First day of first grade! (and more!)

 My mom's birthday always falls right around the first day of school, so we celebrated a few days early! We went to a nearby Mexican food restaurant and had a great time.

 Eating out is a treat! :)

 Loved seeing mom in the birthday sombrero. (Not sure she enjoyed that part too much though!)

 We went back to our house and let her open gifts and we all had dessert. 

Jillian's turn!

 Kennedy and Grandma

 Kaitlyn and Grandma

 Silly Cooper and Grandma

 All the grand kids!

 Later that day, after everyone went home, I had to run a few errands and when I came home there was another dog in our house! Tony and the girls had brought it home (without me knowing!!!) Talk about shock! Tony had a friend who was trying to find a home for this stray German Shepherd Mix.  Tony loves German Shepherds and....well....he's a softy. :)

 She (yes another girl!) is a sweet dog. We took her to the vet and got her all fixed up. (she had a few issues). Jillian named her...Charlotte. The twins wanted to name her Sprinkles or Cupcake, but they settled for using that as her middle name.  Charlotte Sprinkles Cupcake Slate.

A couple of days later it was Meet the Teacher night. This was exciting for the twins and for me! Kennedy and Kaitlyn were going to find out who their 1st grade teacher was and I was going to meet all my little Kindergartners!

 I took a few pictures of my classroom.

 View from doorway

 My desk area

 (I love the "skirt" that my mom made for my desk!)

Reading center

 View from the back of room

 One more

 Since my room has a zebra theme, I gave each child a "Welcome to Kindergarten" treat. 

I attached a zebra cake to the tummy of the zebra. Turned out cute. I got the idea off of teacherspayteachers.com

The girls met their teachers that night.

 Kaitlyn got Mrs. Heitman

 Kennedy got Mrs. Maples

(Fun fact: I taught Mrs. Maples son, Travis, when I taught 2nd grade at Commonwealth Elem!!)

 Kaitlyn in her chair in the classroom

The first day!!!

 Kaitlyn

 Kaitlyn

 (so cute in her little school uniform and pink neon shoes)

 Kennedy 

(lovin' those blue neon shoes!)

 Kennedy

My first graders

 Outside FBCA

 (Jilly wanted to wear her "uniform" too.

 Kaitlyn, Kennedy

 Another sweet 1st grader, Camille, wanted to pose with the girls. She ended up being in Kennedy's class this year.

We all had a great first day!!

Last few days of summer break

 Summer break is winding down.  The girls and I  start school next week!!!  We worked in a couple more fun things for the girls.  We met Leigh and the kids out at Sugar Land Town Center last week. The girls had fun playing near the fountains.

 Kaitlyn, Jillian, Kennedy (Waiting for the Fox's to arrive)

The kids got an ice cream treat and played outside for a while, then we headed back to Leigh's house. Kennedy and Kaitlyn were going to sleep over! :) We decided to let Jillian stay late (with her pj's on) but we took her home. Even though she thinks she is big, we felt she was still too young for a sleep over.  She wasn't too happy with this decision.  

 All the kids in their pj's watching a movie. 

Jillian loves baby Colin and apparently had a secret to tell him. :)

  We let Jilly have a "sleepover" in our bed since the big girls were with Ryan.

 I took this picture in the morning before she woke up. Sweet thing.

 The twins had a great time at their sleep over. They said their favorite part was staying up late, watching a movie and having popcorn. 

On Friday and Saturday, I worked at the uniform resale at FBCA. Since I worked it, I was able to get "first choice" to buy the uniforms I needed for the twins. Uniforms for FBCA are quite expensive, so this helped a lot!  

 Today, we decided to take the girls bowling and have a little family day!  We went to the Palladium right by our house and let the girls have lunch there.

 Kaitlyn and Jilly waiting for their food.

 Kennedy

The girls have never been bowling before and really enjoyed it!

 Kennedy bowling for the first time.

 Miss Jill

 Kennedy

 Kaitlyn

 This is how the girls bowled. :)

 I loved watching them. The ball would go sooo slowly down the lane, but they were so excited to watch it.

 Jillian needed help holding and throwing the ball, but thoroughly loved it. 

 About to bowl! Love her excited face.

 

 Watching the ball roll!!

We played one game and I think they wanted to play more. Kaitlyn seemed to enjoy it the most. :)

 The girls got a sweet treat after bowling. 

Kaitlyn and Jilly shared a cupcake with rainbow sprinkles.

Kennedy and I shared a red velvet cupcake (her choice)

Yummy! 

Tony got a gelato.

Tony and I have both been at school off and on this week. We are also trying to do last minute errands and get things done around the house. The twins are super excited about starting first grade. I'm excited to start teaching Kindergarten...but I know it's going to be hard to get up early every day (since we have been sleeping in this summer....so nice!)

Soaking up every last minute of summer! :)