GT....

GT has started up again for the new school year, and Nathan is excited!  He has a lot of good friends in this program, and he really loves it.

First day of school!

The dreaded day has come - first day of school!  I think I might stop getting pictures of the kids waking up (Madison has finally hit the age of not waking up smiling, and Nathan never did)!  Needless to say, both kids were a little sad to wake up early today!

Ready for school!

My little guy on the first day of 3rd grade, and now 4th grade!

And my grown up girl on the first day of 7th grade and now 8th grade!  The new dress code allows untucked shirts, and she jumped all over that.  It's definitely not as neat looking, but she was excited!

Nathan's teachers this year....Mrs. Scott (reading and writing) and Ms. Davis (homeroom, plus math, science and social studies).  I love both of these teachers, so we're happy!

4 years ago, Madison had Ms. Davis!  She's the only teacher they've both had in all the years of elementary!

Nathan was chosen for road guard the first six weeks, so we had a super early morning today!  He has to be at school by 7:00 sharp.  He was excited that his buddy, Nicholas, was also road guard!  For the first three weeks, they'll be inside leading students to their classrooms once the bell rings and monitoring hallways.  The last three weeks, they will be helping kids out of their cars in the drop-off lane!

As I was walking to my car after leaving his school, I got a little teary-eyed.  I realized that today was the last elementary drop-off I'd ever have.  No more teacher pictures with my baby.  No more walking him to class on the first day.  We've been here nine years, and I'm a little attached!  I also got sad dropping off Madison today, because this is her last year before high school.  I can hardly believe it.  I wish I could freeze time right now.  They grow up so fast.  But for now, I'm praying for a great year, new friends, and for both kids to show Jesus in their actions everyday!

End of summer vacation...

I can't believe it's already back to school time.  It's crazy how fast the summer went!  Neither kid is super ready/excited for school to start, but ready or not, it's here!

How we feel about summer...

How we feel about school starting and waking up early...

We had a nice relaxing summer.  We had a lot of downtime, which the kids didn't always love, but I think that's what summer is all about!  Just to take a breather before we get back to crazy, busy life.  We did have a lot of fun though.  The kids started off the summer by going to Adventure Landing with friends, and a whole weekend at Gaga's house!  We went to Pensacola Beach, went parasailing, and had a lot of family time.  The kids had sleepovers with friends, mommy and daddy, and grandparents.  They had several birthday parties, including Great Wolf Lodge for Madison and Nathan's 10th birthday!  We had Summer Youth Series, VBS, and the youth meeting at church, which all kept us pretty busy.  Nathan kept up with karate and earned two belts this summer (orange and yellow), and also had a reunion with friends from his 3rd grade class at Yogurt Cup.  Madison had band rehearsal with a party at Main Event to get her back into the swing of band.  We saw Boss Baby, the Emoji movie, the Lion King play, and we went to the Omni Theater, Dallas Library, Urban Air, Dallas Art Museum, Rainforest Cafe, and roller skating several times.  We went swimming, played Ultimate Frisbee, Whirlyball, had our hotel getaway, and had lots of Casa Mama mexican food nights!  We had a lot of family time watching tv shows (Fear Factor, Goldbergs, etc.), but I'd sum up this summer with two words - Impractical Jokers!  Some episodes are a little iffy for the kids to watch, but we had so many laughs this summer because of that show!  I'm sad it's over - there's just something about summer and being more laid back with no schedules.  But, it's back to school tomorrow.  Hopefully, we'll all adjust quickly, and both kids will have a wonderful school year!  I'm just beyond thankful for my sweet husband who makes it possible for me to stay home and make these memories.  I'm so blessed!

Babysitting...

We watched some kids from church so their parents could have a date night, and the kids were so excited!  They love these kids, and enjoyed every minute of it.

Madison is great with kids, which is somewhat expected since she's a girl, but Nathan is also so good with little ones!  It's not as common for boys to be so gentle, loving and patient...but he is!  I love watching both kids interact so sweetly with them.  They loved tonight, and can't wait to do it again!

Back to school devo!

We had a back to school devo today for the younger kids (Madison isn't technically part of this group, but she loves helping out with the little ones)!  The devo, done by Michael, was about God's love and not letting anything in life take more importance.

Afterwards, we played some water games!  Soccer with a cup of water on their heads, water balloons, and water guns.  They had a blast!

Madison was the target!

It was a pretty small group, but they had so much fun!  Anything with water equals FUN!

Outtakes....

I seem to always have a ton of outtakes with Nathan.  Hopefully by seeing these one day, he'll realize just how much I put up with to take pictures of him!  He is for sure silly.

He wanted us to take a picture here!  We are wanted...

Copying mommy with a camera...