Happy Birthday, Honey!

I know you had an awesome birthday weekend.  I'm SO glad we went.  Even though the Noles lost it was the most amazing game atmosphere I've ever been in.  Cheers to you!  We love you so very much!

A little tailgating flare :)

Like our petal pushers? (I made 'em ;)

Marching Chiefs playing in the stadium walkways before the game.  Never seen this before.  It was pretty cool.

Beach Birthday Party

The kids' birthdays are about 4 weeks apart so I decided to take advantage of combining their parties while I can get away with it.  I normally opt for a 'no work' party which means I let the venue do all the work (like bowling or Gymboree) and I just show up with a cake.  But this year a beach party was mentioned to me and I decided to go for it.  It was a good bit of work, but it was a nice change to plan some of the little details.  It was a fun day filled with family and a few friends.

The cookies above are locally from Cookie Cutter Creations.  

She can make ANYTHING and they taste great, too.

And yes, there was Powell Punch at the party :)  If you need the recipe, find it here.

Me and My Girl

The last couple of pictures from our beach vacation.  

Peyton loves the camera which makes me happy :)

Peyton Swimming

Peyton has come a long way in the swimming department.  Everything has been on her terms...imagine that.  Swimming lessons didn't make her afraid of the pool, but she wasn't overly enthusiastic about it right away either.  She is now jumping off the step and swimming to us.  And at the end of the video you'll see her swimming along the step by herself.  

showing her age

Peyton is starting to show her age.  She's quick to melt down when she doesn't get what she wants.... like all two year olds.  Case in point:  Hunter started gymnastics this week.  We went as a family to watch his first class.  Yeah right.  As soon as Peyton saw Hunter take off his shoes and go sit on the floor waiting for class to start she ripped off her shoes and sprinted to sit by Hunter.  She would not be left out.  She was LIVID when I removed her from her spot.  We ended up sitting in the car while Daddy watched for a while then Mommy got a turn to watch.  In the future, one of us will stay home with Peyton.  And it's all her fault that there are no pictures from his first gymnastics class!

She had her 2-year check up and she is in the 25th percentile for height and weight.  Still a little peanut.  So far she's got that gymnast build :)  Maybe she'll start gymnastics at age 3 like I did.  Right now we're doing Kindermusik and she really likes it.

The Destroyer

First Day of Pre-K

This has been a long awaited day.  We've been counting the sleeps before the first day of school.  Hunter could not wait.  He's so good about humoring me with pictures.  He's a pleaser and he must know how much I love pictures.

Peyton will not be left out.  And she was insistent on holding the lunchbox.

I answered the question "Where's Hunter?" a good dozen times today :)

Love this kid.

He found his name and marked himself present when we arrived.

He immediately sat down in his assigned seat and started playing with play dough.

It's going to be a fun year for him.

The last bit of summer fun..

The neighborhood kids gathered one last time before school starts (tomorrow!) for some summer fun.  This blow up slide/pool was pretty amazing.  It entertained them for 2 solid hours and they could have gone longer.

I hope everyone is enjoying their extra weekend day!

Let's Go Noles!!

It's game day!  The first FSU game of the season.  

We're all decked out in our gear and ready to cheer on our Seminoles.

It's going to be a great season!

Pre-Kindergarten here he comes!

Hunter has come to love our 'photo dates' as I call them.  While vacationing at the beach we went down to the water one late afternoon.  It was very short lived and you'll see why when you get to the last picture, but we had fun for about 15 minutes :)

Next week is finally the start of school for him.  We're jumping for joy over that!

I think we have the latest start date for school in the whole country.  

Pre-Kindergarten this year.  One more year at the little church preschool and next year it's on to the 'big' school.  Eeeeek! Mama is happy for another year before that transition.

My boy is growing up.

We met the teachers yesterday.  We've heard nothing, but good things and after meeting them I know it's going to be a great year.

He loves to learn.

He loves his friends.

He loves school.

The rain came with very little warning. We ran like the wind, but shelter wasn't close by.  And just like that our date was over :)