First day

The kids started school this week.

I knew it would be difficult for me the first day.

I knew that Sadie would be nervous about lockers and changing classes (fifth grade seems way too young for middle school!)

I knew Ella and Maisy would be fine.

I knew Jack would be a little nervous.

I never dreamed that the second day would be so much worse.

Jack doesn't like school. He says its too long (I agree, all-day kindergarten is hard), they don't play with toys, he has to eat when they tell him to; his list of complaints goes on and on.

Jack is so young, having an August birthday he catches the deadline just right. So, I was hesitant to send him to school this year anyway.

Then when I took him in for his shots, our pediatrician strongly encouraged us not to enroll him this year. But we had worked so hard to get him into the school and he was excited and we thought we would just do kindergarten twice. But this week has been awful.

He has been crying every morning. Thursday was the worst, it took me almost an hour to leave and he was sobbing when I did.

Friday Evan convinced me to just drop him off and let him walk in with Ella, I felt so guilty. I'm just not sure what to do.

Any ideas?

That's fashion baby

The annual Back-to-School fashion show was on this year.

Sadie decided she didn't want to do it (she's growing up too fast) but Jack hammed it up enough to make up for it.
There is still so much remodeling clutter around, but Ella was elegant in spite of it.
Jack put on such a show that Evan took about six pictures of every outfit.
And Ella could have gone on and on trying on more and more clothes.
They have to tuck in their shirts at school, so Jack got a little practice with that.
And then every Friday is purple day for school spirit.

Before and After

This is how the room currently looks, which is why two girls are in their room now and quite possibly all day.

How can two girls make so much mess so fast?

However, the before pictures give a glimpse of the start of decorating Sadie and Ella's room.

The wall opposite their beds is closet doors and dresser. Next to Sadie's bed is a very large window and next to Ella's bed is the door. So there really isn't much to it.
It still needs curtains, some touch up on the paint and more organization. I think that will be easier for me to do once they start school.

Dairy Girl

I have a new little obsession, glass milk bottles. I know its kind of strange but I love them.

Austin

We decided to make an impulse trip to Austin for a n overnight stay. The kids wanted to go to the Lego Store and I really wanted to see the bats. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency, so it was just a short walk to the Congress Street Bridge.

We sat on the grass under the bridge and some people lined the bridge itself. The signs you can't read in the picture below, basically say don't touch the bats, no problem there.

We waited and waited and then the bats began to pour out from under the bridge.

And continued to pour out from under the bridge.
They live in those little crevasses, which are so small it is hard to believe anything can live in there, let alone 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats.
They fly off into the night sky
making beautiful formations as they go off to catch dinner for their families.
Evan was hoping for something more horror movie like, but I was grateful it was more like a dance recital than a bloodsucking horror film. Jack was my little photographer after the bats had performed. So, I actually have proof I was there.

Austin was great. Even though the trip was quick, we got to see quite a bit of the city and it was really beautiful. Parts of it, especially around the lake reminded me of Arlington, VA. Other parts were reminiscent of the Kansas City-area, very green. It is a very active and fun city.

A girly robot party

So, I know its been almost a month since Ella's birthday (we were out of town for the party), but I have to share pictures of her party. She has so many great friends in Utah, we even forgot to invite a few and felt pretty bad about it, that the party was big.

It all started when we found this cute necklace at Forever 21 for $1.50. I mentioned that they would be great party favors and Ella decided to run with it.We found these darling invites to download.
We decorated with ruffled streamers.
And robot-y things.
Most of the party time was spent making robots.
We used boxes of crayons, pipe cleaners, circle stickers from the office supply section, and other misc stuff I had around.
The robots all turned out very cute and unique.
I even tackled a robot cake, with fruit of course. After all, it was for Ella.
We played robot freeze dance, hot potato with a slinky (it kind of made me think robot), and opened presents. Just enough activities to fill the time, without overwhelming Grandma's house.

My mirror

This mirror makes me so happy. It is one of the first things I have hung in the new great room. I bought it at an antique store for $12, then I taped off the mirror and sprat painted the frame. The mirror is aged just right, the frame is pretty, and its oval (I have a thing for oval mirrors.) I love it.

Another room down

Jack's room is almost finished. All I have left to do is hang some shelves for his collections and a few pictures. I got the cute little number hooks from Hobby Lobby.

The paintings were a gift from my brother.
The bed was mine when I was younger, so we pirated it up with his banner.
And I love how the curtains turned out. They make me so happy. I need to raise the curtain rod about two inches so that you can't see the top of the blinds when the curtains are open, but other than that, I love them.

Five years

My birthday boy definitely makes me smile.

He is such a ham!
He kept posing for me and I just can't resist him.
I don't know what I'll do without his company this fall.

He doesn't like cake or cookies so I made him a rice crispy cake.

He loved all his presents, but
I think his Rokenbok is his favorite.
He played with it all day long today.

New

I'm already behind, so I'll post two smiles.

New babies...

and newly tiled bathrooms.
Evan called me one night while we were apart and we both went to Home Depot and planned out the bathroom over the phone. It turns out not all Home Depots are alike. I came home to find the kids bathroom demolished with boxes of tile waiting. I do love to tile although it wreaks havoc on my hands.