Tough Girl

Saturday was a day of birthdays for us. Not only was it Grandmama’s birthday (wish we could have been there to celebrate with her!) but we also had not one but two friend birthday parties to attend. The first party of the day was for our neighbor, Gabe, and Fletcher was having so much fun I ended up leaving him there while Lola and I continued on to her friend Lilly’s gymnastics party.

Lola had a wonderful time running around the gymnasium, bouncing on the trampoline, walking on the balance beams, and flopping into the pits of foam blocks. But the biggest hit with all the girls seemed to be the rope swing.

Of course, moments after this photo was taken, Lola let go of the rope at the wrong time. Instead of falling into the middle of the foam block pit, she fell right on the edge and banged her face solidly against the edge of the platform. Her first bloody nose. My girl was a champ though! She didn’t shed a single tear. Tough girl, that one.

Just a week ago . . .

It is hard to believe that just a week ago, we were still on vacation. So much has happened this week, with the start of a new school year, that it seems like ages ago. I really didn’t take many photos this year (and some of my favorites came from my iphone!) but here are a few to help re-live the week . . .

And of course, I have to include some video as well! The first video is of Aunt Boo, Aunt Erin and all the kiddos finding ‘diggers’ in the sand. I’m not sure what the real name of these little creatures is, but finding them in the sand and then watching them dig under is one of my favorite childhood beach memories. My sisters and I used to find hundreds of them!

The next 2 videos are of crazy dancing at the Grand Pavilion on our last night at Wild Dunes. I’m not sure why my video quality degrades so terribly when I upload them to YouTube – I feel like I must be doing something wrong. If anyone knows how to preserve the quality, please let me know!!

The obligatory beach portraits . . .

 

A sweet way to wrap up the first day

Back to school!

It is hard to believe it, but another school year has now begun. Fletcher is in 2nd grade (how is that possible??) and my baby girl is a big, grown-up kindergartener. Amazing.

Once we got to her classroom, Lola wasn’t quite so sure about everything and she started to tear up when it was time for me to go. That, of course, made me cry which in turn started off several other mothers in the room. Yikes!

The tears didn’t last long though. I left the room to retrieve a few more supplies from the car (it was way too much to carry in one trip!) and when I returned she was happily working on a drawing. She had written the words CAT, DOG, MAT and BOB and was feeling very proud of herself.

I feel so lucky to be sending my children to this wonderful little school. I think both of the kids’ teachers this year are going to be wonderful – but then, that isn’t a surprise. I think all of the kindergarten and 2nd grade teachers are wonderful, just like all of the teachers we have had at this school up to this point. I’m not sure you can say that about very many schools.

This afternoon we will celebrate the first day of school with ice cream and friends. Then, back to the routine of school as we ease out of summer and into fall. I only hope cooler weather will find us before long . . .

Beach week

We are freshly back from a week at Wild Dunes with the Waldvogel family. We are 13 strong now, and the loudest bunch you could ever imagine. There was lots of sun, lots of sand, lots of surf (even for Lola, who spent all summer terrified of the ocean!) and I am sad to see it come to an end. Summer is over. The kids start back to school in the morning. Once we are settled back into the school routine I will have a bit more time to sort through my photos from the week. For now, here are a handful from my iPhone – gotta love those camera phones!

Rained out!

Go-karts, mini golf and friends!

Keeping cool

Despite the drama of our playdate with Camille this week, there were also moments of fun. To beat the heat, we took an outing to the Jepson Center which was blissfully cool and kept the kids entertained for hours. We should have been doing this all summer!

I {heart} faces: friendship

Lola’s sweet friend Camille spent the day with us today, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get a photo for this week’s I Heart Faces photo challenge on Friendship. This photo . . . this is not what I expected. But it spoke to the tone of day, and frankly, it makes me laugh. I just had to post it.

You see, Camille and Fletcher are thick as thieves. Camille just might be the ‘total package’ to a 7 year old boy. She is cute as can be, likes dinosaurs, superheros, mythology and science – and she is just bossy enough to keep a wild boy in line. Most of the time all 3 kids get along famously, but today my poor Lola was on the outside.

I feel for her. It was not the first time she has had a friend all but ditch her in favor of big brother, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. But these are some of the tests of friendship, aren’t they? And honestly, Lola brought some of it on herself. She was pouty and whiny and sensitive, but later on in the day she recovered . . . mostly. Some days are just like that.