First Day of 6th Grade!

Emily started 6th grade (middle school) on Thursday!  She could not be more excited about going to middle school.  She's super sad about not getting lockers (darn covid!), but is excited for all the freedom that middle school comes with.  She has 8 different teachers this year and will switch classrooms for each subject.  She has friends in several classes, but there are a few that she doesn't know anyone.  I know she'll make lots of new friends.  The teachers allow the kids to be on their phones during certain times of the day and I love getting texts and pics from her to let me know what she's up to.

First Day of 4th Grade!

The kids started back to school last Thursday.  Evan found out his teachers on Tuesday.  He got Mrs. Reefer (formally Ms. Giles) for his homeroom and reading teacher and Mr. Williams as his math, science and social studies teacher.  He was a little sad he didn't get Ms. Porter again as she was supposed to move to 4th grade, but at the last minute got switched to Kindergarten.  Mr. Williams is a brand new teacher and we don't know Mrs. Reefer either.  It will be his first year with a switch teacher, as they didn't do that in 3rd grade due to covid.  He doesn't have any buddies in his class, but I'm hopeful that just gives him a chance to make new friends.  I'm hoping he has a great year!

We celebrated the first day back with some ice cream after dinner.  I loved hearing all about their day.  

July Little Things

I can't believe July is already over!  It was the last full month of summer.  Here are all the little things we were up to this month:

Em had their last soccer practice before getting 2 weeks off.

Kallin, our nanny for the summer, took the kids to a Jurassic World exhibit at Grandscape.  They all seemed to enjoy it and best of all, I got pics to see all the fun they had.

We went out to dinner with the Gists one night and ended up coming home with 3 kids.  :)

We went to Mimi and Papa's for 4th of July.

On another outing with Kallin.  I got bug pictures.  Evan loves finding stuff like this.  

We went to Uncle Julio's on Evan's birthday, but they hadn't brought the chocolate piñatas back yet after Covid, so we promised him another visit once they returned.  We made good on that promise while Emily was at a sleepover with friends.

Evan built a couple of bird feeders for the backyard.  When Shawn filled them up with birdseed, it wasn't the birds that were eating it.

Emily went to a charcuterie class with a friend from her soccer team.  They made the cutest treats.

Shawn and Evan have been going to the neighborhood pool at night a few times a week and Shawn sent me this picture of Evan trying on his glasses.

My neighbor and I took Em and her bestie to the mall for some back to school shopping.  I found some selfies on her phone of them modeling some of their new clothes.

A couple other random selfies that I found on Em's phone...

Weekend in Wimberly, TX

Shawn's mom has been wanting to book a family trip for a while now, but with Em's soccer we just weren't able to commit to specific dates.  Once she signed with her new team and we found out she would have a couple of weeks off in July, KK took advantage and booked a house in Wimberly for a long weekend.  The house was right on the Blanco river.  

We left around lunch time on Thursday afternoon and arrived by dinner time.  KK had made lasagna for dinner, so after eating, we were able to hang out on the porch and actually enjoy some of the cooler weather.  The house had a huge yard and we were able to see quite a few deer.

On Friday, we slept in a bit and had a relaxing morning before going out to lunch and then driving about an hour so we could float the Comal river.  We all had a good time and the water was very refreshing.  When we got back to the house, Shawn cooked dinner and then we watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Saturday morning was another relaxing morning.  After sleeping in, we headed to downtown Wimberly to walk around some of the shops and have lunch.  When we got back we went to the Blanco river across the street and hung out.  The kids enjoyed kayaking the river!

Shawn took Evan fishing.  They caught several fish.

We saw lots of deer on the property.  This night there was a whole deer family that came out.  

And here are a bunch of turkeys that showed up 1 day.  It was so fun to see all the wildlife.

That night after dinner, Stephanie had planned some "fair games."  It was kids vs. adults.  The kids had the absolute best time and we were all very competitive.  In the end, the kids very narrowly were the winners.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed home, but not before making a stop to pick up some kolaches in West.