Back to School: Second Grade & Kindergarten

Jackson and Avery went back to school on Thursday, August 15th. Jackson started 2nd Grade and Avery started Kindergarten!!! I can't even believe it. 

Two nights before school started, they had their "Meet the Teacher" night. Jackson ended up getting the teacher he was hoping for, Mrs. Burns, and we were so excited. He also has several friends in his class this year so that always makes it more fun.

 

They did Kindergarten a little bit differently this year. They called it "Switcheroo" and basically what they did was, for the first 7 days of school, Avery had a homeroom class that she started out in each day, but throughout the day they switched up the kids into different classrooms with different teachers and different friends to see how everyone would fit best in what class. It's a way to place the child where they think they'd best succeed. It worked out well I thought and Avery seemed to adjust great! This is something they do in a few other districts in our area and it's been working well for them. So for the "meet the teacher" night for Avery, she was able to meet all 5 of the Kindergarten teachers and check out all of their classrooms. Avery's home room teacher during "switcheroo" was Mrs. Turner, who is a new teacher to our school this year. She's from Georgia and has been teaching Kindergarten for a few years there and then moved here over the Summer.

 The night before school, we went through the nighttime routine with baths/showers, packing lunches, storytime and prayers for a great first day of school. They each had a special book to read to get them ready for the next day. :-)

 The next morning I had a special little breakfast for them. They love cinnamon rolls so I made them those and decorated the table for their first day of school. 

 Then we got ready for school and headed down to the bus stop.

(Avery's first day of school outfit was from Orange Poppy Boutique and I found Jackson's second grade shirt on Amazon here.)

Jackson and Avery in the bus line with their best buddies Andy and Ellie.

Avery was SO excited to ride the bus for the first time. She's been wanting to ride the bus with Jackson, Andy and Ellie for so long and was so excited to finally get to. The first thing she said that morning was, "I finally get to ride the bus for the first time!"

Once they were off on the bus, I did a couple things around the house and then met them up at school to walk them to their classrooms on the first day. I did the same thing on Jackson's first day of Kindergarten. :-)

Avery can't sit next to Ellie on the bus because you have to sit according to grades and Ellie is a grade above Avery, but as soon as they got off the bus, they gave each other a big hug like they hadn't seen each other in weeks. It was too cute!

 Ellie and Avery walking to their classrooms.

 After getting to school and getting to her classroom, each child had play-doh at their spot. :-) Avery LOVES play-doh so she was excited. She did so well on her first day and didn't seem nervous at all.

Both kids had a great first full week of school last week! Here's a couple pictures from school throughout the week.

Then last Friday, each of the kindergartners had a piece of paper in their take home binders saying which teacher they were placed with for the year and they had scratch-offs to reveal pictures of all the friends that would be in their class with them. It was so much fun to scratch off each picture. Avery ended up getting her home-room teacher Mrs. Turner and she was SO excited about this because she really liked her for those first 7 days. So yesterday was kind of like Avery's real first day of Kindergarten and they allowed us to walk the kids to their classrooms that day to take pictures with their teachers, etc. Here's Avery with her teacher Mrs. Turner.

National Dog Day

Happy National Dog Day!

We sure do love our sweet Max (aka Maxie Moo Moo). He's such a great dog! He just turned 9 years old this year and still acts like a puppy. He loves belly rubs, long naps on the couch, chasing squirrels, eating the crust off of Avery's peanut butter sandwich that I cut off for her lunch every day and he really just loves us! He's very protective of us and often sleeps in the hallway in between all of our bedrooms to make sure he's keeping us all safe. :-) He's the best dog and we love him so much! He's such an important part of our family and we couldn't ask for a better fur-baby.

Five on Friday

I've been really bad at blogging lately. So I thought I'd do a little 5 on Friday to try and catch back up some. :-)

One

The kids started back to school last Thursday, (Aug. 15th). They're both loving it so far! Jackson got the teacher he wanted and several of his friends are in his 2nd grade class. Avery started Kindergarten and she's loving it so far too. She said her first day was the best day ever and she was even sad over the weekend when she didn't have school! Ha!! This makes me so happy that they're both loving it.

Two

Avery started swim lessons last month and I can't believe how far she's come in such a short amount of time. She's being so brave and doing so well and I'm so proud of her!!

Three

Avery went to the cutest pony camp earlier this month before school started back up! She loved it and had so much fun!!

Four

On my last Monday off before the kids went back to school, I decided to take them to Six Flags for the day to enjoy Hurricane Harbor (the water park). I brought my mom along and we had a great day! It was a fun thing to do right before starting back to school.

Five

This past Sunday, Jackson and I went to a really cool event to see author Dav Pilkey (Captain Underpants and Dogman) and get a signed copy of his latest Dog Man book (#7). We met up with a few of Jackson's friends from school and had such a great time! The boys also got a cape and got to take a picture with Dogman and Captain Underpants. The line to meet Dav Pilkey was FOREVER long so we decided not to do that, which was a little disappointing, but we had a great time anyways and as always, it's so much fun to spend some one on one time with either of my kids.

