Sandy's Bachelorette Party

I got to go to Austin one night in late August for Sandy's bachelorette party!  

I considered myself the chaperone as I was definitely the oldest and almost a decade older than Sandy and her friends. 

But, it was so much fun. Allison helped me with the tanks for the weekend and threw in some super cute matching koozies and I gave everyone some personalized #howeaboutforever sunglasses. 

 Our first stop was lunch at Hula Hut where we passed out our swag and even got some free neon Austin hats too.

 
We had a private pole dancing class, some pool time and the lingerie shower before dinner.

Dinner was late and delish and a great pre-cursor to our night on the town.
 It has been years and years since I've been to 6th street.

Sunday morning, everyone pretty much did their own thing and headed back home. Olivia and I stopped for brunch at Pacos Tacos (which was delish) and headed home! It was a quick but super fun trip celebrating sweet Sandy!

Meet the Teacher & First Day of First Grade

We had Meet the Teacher Thursday night and left without a single picture of the teacher. We got the "new to our school" teacher for the second year in a row. Last year it worked out amazing so I praying for another good year. Out of the 20 kids in her class last year, only 2 are in her class this year. The other 18 kids were split between the other two classes so that was kind of a bummer but, it's a super small school so she knows pretty much the entire grade and was excited about everyone in her class anyway. Kamryn is the one girl in her class from last year.
 

We are glad to be in class with Bridge this year. 

 

Another pic with Kinley, Kamryn and Addison, from her soccer team. 

 

After Meet the Teacher we had a family fun night at Chuck E Cheese. Dylan devoured pizza and everything from the salad bar like a champ while Kinley and Ty ran around like crazies playing games.

   

Family selfie driving cars. 

 

 The First Day of School Kinley woke up to a very similar set up to last year. A little celebration goes a long way with Kinley and got her super excited for the day. 

We went outside for our traditional 1st day pics... 

 

Ty insisted he wanted to be in a pic with his backpack too despite the fact that this really isn't his school backpack or his first day of school. But, Kinley smiled and went a long with it because that's what big sisters do. 

 She's amazing. 

 

We were all trying to get up and dressed so we could all walk her in but I think that in fact made us late getting out the door. 

 

 Ben dropped her and I off in the circle and I walked her to her classroom as the bell rang. Luckily there were lots of other parents and kids in the hallways so she wasn't too stressed about being late. When we got to her classroom everyone was already circled up with the teacher. 

From drop off Ty, Dylan and I went to a "Boohoo/Yahoo" breakfast at Celebrity Cafe that Shelley Tyler organized for us. She wanted it to be special for all the first time Kindergarten moms. I was super thankful to go too! She had flowers and tissues and a journal for us all write down our biggest fear or prayer request in that she will pray over for us. It was a wonderful blessing of a breakfast for us all! 

 

From breakfast I took Ty, Sean Ryan and Ryland to baseball since their mommies had to pick up AG, Mila and Ella from a half day of school. These boys had lots of fun and were very sweet. I foresee lots more playdates with just the littles this year with all the big kids in school. 

 

At the end of the day, I picked Kinley up and we got a picture with her teacher Ms. Moore and her besties that she misses so much in her class this year, Erika and Claire.

   

I picked up some cute school themed cookies from Celebrity at breakfast as after school treats.

   

 So far, so good this week! 

 I can't wait to see what first grade holds for Kinley this year! 

 I love you sweet girl. 

 You are going to do great things! 

Last Week of Summer - Museums, Zoos and Birthdays, Oh My!

We've had a few things on our summer bucket list that we never got around to doing so my kids have had the best last 10 days of summer ever checking things off. 

 It started off with them getting to go to the Ft Worth Children's Museum with Honey and Boss one weekend while we were away at the lake with some friends. 

 My parents sent me like 30 pictures from this day and I loved getting every single one!

 Here are a few.

   

Apparently Ty's favorite thing was this wind tunnel.

   

Love these of sweet Dylan in his stroller. 

 

And these with the T-Rex outside are adorable. 

I think they took pics with every bronze statue they could find. 

 

Meanwhile, we had a fun couples weekend at the lake kid-free.
It is such a special treat to get away and we don't get a chance too often. Our friends are so gracious and sweet about wanting to go to the lake house. I love that they always are wanting to go and think its a fun place to be. Its not too big and doesn't have many bells and whistles but we LOVE it and can't imagine summer without being there as much as we can. 

 Without kids we do a LOT more boating...sunset cruises and tubing and wake boarding. We can stay on the boat for hours without having to run back for nap time or because its too hot.

 

Monday we went with some cousins on the Howe side to the Ft Worth Zoo. We are so glad to be members there! It was so fun being with all the cousins. And everyone did a great job staying together!

   

Best group shot we could get. 

 Only missing sweet, camera shy Grady. 

Girls

   

Kinley and Aubrey had matching snaggle-tooth smiles to start the day. These pics was taken at Aubrey's bday party on Saturday and at lunch at the zoo on Monday.

But, in the prairie dog house, Aubrey finally lost that dangling tooth and it was cause for celebration. Kinley has been wiggling hers ever since trying to match again.

Broke Grady of his camera shyness :)

We got to the zoo a little later than the rest and have a much shorter ride home so we stayed to do the splash pad.
 It is SO MUCH FUN and the best way to do the Fort Worth Zoo in August.
 

The second half of the week we headed to Dallas and on Wednesday we hit up the Perot Museum with Honey.
 

Saturday we headed to the Dallas Zoo with the Nordells.
 We were all set for a family day of fun... BUT, Ben's blood sugar actually got crazy high like an hour after we got there so Ben, Dylan and I had to head home to get it under control and Ryan and Stacee were champs and kept Kinley and Ty with them to see the rest of the zoo.
 I think they had the best time ever and I am sad we didn't get to stay too but, I loved getting the pics.
 Thank you Nordells!!
 

It was a tight squeeze getting all 5 kids and our double stroller in their car but they made it work!
 
I think they had fun
We also celebrated Tatum and Arabellas 6th birthdays this week.
 Tatums was at Skatetown and it was so fun!
 It was Kinley's first time to roller skate so I took her on my own for some one on one learning and she did so great.
 There were a few falls but, no tears and lots of determination.
 She got to go home for a sleepover with AG afterward and that was a special treat too.

Arabella's birthday was a magical unicorn party with some sweet friends.


School starts tomorrow and I am so glad we had such a fun summer!
 I always have mixed emotions about school starting.
 I am glad for fall weather and a solid routine but, so sad to not have all three kids home with me all the time.
 I treasure summer.
 Glad we went out with a bang!