Celebrating Friends!

 The girls have been busy celebrating lots of friends' birthdays! They got invited to an ice skating party a couple weeks ago. I had to go in the basement and drag out the coats, hats, and gloves!

 

It was Peaches' friend but siblings were invited so Lou and Peanut got to come and had a great time too! 

 

 

 

They skated for an hour and half and then went back to the party room for treats and presents. 

 

 

Another of the girls' friends, J, had his birthday the other day too and wasn't really planning to celebrate so we invited him to go to the movies with us. We watched The Bad Guys 2. 

 

 

And then stopped at Dairy Queen and shared a peanut butter ice cream cake! 

 

 

Another Saturday Boo got invited to go on a shopping trip for one of her besties' birthdays. We met them in town at 10 and didn't pick her up until 5:30! She said they had a blast shopping at the mall, Hobby Lobby, Home Goods, and Target. 

 

 

They also got Starbucks. Boo is the pink one. :) 

 

 

It's been a fun month of celebrations! We are thankful our girls have such good friends! 

Volleyball Jamboree

 One of the schools in our league did something new this year and hosted a volleyball jamboree! It was nice that it wasn't a tournament so we didn't have to worry about winning or losing. There were 8 teams and we played half of them. The girls played four games and had to work two. Their first game was at 11 so it was also nice that it didn't start super early! 

It's funny how I've never liked volleyball because now I really enjoy watching the games! Boo is so athletic and competitive. She is really fun to watch. 

  

 

She is doing so well with her serving! She rarely misses.

 

 

 I am so impressed with how well these girls are doing! Especially considering they lost 5 seniors last year!! I thought this year would have to be a growing year, but they are doing amazing! They won a couple sets during the jamboree but not any matches. 

 

 

Boo had already had her fingers taped because T accidentally smashed them when they were moving wood at Grandma and Grandpa's a few days before, but then she also hyper-extended her thumb in the first match and ended up with more tape. 

 

This school is the location T and I graduated from, but it's a different school now. I took this picture of her to show him that we were in our old Science room. :) 

 

 

Boo loves to win and gets so amped up when they score good points. :) 

 

 

 

Here she is doing lines for one of the other games.  

 

 

Noni kept the little ones for me and they harvested potatoes! 

 

 

Then she brought them up for the last game. 

 

 

 

It was a fun way to spend a Saturday and a great start to volleyball season!  

Funny Friday

 

 

 

Happy Friday! :)  

Chuck E. Cheese!

 On our last day of summer Peaches, Lou, and I picked up Noni and headed to Chuck E. Cheese! They didn't want pizza so we got Happy Meals on the way. :) 

We got one hour bracelets and they got busy having fun!  

 

 

It's always so nice to have Noni along because they often go in opposite directions and I can't keep an eye on both of them! 

 

 

 

It seems like they are always changing things here! This time they had a trampoline area, but we didn't do that part because it cost extra.  

 

 

They also had many new games including this one that had Mario characters doing different challenges.  

 

 

They had a blast running all over the place trying out almost every game! The only thing they didn't like was Chuck E. :P I don't know why but this year they were both super scared of him and did not want to see him! When he came out they just happened to be playing a game that faced the window so neither of them saw him come up behind us. He waved to them and then walked on, but we made sure they didn't notice, haha. 

 

 

 

They ended up with enough points to share cotton candy and they also both got bracelets and rings. It was a fun last day of summer outing!  

First Days

 

Boo and Peanut started back to school on a Thursday after their Monday-Wednesday retreat. We did our first day pictures before we left. 

 

 

I am driving them to school every day and counting down the days until January 27th when Boo can drive them! But it was fun to be there on the first day and get to take pictures and do the prayer time at the flag pole with the other parents. Boo likes to dress up and look professional so the dress code is not a problem for her!  

 

 

B was there so we grabbed a picture and then on my way out I saw S, but I didn't want to go back and make them take another picture. :P  

 

 

Peanut was pretty nervous for her first day so I walked with her to class and talked with her until it started. She did a great job though and by the second week her nerves dissipated. So far everything is going well for her. We are proud of her for sticking with something that's not super easy for her! 

 

 The little ones and I still had a full week of summer after the big girls started and we enjoyed it to the fullest, but finally on the 3rd we started. The day before I took them to Walmart and let them pick out a back to school outfit. 

