End of Summer/1st day of KINDER

This has been the.best summer. I was so sad to see it end honestly. We had a blast playing at the splash pad and parks with our friends. We went to Mt. Playmore in Austin, the bounce house place, got sno cones, made library trips, and just had a blast. These last few weeks of summer we went on a bunch of little trips which were all so different, yet all so fun. 

The last week in July, Bret had all of his end of the month stuff so we made a quick two night trip to the Woodlands. Carter will always say "how many days and nights are we staying?" So three days and 2 nights Carter man. We left Thursday after the boys finished their last day at Ms. Kelli's(which was so FUN for them all summer!) We drove to Black Walnut in the woodlands to meet my mom and Ana. My kids were hanging out of the sunroof when my mom got there screaming "ITSY!!" They sure do love her! After dinner we went back to my mom's and the kids love getting to stay with my mom because she gives them bowls of cereal and ice cream (after we have already had dinner!), but they love getting to swim in the hot tub and ride their police car around the neighborhood. Oh and baths with Itsy are always the best! The next day we met our friends the Peterson's at the splash pad. It was so refreshing to go to a new and different splash pad since Bastrop only has one. We had a great time with them and then went to lunch with my mom after at Berry Hill. Carter got to stay with my mom at work after that and he told me his favorite part was that he got FIVE chocolates! :) Kids always tell the truth. After naps we went swimming with Amy and her kiddos at their neighborhood pool. That was fun since we hadn't got to swim with them yet this year, and Rylie only tried to drown herself a handful of times. I am so hoping floaties fit that child next summer. That evening my mom grilled out and Amy and I had a fun girls night together minus children. Always so wonderful and the kiddos have such a fun time with my mom, Ana and Titus. The next morning our friend Erin and her beautiful girl Kinley came over. Kinley and R are only 6 weeks apart, so it makes me so sad we don't live closer to them! It is always so great to see and catch up with Erin, because she is like a sister to us. Later that afternoon we went to Amy's to hangout and do an early dinner with their family before heading home. It was a lot of fun and the boys wrestled like crazy, while all the girls did some booty dances for us. Kids are the best. 

The next week was our family vacation with my mom, brother and sisters to the river! The best part of this trip was that Bret got to come this year!! We left early Friday so we could go to the outlet malls before we got to New Braunfels! We got Carter some new shirts and new shoes for Kindergarten! Then we headed to the condos at the river. The kids were so eager to jump in, so they got in real quickly before we headed to dinner at TJ's. My mom and sister got there when we got back so we did some night fishing that evening and played cards all night long with the family. The boys got super into slap jack all weekend and were obsessed with playing all the time. Many tears over who slapped that jack. Bret and my siblings had all nighters playing spades and that was so fun to watch! We swam the river all weekend and floated on the rapids. My mom did a big cookout saturday night with smores and all. The kids fished their little hearts out and Carter swam up and down the river. Tuck would get in, but he held Bret with a death grip when we tried to take him down the rapids. Bret said he was stuck to him like glue. Tuck did catch two fish though! Which his big brother wasn't too happy about.  Rylie, on the other hand was loving the rapids and just walking all around by the water. Her favorite part was obviously all the food and my sister's dog Belle. ha. It was so fun and relaxing and we laughed a lot. My brother Frankie made the boys laugh hysterically howling like a dog. It was shortened a day this year and it did seem too short, but we still had a blast!

The next week we laid a little more low just meeting friends for a bunch of fun play dates. Amy and her kiddos ended up coming in and staying for a few nights. We took the kids to the Hyatt lost pines and had a lot of fun on the slides, lazy river and playing in the sand. Carter wanted to go with the big kids around the lazy river and that is such a big step for me to be able to let him do that! Amy and I also sat in a double tube with all four of our littles. I so wish we would of had a picture of that one! We went back home to rest for the afternoon and then just hung out and played all evening. The kids had such a great time just playing together those few days. Saturday morning we were so sad to see our friends go. 

