We blinked, and somehow it was already August. Not sure how that happened. This month, we stayed busy getting back into the school routine and starting the fall soccer season. We also celebrated two very important birthdays! Here’s the recap:
On August 1st, I thought it was so cute that Abigail got out all of our books about going to kindergarten and was looking at them on the couch. She was getting ready for her big day!
On August 2nd, we did a “sister swap” with Sarah’s girls. Kate and Olive came over to our house to hang out with Brooklyn, and Savannah and Abigail went over to their house to spend time with Chloe and Lucy. Brooklyn, Kate, and Olive enjoyed baking cookies and playing games, including the game that Brooklyn created called Sugar Kick.
The girls at Sarah’s house enjoyed fancy flavored lemonades and playing with their Playmobil water park. We are so thankful to have such sweet friends in the neighborhood!
It was our last day of summer before school started, so we celebrated by going to Jeremiah’s Italian Ice after lunch. It’s definitely become our new favorite place for a sweet treat!
Abigail may be old enough for school now, but she can still fall asleep in a moving car with the best of them. This was the night before her first day of school, on the way to church….haha.
August 3rd was the first day of school! Abigail and Brooklyn were especially nervous the last couple of days about school starting. Savannah was the only one who didn’t really seem too nervous—probably because she knows Mrs. Borys, and she has some friends in her class already. This morning, though, everyone woke up pretty excited and slept well last night…yay! The girls ate their breakfast and got ready fairly quickly. I was brushing Savannah’s hair in the bathroom this morning as we were all getting ready, and I heard Travis start playing a song on the speakers in the living room. Not unusual, because we listen to music a lot when we are getting ready. I didn’t think much of it and didn’t realize what the song was until the chorus started playing…”All By Myself”. When the chorus hit me, I immediately ran out of the bathroom and started chasing him around the kitchen trying to smack him…haha…however, I did NOT cry. He got me good! I was truly all by myseellllfff on the first day of school because it was one of Travis’s days that he has to go into the office. But I really did fine the whole day. We are all really excited about this school year and the girls’ fantastic teachers! P.S. If you ever wondered where Brooklyn gets her jokester personality, now you know ;)
I took our traditional pictures out in the front yard before we walked to school. Travis drove and parked at the dog park so he could walk Abigail in but get to work faster afterward. Brooklyn gave a quick hug outside before she hurried to her homeroom (it’s downstairs this year on the 2nd/5th grade hallway). We walked Savannah and Abigail down the main hallway until we got near Mrs. Borys classroom and said goodbye to Savannah. She told me she didn’t want me to leave, but then after another hug, we sent her on her way. We walked Abigail to Mrs. Curry’s room, and there were already several girls in there. Mrs. Curry greeted us and showed Abigail where to put her lunchbox and backpack. I helped her unpack everything, and then we got a quick picture of her with Mrs. Curry. She chose a seat at one of the tables, and then it was time for us to go. She said she never cried, but her eyes watered one time because of the hand sanitizer they used ;) I spent my first day alone doing laundry, going to Walmart, and catching up on some stuff on the computer. The day flew by!
It rained hard off and on today, but thankfully it cleared up this afternoon when it was time to pick the girls up! Brooklyn got to me first and said she had a great day. Abigail and Savannah walked out together (so sweet) and both of them couldn’t wait to tell me things about their day. Abigail said she made a friend, but she couldn’t remember her name. She told me about lunch, nap time, recess, PE, singing songs, and learning the rules. She couldn’t finish her lunch at school, so she brought the rest of it home and ate it for an after school snack. She is sad that she can’t go to school tomorrow (because it’s the kindergarten boys’ turn)! She doesn’t want to stay home with me ;)
Savannah had a good day too! She said Mrs. Borys is really nice (which we already knew) and she enjoyed doing indoor recess with Gabriella because they followed a step by step drawing video and drew ice cream cones together. She said they played lots of Get to Know You games, and Mrs. Borys read them a book. The only bad part of her day was that she forgot to pack a snack, and her lunch wasn’t until 12:40 (3rd graders eat last out of everyone this year!). She made sure to pack two snacks for the second day of school ;)
I didn’t get any pictures, but Brooklyn had a good day too! She has two friends in her homeroom, Whitney and Taylor. She found out the rest of her schedule today. Her other teachers are Mrs. Hess (advanced math), Mrs. Smith (science), and Ms. Thornton (ELA). Her homeroom teacher, Mrs. Maynard, teaches social studies. She said she likes Mrs. Thornton a lot and thinks she will be her favorite teacher this year, but she also likes Mrs. Maynard too. I’m glad her first day jitters are behind her! Her homeroom class goes to social studies and science together, but she has a different group of kids in her math and ELA classes. The 5th grade schedule is definitely different than last year, but it’s a good way to prepare them for middle school.
