A Bit of the Circus

               

 As our last summer hurrah, we went to the circus and had a BIG time.

 I still. CAN. NOT. believe how Set sat still through the whole thing. Mesmerized by all the lights and sounds I guess?!?

                   

Loved having Cruz there too.

Isaac, I bet you'll love this next one as much as I do :)))

First day of Kindergarten for Annette tomorrow, so early bedtimes for all of us tonight.

Summer, you were pleasant and left us with lots of great family memories. 

~ a very grateful morgan

Countdown

Countdown to Kindergarten, Preschool, Mother's Day Out, the end of summer vacation....

We've been filling our last weeks of summer break with lots of fun, the unrushed kind. 

Borrowed this idea from a friend, to make a Kindergarten countdown chain for Annette. 

We've had pool time with cousins and friends,

used our creative juices,

Biked with friends, 

Even the flowers that surround our back patio, I'm soaking up. 

A golf cart date,

Snacks on the patio, 

Set stuffs banana in his mouth, Annette loses her first tooth,

My favorite zoo trip to date,

Set on the train, ha! He loved it. 

Playing ball whe dad gets home, 

My expanding belly, 

Play dough cakes

 

Mr. Drool Face Set will start his first year of Mother's Day Out this year. Two days a week. I'm sure he will cry and break my heart those first several drop offs, but I know with a new baby coming in a few months I'll really appreciate the help. I know he will love the play times with friends and I look forward to the new things he will learn.

My sweet Charles got his four year old shots today. BOOO! It is so hard to hold his little hands down and see his eyes so scared and sad. Luckily it is for only a few seconds and it was over so quickly. We went to Chuck E Cheese afterwards for a big boy treat.

And my first born is starting KINDERGARTEN in 13 days! It helps that she started PreK at the same school last year. Not as scary of a step since we already know and love the school. But still... Knowing she will get real letter grades and have homework and be expected to behave like a big girl for much of the day makes it a big milestone.

 She is ready. Very ready. Although she is so smiley with excitement, she says she wishes she could do PreK4 again so she could have more recess. She knows the Kinder kids only get one recess a day. (Which truly is silly.) Yet, I know she will THRIVE in her classroom setting. She loves to learn in an organized way and I cannot wait to watch her reading skills blow up. She is a great little reader already for her age, reading lots of books we have at home that I know are on K level. I could brag on her for days :)

We have our school supplies, new school shoes with some extra room at the toes, uniforms ready, and backpacks monogrammed :) We have practiced our letters, words, numbers, names, phone numbers, and more. We went to the dentist, had our check ups, and now all we've got left on our to do list (I THINK:) is get haircuts, which i'm pretty sure we can handle.

A FULL summer.

And with our remaining chain links, we will do plenty more of the above. 

School year wrap up

Sent Annette to pre-k4 for the final time today. She's skipping tomorrow, which I think by this point is a total non issue. About a quarter of the school seemed absent even yesterday. My little all star pupil Annette has not complained about going to school once this whole year. So she hasn't minded a bit going even this late into June. Waking her up when she's still sleepy and cranky... Yes, but she always wanted to go. The girl would just about cry if I told her we were going to miss any school. Even if I was just picking her up early for something. (Charlie is just a tad different;) She just loves it. Her teachers have been wonderful. Mrs. Walter and her assistant teacher, Mrs. Shawntell, were the perfect match for my Annette. 

So grateful for our school. This was their graduation ceremony. 

Some of the artwork I want to remember....

(Back in october she said she had a brother named tyler, ha. her make believe stories have become less frequent.)

Tubs of more art and writings are stored at the top of her closet. Which is a tad scary bc we have so many years of artwork to go. A good happy scary though.


Here she is as she was about to get in her daddy's car. #wethairdontcare
Thankful for their morning routine together. And that I don't have to get Set in the car so early each day;)

back in August

Charlie finished up his year at St. Marks also, a few weeks ago.

At 2:35 pm we are officially on summer break, and will probably head to the pool :)

It's Almost Over

Summer. It's almost over. Some would say it's already over, but not for the Smith's. We've still got a beach trip to enjoy in a week.

Howeeeever, we have just about wrapped up our summer activities. Excited about fall happenings, but sad to see the lazy pool days of summer come to an end. I have a feeling next summer will be a bit less lazy for me...  with an additional baby around and all. :)

To take advantage of the pretty weather at the beginning of the week, we went to the zoo this week.

 

We also went to Open House at our new pre-school, St. Mark's. They will start next week. Charlie going on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and Annette going Tues, Thurs, Fridays.

I'm super excited about them starting up school. It's been a while since I've had chunks of daytime to get caught up on house stuff. Plus, they are going to learn so much! I got overly excited when I saw the same calendar and poems on the walls that hung in my own classroom years ago. Eeeek! Teacher becoming students' mother... new role for me. And I'm going to have to contain my suggestions/opinions/etc. Won't be easy for this passionate momma.  

As for my little students, they loved the teachers and new school setting as much as I did. Immediately. 

 They both just about cried when it was time to leave. My mom was kind, kind, kind to join me for Open House. Glad she came because my kids ran in two different directions most of the morning. 

The teacher in me was mentally taking note of all the books they had in the classroom. As I started checking off which ones I've read to her and thinking "Oh! I need to get that book out and read it to her before Tuesday", I had to remind myself that I must stop these crazy teacher-mom tendencies. 

It was a great time. Don't think I embarrassed them yet. 

My mom came to help me through Open House, yes. But also to take the kids to her house afterwards. She was super-Granny again and watched them overnight while I went to Memphis with some girls from church. We stopped by the Pottery Barn Outlet, a church to visit their children's program, and some fun restaurants including a delish crepe place. Loved, LOVEd, spending time with those ladies.

While in Memph, I found this fab deal. And I had been in search of a bigger backpack for A and C! Perfect timing.

Thankful for the chance to go and have some girl time.

Last night we went to Isaac's parents for his birthday dinner. I've said it before, but Connie Smith can COOK! She had sea bass and salmon and halibut and like 10 other amazing sides for us to enjoy. 

This chocolate cake is Isaac's absolute favorite. Might be mine too.

She even made a table full of these for the groom's cake at our wedding.

YUMMM.

That's Rachael, Isaac's lil sis above.

Below, Charlie makes hilarious excited noises as he helps open gifts. 

Then today, I met a friend to plan some Bloom Bible Study stuff.

Our kids entertained themselves with the elevator buttons, dry erase markers, and the playground.

Planning was accomplished.

So that's a smattering of the Smith family's weekly events.

Squeezing the last bits of summer out of this year, while also excited about fall.

Especially this first Razorback game.

I'll be working Saturday, but Ike (aka Super Dad) is still debating on whether he wants to take kids to Fay for the game. I don't blame him. I'd love to be there with them. Yet, taking two toddlers SOLO might prove more work than fun. We will see.

We might just end up at the lake for the long weekend. 

Hope everyone has a fun weekend.

~morgan