The last week of summer we decided to take the kids to Sea World. OH I AM SO GLAD WE DID. We had such a fun day at Sea world. We got there right when it opened around 10 and we didn't leave till it closed at six! We got to see the (ORCA) whales as Tucks says, the beluga whale and dolphin show. We saw the alligators twice because the kids loved them so much.Once the alligator was "taking a shower" under the waterfall, a turtle was sitting on ones head and then once the mouth of one was WIDE open.  We also got to see some snakes and lizards, flamingoes and in the middle of all the animals they had a huge play park with kid roller coasters and a splash pad. so the kids rode the shamu roller coaster over and over! They LOVED it. They would run and just sprint back to the front as fast as they could! So glad it wasn't busy. When it got hot mid day we went over the water park and the kids played and played. R napped in the stroller for a little while when we were there. R and T jumped off the side of the pool over and over and the boys played on this huge water structure for so long. Carter went on the slides a million times. Carter was playing so long he knocked his loose tooth so hard that Bret had to pull it out! So Carter lost his second tooth at Sea world! We went back to sea world for a few hours to see their award winning show with trapezes and all that was so cool. Then the kids rode a few more rides and one more look at the alligators and then the park was closing! such a fun day. We went to chuy's after for dinner, then the kiddos crashed on the way home. 

The next day Grams and Aunt Pat came and surprised the kids! That was so fun. We took them to see the houses and properties we had been looking at. Hung out with and just played! They watched the kids Thursday so we could go do our zip line adventure in Austin that our team had given us for our birthday. It ended up being 75 degrees in August and was a perfect and amazing day for it. We had such a fun time with our friends Nic and Erin. The kids had a fun morning with Grams and Aunt Pat. T fell asleep in my arms when we got home. They had to leave soon after because Aunt Pat had to work, but it was great seeing them. We had meet the teacher that night anyways and Carter got the exact teacher we were hoping for! He also had two friends in his class so he was really excited about that. Cannot believe he is starting Kindergarten. 

Friday night C got his first stomach bug and I was so stressed he was going to miss his first day of school! Thankfully he rebounded quickly and was great by Sunday. Poor Bret got it, so we just hung out at home all weekend together, which besides the sickness was so nice and relaxing. We rode bikes Sunday and went to the store to run a few errands before school started Monday. Sunday we were just playing in the backyard and Carter and I were sitting on the swing talking. That day he had been letting Tucker go first all day and being so sweet talking about how much he would miss us everyday and how we have the best family.  We were talking about how we should also let others go first at school and being kind to others. He said, "Mommy, sometimes I mess up and get in trouble at home." I said that is ok. We all do. Mommy does too. I have to ask for forgivenss when I mess up too. He then said, "Mommy, I will always forgive you if you mess up." He is so big. He is so ready for school and I know he will do incredible things. 

Fast forward to Monday morning. We had been trying to get the kids down earlier because we all wanted to go to school Monday morning to take Carter. 7:30 school start time is a little rough for our family. When I tried to wake Carter up that first morning he said "mommy, why are you waking me up at night time?" Ha. Thankfully he has been great about getting going once he finally wakes up. We have been making it! We already have pushed Carter's bedtime from 7:30 to 7. He is having such a wonderful first week though! His teacher even called to tell us about how well he was doing last night! What a respectful and kind kid he is!  They had to present three things about themselves and he said he loved to play with his switch and go dinos and rescue bots, read his hot wheel books and he loved to hang out with his family. His teacher said he just sounded like an adult talking about how he loved to hang out with his family. We are so proud of him. When we pick him up he says "I can't wait to go back tomorrow!" After the first day we met his friend Bella for ice cream. That was such a fun special treat. He is already doing so well reading his books at night. I cannot wait to see what the rest of this year brings. He came home and taught us one of his bean bag tag games I used to teach to my kids in PE last night. I love that. So we played that before bed last night. 

Fun stories or fun things the kiddos have said lately:

Carter got to use his allowance money for the first time a few weeks ago. He wanted to buy an optimus prime that could hold all his other rescue bots. He has some money left over and so he gave that to Tucker so he could buy a toy as well. He told me that Jesus told him to be kind and love others, and that is what is in his brain and it told me what to do. So sweet. Carter currently wants to be a scientist when he grows up so he can build robots and Optimus prime. The boys love to play I spy right now, guess the animal, or all the kids play ring around the rosy. Guess the animal has got to the funniest because they make up animals- Carter will say some outrageous dinosaur, or Tucker will do something that is not even an animal. Then they will guess themselves on their own turn and say YES! I got it first. One of our favorite of Tucker's is "lion bear." It is so so funny. They also LOVE to play hide and go seek tag right now. We are constantly running and playing that with them outside in the backyard. 

