Visistors, Football, School, and Fall Weather

Hannah is home from New Zealand!  She came to spend the weekend with us a couple of weeks ago.  She played with girls at the pool and kicked off football season with us at the Pope game.  Such a special treat for all of us!  

Life is hard for a 6-year-old.

We introduced Lisa to Waffle House. 

Game night is way more fun when Aunt Hannah is playing.

My crew at the Pope game.  SGA hosted a student tailgate and "paint-up" party.  

Faculty gets to sit on the field in the end zone which is great because the kids can run around and not fall out of the bleachers.

Caroline was in awe of the players.  

Eva and Elizabeth might not be in school together anymore, but they still love being Pope fans together.  Elizabeth's shirt was all tied up because she was flipping around on the turf.

Go Greyhounds!

This girl loves to eat!

School really wears these girls out.

Movie time in mommy's bed

Elizabeth loves doing her hair all by herself.  Each morning she challenges herself to a new hair style.  This was her "messy bun with a bow" look.  She asked me to snap a picture so she could see it and make sure it's what she wanted.

I love the day that NHS inducts new members.  They always have a created theme and interrupt class to make a big deal of it for the students.  This year's theme was Scooby Doo, and they challenged each new inductee to solve a problem with a clue they gave.  I had one or two in each class so this was a fun day!  We were learning about neurons this day (as seen on the projector) so NHS really helped livin up class!

I love seeing my 6'2" husband sit in the little chairs to help the kids in Children's Church.

The weather has been so nice so we've been sneaking in as much outside time as possible.  It's really hard now that both girls have activities after school and  homework, but kids still need to be kids! 

Elizabeth loves working on her tumbling when we're outside.

And my sweet Caroline loves to "read the pictures" of her books.  On this night I taped her "reading" her bible.  She might not know all the words but she definitely understands His message!

Friends are Family

Last weekend we had some very special visitors!  Meghan (with baby James) and Christy (with Ella Jo) came to meet sweet Anna Lee.  The five of us have been best friends for almost 20 years now (wow!).  They are such a blessing in my life and being able to show my girls what great friendship looks like is such an incredible gift from them.

We had dinner and played outside at my house on Friday night.

On Saturday we spent the entire day and night just hanging out at Mackenzie's house.

Elizabeth and Lea were instant best friends which made my heart so very happy!

The kids were excited when the ice cream truck came by.  Mackenzie was laughing at Mel and I as we stood in line with our kids holding our wine.  Classy!

We couldn't resist a Tennessee photo opportunity.

Little mamas!

Lisa (our  exchange student) came too and enjoyed loving on the babies.

Cabe was so extra sweet to Caroline and had so much patience trying to teach her to play video games.  She decided after we left that she needed a big brother.  Sorry sister!

Holding hands on the way to the park.

Sweet 6-year-olds

Settling into a Routine

We celebrated a successful first week of school with a late night swim party!

Precious Anna Lee made her  debut during the first week as well. 

The girls ask to go to the pool everyday after school.  I always say no, but we sure do go swimming on the weekends still.

Caroline was attacked by a fire ant.  Poor thing.  She  didn't even cry... just whined and whimpered.  It was so sad. 

Sometimes it's hard to get these two going in the morning.  

But once they're up, they are ready to face the day!

First Days of School

On Monday, Elizabeth started First Grade and Caroline started Pre-Kindergarten.  

On Tuesday, this picture popped up on my timehop from last year.  WOW!!  My precious girl sure did grow up a lot in the past year.  It makes me want to hold on so tight and not let her grow up any more!

So far they are both so excited to go to school in the mornings and so exhausted when they get home.  Caroline fell asleep in my lap at 6:45 last night.  I'm so very excited to see what this year holds for these two blessings!

School Prep

Just in time for school to start we finished Caroline's big girl room!

My SGA kids had a kick off party before school started.  One of our girls lives in a great neighborhood where all the houses back up to a lake.  Everyone had a blast, especially my girls.

Elizabeth had her Meet and Greet on Thursday.

Caroline had her Meet and Greet on Friday.

Caroline and Ian are in the same class at Sprayberry Academy. 

The girls and I went for back-to-school mani/pedis.  

Elizabeth's first assignment was to bring in a family photo.  We haven't had one in so long we decided to try to take a family selfie.  This was my attempt.

This was Bert's attempt.  Neither were great, but they will do.  We are excited to start this new year!