First Day of School

The first day of school went off without a hitch! We are so blessed that our children attend a school that they love and are actually thrilled to go back to. They both couldn't wait for school to start.

Sadie started her first day of 1st grade with the traditional Rose Ceremony. All of the graders gather together along with the new 1st grade class and their parents. The 1st grade teacher tells the children a story that is suppose to be a metaphor for transitioning from kindergarten to the grades. Then each of the children cross a little bridge as their name is called and receives a rose from one of the 5th graders and shakes hands with their new teacher. It's very sweet and symbolic. There were lots of tears.

She loved 1st grade. Her exact words were, "It was sweet!" She also said she likes 1st grade much better than kindergarten!

Jonah started out his first day of 4th grade excited to be back with his friends. He also will be learning how to play the violin this year and is very much looking forward to it.

Big news!!!

No, I am not pregnant! LOL.

Violet peed on the potty for the first time last night (Aug. 20)!!! Woo Hoo.

She always pees on the floor after I get her out of the bathtub so last night I had the brilliant idea of sitting her on the potty right after. It only took me like 10 times of cleaning pee off the floor to figure this out. But it worked! We were all so excited. I think Jonah and Sadie were the most excited of all. They kept telling Violet how proud they were of her. It was really sweet. In fact, Sadie said, "I'm so happy I might cry!"

Violet was a little shocked and not quite sure what to make of all the fuss but at least I didn't have to clean up the floor!

I think we're still a long way from being potty trained but we're heading in the right direction!

Myrtle Beach 2009

We just returned from vacation! We had a great time but were all ready to come home. In fact, we left a day early and drove through the night to get back. Our hotel wasn't as nice as I had hoped but it was on a very quiet and secluded part of the beach so it was perfect! Here are some pictures of our adventure...

Headin' for the beach!

Violet with her purse on the beach. What can I say, the girl likes to accessorize!

She ate about 4 lbs. of sand and was literally covered from hair to toe in sand everyday!  She brought half the beach home with her each night in her diaper!

"Hey Jonah, look at the shell I found!"

Violet and her shadow. At least she wasn't scared of it like Sadie use to be. This would have freaked Sadie out a few years ago!

Me and my man.

Two sisters diggin' a hole.

I think Jonah was looking at a kite here but I can't be sure. I just really like the lighting in this picture.

The view from our room.

Sweet Sadie on the beach and on our balcony.

Images from the pier.

Pure joy!

Jonah learning to skim board. He got the hang of it pretty quickly.

The kids and me relaxing in the lazy "river." Actually, it was more of a lazy stream (see the photo above) but relaxing nonetheless!

Me and my baby girl.

More lazy "river" fun. Violet LOVED the lazy river. She would stay in it forever and cry when it was time to get out. She's such a big girl.

One, two, three WHHHEEEEEEEEEEEE!

On the dunes.

Sadie wiping ice cream off Jonah's face. Too cute.

My girls.

Diggin' a swimming hole for Little V.

Aw, aren't we cute?

Our last day on the beach.