Tucker does not stop talking these days! When he asks for something and he doesn't get it he will say "But I said may you please" because to him if you say may I please then that is an automatic yes. So we will tell him "Thank you for saying may you please, but right now the answer is no" So, at times when Carter is asking him for a toy I will hear him saying, "thank you for saying it nicely, but no." OH that boy. Tucker also can ask the same question over and over until someone answers him and just never get tired of it. This morning Bret counted over 20 times when we just were starting at him. Currently, every time Tucker goes to the bathroom he will say did it overheat? Which actually means did it overflow, but he always says overheat. He is also obsessed with 120?!?! "Does it go 120??" Can you go 120 mommy?? When they were at my dad's he showed them how everything goes 120 and months later everything revolves around 120 and IT IS THE BIGGEST NUMBER in Tucker's world. Emphasis on how LOUD he says that. Carter going to school has been harder on Tucker because they are attached at the hip. He told Carter how much he was going to miss him and asked him if he was coming back from Kindergarten. He pretty much repeats everything Carter say too. "Yeah Carter I wish I should do that too. I wish I could have that" Anything Carter says he repeats it. He also always asks when he should be 5 and a half and go to Kindergarten. I sure hope he is as excited when it gets here. The three kiddos still love to race around the kitchen in our house. It is so fun to watch them. Tucker is nicknamed bike training and flip flop. Flip flop because he just got his first pair and it took him awhile to get used to them and he would stop everywhere and say "oh my flip flop" then proceed to take forever to put them on. He still loves to eat. Currently on an oatmeal, smoothie, spahetti, banana and watermelon kick. He gets SO excited when Carter does well in school and will tell him good job and how proud of him he is. It is so very sweet how much he loves him. It has been sweet to watch him and Rylie play together in her crib, or stack water bottles or read books together. So I am excited to watch their little friendship grow while C is at school. Tuck loves to read go dog go, Pete the cat, or bullfrog pops. He also reads along with Carter's reading log which is so sweet. He starts PRE-K the week after next and I can't wait for him to have that to go to. 

Rylie. Oh our sweet girl that is into all things these days. She can knock out opening all drawers, play in the trash, toilet and clear the desk in 5 minutes. Her current obsession is climbing on our toilet in the bathroom to get to the counter so she can get to all the toothbrushes and empty all the drawers on our bathroom counter. Either there or climbing on top of the desk. She is so all about being on top of every.single.thing in the house. She is obsessed with being inside the fridge and pulling out bret's coffee creamer, still loves her pacifier, blanket and loves to read books. Especially wheres spot right now. R will wave you on to come follower her everywhere by cupping her little hand toward herself. It is really adorable. I still can't get her to wear anything to put up her hair, but she does love shoes and accessories. Always wants to have necklace or bracelet or rubber band on. It is crazy to me how girls know how to acceszorize from early on. She loves to lay with the boys at night in their bed and read with them. I love that and it never ever gets old. She loves the water so much and had such a blast with all the water fun we did this summer. She loves to eat anything and everything. We always joke that she would eat all day if we would let her. She also would probably still be as tiny as she is. Bret and I joke that she will still be in a size 3 diaper when we potty train her, which she loves to sit on the potty already so hopefully that will work in our favor here when she turns 2! We will see. She loves to hold hands but only with her brothers or kids her size. She loves to paint but only paint herself and not on any paper, so that is always eventful. She is very strong willed and screams when she doesn't get her way. Hopefully she will grow out of that! If she has her blanket and pacifier she will probably be cuddled up laying on the floor somewhere. 

We have a very busy fall coming up! So hopefully I can keep up with posting how our first fall in school is going!

Just drinking from the kids sippy cups

Holding hands at the outlet malls

slapjack at the river

Daddy and Rylie

Titus and Rylie

The kiddos with Itsy

Uncle Frank cracking them up

With Ang and Spencer

dude loves to eat

Me and my boy

She loves to sit on the potty

They love to shower together

T being sweet when R woke up 

Boots

Looking like DAddy

Fun at Lost Pines

SNO CONES

They loved the alligators

Penguins!!

Sea world fun

passed out

So tired

Such a fun day with the kids

zip line adventures

tired baby

Our babies

night before first day of KINDER

1st day of school!!

Walking in!

sitting in his seat

T walking R out

first week of school was hard for R

1st day of school ice cream snack!

stacking water with big bro