Avery goes to Kindergarten!

It's official: Avery is a kindergartener now! In one way it is hard to believe that the precious little baby girl I held in my arms 5 1/2 years ago is big enough to go to elementary school. But then we have watched her grow and learn for those 5 1/2 years as well and we have known for awhile that she would be ready for it when the time came. It makes it a little easier knowing that she loves to learn, make new friends, follow the rules, and likes structure and stimulation. I learned a long time ago that I could not possibly provide all that she needs here at home-- at least not without making a full time job of it! Scott and I began looking at some private schools this summer for her to attend until we move to a new neighborhood, and we decided on Harvest Christian Academy. It has close to 300 students K-12 and appears to provide a good balance between the academic and spiritual. She has been going for a week now and so far she really likes it. She is all smiles when we pick her up, is already making friends, and has started praying for her teacher every night. It is an adjustment of course and she is sometimes tired or in need of one-on-one Mommy time after being away all day, but overall she is doing great. Here are her 1st day of school pics. The first day was free dress (no uniforms).

On her first day we took the whole crew with us up to the school, which was no small feat. Definitely couldn't have gotten everyone up and out the door by 7:35 without Scott's help. It made me really tankful that Scott is able to take her to school every morning on his way to work! They let all the parents come in the classroom to get their children situated and then we stayed for the 3 pledges- to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible. Then I had to hug her and tell her to "Have Fun!" with a happy look on my face without tearing up. I was proud that I actually did it! Then they had a short reception/meeting for all the Kindergarten parents complete with boxes of Kleenex under the chairs. Then after a few tears in the car, I hurried off to get Kendall and I some breakfast before taking her to gymnastics. The first day was a half day, so I picked Avery up at 11:30 and we met Scott for lunch at Pei Wei.

Here she is on her second day with her cute little uniform on. That's my big school girl! I am so proud of you Avery!

Panama Week

Every year Scott tries to go on a mission trip to provide dental care for those who don't have access to it and/or cannot afford it. This year he went with Global Hands of Healing to Panama at the beginning of August. Maybe I will be able to convince him to carve out some time to post some of his pictures from the trip on here and to journal about it, but for now I just wanted to document a few of the things that the kids and I did while he was away. I tried to keep them busy and do some fun things that we don't normally do to help the week go by faster. We spent a lot of time with my parents on the two weekends that Scott was gone. That was a big help and allowed us to do some neat things like go to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, go to Mimi and Poppi's church in Coppell, and go to Rainforest Cafe. The girls also had a sleepover with their Mimi and Poppi one night while Judson and I spent the night at Embassy suites in Grapevine. My Dad and I took the girls swimming twice at the hotel and they surprised Judson and I on Saturday morning by showing up for breakfast at the hotel. My sister-in-law was also in town for the week, so one day we met her and my mother-in-law at the mall to let the kids play, eat Chick-fil-A and shop a little. We also took the kids to Let's Jump one day and let them burn off some energy there. It was a fun-filled week, but it sure made me glad that I am not a single parent!

After taking Avery to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, we spent the rest of the day on Saturday at our house with Mimi and Poppi. Avery loves to make Judson smile and is really good at it!

Judson loves to smile at and talk to his Mimi

At my parents house after church on Sunday. I inadvertently dressed all the kids in brown so we had to get a picture!

Relaxing on Sunday afternoon. Judson and I are on the couch in the background.Monday night we rented Chronicles of Narnia and ordered pizza. We had a pizza and pajamas picnic.

My parents came over Wed after work to help out a little. My Mom did some activities with the girls including making peanut butter playdough. We all went to dinner at Dickeys and then had some ice cream from Braum's to top it off.
Judson and his cousin Eva at Let's Jump on Thursday. They slept and ate while the Mason, Avery and Kendall jumped, slid, and ran around.
Mason loves Avery and they played together almost the entire time at the jump place. Avery was ticking him in this pic.
In front of the waterfall and rainbow at Rainforest Cafe. Kendall was just a little scared of the gorillas at first, but she got over it pretty quickly and we all had a good time.The girls were too captivated by this alligator to look at the camera. They thought it was funny that he had pennies in his mouth.
Avery all ready to go swimming at Embassy Suites. The water was a little colder than my Dad and I would've liked, but we eventually got used to it and the girls sure did have a good time.

Silly poses in the hotel room before swimming on Saturday morning.