First day of School

I wasn't ready to send the kids off to school this year.  The summer went by way to quickly! Plus, I'm still waiting for Illinois to get the memo that school isn't supposed to start until AFTER Labor Day. Ready or not, the first day was here.  I made the kids their grade level pancake along with chocolate chip ones for breakfast.

It wasn't Evelyn's first day yet but she still got special pancakes.  An E and mickey mouse.

Time needs to slow down!  It makes me sound so old to say that I have a fourth grader!

 If I'm having a hard time with 4th grade, I don't even want to think about how I'm going to handle the day he goes off to middle school.

While waiting for the bus he caught a frog.

Then there's my first grader.  

I feel like she's growing up even faster than Carter!

One last pic of the both of them

First day pics with their classmates.  This is Carter's class

 Silly pose

 Audrey's class

The majority of her class is girls

School open house

 

 By the time we got back from the beach it was already time to get ready for school.  Carter and Audrey had their open house.  They always enjoy getting to see their classroom, teachers and find out what friends are in their class.  They also get to drop off their school supplies so they aren't loaded down the first day of school.

 Audrey's teacher sent her on a QR code scavenger hunt to get to know where everything is in the classroom.

 The last task for her was to fill out the all about me sheet.

 She filled out the answers to her favorites: color-red. food-meatballs, animal-monkey and book-Amelia Bedelia

 After Audrey finished, we moved on to Carter's classroom.  He had this message waiting on his desk

I "mustache" you to try your best this year!  The mustache is a magnet.

 This is the first year he gets a locker.  He thought that was pretty cool.  I can't believe I have a fourth grader!  That is just sounding too old.

 The school also had a photo booth set up.  Evelyn had to get in the mix of course.

But they wanted one without her in it since she doesn't go to their school.

 We also visited the butterfly garden that Carter helped plant last year.  It was neat to see so many butterflies on the plants.

 We spent the last days of summer swimming at the club.

Summer went by way too quickly this year!

Barefoot pirates

We finished our week at the beach with a pirate cruise.

 The kids got to get dressed like pirates and painted on tattoos.

They were also given pirate names.  Cutthroat Carter, Amazing Audrey & Explorer Evelyn

 Ready to set sail

When we got on the boat they said the pirate pledge

Audrey got a chance to look through the binoculars while they were searching for Billy the Squid 

 Once he was spotted, the water cannons were turned on to battle him

They needed him to surrender to get the final key to the treasure

 checking the map for the location of the key

 Evelyn got to help unlock the treasure box and fill her loot bag first.

  filling their loot bags

After everyone got some treasure they got to sample squid juice (grape soda)

On the way back to the dock they danced pirate dances.

Both Carter and Audrey wanted crab legs for their final dinner.  They have gotten better at doing the work themselves.

They both finished their entire plates!

On the way home Evelyn snagged everyone's lovies.  Until next year Destin.

Fun with the Grimms

 The Grimms were in Destin for a conference and we got to spend a day with them on the beach.  The kids always have a great time together.  It's so nice they are at the age that we can let them play and the adults can catch up with each other.

 The girls trying to catch fish

 It's hard to believe that when we first met we were in residency and only had 1 kid.  Now we are done with residency and fellowship and have 6 kids.

 Enjoying lunch on the balcony

 The diva needing her rest while she waits for us to move to the pool

 This one loves the sand and waves

I love how well the kids play together while we're at the beach

 He builds the castles and Evey knocks them down

 Running with the waves

 Another sad attempt at a family pic

 When did he get this big!?

 Enjoying the beach until the sun sets