are doing "Waaaaaaar Eagle!"

Last but not least, a stop at Toomer's, for what it does best.

Can't wait to go back when the air is a little cooler, the leaves are beginning to change, and it's beautiful season of football!!!!!

Grand Finale week

As most of y'all who follow our blog know, my brother Greg and his family were in town from Manila for the summer. Their last week in town, my sister Jodi and her family came in for a massive family throw down at Mom's for a week. Just a reminder on our stats, that's seven adults and nine kids nine and under.

We started off with a wonderful brunch with Grandaddy, Granny Joan, Aunt Becky, and Uncle Richard.

 Grandaddy brought his famous paper airplanes that we all threw off Mom's deck. We sure loved our time with them!

 Ian and Abby Jane were swinging buddies. I'm thinking the two of them could swing all day long.

We brought two paddleboards to use on Mom's lake, and they were a huge hit. Katie was the first kid to go out on her own, but by the end of the week, everyone six and older had learned how get around on a board by themselves.

 Abby and Ryan hanging out watching folks out on the water.

 This is how Joy likes to ride.

This is how Blythe likes to roll. We're literally walking out the door to the pool (Chris in the background carrying towels) and she adorned herself with necklaces, a stethoscope, bringing along a frisbee for a prop all in the 15 feet from Grammy's toy closet to the door.

 Joy can't jump without grinning.

 We spent a lot of time at the pool.

Blythe's alter ego is being a sneaky little squirter. She's a confident little one with the gun. I've started telling her it's OK to shoot daddies so she always has a decent target that's not going to cry.

 One morning Joy was spectacularly quiet and groggy, but did not want to be in bed. I sneaked her out of the room before she could bother Blythe too much and we discovered Uncle Chris making pancakes. This morning was in stark contrast to the first morning we woke up at Mom's to Joy gustily singing the entirety "God bless America" at 6:40 a.m.

 Making homemade peach ice cream for the night Uncle Wayne and Aunt Boo came over for dessert!

 The big kids were amazingly engaged with the little ones. Which is great because Maggie and Blythe both honestly claim to be five instead of two, and while Joy owns up to being two, she keeps up with the eight year olds. So it's a good things the big kids didn't mind them.

 This happened at Ian's birthday party. She wasn't too worried about it.

 This is where seven of nine decided to sit to eat Ian's birthday ice cream cones!

 This is the delight that legos bring.

 Since legos are just that cool, everyone over the age of two except Jodi and I spent one day at Legoland. This is the pre-departure picture.

 While they were gone, the two-year-olds cemented their token triplet status by running around town in the back of my car while Jo and I got supplies for a surprise 40th birthday party for Greg and Sus.

As a follow-up to last year's Top of the Hill cake,

We had an "Over the Hill" cake this year!

 Here are the ancient 40 year olds blowing out their cake. We had a fire extinguisher available, but somehow they summoned enough oxygen on their own.

 I hadn't anticipated how much fun Abby Jane would have there at Legoland. This is her very first purchase of a Lego set.

 Lemonade break on one hot July day.

 Even though I obviously have included tons more pictures than most of you care to see, it's hardly even a taste for how much fun we had and how much these cousins love each other. Somehow I missed getting much footage of the Abby Jane and Ashley show- a continuous ballet-dancing, fancy-dressing, funny silly little girls who couldn't get enough of each other. Each kid connects well with everyone else- they each have a special buddy but there's kids always splitting off into different combinations that all seem to gel beautifully. We're so thankful for our family, and we're so thankful for such a special week to end our summer with a splash!

Miss you already, Elliotts, and can't wait to see you next summer!