First day of school!

It came, it went, and we all survived to tell about it.

The first day of school for my kids was last Thursday. That was really nice to have a two day week and then the weekend before jumping into a full 5 days.

Kindergarten and 5th grade....amazing. I swear they were just 2 and 6.

Someone is an old pro at my first day of school pics...

And someone was very nervous and not up for pictures...

By the time we got to school, things were a bit better, so we took some time to visit Daddy/Brooklyn's class.

I then walked Jake down to his class where neither of us cried (yippee!). It helps to have a husband who works at the school and who can send you covert videos of your baby boy during the day. :-)

Hope everyone's kids had great first days of schools. I loved seeing all the pictures!

And do you know what else we did?

Yes, we did as much beach and pool as we could, but did you know we also did...

...some bike riding,


...some blue moon watching,

...some dance partying,

...some running,

...because we did lots of eating,

...and some anniversary celebrating,

...some tablet watching,


...some cereal eating,

...some puzzling,

...some snuggling,

...some baby announcing,

...some family picture taking,

...some Phase 10ing,

...some puddle jumping,


...some cardinal watching (and Pops missing),

...and some Dairy Queening?

It was a wonderful week with family that we wouldn't trade for anything. So glad we already have one on the books scheduled for June. Less than a year to wait!

Poolin' It!

The only thing my kids love more than the beach is the POOL!



This was a huge week for Jake. Not only did he put his face in the water all the way for the first time, but he also jumped in the water without a floatie, submerged himself completely under the water, and then also swam about 2-3 feet under water. HUGE.

Here's a video of the jump...and did I mention the kids are now obsessed with slow-mo videos?

And of course my mermaid also wanted some screen time, so here is one of her sweet hand stands.

Beach Fun 2.0!

Saturday, August 1, we headed back to Ocean Isle for week #2 at the beach. We were soooooo excited to return and have another awesome week!

The weather was kinda cray-cray all week, but we had the kids always ready to play outside.

I am so thankful that my kids love the beach as much as I do!

We did our requisite family picture....kid in front of belly, of course.

The boys learn how to "correctly" pose for the camera.

Claire loved the little watering can we had.

Daddy impressed us all with his gymnastics skills.


Our new hobby of the week was catching minnows in a cast net.


It was quite successful.


And our favorite visitor on the beach is always the Carolina Quench slushie cart!



And gotta love some beach selfies...


This baby had such a blast all week with her cousins! Pure joy on this face!


Sneaking in time in a beach chair was a bit tougher with a toddler, but we managed every so often. :-)

More fun to come...so many pictures...cannot narrow them down!

VBS Fun!

The last week in July, our kids participated in our church's Vacation Bible School. After a rocky Monday morning for Jake (totally expecting that), it was smooth sailing and the kids had a BLAST.


I was sadly unable to see any of the "during the day" greatness that happened, but I got great texting updates from Chad and both grandmas, and I did take the kids to the Friday night celebration and got to hear all the songs and stories.

Yes, that would be MY daughter up there on the alter leading music.

We're still rocking those songs three weeks later...thanks, VBS!