Seth's First Birthday Party - September 27, 2014

My baby nephew turned ONE on September 18th!  His first year of life flew by!  I can't believe he is one!  The big boys had baseball/soccer games, so Owen and I decided to make the trek to Houston to represent the Carpenters.  :)

Owen was the best little road tripper!  He watched movies and napped for the entire 5 hours.  He never once asked for a drink, snack, or potty break.  It was awesome!

 We drove straight to the park for the party.  Owen kept hanging upside down.  He said, "take my picture, Mama!"  ;)

 The Birthday Boy!

 I know that I am partial, but isn't he gorgeous???  Such a beautiful baby!

 Homeboy was way into his cake!

 He tried to share with Mrs. Jenny, too.

 Owen enjoyed some snuggles with Gran before we left the next day.

It was a fast and furious trip to celebrate a precious baby!  We love you, Seth!

Grandparents' Day - September 25, 2014

The big boys had Grandparents' Day at school on September 25th.  Marsha and Terry were so sweet to come to town for the event.  Clayton and Drew were thrilled to get to show their grandparents their new school!

Papaw hung out in the Kindergarten room to listen to The Rainbow Fish.

Then he made a graph with drew using Goldfish.

 Grammie started in 4th grade where they were doing a cool science experiment.  Then G and P switched places.

The boys loved showing off their grandparents, and I think that Grammie and Papaw enjoyed seeing the boys in their school environment.  It was a fun day!  Thanks, Grammie and Papaw for making the drive!

Owen's First Day of Preschool - September 9, 2014

Owen had his first day of school ever on September 9, 2014!  He was soooo excited!  He talked about it for weeks.  As you may remember, Drew's first day of school when he was 3 was pretty sad.  That sweet boy cried and cried for his Mama.  It broke my heart!  I was hoping that Owen's first day wouldn't be as tearful.

I got my wish!  Owen wasn't sad at all.  He smiled for a few pictures.

Sweet Boy

 We had quite the list of things to remember - backpack, lunch box, water bottle, nap mat, and an eager student.  Check, check, check, check, check.  ;)

 He was stoked about having a backpack of his very own.

 I had very mixed feelings about Owen going to preschool.  About 90% of me was super sad that I would be an "empty nester" for 10 hours a week, but the other 10% of me was super excited to have 10 kid-free hours a week.  Ha!  For the last 9 years, I have had at least one kiddo at home with me all day, everyday.  I tried to focus on the 10% to keep the 90% from wallowing in self pity.  ;)

 We walked in, put his things away, gave a quick hug, and he waved at me from the door.  Easiest drop off ever!  I was so proud of my big boy!

 I watched through the window for a bit.  He went straight to playing with the cars.  Just like that, my baby became a preschooler.  :(

 I was so excited to pick up my little buddy!  I was there promptly at 2:00.  Okay, okay... maybe 1:50.  Ha!  I was anxious to hear all about his day.  He brought home some stellar artwork and told me that he had a great day.  Yay!

I am so proud of my big preschooler!  He is going to have a great year, I just know it!

Meet the Teacher for Owen - September 4, 2014

My sweet baby started preschool this year!  I can't believe that Owen is old enough for preschool, but, alas, he is!  He had Meet the Teacher on September 4th.

This cutie pie has watched his brothers go to school for the last three years, and he was excited that it was his turn to give it a go!

 He found his spot and sat right down.  :)

 We were super excited that one of Owen's teachers would be my friend, Ginny, from church.  It made it MUCH easier to think about leaving Owen at school knowing that he would be hanging out with someone that I know and love.

 Owen's other teacher is wonderful as well!  She has a British accent, which I am crazy about.  I secretly hope that Owen will pick up some of her sayings and start speaking with an accent.  He wasn't feeling like smiling at that moment.  Sheesh.  3 year olds are so fickle.  ;)

 He sure did turn that frown upside down when he saw that his backpack bucket was positioned right underneath the Mike 'n Ikes.  Haha!

