It All Started with a Little Skittle...

We made a checklist of fun things to do during the summer to ensure we did not get bored.  We were so busy with fun that we did not complete but about half of the list.  The one that Gabby required was the beach.  The beach was a problem though, because there was a bacteria in it at the beginning of the summer, and Mommy wouldn't risk it.  Instead we decided to take her to Schlitterbahn and she rode every single slide that she was allowed to go on, some numerous times.  Gabby is truly a daredevil like her Daddy (and unlike her Mommy).  We had a wonderful day at Schlitterbahn, but it wasn't the beach even when we added the Rainforest Cafe for dinner.  We promised her the beach another day and she did not forget. So after many tears and lots of begging, we finally found a weekend that we had available to go to the beach! We   made it to the beach last weekend.  I am so glad we waited until September to go to the beach....

Michael says that I like to take advantage and celebrate  everything.  I would like to say that this is an over exaggerations, but he is likely right because we just spent four days celebrating Gabby's half birthday .  We started Gabby's half birthday celebration by breaking her out of school a little early so she could savor a few extra hours with Corbin before he went home since we had such a short time with him.  She loved that Nanny got her and Corbin each a balloon to celebrate and then she and I went out for ice cream before tumbling class. Then, on her actual half birthday Gabby and I made her a half rainbow chip birthday cake.  Grandma and Papa came over and ate dinner with us.  Then Grandma, Papa, Abby, Mommy, and Daddy sang "Happy Half Birthday" to Gabby.  Then she blew out her candles and went back to playing with Abby.  It was so adorable she informed everyone at school proudly that it was her half birthday. B...

This weekend was Labor Day weekend.  Mark suggested we all go to Dallas to celebrate Grandpa's birthday a few days early.  So we all surprised Grandpa at about 11:00 at night by walking in his front door with a crew of 10! After arriving Uncle Mark informed his girls that they would be enjoying a Disney Cruise and that he, Laura, and her two kids would also be joining in on the cruise fun since they had just booked a room on the cruise as well.  This will be the first every entire family vacation and I know we are all looking forward to the memories that will be made. The children went to bed nicely, but the adults stayed up WAY too late, simply visiting and catching up on lost time.  Even though everyone went to bed very late (Gabby after 11:00 and parents after 1:00), Gabby still was awake in the 7:00 a.m. hour. Gabby popped up and ran straight into the room where all of the kids were still sleeping and woke poor Reagan up. We spent the day with all of ...

Our summer was wonderful, but we were so busy I did not have a lot of time to write about all of the adventures we had.  Hopefully these photos give you a good indication of all of the fun we had.  Beyond these photos, Gabby attended preschool two days a week (while Mommy worked), Kumon two days a week,  tumbling once a week, and dance once a week. Every day after preschool we played at the indoor playground for an hour with her friends.  We tried to take advantage and spend the weekends with family or just the three of us swimming or making memories in some other fun way.  Here are some favorite photos from this summer: Gabby learned how to swim independently this summer!

Gabby's first week of school went very well for Gabby. Here is a summary of the highlights that I am sure I will want to look back on and laugh about one day. Day 1: The first day of school Gabby didn't have much to say about her day.  She told me that her teacher is much nicer than she thought she would be! I think this day was more difficult on me than her. Grandma and I took her for ice cream to celebrate all of us surviving the first day! Day 2: Gabby begged to buy her lunch on the second day of school.  Michael and I told her that it was a special treat to buy her lunch (the food isn't very healthy) but that we would allow her to choose one day each week.  So Michael and I loaded money on her lunch account and she bought her lunch.  She had cheese pizza and said it was delicious!  If buying her lunch allows her to expand her very picky palate I will encourage the once a week buying! After school Gabby had tumbling.  So we came home...

Today Gabby officially became a kindergartner! Gabby woke up bright and early and was so very excited about her first day.  She helped Daddy make a smoothie and drank it while eating a waffle and watching cartoons.  Then Mommy curled her hair and helped her get dressed in the kitty dress she bought for the first day of school.  Mommy presented Gabby with a small heart necklace that fits inside Mommy's big heart necklace, that way when we missed each other we could just touch our necklace and know they are in each other's hearts always.   We took a few pictures (all included in this blog) and then the three of us headed to school.  We arrived at Gabby's school and she lead us straight to her classroom.  When we arrived to my surprise we were the last to arrive! Everyone was already seated and the teacher was about to start the lesson, so Gabby settled in quickly and started attending to the teacher before Mommy and Daddy even left th...