On August 4th, all of the kindergarten girls stayed home, and the kindergarten boys went to school. So Abigail spent the day with me! The first thing she wanted do that morning was to play bakery upstairs. So I ate at “Abigail’s Suspicious Bakery” :) She first charged me $30, but then it changed to $50 a few minutes later. Definitely suspicious! We also ran a few errands, including making a stop at Target. She had to splash in the puddles while we were out and about ;) She also enjoyed seeing the cats for adoption at the pet store. I tried to soak up the time with her since I knew she’d be at school every day starting the next week. I sure do love her!
We never know what we’ll find on our walks home from school in the afternoon. On this particular day, we found the body of a tiny baby bird…so sad!
We made it through the first couple of school days! To celebrate, we headed to the greenway after supper. I enjoy watching the girls explore the creek, move logs, and throw rocks. It’s the simple things!
On August 5th, Savannah went to Gabriella’s birthday party. Her family owns a local jewelry store in town, so that’s where they held the party. Definitely a first! Savannah had a great time making jewelry and eating cake and other snacks. Gabriella is one of her best friends.
I had to smile when I saw Harper and Abigail walking like this to bible class on August 6th :)
Cici planned a “Back to School” lunch after church on August 6th. The kids all got a bag of snacks for school, which they were excited about. Cici buys the best snacks! She also found the cutest lunchbox notes, which has inspired me to do a better job of sending notes in the girls’ lunchboxes this year.
Brooklyn was eating a caramel after lunch and lost a tooth! :)
Crazy enough…the soccer season was just getting started, but it was already time to start thinking about winter basketball. Brooklyn and Savannah decided they wanted to sign up, so we got them registered.
Abigail’s first “homework” in kindergarten was to decorate an All About Me bag and fill it with 5 things or pictures that describe her or things she loves. She enjoyed picking out what to put inside and sharing it with the class.
Mrs. Borys shared these pictures of Savannah and Gabriella doing their work together. So happy they are in the same class this year! It definitely helped Savannah be more at ease with the transition to 3rd grade.
Walking to school continues to be a special way to start our day!
However, the walks home were ROUGH on some afternoons during the first few weeks of school. Abigail was straight up exhausted and had more than a few meltdowns because she didn’t want to walk. I know the adjustment to going to school is hard, and it was definitely a transition to a new pace vs. being at home with me. I eventually ended up rewarding her with a piece of candy every day that she made it all the way home without crying, and that helped a lot until she got adjusted ;)
Brooklyn had her first visit to the orthodontist on August 10th after school, and Savannah and Abigail came with us. The magical screen was a big hit again, and the appointment went well. Brooklyn doesn’t need braces at this point, but may in the future. Dr. Reynolds will keep an eye on how her teeth look as she grows.
Savannah really loves Mrs. Borys!
As PTA secretary this year, one of the teams I am over is in charge of the PTA bulletin board at school. Thankfully, I don’t have to change out the designs…our volunteer, Christa, came up with this all on her own. I thought it looked great!
The girls spent the night with Cici on August 11th. They enjoyed making peach dumplings with her for supper and eating letter pancakes the next morning. They always eat well at her house! :)
Now that Gabby isn’t with us anymore, these pictures are even more special. The girls loved it when she would jump up on the bench and sit with them during breakfast.
What a tween ;) Brooklyn got this letterboard as a hand-me-down from one of the teens at church, and she has had fun changing out the messages on it.
