Paige and Daddy completed her first school project of the year. The assignment was to create a poster in the shape of something important to the student, and then find pictures or illustrations for five categories. Paige decided to go with a leotard as the shape and we went through and picked out lots of pictures for the different categories. It turned out very nicely and it was fun to see it come together.
Paige also has to present the poster and has practiced a few times. I took a video today of her going through the poster and pictures.
On Saturday, Grandma Alice and Grandpa Rick came over to hang out and we went to the neighborhood park to celebrate back to school with the neighbors. They had a variety of food trucks and some fun activities for the kids and we ended up staying for quite a while. Paige loved the rock wall and climbed it three times.
Connor didn't really want to do any of the activities but thankfully he knew some of the boys and they played soccer for a while together.
Afterwards we went to the beach club, and it was nice and cool at the beach. The kids splashed around for a little while, but we started to get nervous as a thunderstorm was rolling through to the West. We decided we'd better not be on the beach with lightning nearby, so unfortunately our beach time was cut a bit short.
On Friday, the kids completed their first full week of school. Connor's middle school scheduled the middle school dance for Friday evening, and it was Connor's first dance with friends. He was a little reluctant to go at first because he wasn't sure if anyone else was going, but it turned out that lots of the sixth graders went to the dance and he ended up having a lot of fun. Connor rode to the dance with his buddy Carter and one of Carter's friends.
I think he had fun with everyone, and it was setup so there were no slow songs, so no awkward moments with the boys and girls. No worries about dressing up fancy or anything either and the kids were encouraged to wear their favorite sports jersey. It sounds like the boys kept to themselves and the girls kept to themselves as well.
After the dance, the some of the parents took the boys to a local Mexican restaurant to socialize and hang out and I took Connor.
On Sunday, August 12th, Paige was invited to go bowl and play games with her friend Caitlyn. They had lunch and enjoyed their day together along with Caitlyn's brother Collin and his friend Julia.
On Friday, Connor played in a big game with his YMCA team and although they were losing in the first half, they came back and won the game by two points. This meant that they qualified for the final game of the season against the best team in the league. On Saturday afternoon he went with his buddies to St. Augustine for the big game. Connor's team had played the team earlier in the season and it had been pretty bad. His team didn't have all their best players, and they got blown out so badly they stopped keeping score and the other team eventually weren't allowed to even use their hands while on defense.
This time around things went a bit better, although it was a very uneven matchup. Some of the kids were enormous and there was quite a bit of debate as to how old they actually were. There was no mercy rule with the score this time, but the boys still lost pretty badly with a score of 7-52. We were proud of the boys for trying their best against the monster team and Coach Rob encouraged them to make friends with tall boys at school this year.
After the game the boys went back to Rob and Monica's house for the afternoon and then we invited them all over for a sleepover at our house. Carter, Liam, Bobby and Connor all were pumped to play Fortnite Battle Royale together and Liam and Carter brought their Nintendo Switches so they could all squad up. Using the Xbox, a computer, and the Nintendos, they were all able to play together and it was fun hearing them all screaming and shouting during their matches.
We had them turn off the game at around 9:30, lights off at 10:00, and finally by around midnight they were all asleep.
In the morning, Paige and I went to Dunkin Donuts to get everyone some breakfast. When we got home, we were happy to hear that the boys had won a round together, and they recounted their victory while I recorded them.
Connor is lucky to have a good group of boys with such similar interests. He had a fun weekend with buddies.
It's been hot lately. It's that time of year where you break a sweat walking to the mailbox and back. In the evenings though, right as the sun is going down, there's a period where it gets nice and cool and you can enjoy the outdoors without burning up. We've been going for golf cart rides that time of day lately, and Andrea also decided to let Paige practice driving. Andrea would run the pedals and Paige would steer, and Paige absolutely loves it.
Yesterday, while Connor was at basketball, we went for a ride and I took a short video. It's super bumpy, but I love watching Paige enjoy the drive.
