First Day of School

And we’re off…

Madison is a 5th grader this year.  That means that she is with me in the middle school, on my schedule.  So, we ride to school together in the morning and leave daddy and Ellie to fend for themselves.  She was very excited about moving up in the world of school.  She was going to get to move classes, have a locker, be in a different part of the building, have new teachers.  So, fun. 

The girls wanted to recreate their picture from the last time they didn’t leave to go to school at the same time – when Madison left Ellie behind to go to kindergarten.

    

She took the official first day of school picture at 6:40am, and we were off!

    

Ellie ate breakfast, played some basketball, and took her official picture. 

    

And then she was off.

The house was silent for the first time in over five months.  I can only imagine Jeremy felt a little like he could finally think and not just filter out noise.  I also imagine he maybe missed it a bit. 

Madison took a picture with her newly decorated locker before we picked up Ellie and headed home for the day.

    

The first day was awesome according to both girls.  Ellie even went so far as to say she couldn’t imagine how anyone could say they didn’t love going to school.  I love that they enjoy school, friends, and their teachers.  May it always be this way for them.

Before School Fun

Technically, this is still summertime fun.  However, I was back to school, so I am counting this as a different stage.  Normally, the girls have 1-2 days at home that I have teacher work days.  This year, there were FIVE days that I had to go prior to them going.  So, they were lucky to be entertained by many people. 

Monday night sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Ediger’s with cousin Megan.  This was a trifecta of fun – sleepover, grandparents, and a cousin!  They had a blast.  Late night fun, morning play time, school playground antics, and swimming before Megan had to go home and the girls returned to our house.

Wednesday, they wanted one day to just play one last time at home all day long.  So, this was granted.  I honestly have no idea what they did, but they did have fun.

Thursday with Grandma Yoh.  Usually, they do a before school shopping trip with Grandma Yoh to Kohl’s.  However, they did it a little differently this year.  Grandma put the Kohl’s website on her tv and they shopped virtually. Later in the day, they went to pick up (most of) their goods.  Then, had a little fashion show.  (Who taught them to pose like this anyway??)

         

    

They stopped by at the famous sunflower field on Kidron and Arnold Roads.  It is quite beautiful. 

         

Tried on some clip-on earrings …. with an 80s hairstyle to go with it!

    

Somehow they even squeezed some ice cream into their day!

Friday, they hung out with great aunt Diane.  They were at Christmas Run Park, an ice cream shop, and out to eat for lunch.  And they made jewelry – bracelets.  They were exhausted and happy after this day, too.

They ended with a bang on Monday with “just” a daddy-daughters day.  They went putt-putt golfing, out for lunch at Chipotle, hiking at Mohican, and stopped to see the covered bridge.  Another perfect way to spend the day.

                    

Summertime Wrap Up

I’m not going to spend a lot of time typing on this one.  So, enjoy the pictures.  I haven’t posted since the Chopped fun, but we have had a few things we have been up to…

Being together with friends and family:

Ellie and Bailey moved into a new house, so I offered a play date to give their parents a day to unpack.  It is always much easier without kids digging through boxes.  They all had a lot of fun with the playset, the sprinkler, and their imaginations.

    

Reconnecting with the Kimes.  We enjoyed an afternoon at a pool and eating pizza.  Perfect for the kids and adults.

Biking to my brother’s house.  It is always a good destination.  Landen hopped on his bike and rode home with us – a fun addition.

August birthday parties.  We celebrated where there was a pool.  It was the only cold and rainy day we had had in ages.  It was still a good time being with family.

Jeep rides with uncle Luke.

Other things were fun that were just happening at home. 

The girls were busy in the bathroom and doing costume changes one day. 

They came out dressed as a movie or book character.  Madison just started reading my Babysitter Club book series by Ann Martin.  She was dressed up as Kristy.

    

Ellie drew inspiration from the Barbie Adventures movies and dressed as Skipper.

    

24-hour challenges are a hit with my girls.  They did one earlier this year—the 24 hour tent challenge where you try to stay in a tent for 24 hours.  This one was the 24 hour van challenge.  We pulled the seats out of the van to prepare.  Beyond that, they did it all.  It was one of the hotter days of the summer though, so we did hook up a fan to keep them cool.  They did pretty well. Ellie had a hard time relaxing at night enough to fall asleep, so they did end up coming in to sleep.  But they stayed out there longer than I would have!

    

We also signed up for a free Zoom cooking class with Rachel Ray – really!  The girls made bbq chicken pizzas and watched the berry shortcake creation.  They learned how to butterfly chicken for faster cooking, and how to make their own bbq sauce.  The class went way to quickly to feel like you were able to keep up, but it was interesting to watch it all happen. 

    

And Pepper’s been keeping us on our toes – either by getting into trouble or by making us feel guilty we are ignoring him.

              

Before school fun coming up soon…