Leaving school on August 14th :)
This year, due to extra funding from a grant, Mill Creek kids are able to go to a different “special” class 4 days per week (music, art, STEM, and Spanish, and they also go to counseling every other week). In previous years, they had Spanish once a week, but only had art for half the year and music for the other half. This was such a needed change, and all the teachers and families are really excited about it. Here is a pic of Abigail and her class at music with Mrs. Stewart :)
Abigail turned SIX on August 16th and had a super special day at school. It happened to be House Sorting Day where all of the kindergartners and new students would find out what house they were in. Brooklyn and Savannah are in Red House, and Abigail couldn’t wait to find out what color she would be. Travis and I came up to school to eat lunch with her in the cafeteria, and she was so surprised. We brought her a donut from Daylight Donuts which made it even better ;) Mrs. Curry even gave her a birthday card and treat. Best of all, she found out she was in Yellow House! Abigail opened a few gifts before supper that night and was excited to get some new outfits for her American Girl doll. She was so worn out from all the fun that she fell asleep on the way to bible class that night :)
That day, Mrs. Borys got a picture of all the Red House kids in her class. Abigail got some new accessories for our Picasso Tiles for her birthday, but I think Savannah enjoyed playing with them more :)
Savannah’s class read a story called “The Origami Master” for their story this week, and then they made their own origami. These dolphins turned out so cute!
Brooklyn had soccer practice on August 17th, and Savannah and Abigail had fun playing with Delaney, Avery’s little sister. They played soccer and raced each other behind the goal.
That night, Travis went to the Smashing Pumpkins concert at the Orion Amphitheater. He and the guys had a great time!
We tried a new strategy on August 18th when we walked to school. Abigail rode in our wagon with the backpacks to conserve her energy…haha.
We celebrated Paw and Abigail’s birthdays on August 19th at Jenn and Chandler’s house. We drove down to Trussville on the 18th after school to spend the night with Paw and Rae Rae. We worked on baking a yellow cake with chocolate icing for the birthday celebration, a recipe that the girls picked out from Savannah’s cookbook. Abigail was funny when she couldn’t finish her piece of cake…she said it had too much chocolate. Haha. Is there such a thing? Abigail was very excited about the purple monster truck, bunk bed for her dolls, and other items she got. We loved seeing Jenn and Chandler’s new house and getting the tour! It was a good afternoon.
Back-to-back birthday celebrations for our big 6 year old. Abigail picked out her menu for Sunday lunch (8/20) at Cici’s house since it was her birthday celebration. She requested ham, corn on the cob, fruit, cucumbers, and ice cream cones with cookie dough ice cream😊 It was all very yummy! She was very excited to get some sticker books, bristle blocks, and a Jeremiah’s Italian Ice gift card!
I liked the update Brooklyn made to her letterboard :)
We had a mishap that night when Brooklyn and Travis were horsing around, and we ended up with this hole in our pantry door. It’s a good thing that it’s not super noticeable since we still haven’t gotten it fixed ;)
One of my favorite kindergarten traditions at Mill Creek is Color Days. Each day for 2 weeks, they learn about a different color and are encouraged wear that color to school. It hurt my heart when Savannah was in kindergarten that Color Days were done virtually behind a computer screen. August 21st was Red Day :)
August 22nd was Orange Day. Savannah found a butterfly wing on the way to school that morning.
After school, Abigail made a monster out of her new bristle blocks. We also finally got Savannah’s bike lights put on, and she took her bike out for a spin after supper. They look great!
August 23rd was Yellow Day. We were excited to run into the Reynolds fam on the way to school. Brooklyn and Makenzie walked in together. Abigail was rocking the double yellow hair bows and her Yellow House shirt. She even ran into Savannah’s 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Pride, who is also in Yellow House.
August 24th was Green Day, and this time Savannah decided to join in the fun by also wearing green :)
It was a HOT week, and Savannah and Gabriella made sure to cool off with their fans during water breaks at practice.
Sometimes you just never know what your kids will report on after school. Glad Mrs. Curry is on top of it…haha.
August 25th was Blue Day, and again, Savannah wanted to join in. Blue is her favorite color :) Thanks to Rae Rae, we have hairbows in almost every color, which worked out nicely for all these Color Days. The girls enjoyed building with bristle blocks after school. It has been neat to see Savannah and Abigail’s bond grow more over the last few months.
A dad and grandfather came to all the 5th grade science classes that day to help the kids learn about matter. Brooklyn always enjoys hands-on activities like this.
It has been a super hot week with the heat index well over 100 degrees every day. August 26th was supposed to be the first day of soccer games for all 3 girls, but AYSO ended up canceling all the games that started after 10 AM, so Savannah didn’t end up getting to play today. We completely understood because they are just trying to keep everyone safe, but Savannah was still very disappointed. The other girls were still able to play. Abigail played first at 8 AM at Palmer 4. She is on a new team again this season with a new coach and almost all new teammates. Her coach is Coach Tyler, and he seems like he will be a good one. Abigail had fun in her game even though the other team had a star player who scored a ton of goals. Abigail’s team didn’t score any today, although they got close. We are looking forward to watching her play again this season!
