August was a month of big adjustments for our family. We started out the month with the last few days of summer and then spent the last several weeks getting used to a new routine with Brooklyn starting school. We also had Abigail’s birthday party right in the middle of the month. It was tough! I felt like we were all tired and a little crabby…not just Brooklyn. But we made it through!
Brooklyn and Savannah always ask if Abigail can sit by them at the table :)
Three girls in the cart…now where will all the food go??
Brooklyn and Savannah were trying to play Chutes and Ladders on the floor, and Abigail kept trying to grab the pieces…haha. They would slide the game board down the hall, and she just followed right behind them. It was hilarious!
Surely this cutie wouldn’t bother her big sisters!
August 3rd – we had our last pool day before school started. I snapped this picture before we headed down the street. Poor Savannah wasn’t looking in any of the pictures, so I cropped her out ;)
That day, there were several other moms there with young kids, so the girls had some playmates to swim with. We swam a while, then ate lunch, and swam for a few more minutes before heading home.
Everyone else left before we did, so we had the pool to ourselves after lunch!
Brooklyn enjoys painting as much as she does drawing. This particular day, she wanted to paint one of her Lion Guard toys. It was washable paint, so I said sure…
Abigail became our latest silverware thief this month…all the girls went through that phase of being interested in the dishwasher and grabbing utensils out of it ;)
“Where’s my pink chair, Mom?”
August 4th was a big day for Brooklyn! She’d been asking for a little while if we would take her training wheels off her bike, and the big day finally came!
We tried having her ride through the grass and on the back patio…
We stayed right with her holding onto her bike, and she really did well for her first time!
August 6th was Open House at Mill Creek, and we got to meet Mrs. Patterson!
In early August, Abigail was starting to get up on her knees to check out things above her head :)
August 7th was Brooklyn’s first day of kindergarten! You can read more about how it went here. She had a great first day!
Abigail also discovered door stoppers and the fun noise they make when you hit them :)
On August 9th, we had our first grocery trip without Brooklyn. I took this picture, which reminded me of a similar picture from a couple of years ago…
This picture was taken in March 2016. Isn’t that crazy? Same scenario…just a different set of sisters. When Brooklyn is at school, it’s almost like teleporting back to this time period when Savannah was a baby and Brooklyn was a toddler.
Happy baby!
It was definitely interesting to see Savannah discover her new playmate after Brooklyn started school. She had always been interested in Abigail, but never quite this much until she didn’t have anyone else to play with ;)
August 10th – We enjoyed walking home from school with Jacob and his mom and sister. It was hot, but definitely better than waiting in that long car line!
We made it to the weekend after the first week of school! Brooklyn only went 3 days that week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday), but we were still exhausted :)
One of the reasons we were all so tired is that Abigail and Savannah were waking up early too for some reason. I guess Savannah really wanted to be able to tell Brooklyn ‘bye’ before she left for school. She would say, “Bye, Brooklyn! Have a good day at school!” :)
Mrs. Patterson has a private Facebook page where she will occasionally post pictures of the class. I love being able to see what Brooklyn is doing during the day at school! This was their “morning meeting” on August 14th.
Look at those lopsided pigtails…haha. Each kid in the class was supposed to stand on the podium and present their drawing of their favorite spot in the school. Mrs. Patterson said Brooklyn was feeling scared so she just stood in front of it instead.
Walking home with Jacob!
Sweet, happy baby!
And, my blue-eyed girl wanted her picture taken too :)
Abigail turned ONE on August 16th!! It was hard to believe a year had already passed with our sweet little peapod…
Even birthday girls fall asleep at the grocery store sometimes :)
Ready to go pick up Brooklyn from school that afternoon! Our neighbor, Alison, let us borrow her double Bob stroller, and it was so amazing that we ended up buying one off Craigslist a few weeks later. It has nice big shades that keep the sun off the girls, and it is so easy to push. Definitely makes our walk an easier one!
Most of you probably heard about the fundraiser we did for NICU families to celebrate Abigail’s 1st birthday. We coordinated with Project Sweet Peas, and we ended up raising (with several last minute donations and our personal contribution) just at $1,000! We used the money to buy items for care packages that were delivered in September to area NICUs. We were thrilled the the fundraiser was such a success! It was a great way to honor our sweet girl and help others who are going through a similar journey that we went through a year ago. I’ll post more pictures in my September monthly summary of all of the items we bought, plus pictures from the delivery day itself.
Brooklyn drew a picture of lots of different fruits for Mrs. Patterson and took it to school the next day…
For the first few days of school, we picked Brooklyn up from school at the front door by the office. It was pretty crowded there though because that’s the same door that the van riders leave from, so they ended up switching where we meet the walkers in the afternoon. Now, they come out of the side of the school by the first grade hallway, and a teacher walks them down the sidewalk and across the parking lot to where we are waiting. The change has worked out well! There are usually 4 other families of walkers, so there’s a big group of kids that come out together. It’s fun to watch them march down the sidewalk all excited to see us every afternoon!
