Zander's First Day of School!

Zander had his first day of school on Monday and absolutely loves 1st grade!! I will have to say there is something different about having a first grader compared to a kindergartner.  It seems like both of us are a little more confident in our daily routine.  Things have started out smoothly and I'm very excited about the school year!  Zander is equally very excited!  He has decided he wants to be a teacher when he grows up and has said that he hopes Mrs. Pulliam, his first grade teacher, will move to 2nd grade because he already loves her so much! :)  He has been handing out hugs to all the staff members and his classmates from last year that he sees at recess or at other transitions throughout the day.  Fortunately, he has four or five students from his class last year in Mrs. Pulliam's room with him, which also makes him pretty excited to see familiar faces!  

Of course, we had to get an annual picture of the boys and me.  This starts year #15 overall for me and the 7th year I'm starting as a mommy..... check out the collage below to see us over the years!

 Meeting Mrs. Pulliam before Open House and writing his name on his school supplies.....

Zander's first lunchbox note.... he was so pleased he could read the whole thing without any help! ;)  

 I don't want to forgot to include our Madman in this post..... he loves wearing daddy's shoes and cuddling with mommy at all hours!  He has been getting up through the night to cuddle (for various reasons like hearing thunder, having a tummy ache etc)  He did throw up in his bed on Saturday night, definitely giving him a good reason for extra cuddles!  Also, he found a way to cuddle during his nap time on Saturday and ended up outside Zander's room for nap time on Sunday.  Zander got stung by a yellow jacket on Sunday before nap time so I don't know if Maddox decided to nap there because he was concerned for his brother or because he doesn't want to be alone right now, but it was the cutest thing to walk upstairs and see!

Maddox's First Day of School!

First of all, we are loving family bike rides at the elementary and middle school near our house!! It is one of my favorite things right now!  

Our youngest started back to school last week.  He was so proud to be starting back to school that I had to document all the sweet smiling pictures we took before we left that morning!  Maddox also requested gel (a.k.a 'del' since the g sound is tricky for him) in his hair!

Zander has been having tons of fun with Grammy and Grandpa.... he might not want to start first grade next week! haha.... He has gone to play putt putt, visited the arcade, been to the science center and the driving range!  They are keeping him busy with tons of fun activities!

We went to the Honeybee Festival on Saturday.  It was incredibly hot.  We opted for a pony ride rather than staying in line to wait for the other ticketed rides available.  We also ate yummy food from a food truck that was set up.  We were able to meet up with the Kennedys, Williams' family, Grammy and Grandpa while we were out and about!

 A new favorite game we were able to play as a family of four was Monopoly!  I absolutely loved playing board games growing up so I am hopeful that we will continue to introduce new games that our family can enjoy together!

Off to Work I Go!

We fit in a little more fun before I headed back to work!  Grammy went with us to High Point City Lake Park where we were able to play unlimited miniature golf, take train rides and ride the carousel.  The boys had a blast and it was a fun way to end our summer vacation together.   

Burke got to go with us for a car ride on Tuesday and enjoyed sitting in the front seat! haha  The boys and I fit in a little reading and snuggle time before heading back to work as well.  Burke's mood in the bottom picture is how we all felt about getting up early and getting back into the school routine!

Maddox will start in his new preschool class on Monday.  I can't believe he will be at my school starting kindergarten in two short years!  He is in Ms. Jennifer's class as a Frog this year.  

The boys have been having fun with Grammy while I've been at work.  They have been working on "school work", making cupcakes, riding bikes, swimming at our neighbor's pool and reading books!! I truly don't know how she does all she does! She is the most patient, positive and kind person I know!! I wish I could be her as a mom!!  She definitely gives me the best role model to look up to as I strive to be a mom to these two crazy, precious boys!

As we count down to school, we had to get the annual back to school hair cuts, documented with a picture!

Finally, Zander lost his second tooth yesterday!  As you can (kind of) see, his new tooth was coming in so the old one had to go!! Daddy successfully pulled it out using floss and our bathroom door! There were no tears and the video literally makes me laugh out loud each time I see it!

Summer Break: Week Six!

My final summer post!  Sadly, I head back to work this week.  I always love how many pictures I can take of my boys over the summer (documenting all the fun outings we are able to do together).  You will notice I use many collages because there are just so many pictures!  I know that in the upcoming weeks, there will be a lot less pictures since most days I will be working and the kids will be at school.  Maddox has open house at the end of the week and will start next Monday.  Zander has a few weeks until he starts first grade!  Fortunately, Grammy and Grandpa will be taking care of our boys while I am working until they start back to school.  Stay tuned for our annual back to school pictures in the upcoming weeks!  Here is how we have spent our final "summer break" week together.  We kept things pretty "low key" as we are easing back into our normal school routine.  The boys have been asking for a happy meal for awhile so they were so excited when I went through the drive thru and made all their kid dreams come true! haha

 On Monday, we went to the science center with Aunt Lindsey, Emerson and Grammy.  It was shark week at the science center which meant the boys got to participate in some fun tasks and even win shark drawstring bags!  We also bought the boys a new pair of shoes for "back to school".  They absolutely love them and didn't mind posing for a picture that I could send daddy to show off the recent purchase!

 On Tuesday, we went to a friend's pool to swim.  No pictures to document this since I was in the water watching my two little fish (that no longer wear flotation devices).  They are doing such a wonderful job jumping in and swimming either to me or the wall/ladder.  They love the parts where they can touch and swim around gathering "torpedoes" off the pool floor.  Also, they love when I throw them in the air and they swim to the side!! I am so proud of these two boys and their current swimming abilities!  On Tuesday afternoon, we celebrated Great Grandpa's 90th birthday.  It was a really special celebration with baked spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and vanilla cake with chocolate icing.  I had asked Grandpa specifically what he wanted to eat for his birthday meal so it was fun to plan the meal around his preferences!

The boys have been asking to play corn hole every day since we saw some boards at the beach.  On Wednesday morning, we rode bikes and played some corn hole in the front yard before meeting Grammy and Emerson at the library and park for a picnic lunch.  (You will notice I also mowed on Tuesday morning before the pool..... we haven't had much rain but I tried to clean up the yard a bit!)

 On Thursday, we met Daddy for lunch and got to see his store and co-workers.  In the afternoon, we went to see The Lion King.  The boys weren't as excited about this movie as some of our other recent movie outings.  We still enjoyed the experience but I found myself having to "hush" them a lot and try to explain what was happening when they had questions about the sequence of events. 

This week, Zack and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary!  As I was talking to mom, I realized that we will have been together 15 years in January!  It is crazy how time flies when you are having fun, working hard, and keeping up with two active boys!  We got to go out to dinner (sushi at Fire and Sticks) and then walked through downtown Greensboro (stopping for dessert at Cheesecakes by Alex)!  It was the perfect way to spend another year of wedded bliss. ;)

Today we took the boys to the Wyndham Championship.  This was Maddox's first time at the links and Zander's third time at this course for the tournament.  The boys walked the front nine before they started to get tired.  It was fun to see the golfers and explain the sport to the boys.  Grandpa plans to take Zander to a driving range or putt putt course before he heads back to school.  When we got home this afternoon, the boys got out their clubs and were hitting plastic balls around! haha

This summer has been my favorite one yet with my boys.  They are becoming so independent and really starting to play well with each other.  There were definitely moments that required time outs, tears and mommy having to take a few deep breaths but overall we had the best time enjoying the summer together!  I think I am already counting down until the next break we will have off together!