So that's what we've been up to lately. Just trying to have as much fun as we could before going back to the routine of school. I'm happy to say that our first full week of school has been a success! I think we're starting to get back into the routine and everyone seems to be adjusting well. :-)

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Happy Fourth of July

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!!

You can find both of their 4th of July outfits here.

And because I love a good comparison. Here are the last 5 years of 4th of July pictures along with this year! Look how little they were just a few short years ago!!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday and Happy First Day of Summer!!!

One

We got back from our trip to Jupiter, Florida a couple weeks ago and it was such a great time. My cousin's wedding at the Lighthouse was absolutely beautiful and we spent a lot of time soaking up the Florida sun! I'll do a more detailed post at some point, but for now, here is a picture of us from the wedding.

Two

We didn't do anything too extravagant for Father's Day this year. Just church and lunch afterwards, but I did get a cute picture of Jake with the kiddos! The kids and I sure do love Jake and all he does for our family!!

Three
A couple weekends ago we had a free Saturday and decided to spend the day at Six Flags. We had a great time with my sister and her family. We also got to ride the new Supergirl Skyflyer ride which was SO much fun!! It may be my new favorite ride there.

Four
Orange Poppy Boutique just released their Back to School Collection and I fell in love with this adorable outfit for Avery's first day of Kindergarten! I absolutely love Orange Poppy Boutique and can't wait to see Avery in this outfit. Their clothes are so soft and so adorable and they're also very affordable! They also have great customer service! I can't say enough great things about them.

Five
Jackson and Avery have been at their first week of Summer Camps this week and have really enjoyed them. Jackson's was a Bricks 4 Kidz Space Adventure Camp through our school district. They made rockets and space related things out of legos. It's SO right up his alley. Two of his favorite things: Legos and Space!!

Then Avery has been at a Cheerleading Camp, which is also through our school district! They had a little performance yesterday to show us what they learned and it was super cute!! Several of her friends from her pre-k class were also at the camp, so we had to get a quick picture of them altogether! So cute.

 Have a GREAT weekend!!

GLORIA!!

Last night was amazing!! The Blues finally won the Stanley Cup and the city of St. Louis is overflowing with excitement!! 

I'm not what you would call a "hockey fan." I don't really watch sports on a regular basis. I grew up watching football mostly and that's the sport Jake is most passionate about. However, I am a St. Louis fan. I was born and raised in St. Louis and I'll always cheer for my city. So when either of our teams are playing whether it be the Cardinals or the Blues I'm going to cheer them on. 

So when the Blues made it to the play-offs this year, we were all excited and have been watching every game we could. Several nights we got together with our neighbors and watched the game in our neighbor's drive-way. On Memorial Day our neighbor brought his t.v. over and we watched the game pool-side. It's been an amazing series, one we won't ever forget. It's been fun for the kids too. They've fallen asleep several nights watching the Blues game and I've had to tell them the final score the next morning! Ha. So when the Blues made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 49 years we were ecstatic! 

We even cheered the Blues on while we were in Florida 2 weeks ago!!

Sunday night was game 6 and it was in St. Louis. We were just sure they were going to win it all that night! So we had a party at our neighbors and we were all so dissapointed when they lost!

They still had one last chance to win it all last night in Game 7 and they DID!!! They brought home the Stanley Cup for the first time ever!!! We had some friends over last night to watch the game and it was such a great game to watch. We were up 2-0 after the first period and ended up winning 4-1! To say the city is excited would be an understatement! It is GLORIOUS!!! One of our local radio stations is playing Gloria (the Blues theme song) all day long today for 24 hours! It makes me so proud to live in St. Louis! #LGB #playgloria

Five on Friday

Happy Friday and Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

One
 Jackson and Avery have their last day of school today!! I can't believe we'll have a 2nd grader and a Kindergartner in August. They're growing up so fast!

Two

We'll be celebrating Memorial Day with a huge pool party at our house! Though the water is still freezing, I'm sure the kids won't mind. Ha! Jackson and Avery have went swimming once last weekend. Crazy kids!!

Three

Then the day after Memorial Day, we board a plane headed for Jupiter, Florida. My cousin is getting married at the lighthouse in Jupiter on June 1st, so we're going for that, but staying a full week. I found this dress to wear to the wedding from Loft and I just love it. It's very comfortable and on sale right now for only $35.

 I just love the lace and the little cut-out in the back.

Four
I searched Amazon for a couple pair of earrings this past week and found 2 great pair. I was looking for some navy tassel earrings to wear to the wedding and then I was also looking for some blonde tortoise shell hoops for everyday wear. I just love Amazon and their next day prime shipping!!

Five
Wednesday night Avery had her Mini Dance Recital. It was her second year and she loved every minute of being on stage!! She and her whole class did so great! They danced to "Me and My Teddy Bear" and it was the cutest thing ever! Avery was right in the middle in the purple leotard and the pink bear. I'll post all about it soon, but here's a quick picture of them on stage.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!!