On Saturday morning we got up and did our regular morning routine. Andrea and I did the 9 and 10 clinics while Connor did his lesson with Coach Andrew. Paige went to the nursery and brought along her books and some school stuff so she could get a jumpstart on the homework.
We got home after tennis and Connor went with his buddies to his basketball game and after lunch we invited Paige's friend Maddie over.
The girls built a fort up in the playroom under the ping pong table and then they swam for a while together. It was a super hot day, and it was a perfect time for some swimming. It's nice that Paige has a friend in the neighborhood that lives nearby and it's neat they're in the same class this year.
Friday, 8/10/2018 was the first day of school for the kids. Connor started 6th grade and Paige started 3rd.
Connor has a very early morning schedule this year and set his alarm for 6:00am to give himself plenty of time the first day of school, but he hit snooze and I had to wake him up. We still had enough time to get ready, but it was tricky getting some pictures in the morning since it was still so dark outside. His bus came at 6:54am and Andrea went with him to the bus stop and chatted with a few of the other moms and took a quick pic of him getting on the bus.
Paige got up early with Connor and got ready so they could take their back to school picture together. She was excited to wear her new outfit to school and looked extra cute because Mommy took her to get a French manicure and also a pedicure.
Both kids came home from school in great moods and had awesome starts to their school years. Connor was happy to see all his friends in class, made some new friends, and found his classrooms without too much trouble. Paige is excited to have Maddie in her class this year and already made a new friend that sits near her.
A big thanks to Andrea for shopping for all their back to school clothes, backpacks, and school supplies. There were lots of lists and tasks to get the school year started, and Andrea got everything organized and ready so we'd all be off to a smooth start.
It's going to be tougher this year since both kids are getting on different buses with different schedules, but we're off to an awesome start and so proud of both of our kids for their positive attitudes.
On Thursday morning, we had an exciting start to our new school year. The kids got up early and dressed up a little to make good first impressions because it was time to meet the teachers!
First, we went to Connor's new middle school. The parking lot was packed and I dropped everyone off and had to park way down the street. We went through and picked up Connor's schedule and purchased his gym uniform, and then we started off through his school to find everything. It was quite the change from elementary school and it was tricky to navigate the school although it really wasn't that big. Connor used the map and we found each classroom and talked briefly to some of his teachers. We worked on how a combination lock works and found the bank of lockers where he will eventually have a locker assigned.
Eventually we finished up with everything at the middle school and went to Paige's elementary school. She is in the Rawlings building now where the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders have class. It was much more calm than the middle school setup, and it was a bit of a relief to be in her little cozy school and see her new classroom. Paige was a little apprehensive about going to the "big kids" school, but for us after our morning at the middle school, it seemed like a piece of cake.
Paige has Ms Caldwell this year and she seems like a very well liked and wonderful teacher. We found Paige's seat, did some paperwork, and took a quick pic of Paige and Ms Caldwell together.
After meeting the teachers we ate at Barbara Jeans and enjoyed the last day of summer with our guys. We are looking forwards to the new school year and the kids are in high spirits and excited to start their new school schedules.
On Wednesday, Paige usually goes to gymnastics, but they had canceled classes this week. Andrea and Connor had tennis in the evening, so Paige and I had some time to ourselves. I told her she could do whatever she wanted and she wanted to go to the park to play for a bit. She's still so cute about going to parks!
This past week was the last week for summer vacation for the kids. School was scheduled to start Friday, which was kind of odd, and there were no camps scheduled for the week.
Paige had Abby come over on Monday and they made a fort under the ping pong table and then swam together for a while.
On Tuesday, Gina came by with Trevor and Logan. They were in town from Seattle, and they stopped by for the afternoon. Andrea ate lunch with Gina and Janis at Barbara Jeans while the boys played at the house.
The summer is coming to an end, and this Friday is the first day of school for the kids. Andrea remembered that last year she had the kids do a short writing assignment to put down some of their special memories from the year. Both kids wrote a few memories from the five categories: Kansas City, Grandma and Grandpa Vernon's house, Costa Rica, Wild Dunes, and their summer camps.