 Owen's BFF, Sadie, will be at the same preschool.  She will be in a 4 year old class, but we are hoping that their paths will cross some at school.

 Seriously.  Can you even handle the cuteness?  Love this boy!

Meet the Teacher went really well!  I was hoping and praying that I could say the same for the first day of preschool!  We are looking forward to a great first school experience for our littlest fella.  :)

Clayton's First Cowboy Game - August 28th, 2014

Y'all, football fever has taken over at our house!  I knew that it was coming with a husband that loves football and three of his mini-me's, but I didn't realize that it would happen so soon.

Clayton has taken a liking to the Cowboys and loves to wear his football jersey.  So, you can only imagine how excited he was when a really kind and generous friend had extra suite tickets and invited Wade and Clayton to go to a pre-season game.  Clayton was over the moon!!!

I am told that they had a great time and really enjoyed the game.  We told Clayton over and over again what a wonderful blessing these tickets were.  If he ever gets to go to another game, he will probably sit way up in the nose bleed section.  ;)  It was a fun experience for my boy, though!

Owen takes a swim! August 25, 2014

I have been super strict with Owen about wearing his puddle jumper at all times this Summer.  I am a nervous Nelly around the water, so I didn't want to even try to let him swim.  He's only three, for goodness sake!

On August 25th, Leah and I took the kids to the pool for the last time.  Leah encouraged me to see what O would do without his puddle jumper on.  I knew it would likely be the last swim of the season, so I figured that there wasn't much harm in trying.  It's not like I would have to fight with him about wearing his puddle jumper for many more swims.  So, we went for it!

That boy took off!  He did so good!  Leah grabbed a quick video of him swimming like a fish.  It looks like I may have three independent swimmers next Summer.  Whoa!!!

First Day of School - August 25, 2014

As they say, "all good things must come to an end."  Unfortunately, Summer 2014 fell into that category.  :(  On August 25th, the big boys went back to school.  Clayton started his 4th grade year, and Drew became a big Kindergartener.  I can't believe my baby is ready for big kid school!  Drew is still so little to me.  I wasn't ready to let him go!

We are all super excited about our new school!  It is closer to home and seems like a really sweet place.  I think that we will all enjoy it very much!  It is a University Model school - combining a traditional school setting with part-time homeschooling.  That model has worked great for our family thus far, so we are grateful to be able to continue educating our kids using this method.

On August 24th, the uniforms were set out with care...

 backpacks were packed and lunches were made.

 We woke the boys up with breakfast in bed.  They were pretty excited about that special treat!

We took our traditional back to school photos.

 Then we were off to school!

 Drew's teacher is PRECIOUS!  She is exactly what you think of when you think of the ideal Kindergarten teacher.  She has this soft-spoken little voice and loves on those kiddos so well.  Drew LOVES Mrs. M!  She is the perfect fit for our sometimes quiet/shy little guy!

The 4th graders get lockers, which had all of the kids in an uproar choosing who would be where and deciding how they were going to decorate.  My, oh my, it was quite a big deal for the 9 year old crowd!

Clayton has two teachers - one for Math/Science/History and one for Literature/Writing/Grammar.  They are both fantastic!  We really lucked out with teachers this year - we couldn't ask for better!

Mrs. L teaches Math/Science/History.  Clayton loves her!

 Mrs. S. teaches Lit/Writing/Grammar and she is wonderful as well.  She has a Kindergartener as well, so she and I have grown to be friends as well.

I was a little melancholy about Drew going to Kinder.  I knew that he was ready and would do great, but I had a little ache in my heart and butteflies in my tummy.  I needed a distraction, so Leah & I went for a Boo-hoo/Whoo-hoo breakfast at IHOP with our littles.  

Thankfully, our little school only had half days for the first week.  It was awesome to ease our way back into our school routine, especially for Drew!  Leah & I picked up the kids at noon with swimsuits and towels packed in the car.  We surprised them by grabbing a pizza lunch and heading to the pool.  So fun!

The first day of school was a success!  No tears and tons of smiles and laughter!  It looks like the school year is off to a good start!