Brooklyn’s team played at 10 AM at Palmer 7. She has moved up to 12U, so the field is bigger and they play with 9 players at a time instead of 7. Coach Theresa is her assistant coach this season, and Coach Dusty is her head coach. It seems like they will have a good team. Today they actually played Brooklyn’s old coach, Coach Joe, and his team. The game ended in a 1-1 tie. They had to cut it way short because Coach Joe’s team didn’t have any subs. Brooklyn played center mid and right mid and got tired pretty quickly because of the heat and all the running. Hopefully it won’t be as hot next Saturday!
We aren’t great about playing board games together as a family, but we did make time for Ticket to Ride (the kids version) that afternoon. Abigail got it as a birthday gift, and we had fun playing it together.
August 28th was Purple Day! Abigail was really excited that afternoon to get some mail from her friend, Madison, who moved to Utah over the summer. It even included some candy!
Savannah enjoyed her practice that night :)
August 29th was Black day! Abigail was so excited to receive a “Happy Note” in music class that day for being respectful and having a great attitude. She makes me proud!
Brooklyn’s friend, Makenzie, walked home with us that afternoon and hung for a couple of hours. Makenzie also has two younger sisters, and one thing that I love about her is that she does a great job of making Savannah and Abigail feel included. She is so sweet and motherly! The girls had fun playing and doing nails as well.
August 30th was White day. We also noticed that Abigail’s permanent teeth were coming in on the bottom. She hasn’t lost any teeth yet and was super excited that it would probably be happening soon. Brooklyn had been learning about the Super Blue Moon in science class. We tried to get a good picture of it that night after church, but it was too cloudy.
August 31st was Pink day, a color that we have no shortage of in this house ;) Abigail even wore pink to her soccer practice that night.
Notes and Quotes from August 2023:
- 8/9/23 – We were in the car on the way home from church, and Abigail said, “When we get home, I’m going to climb into the front seat and steer the car out of the garage and then…probably bonk into a car.” I asked, “How will you reach the pedals?” She replied, “I’ll just scoot to the tippy of the seat!” :)
- 8/25/23 – The saga of Abigail and John continues. The day after she said they “hugged all nap time”, she came home talking about how “John and I talked to each other all day today, and he kissed me at P.E.!” I asked her what she said when he did that, and she replied, “I said nothing!” She said he kissed her hair behind her ear and then said “Eww” because she was sweaty from running around at P.E….haha. She also informed us that she calls him “Johnny” sometimes. You literally cannot make this stuff up!!
- 8/28/23 – Now that we are a few weeks into the new school year, I can say that things are going really well with having all the kids at school. No tears so far from me! I wasn’t sure how sad I would be at entering this new phase of life, but honestly it’s been really great! The girls are all having a good year so far and liking their teachers, which helps a lot. I have been able to get a lot more done during the day than I ever have in previous school years. The house has definitely been more quiet, especially on days when Travis goes into the office for work, but it hasn’t bothered me that much. I guess I am getting back to my introvert roots 😉 I enjoy being around people, but I don’t feel the need to be talking or have someone talking to me all day long…haha. Not to say that I haven’t enjoyed having the girls at home because the last 10 years have been worth more than anything. Although they’ve been challenging in many ways, you just can’t put a price on the memories and time spent together. I’m very thankful to have the choice to be a stay at home mom! Although that looks different now (at least during the school year), I’m continuing to enjoy it and have no plans to go back to nursing or another job at this point 😉 We’ll see if I change my mind in the future, but that’s how I feel for now. There is plenty to keep me busy around here between volunteering at school, normal household duties, helping people from church, bible studies, and honestly getting to a lot of projects around the house that I’ve put on hold for years.
- 8/28/23 – Abigail and I took Savannah to her practice at Dublin 3, and the entrance to the field was very muddy from recent rain. I was behind the girls, and Savannah jumped over the mud. I watched as she looked back and saw that Abigail looked unsure about how to get across. Savannah then went back and picked Abigail up and carried her across the mud. She told me later that Abigail didn’t ask her to…she just saw that she looked like she needed help. Little moments like that make me so proud!
- 8/30/23 – Abigail: “You know my friend, Iyla, at school? She asked me to be her best buddy, and I said yes. John is my buddy too.” I asked, “What about Natalie (a girl she has mentioned before as her friend)?” Abigail replied, “That’s too many buddies!!” Haha!
Thanks for reading!