During the second week of school (August 13th-17th), Brooklyn’s class read a lot of Pete the Cat books. They even got their own pair of magic sunglasses ;)
Brooklyn is the letter “K” expert in her class, so we had to take her picture holding something that starts with a “K”. Since we don’t have a kite or a kitten, ketchup was the next best thing ;)
We had Abigail’s birthday party on August 18th, and later that afternoon we celebrated Paw’s birthday. (Abigail was born on his birthday…so neat!).
Brooklyn and Savannah always volunteer to help open the gifts, of course!
Birthday buddies :)
“Thanks for sharing your birthday with me, Paw!”
Lunch at Cici’s on Sunday is always a fun time!
It’s so fun to see Abigail starting to interact with her big cousins :)
How many kids can Michael read to at one time? Haha!
Starting August 20th and going through the next two weeks, each day at school was a different color day for all the kids in kindergarten. This was Red Day!
Red Day (August 20th)
August 21st – My big helper, Savannah, made the bed for me! :)
Brooklyn and Savannah enjoy putting puzzles together, and Abigail enjoys tearing them apart…
I posted this picture on Instagram about how much Gabby has mellowed since we’ve had kids…and then the very next day, she scratched Abigail across the forehead. I guess I jinxed her. She really had been doing pretty well with the girls lately, but Abigail is getting more and more curious and “grabby”, so I guess it was bound to happen…
We went to the Monrovia library for storytime on August 22nd with the Loveless crew. It was the first time we’d been back to our “old library” in months, and I’d forgotten how much I love storytime there. It is SO much better than storytime at the new Madison library. Mandee does a great job, and she always has the cutest crafts for the kids to make at the end. It’s worth it to drive further in my opinion!
The theme for the week was shapes. We enjoyed the morning!
Mill Creek is a big school, but in the last couple of years, they have implemented a “house system” that divides all the students and faculty into 6 different houses. The houses are then broken down further into families, and each house family meets periodically throughout the year to work on character education. The house families are made up of students in all grades, so the kids get to meet other students that they likely never would. It’s a neat idea! On August 22nd, all of the kindergartners drew for their house. Brooklyn got red house–which is so neat because red is her favorite color!
All of Mrs. Patterson’s class wearing their house shirts :)
Savannah looked so cute that evening before Bible class that I convinced her to do a quick photo shoot in the backyard :)
Savannah is getting so big! She is getting very opinionated on what she likes and doesn’t like. She can be a bit bossy at times (wonder who she learned that from?). She is usually very matter-of-fact and serious, but she definitely has a silly side too :)
I love this girl so much!
Selfies at 6:45 AM…so normal!
On August 23rd, Abigail finally figured out how to drink from a sippy cup. What a big girl! I’d tried giving her other types of cups before, and usually all she would do is bang them on the tray or bite them. Finally, something clicked and she got it figured out!
On August 24th, Brooklyn announced that she wanted to go live in the garage. She packed her bags and grabbed her pillow and blanket and set it all up right behind Travis’s car. She stayed out there for an hour or two playing (and eating snacks that she’d packed, of course!). I went to check on her after a while and found her sound asleep!
I assume this is something most people will never accomplish…taking a nap on the floor of the garage! :)
That nap must have done some good…check out this girl on her bike later that afternoon :)
No training wheels and riding without help!
Savannah was all about cutting the grass with her lawnmower that week!
Cheese!
Savannah participated in Bible drill class for the first time on August 26th! It’s hard to see her sitting up there on the front row, but she and Brooklyn are right next to a couple of taller girls. Savannah was a little too shy to answer her questions, but maybe next time she’ll speak up! ;)
August 27th was Purple Day!
All dressed up for Black Day (August 28th)
The last week of August was a big week at our house. We had our entire house repainted inside (well, the walls…not the trim or doors). Shortly after we bought the house, we noticed that the paint job was pretty crazy in some of the rooms. One wall would be one color and the next wall was a similar color but not exactly the same. We were wanting to patch some old nail holes, but it was going to be next to impossible to paint match with so many different shades. We finally just gave up on that idea and decided it would be easier (although not cheap) to just start over and choose the wall colors ourselves. While the painters were painting downstairs in the main living area, we spent a lot of time outside in the backyard getting some fresh air and staying out of the way ;)
It was HOT, but Savannah stayed cool playing in the water!
Not much room to swim with so many pool toys (including a lawnmower and her Crocs!)…
On August 29th, we walked Brooklyn to school for the first time. (Usually Travis takes her to school, but he couldn’t that morning for some reason…can’t remember now why). It was a little hectic trying to get everyone out the door by 7:20, but we managed!
