First day of school

The boys had their first day of school on Aug 11th this year. This was the first time they have started on a Monday and they also extended the school hours for the elementary schools by almost a hour. 

I was a little concerned with how Phillip would do, Thomas was use to the school hours and didn't seemed to be bothered by the extra time. We were able to meet Sup's teacher and see his classroom the week before and drop off all his supplies which was nice. 

We were also able to see Thomas' class and meet his teacher the Friday before school started as well so they both had an idea of where they needed to go and who was their teacher. I was able to walk both go the boys to their classroom. Here is Sup outside his new class all ready for his first day of kindergarten!

The bus was a much bigger deal for Sup, as this was one of the exciting things he was looking forward too. It was nice to see that he came off the bus running with a smile on his face ready to tell us all about his day.

For a special treat I got the boys their favorite candy for making it through their first day of 2nd grade for Thomas and Kindergarten of Sup. Thomas had the KitKat's and Sup had the Reese's. 

Diggin' potatoes

This year when we planted our garden we let the boys have input on what they wanted to grow. We did this for a few different reasons but for Sup we are trying to get him to eat some kind of veggie.  

As weird as it is neither boys likes potatoes, in a more traditional potato form that is…baked potato or mashed. But slice it up and make it a fry, no problem with the potato at that point. 

Even after several conversations the french fry was the only way they would eat them. So when we planned our garden Sup's pick was the potato, do the soul purpose of making homemade fries out of them. Which he told us when he picked that for one of the things he wanted to plant. 

So when the potatoes were ready he was pretty excited to get into the dirt and dig them up. And for our meal we had some homemade fries, which everyone ate up. 

Sitting up

At the beginning of August our sweet girl started to sit up all by herself. 

The boys have really enjoyed all her milestones and were probably the most thrilled about her starting to sit up. 

She was pretty impressed with herself as well :)

Coming home

After a few weeks of fun and visiting families we headed home on Sunday. I think we all had a fun time but I also think that the kids were pretty worn out. 

Phillip has always been my home body so even though he had fun he missed his home. So after we packed up and said goodbye in the morning we headed back home. 

After a couple hours of driving Eric and I had a nice quiet ride :) 

Visiting "the Thumb"

On Saturday we were able to spend some time with my Gramma. When you live in Michigan you can relate everything to the mitten shape and you always have a map on your hand. 

My Gramma lives in the "Thumb" so we took a trip up there to see her that day, go on a picnic, and swim in the lake. 

It was fun to introduce Olivia to Great Gramma and to get a few pictures of her and the boys with Gramma. After feeding Livvy we were off to the beach for our picnic. 

After we ate the boys were ready to play in the water. Lake Huron is a nice lake to swim in and the beach is nice and sandy.  It was a great day for the beach and we all had a lot of fun.

We really don't have beaches or water like this where we live. I always loved going to the beach and swimming in the Great Lakes growing up so I was happy to be able to share that experience with my kids. 

Unlike the boys when they were little, Livvy loves the water, so she enjoyed dipping her feet in Lake Huron as well :) 

Frankenmuth

Friday everyone thought it would be nice to just have a fun/do whatever you wanted day. In the end we decided to make a little trip up to Frankenmuth. 

Frankenmuth is a fun little german tourist town. Because I grew up so close to it, it is a place we all know well and thought the kids would have fun seeing all the different things around. (And just for a clarification that is a pop bottle that she she chewing on ;)

After getting some snacks and ice cream and walking around a little bit we thought it would be fun to go by the nearby park and play some soccer. Almost everyone was able to join in and have a good time. 

One of the things Frankenmuth is known for is their fudge. Ryan and is family was kind enough to get every family some fudge to take home with them. Everyone had picked out their flavors and they were able to enjoy some at the park :)

Olivia's blessing and spending time together

While we were up in Michigan we were able to do Olivia's baby blessing. Our niece was also had her baptism so she was kind enough to share a small part of her day with Olivia. 

I was pretty impressed that I was able to get her dress done on time. I do confess that I didn't have enough time to do the buttons on the back, but none the less she looked beautiful in her white blessing dress. Gramma Kris had saved some of my wedding dress material so I was able to make most of her dress from my material which was pretty special :) 

After all the festivities I think everyone was ready for some down time and just relax and enjoy time visiting one another. Eric and his brother Jason decided to go for a run for old times sake. I wouldn't say it was too relaxing but they seemed to have a fun time with it. 

Later that evening we had fun playing outside and visiting around a little fire. 

Eric and I made some homemade lemonade for everyone and it was a pretty big hit. It was nice a refreshing for a warm July evening. 

Mark and Kris had some goodies from Europe that they shared and passed around. A little later we played a game and had a nice relaxing evening outside.

The kids had fun playing all kinds of games and I believe we had no big mishaps or arguments! 

Fun with animals

The next day the morning was busy with getting ready for family pictures. With a group of 21 people it was a little crazy but I think it was a successful session. 

 After a morning of trying to get everyone so smile for pictures (which was not so easy a feat with kids ranging from ages 17- 6 months). It was time to come back and have some down time and let the kids play around.  

 Eric was able to find a snake, which Gramma not so excited, but the boys seemed to enjoy playing with and tormenting Gramma with ;)

 With living in the city our animal interaction is with stray cats or squirrels, so when Sup found the goats I guess he had fun trying to feed them sticks. 

There were also a ton of toads they found and gathered them all in a bucket. Sup now wants a pet toad for his birthday.