First Day of Preschool

  So, I hope that Gavin doesn’t have a terrible case of “second child syndrome.”  He started preschool a month ago and I am just now blogging about it.  As we were talking to him in the weeks prior to starting, Gavin would usually say, “I no want to go to school!”   Needless to say, I was a little nervous about he would do. 

When the first day arrived, Gavin was actually pretty excited.  He was excited to go to school “like See-kah.”  :)

  Isn’t he a handsome little man?

When we dropped him off, Gavin, he was less than thrilled to be taken out of the car in the car pool line.   When I picked him up, however, he kept telling me how much fun he had.  So all in all, I think he had a great first day of school.

After school, we went by McDonald’s at brought it back home.  The weather was just wonderful, so I decided that we should eat it on the back porch.  It was a nice little lunch date with my little man

Early Release fun

 

So, with Mikayla in full day school five days a week, we don’t have as many opportunities to go on outings during the week like we used to.  For her first Early Release Day, we decided to take advantage of a great deal at the Georgia Aquarium and spend the afternoon there with some friends of ours.   Mikayla and Gavin had a great time hanging out with Matthew!  They all had a great time and if you can forget the last fifteen minutes that included a complete meltdown by Gavin, the did really well. (In Gavin’s defense it was the middle of nap time and he couldn’t go on the obstacle course because he was about 3 inches too short)

Mikayla hanging out with “Deepo.”

Looking at the jellyfish.

Gavin gazing in absolute amazement in the tunnel that leads to the big window.

  The aquarium has laminated cards that you can borrow so that the little ones can attempt to name all of the fish that are in the tank.  They didn’t really succeed, but they had fun anyways.

I am so glad that we made this trip downtown.  It was a loud car with four little ones (two of which needed naps and another two that were crazy excited to see one another) and they were a little active at the aquarium, but it was a really fun afternoon. 

Touch a Truck

In my hometown of Alpharetta, the have an annual “Touch a Truck” where they have lots of different vehicles, trucks, vans, etc. at a park.  The admission is free and your children are able to climb all over lots of fun equipment.  It was held a couple of weekends ago, so we decided to take our little ones down there.  The kids had a blast!  There was so much to look at.  Gavin was a little overwhelmed at first, but he warmed up to everything soon.   This was a dune buggy that they sat in.

  Mikayla really enjoyed showing Gavin what she gets to ride home from school everyday.   She also enjoyed pretending she was the bus driver! This was an antique car that Mikayla pretended to drive.   She thought it looked pretty cool. They had a balloon artist there that made Gavin a dog and Mikayla a mouse. Gavin driving an older firetruck (that is just used for birthday parties now).  That was fun for him! Both of my little Georgia kiddos driving a John Deere tractor.

We had a great morning – the weather was so pleasant which was a very nice change from the sweltering heat that we had been having.  It was also just nice spending some time together as a family.  With our crazy schedules it can be pretty hard to have these moments where we are all together.   I am so grateful for these opportunities.

First Day of Preschool

Yesterday, Gavin went to his first day of preschool.   All week, when asked, he would say, “I not go to school!”  So, needless to say, I was a little concerned with how he would do.  Yesterday morning however, he seemed really excited to go to school just like his big sister.  My handsome preschooler. :)

Mikayla wanted to get in on the picture action, too.

When I dropped Gavin off in the carpool line, he pretty much screamed as they carried him into his classroom.  This made me a little teary, but I knew that he would calm down soon and have lots of fun.  When I picked him up, he was SO excited to see me, but he also told me about how much fun he had playing with his new friends and on the playground.  Another bonus to the day is that we had no potty accidents.  We have been potty training for about 3 weeks.  He has been doing fairly well at home, but he hadn’t been under the responsibility of anyone else yet.  I took a leap of faith and it worked out! :)  I received an email from his teacher yesterday and she told me that he only cried for a short period of time at the beginning and then again at the end of the day, but that he had a great time in between.   I am so glad that he had a nice time. After school, we picked up some McDonald’s, went home and ate our lunch together on the back patio.  We have had great weather and I really enjoyed my lunch date with my sweet boy.  He just needs to slow down a little bit on this growing up thing!

Beach family pictures

While we were at the beach, my grandparents hired a photographer to take some pictures of our family.  Here are some of the pictures that he took.  The ones that are all bright  and full of pretty colors are the ones that my sister did some of her Photoshop magic with. :) My wonderful family. I just LOVE this picture. My sweet children.My wild little boy.   My little diva. :) Our family…what a legacy my grandparents have.  Gavin trying to steal the show. My grandparents…the start of all of this. My g

My “original” family.    My parent’s growing legacy.  The grandkids acting crazy (as always).My siblings and I.

My sisters and I – I love how this turned out.

Destin Family Vacation

One would think that with Mikayla at school and Gavin being much happier to entertain himself than Mikayla ever was at this age, that I would have so much more free time to do things that I enjoy (i.e. blog).  This is not the case though.  Things are starting to settle down though and we are figuring out our routine, so I should [hopefully] have a little more time to do some fun things. 

The week before school started we went to Destin with a very large number of my extended family.  My grandparents rented a house that would fit my mom and my uncles entire families.  We had a great time together that was filled with many wonderful memories.   We also have TONS of pictures from this week.  I am glad to have so may memories documented.  We spent a lot of time at the beach and at the pool that was at our house.  The kids had a fabulous time together ( and so did the adults!).   As our families grow and we spread out across the nation is becoming increasingly difficult for us  to all get together.  I was so grateful for this opportunity for us to spend time with one another.  A big thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for this opportunity – without them, it would have never been possible!

Gavin had a great time playing in the ocean.  It took him a little bit to get used to the salt water though…the goggles helped him through that. My two favorite boys – a precious little boy and one hot hubby! :)

We (er…Jeremy, the kite expert) had fun flying some kites with the kids.  Mikayla had an Ariel kite and Gavin had a Buzz Lightyear kite.  The had a lot of fun with this activity. The kids had a great time in the pool, too.  It was a salt water pool, which I just fell in love with.  It was so much kinder to your eyes and skin.  If for some reason, I ever have a pool, I will definitely will try this one out. Mikayla tried her hand at some boogie boarding – it proved to be a little harder than she thought.

   They had a lot of fun playing in the sand, too.  No big sand castles were built this year, though.  They were more interested in playing in the water. My cousin’s husband found this hermit crab (plus other wildlife prizes) out at the sand bar.  The kids loved watching him move around in the bucket before he was taken back to the sandbar to swim free.  

These are just more random pictures of my sweet children.  They had a great time and definitely love the beach. 

  My mom found this great volleyball net that the guys set up in the pool.  They loved it and had may very serious tournaments out there after the kids went to bed.

I could not have asked for a better vacation.  It was the perfect combination of quality family time, relaxing and memory making.