First Grade!

Maggie's first day was August 10th. Yes, the 10th, a Friday. And school was only a half day at that. A little silly, but whatever. I continued the tradition of taking her picture the first day.Note to self: do not let her pick her own outfit for the first day of school. I liked having a picture of her in the same outfit on the first and last day, to see how she's grown. She chose clothes from LAST year to wear, and they are already a little small! They are going to look pretty funny next May if she keeps growing like she has.

Here she is with James. Those two are crazy - it was hard to get a picture of the two of them both looking at the camera at the same time!

And at her REAL desk this year. She was really excited about that.

She's been in school for about 3 weeks now, and she still doesn't like 1st grade. "It's not as fun as I thought it was going to be. There's a lot of work and papers and it's boring!" The class is still doing review work: writing letters properly, easy counting an addition that they worked on last year, etc. Nearly every paper she brings home is done perfectly, any mistakes I see are from laziness not from not knowing the answers.

My hope is that once we move past all the review and her teacher gets into new materials Maggie is more interested and invested. Currently her favorite "classes" at school are snack time, recess and lunch. And sometimes the "specials" class - things they have once a week, because "those classes are at the end of the day and then we get to line up for the bus."

She has also made it very clear that she wants to ride the bus both in the morning and home in the afternoon. James cries nearly every morning when she heads out the door. It's very sweet. 

4th of July

Ok, well, actually the 3rd, Maggie came home with Poppy & Meme and Tyler turned 35. I am married to a middle-aged man, can you believe it?! Underneath that white frosting is a pink cake. Tyler's favorite cake is cherry chip. This is a hard flavor to find in Nashville, so after searching all over town, I ended up making a strawberry cake. He loved it.

Here is Maggie doing crafts with Poppy. That was pretty funny.

4th of July we went to the local park for the fireworks show. James pushed his stroller all over - with Poppy right on his heels. James was just starting to walk at this point, and it was so super cute to see him up and around. Let it be known it was so stinkin' hot that weekend - 100-107 the WHOLE week.

Here is my super cute boy before the humidity worked up his adorable curls.

Poppy treated us all to glow sticks before the fireworks started. They were so much fun - James and Maggie loved them, but I thought they were pretty neat, too.  

Fireworks! Our little town puts on a great fireworks show, it would be nice if they coordinated it to music better than they do - just running patriotic music end to end until the fireworks stop.

So while my dad was here I put him to work. I had him build an arbor for a wedding I did. He did a fantastic job in scorching heat!

Meme took me and the kids to the zoo. It was hot, but a lot of fun. Maggie really enjoyed reading the map this visit.

Here's Sylvia (Meme) and Maggie in front of the flamingos, Meme's favorite birds.

And here I am with James, I had Maggie take this picture to commemorate James' FIRST word (that I heard, anyway). "GOAT." Not Mama, not Dada, goat. And then he quickly said "duck" when we went to see the ducks.

We had a great visit with them!

Visit From Special Friends!!!

Whoo hoo! This summer was full of a lot of visitors: my mom, my dad & step-mom, Tyler's parents, and very specially the Spanglers!!!!!

Niki was the maid of honor in my wedding. She has a very special place in my heart, and although we have lived very far apart for all of our adult lives, that special place has never diminished. They recently moved from the Los Angeles area to Dallas, and I got visit them with a baby James. 

This year they drove from Dallas to North Carolina to visit, and I am so glad that 1) they have kids that do a good job in the car (we do not have one of those) and 2) Nashville is on the route! And also I threatened their lives if they drove past and did not stop for a visit. I had a wonderful time playing with their kids and cooking for them.

They were here right before 4th of July. Greg grew up in Phoenix and then lived in L.A.- no personal fireworks, ever. In his whole life. How sad. Here in the great state of Tennessee we get to the enjoy the freedom that is LARGE flammables, which are available in roadside tents that pop up about June 1st all over our county. Tyler took Greg one evening for a little shopping trip. Greg giggled like a schoolgirl for quite some time, I would venture to say that lighting off the fireworks he bought was the highlight of his Nashville stop.

This was one of the floor fountains we got - it was pretty cool for $3!

Yay!

Addie, Niki, Scotty and Greg.

I love you guys! Come back soon!

James' Dedication

While Maggie was away, the latest baby dedication was planned at church. There has been a huge (and ongoing) baby boom at CBC, so baby dedications are a crowd event these days!

 Here we are!

While we call it a baby dedication, it really is a parent dedication - we as parents making a declaration to our church that we are deciding to raise our children with biblical values and truths. There is nothing we want more as parents than for James to give his life to Jesus. He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. We can't make him a believer, but we hope to live out the Gospel in a way that is real to him (and Maggie), so that Jesus is reflected through us, and not just a lip service or Sunday morning ritual. 

Maggie's Summer Trip

Maggie spent the last two weeks of June in Washington with the grandparents. My mom came out, spent a couple days with us, and then flew her to Seattle, she got to spend time with Gramma Sue & Grampa Jones, Gramma and Grampa Spaid, and Poppy & Meme. Then, Poppy & Meme brought her home.

It was a great trip - she got to spend time with her cousins, all the grandparents got their fill, and I am so glad she got to go. Here are some pictures of her travels.

Here she is with her cousins, Alexis and Gabby. Apparently pants are not required at the beach.

 She went with Gramma Sue and Grampa to Campbell's Resort at Lake Chelan. She stayed in the pool almost all day every day, unless the weather wasn't cooperating. when not swimming, the ducks next to the room were a big hit.

 And ducks in the room were even better!

Fishing off the dock with Gramma's pink pole.

And Maggie wrapped up her time with Gramma on their boat for a day. They went out to Jetty Island and slept overnight on the boat. She barely had enough time in her day to talk to me. And told Gramma "this is the best day, EVER!"

Then she got to have more fun with the Spaids. Also too busy to talk to me on the phone.

The end of her trip was with Poppy & Meme. She got to go to a llama show with them then headed to their house in Spokane. Tilly is their mastiff, she's about the size of a VW Beetle at this point. 

Playing in the castle!

HOMECOMING! 

 

Poppy and Meme took the kids to the sprinkler park while I was working on a wedding. The kids had a great time!

And one morning we were blessed with a mama deer and her fawn in the backyard. It was amazing!

I promise I will update the blog!

I was working May - July, pregnant and sick, and just all-around busy. I've been a hot mess for the last 3 1/2 months. Updates starting shortly!