First day of school! :)

It's official... Ireland and Chloe are back in school... and I have TWO kids in school! What?! TWO? How is that possible. I swear I am not that old.
But alas, it's true. Chloe started kindergarten on Wednesday.
I was a little worried about how she would do. She seems to like to be with me, Chris, or Ireland at all times. But she did great! She has Ireland's old teacher... I think that helped a lot.

We had "Back to School night" the day before school. The girls got to bring all their school supplies in their backpacks (and have ice cream) so it was pretty exciting.

Nana got to be with us for the first day of school... she was here in time to go to the back to school night as well. The girls were really excited to have her here... but Ireland was convinced that Papaw was going to show up and surprise her on the first day of school (he never showed up... but she wasn't too disappointed, she was a little distracted by the excitement of 1st grade).
Anyways, Gunner also loved having Nana here... she gave him lots of attention at back to school night.
School here starts at 7:50am. Well, actually 8:00am but they have to be in line by 7:50am (I guess the teachers think it's important to stand in line for 10 minutes before school or something).
We got to walk on the first day. The weather has been wonderfully nice here! Last year on Ireland's first day it was raining and cold. So it was really nice to have sunshine and warm weather!

This year all the kids meet in the gym to line up. Which is really great because we don't have to wait outside (usually raining) for the teachers to open the doors.
The first day was a little overwhelming because all the parents were in the gym as well. Chloe wasn't too sure what to think of it all. But she did pretty good.

Chloe is in morning kindergarten... so she is done with school at 10:42am. Daddy, Nana, and Mommy got to pick her up (Uncle Danny stayed home with Gunner, who was napping). Chloe was really happy to see us and told us she had a great day. She even said she would go back the next day... so I guess that is a good sign!

Daddy even drove the Jeep to pick her up (on of her favorite things) with the top off! After we got home and changed into cooler clothes and picked up Gunner and Uncle D, we went to China Panda (Panda Express) for lunch.
Ireland gets out of school at 2:30pm. Mommy and Nana went to go pick her up... again, Uncle D stayed home with Gunner since Gunner was still sleeping.
Ireland has specials (gym, music, art) during the last part of the day so she is always coming from something fun at the end of the day.
She LOVED 1st grade. She is really excited about eating lunch at school. And she has a lot of friends from her kindergarten class... even her 2 "best friends", Jordan and Destiny.
So needless to say, 1st grade is a big hit! It seems a little too easy (way too easy) right now, but we are just going with the flow right now because things will be changing soon enough.

Daddy didn't get to come pick up Ireland but he was at the house when we got home... she was really excited to tell him all about her day!
All in all it was a great way to start the school year!
I am so glad both the girls love school so much and I can't wait to see what they are going to learn this year!

Stop panicking... we're all still alive...

Well, I finally made myself sit down in front of the computer and post a blog... to be honest, it's not my favorite thing to do... but I do it for my "public" and such. So, you're welcome.
Here are a bunch of pictures from our time in Colorado. We had a great time and loved every minute of it.
My sister and Matt and the kids got to be there for a while too. So it was great to see them!
The cousins had a GREAT time together!

We also got to spend some great times with Maren and her kids (And Jeff too).
We went to the zoo when we first got there... Ireland got sun-sick and puked for the entire next day... lame.
But other than that it was super fun!

Gunner had a few big firsts while we were there. He really started teething (still no teeth) and LOVED to chew on anything hard... mainly Popsicle's still in the plastic.

He also started eating solid food... and he is doing great with it!

We spent the 4th of July at my Gramma and Papa's house. Scotty and Robin were there too... with their HUGE dogs.
We enjoyed being with family and watching the fireworks.

Papaw and Nana bought a fun pool that the kids loved to play in. It was hours of fun for them!!

Silas played a lot of baseball in the backyard with the big boys.

The weather was kind of crazy while we were there. Every afternoon a huge storm would roll in. The sky would get dark and you could just watch it coming... it was pretty crazy.

Camdyn and Silas got to make their hand and footprints for the back yard. They turned out really good! Now the only one left to do is Gunner... but we'll wait a few years.

So all in all it was a great vacation. The drive back was super easy and uneventful. It was loooooooong but the kids did great (even Gunner).
We are happy to be home and getting ready for the new school year... I can't believe I am going to have 2 kids in school! I swear I'm not that old! I swear!

Daddy & Daughters road trip

At the end of June (sorry for the late post) Chris and the girls took a road trip from Washington to Colorado. It was his first time going on a road trip alone with the kids (minus Gunner).
The girls were really excited about it!

Daddy ended up being way more fun to road trip with than Mommy!
Mommy is all business when it comes to travel... more of the "we'll have fun when we get there" mindset... where Daddy is all about stopping and smelling the roses.

They did all sorts of fun stops on their way. They saw a rive with a broken dam in Boise, Idaho. They also saw an otter (that's what Chris said it was).
They stopped at some cannon in Utah... it had a pretty cool statue according to Ireland.

They also stopped in Wendover, Nevada to visit Grandma Sherry. They got to see the Salt Flats and fly some kites. The girls LOVED it there! Chris said they couldn't wait to go back the next day!
(Chris' race car on the Salt Flats)

I guess it was pretty exhausting to road trip with Daddy.
All 3 of them had a great time... but I was sure glad to see them when they got to Colorado!

Chris is back in Washington now and the kids and I are still in Colorado. We will drive home some time at the end of July... and the girls will get to remember how much fun Mommy is NOT to have a road trip with! :) Wish us luck!

*disclaimer.... please excuse my children's appearance in this blog... they were without their mother for 4 days and Daddy does NOT know how to do hair... the end.*