Farris family blog: August 2016

We had a great trip to New Braunfels with the family. We all got there Friday afternoon and played by the river for a little while, then headed to dinner. That evening we did some night fishing and cooked out some s'mores. The kids always love doing that so much. The next day was probably one of my favorite days of the summer. All our kids floated the whole river with us and did so great. That was a blast. I am not sure how, but they ended up not napping that day either. They just played and played and played. We had such a great time hanging out with my sisters and their kids. Rylie and Titus are inseparable and have so much fun, and are also a lot of trouble together. It is really sweet though to see how much they love each other and to hear Titus say "yyylliieee" We played some yard games like Kankan with everyone. My sister and I are terrible at it, but Angie, Ana and I had fun watching all he guys play together. Sam was able to come, but Frankie couldn't make it and we definetly missed him there. We also played heads up Saturday evening and that gave us lots and lots of good laughs. So much fun. Sunday morning we all packed up and left, and we stopped by the outlets on our way home to grab some new stuff for the kiddos for back to school. It was a fun family weekend and so glad we got to make so many new memories with everyone.

The next week we had a fun movie night at the store. We showed the movie Inside out and the kids always love going up there to help Bret with whatever they can. They helped us pass out lots of DOC's to everyone who came and had so much fun just running around. The boys stayed with Bret through the whole movie, and I brought Rylie home a little early because it was getting late. My friend Lisa had her baby the weekend before and this week my friend Amelia finally had her baby. So fun getting to see their families grow and get to go see them up at the hospital! Grams came in Wednesday night to stay with us and her and the boys left Thursday to head to Gainesville.

The boys had such a great week with my in laws. They got to go to the lake with Grams and Pops, drive the golf cart, and ride on the boat and jet ski, and also go to the islands. They loved that so much. They also got to play with their cousin Jackson and had a blast with him. The boys and Grams slept in one of the guest rooms and sounds like so much fun was had by all. I dropped Rylie off at my friend Amy's house, and she took her over to Erin's house since my sister was working Friday. Erin's daughter Kinley is 6 weeks older than Rylie. They don't get to see each other that often, but they had a blast together. They sang songs and danced together, were as adorable as can be, went to the park and swung together, colored and played and played. John Michael picked her up after nap time and she spent the next four days with my sister and them. They had so much fun together. Ana would bring them cupcakes when she came home from work, they went to CFA, went to the splash pad multiple times, pushed the shopping carts at trader joes, went to the gym with them and worked out, jumped on the trampoline and pretty much had the time of their life. My kids were excited to see me when I picked them up, but it was definitely hard to leave all the fun they had with family.

We met Grams in Houston since I was picking up Rylie there, and then we headed down to Friendswood for a few days to see my dad before school started back up. They got to see Christopher so that was really fun for them. They swam a ton and rode all my dad's toys. My sisters came down one day and that was really fun to all hang out together. We left there Thursday and came back home. This past week before school started we went and got the kiddos haircuts, it rained a ton, so we played in the rain, and just got lots of hang out time as a family this past week. It was really great and much needed. We did go to college station one day to see my friend Jean and the kids had so much fun playing with Jackson and Olivia. It was hard to get them to leave, but Carter had meet the teacher that night. This past weekend they got to see my dad again while we went to a wedding in Columbus. Our new friends who are working for us, Kyle and Sarah moved here this weekend and we got all ready for the first day of school today!

I will have to say the difference between Kinder and first was night and day difference. I was a wreck last year when Carter started school, and this year was SO much easier. He had me walk him in every.day the first week last year and this year, he didn't even want me to walk him in at all. Ha. I wasn't worried about him at all day. When we picked him up from school today and asked him how his day was, he said "that was awesome." He had such a great first day of 1st grade. I am so grateful for that. He is such a great kid. I can't wait to hear about each and everyday when he gets home. He even woke up easy this morning than last year. Can't wait to see how much he grows and learns this year. We are so proud of him.

Tuck and Rylie did great today without him. It is fun to see Tuck as having the big brother role. He helped Rylie put on her shoes today before we went to the store, and he kinda adapts to the intensity of who he is around. So he is more calm, for the most part, with just Rylie home. They played outside together and built train tracks and both refused to take a nap. So, we will see if they ever nap again. We went with Bella like last year and got ice cream after school. That was a lot of fun, and then we had our fire inspection for our home for foster care. It is crazy that we are coming to the point where we could get a child soon. Our kids ask all the time when our kid is coming. Last week we had to get TB shots for all the fostering so that led to a good discussion about it all and Carter asked if he could sleep with him and Tuck. We are excited and nervous to see what this journey brings for us next.

Rylie and Tuck can also be trouble together. Today I found them in the bathroom, emptying shampoo bottles, toothpaste and mouthwash. One day it will be nice to not have to worry about that. But then this afternoon those two also cleaned up the whole upstairs by themselves. So some days I think we are making progress. I love right now how Rylie says Machos, when she is talking about nachos. She told us the other day her favorite foods were machos and apples. Our kids are also obsessed right now with the song party in the USA, fighter, and the peanuts song. Although they dance the most and get most excited about party in the USA. Its pretty cute.

Tuck and Bret went and played golf recently and they had such a great time. It is fun to see the boys loving to go play golf with Bret. We loved this summer and cannot wait to see what the next year brings for us. Feeling so grateful and thankful.