Good Bye to Summer

Summer flew by this year, mainly because school started super early this year, but here's a quick photo recap on how we spent these hot summer days:




Joey and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversay in June. We honeymooned for the night at The Ritz Carlton, enjoyed dinner at Rays in the City and saw "Avenue Q".



I enjoyed a four day girls trip to Savannah for my soon to be sister- in- law, Bonnie's bachelorette trip and hungout with her super-fun girlfriends/bridesmaids.




Took Brendyn for a haircut.


Kate got one too. She's more of a DIY kinda girl.




We celebrated Brendyn's second birthday on July 3rd. But before we could have any cake, someone got a hold of it.










Like the elbow indentions?


Celebrated 4th of July with wonderful neighbors, friends, and family in "Da Sac."




I lost my car keys and camera in the same week following 4th of July-- Brendyn hid my car keys in our pantry and 12 hours later we finally found them.


And the last Friday night before school started, Kate had her first sleepover with four friends. Half of the girls went back home by 12:30 am but it was a great first attempt. :)

Hope you all had an eventful summer too!

First Day of Kindergarten

Monday, August 1, 2011 marked another big milestone for my daughter Kate - her first day of Kindergarten.

As a mom, I thought she would be more nervous than excited, but I was wrong. As I fumbled my camera and carried in three bags of supplies, my four year old immediately exercised her independence on the first day wanting me to go as soon as we got to school--- she was urging me to hurry up as I was trying to enjoy this moment as a parent. I only took a couple of pictures as Kate was eager to get to class and see her friends; we arrive to her class and she immediately puts her own belongings away and kisses me goodbye quickly so she could enjoy all of her new surroundings. As I walked back to my car, a few tears came to my eyes and I thought about my own mom, who is a bigger crier than me, who told me recently (many years later) how she cried from Auburn, Al to Charlotte, NC on the way home from dropping me off at college and how that feeling of no longer being needed hits you hard.

As proud as I am of Kate starting school, I definitely felt "the hit" on day one. I have loosened the reigns from overprotective mama bear and let her ride the bus to school with her good friend who lives down the street, buy lunch in the cafeteria and she's totally thriving so far earning green behavior dots in class!

So far we are off to a great start but waking at 5AM to get two kiddos ready for school/daycare is tough getting used to...and to think I complained about how tough it was to get up for an 8 AM class in college all those years ago...