 

 

 

 We started out with Peaches in the schoolroom but quickly moved her to our room at Peanut's old desk because it is too hard to have two computers with sound going in the same room. 

 

 

 

Unfortunately our online school got a brand new platform this year that is extremely difficult to navigate, and super confusing. :{ I feel so bad for the teachers as none of them like it and it is SO much more work for them. It's been quite a challenge for everyone, and even though we are starting to get use to it I'm still very unhappy. "Progress" is not progress if it makes everyone's lives more difficult. :( 

 

The good thing about this year is that both girls got great teachers who are super sweet! Lou actually got Peaches' first grade teacher who remembers Lou well from all the times she sat in with Peaches and watched her class connects so that is really fun!

 

 

 

Apparently Peaches was feeling the stress of it all because I found this outside her room. :P I can't say I didn't feel like putting up a similar sign on my bedroom door. Haha.

 

 

 

Our traditional first day of school ice cream did help though!  

 

 

 

One of their teachers did say that they are working on an elementary school version of the new platform so hopefully they finish that quickly and/or we can get used to everything before too long! So far it's been a rough start, but I'm hopeful that things will improve!  

Back to School!

E and D were so excited to open their school boxes! They helped me get the schoolroom cleaned out and then they tore into their boxes.

 

 

I think Peanut was a little sad that she didn't get boxes this year, but she's way more excited about going to school! We had a lot of school supplies left over because when Bug cleaned out her two lockers from 4 years of school she ended up with a whole bag of unopened school supplies that covered everything Peanut and Boo needed. I think the only thing we had to get was a binder for Peanut. She picked one on Amazon that zips up and has straps...almost like a briefcase. I guess those are popular at school so you don't have to carry your backpack around to all your classes.

 

 

It is hard to believe Peaches is a 4th grader already! 

 

 

She's excited for the year! 

 

 

And I really can't believe our "baby" is a first grader. I wish I could just pause time. 

 

 

 

Peanut was super excited for open house. She got to choose her locker and hang out with her besties. The only sad part is that they are not in her grade or class this year. Next year she'll be with them when they do 9th/10th classes, but she does get to have lunch with them at least.  

 

 

 

The first three days of school is the retreat and Peanut was nervous but excited to go...Boo was just excited! She loves retreat. They let me take a picture of them when I went to drop them off. :)  

 

 

And it sounds like they had an awesome time! The Principal, Pastor J, and Pastor H all three came up to me separately when they got back and were bragging on how amazing Boo is and how she lead chapel and the students with such confidence and skill. They are so impressed with her and we are so proud of her leadership skills! 

 

Peanut had a wonderful time too and enjoyed getting to know some of the other kids while hanging out with her friends. Since Boo is on the ASB she got to help form the teams for games. She put Peanut on her team and some very athletic boys so they ended up winning all the games and challenges, haha. They had quite a story about one of the night games where Boo came charging back to their line with the special glow stick (a capture the flag type game) and someone was about to tag her so she threw it to one of the other boys on their team who got (literally) tackled, but as he fell he threw it to the side and Peanut scrambled over there, snatched it up, and ran to victory! They also enjoyed swimming in the lake and playing on the trampolines and mats the camp had. They said the speaker was really good and everyone enjoyed the chapels. It sounds like it was a wonderful retreat!

 

More pictures of back to school tomorrow! 

 

 

Goodbye Summer

 Man this summer flew by way too fast! We enjoyed it so much: soaking up the sun and swimming to their little hearts' content. 

We had one last pool day on the schedule and the weather turned on us. I think the high was 72, but we decided to go anyway and it ended up being super fun because there was only one other family there so they pretty much had the pools to themselves!

 

 

They didn't do as many slide runs because they got cold getting out of the water and walking up there. 

 

 

But they had a wonderful time swimming in the warm water.  

 

 

 And of course getting treats from the concession stand!

 

 See you next year pool! 

 

 

 

Our last lake day was a big hit and several other families joined us. Most of our lake days have been just us and one or two other families, but this day there were four or five.  

 

 

They had a wonderful time hanging out with their friends and enjoying our last beach day of the summer. 

 

 

It was super windy, but we still enjoyed it. 

 

 

 

The girls made a really fun sandcastle. 

 

 

 

It was a perfect summer afternoon. 

 

 

We will miss you Summer! See you next year!