Schooltime Fever!

For many of my friends and most of my family, today was a very big day. Teachers began their school year, and so many of Kendyll's sweet friends had their first big day of kindergarten! We still have over a week until ours officially begins and our whole household is looking forward to it. We have schooltime fever, but we're trying our best to enjoy some extra free time before it hits.

Even though we didn't start school today, I still found myself to be emotional anyway. I saw a couple of my friends this morning, and got to see pictures of their daughter's first days of school and I teared up!! They weren't even my kids! But, in many ways, I feel like they are. :) This is a big year for so many of us, as our firstborns begin their "real world" school days. For those of you reading, we prayed for each one of you last night and today!

Okay, on to the updates. Because we still have some summertime left to enjoy, we have really tried to fit in some fun with the family. Weeks ago (yes, I am late on my blogs), the four sisters went on a "girls only" trip to San Antonio before we all hit our busy years as students, teachers, and mommies. It was such a fun getaway and we enjoyed eating (alot), talking (alot), and shopping (way too much)! Those are three things we are very good at and definitely enjoy doing together. Thanks, Cortni, Cassie, and Cailee, for a great time away before things got hectic. You're the best friends a girl could ask for. :)

We also spent every day last week with different friends and family before everyone returned to school. We had more time with baby Tyler, Chuck E Cheese for Carlie's b-day with the Brantley's, ice cream with Pops and Grandma, a visit from Uncle Chris who lives in Boston, playdates with friends, a puppet show at the mall, a trip to the library, and a very fun day at a waterpark, playground, and picnic lunch with Grandad, Aunt Cortni, Aunt Cailee, and Braden.
Carlie really enjoys the freedom of summer and demonstrated just how free she felt by peeing in the middle of the playground last week. She said "Mommy, I need to go potty". I said "Okay, we might have to go in the grass since there's not a potty here." I turn around to sit my stuff down, and turn back around to find her legs spread, her swimsuit "moved over", and the stream of pee already hitting the ground. We all started laughing and my Dad caught it on camera. Later, when I was telling Mark about this he said "Oops. That might be my fault. I let her pee all the time at the pool in our neighborhood." WHAT?! There is a bathroom ATTACHED to our neighborhood pool, and there is not grass in the pool area---only bushes. Now I know that our daughter learned the stand-up-and-pee-wherever-you-are trick from her daddy. Nice.

Another big event last week was Abby Kate's mastery of the sitting position. She now prefers it to laying down. However, it has led to more spit-up and more sudden falls. She gets tired and eventually falls over. And, then, she looks like this:

But, it's fun to watch her be so proud of her big-girl accomplishments. Look at that grin.Here's one more thing she's learned to do really well: toe-eating.
This next week is full of more fun, as we celebrate our last week of summer for the girls. We have decided to have one fun thing every day---not because we're overly fun parents---but because Kendyll has been a bit sad that all of her friends "get to go" to school now and she doesn't. I told her that Providence just wanted her to have one extra week of fun with her family. Well, my mistake. Because she has taken that literally and decided to name this week "Kindergartabration". (Really! She thought of that name on her own...give her any reason to celebrate anything and she jumps right in!) We kicked it off with a surprise ice cream trip after church last night, and have a few things planned this week to celebrate the end of summer. Even though we didn't plan on having "kindergartabration", we are glad to have some family time together before both girls hit the school scene next week.

And, for those of you who have already started, God bless your school year!