That day was White Day at school!
We got a lot of exercise that day walking to and from school :) I guess it was 2 miles total, but hey…it’s better than nothing!
Brooklyn and Savannah wanted to draw some pictures for our painting crew. This was Brooklyn’s picture. I loved how she drew three painters, and each had a different color they were painting :)
On August 30th, we went to the neighborhood pool with Alisha and her boys. I felt a little guilty going while Brooklyn was at school, but I don’t think she got too upset when she heard about it later. (I keep reminding her that she gets to do all sorts of fun things at school that we miss out on…).
These water squirters are always fun!
Savannah wanted to practice floating ;)
Abigail enjoyed splashing in the water too. Next summer, the pool will be even more fun for her!
Quotes and Notes from August:
- 8/8/18 – On the way home from church Wednesday night, Brooklyn said, out of the blue: “I was the caboose yesterday, and I didn’t like it at all. The caboose is supposed to close the classroom door. We were going down the hall, and I noticed that someone didn’t close the door. Then I remember that I was the caboose, and I was supposed to close the door. I hate cabooses! They are A DISASTER!”
- 8/9/18 – Brooklyn’s 2nd day of school:
- I asked Brooklyn if there were any boys in her class today (since the first day was girls only), and she replied, “Yes! There was one boy that I REALLY love.” But she couldn’t remember his name. Maybe she’ll get it down by day 3 ;)
- She was practicing writing down letters in Spanish after school today. (Ex. She wrote a “Q” with an extra line and made modifications to some other letters that I suppose made them “Spanish letters”). I asked her if she could say words in Spanish, and she said, “Yes, ooo-la! (rhymes with moo-la). What does ooo-la mean? “Good-bye!”
- Tonight after supper, she started singing Believer by Imagine Dragons! She had no idea what the lyrics were other than “HEY!”, but I recognized the tune. Apparently, Mrs. Patterson likes to jam!
- 8/18/18 – We survived the first full week of school! We are all so tired, especially Brooklyn. She is enjoying school, and I think she looks forward to going, but whew. We still haven’t figured out a good routine for the afternoons yet. School gets out right in the middle of nap time, so several days I’ve had to wake Abigail up to go get Brooklyn from school. Savannah rarely falls asleep before it’s time to go get Brooklyn, so most of the time she isn’t getting a nap at all. EVERYONE including Savannah and Abigail is now waking up at 6:15 or 6:30 every day, even on the weekends. We are zonked! You would think it would be “easier” to have one of your kids at school most of the day, but I think the cranky tiredness in the afternoon/evenings may override the quieter mornings ;) Hopefully we will get in a groove soon. Brooklyn’s best friend at school is a little girl named Ella who is in her class. She says she “loves Ella with all my heart”. They sit next to each other at lunch every day now. Brooklyn has been a little more shy at school than I figured she would. She didn’t want to stand up and tell the class about a picture she’d drawn, and she told me she was scared to dance in the hallway with Mrs. Patterson and the rest of the kids in her class. She’s so bubbly and outgoing at church that it has surprised me that she’s been so reserved at school. Maybe it will just take a while for her to come out of her shell and get comfortable there. She comes home telling me all about her day, and I’m really enjoying walking home because it gives me a chance to hear all about what she’s been up to that day.
- 8/4/18 – Abigail’s 3rd tooth (upper left) came in.
- 8/18/18 – Abigail’s 4th tooth (upper right) came in.
- 8/18/18 – Brooklyn (singing): “What will it be? What will it be? When will you repent-ery? What will it be? Oh, what will it be? What will your answer be?”
- 8/19/18 – Savannah (saying her memory verse): “In the beginning, God coo-rated the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1”
- 8/19/18 – It sounded JUST like Abigail said “Bye Bye!” when we were getting ready to leave Cici’s after lunch. I thought it was probably just a coincidence, but then this morning (8/22), she spit out her paci and said “Bye!” when Brooklyn was getting into the car to leave for school!
- 8/23/18 – Abigail finally figured out how to drink from a sippy cup (the Munchkin 360 with handles)!
- 8/23/18 – Neither Brooklyn or Savannah have ever gotten super attached to one stuffed animal or toy. They go through stages with different ones. Last week, Savannah was all about this yellow plastic dog that’s actually a pool toy. This week, it’s a pink finger puppet bunny! She carries her “favorite” around with her EVERYWHERE…to the bathroom, to the kitchen table, in the car, watching TV, etc.
- 8/27/18 – If we ask Savannah to go potty before we leave the house and she already has, she’ll exclaim “I already go’d pottied!”
- Savannah is the one who can get Abigail to say “bye bye” the best. Abigail will say “bye!” when Savannah says it first.
Thanks for reading!!
One reply on “August 2018”
Loved Savannah’s photo shoot pics!!!