Chuck E Cheese Party

Two of Andrew's best buddies joined us at Chuck E Cheese this morning to celebrate his birthday!

Andrew and Drew in the Chuck E Cheese Car

Evie and Elizabeth in the car
Cake!
Elizabeth and Evie

Drew and Andrew

So excited about a new truck!

Thank you Drew and Elizabeth for all the fun new trucks and cars!

Evie's new song

Evie learned a cute little song at preschool yesterday, and she spent the evening singing it to us.

Back to Preschool

Evie and Andrew had their first day back to preschool today. They were both really excited! Thanks to the remnants of Fay, we dropped off and picked up in a downpour, so we did our first day picture at home.

So excited about preschool and new lunchboxes

Evie's artwork

Andrew's take home sheet~Read the very last line. How many 3 year old boys get that note home?!

Oreos and (soy)Milk

Yummy!

Evie and Andrew had their very first Oreos after lunch today. While food allergies are really minor compared to other things our kids could be facing, it hasn't always been easy and sometimes it's been a little sad when they couldn't have the same foods as the rest of their friends. My friend April let me know that her egg allergic twins can have Oreos and then a couple of weeks later my friend Jill told me that her milk allergic daughter can eat Oreos. Could it possibly be that both my kids could eat a cookie from a package on the shelf at a regular grocery store? Sure enough, Oreos are milk and egg free!

1st soccer practice

Evie's first soccer practice went really well. She paid attention and followed instructions, which is really all I expect out of her at this point. She was so excited that she scored a goal twice (the girls played 3 against 3). Unfortunately, she was running the wrong way on one of them. I don't think she really has a grasp on the fundamentals of the game yet, but to be honest her parents don't know that much more than she does. Her first game is going to be VERY interesting!

Orchestra Cookout

The orchestra had there kickoff party tonight at the lake. This was the first time either of the kids had gone swimming in the lake and were so excited about it all day. The also got to take their first boat rides. Evie loved it, but Andrew wasn't so sure about the wind. He sat on Mommy's lap and fell asleep in the ski boat. The highlight of the evening was when Evie ran up from the dock towards the house and started stripping off her bathing suit in the middle of the yard. I don't know what possessed her to do that, but I had to run across the yard and cover her up with a towel. That has never happened in all the times we have gone swimming, to the splashpad, or at the beach. Everyone laughed, but I was a little embarrassed that my daughter mooned the orchestra! We have been learning about privacy lately, so I think a lesson in modesty is up next. Overall, we had a great time and really enjoyed spending time with our friends!

Evie was fearless as usual and jumped right in
Andrew just wanted Daddy to hold him in the water
The dads took all four kids on a paddleboat ride

One last trip

The kids and I headed up to Kingsport for one last trip this week before soccer, gymnastics, and preschool start back up. Our fall schedule kicks off on Monday!

We met Auntie Laura and Mimi for a picnic at Warrior's State Park on Monday

Flying the airplane at Hands On Museum
The kids had a blast running through and riding the slide in the coal mine at Hands On

The featured exhibit was a construction theme. We had a great time racing around putting wheels on these monster trucks as they went down the assembly line.

Evie's turn to go fishing

Daddy took Evie fishing today and she caught:

One
Two
Three
Four fish

Name that blog

I now have a cute background on the blog thanks to my friend Janet's blog. What I am missing is a good blog title. "Our Family" is incredibly boring and bland. I'm trying to think of something that describes us and our life (without using our last name), but I'm having a tough time coming up with anything good. Maybe after some googling I'll figure out something. I'm not great in the creativity department, so if you have any suggestions please share.

While the girls are away...

Andrew and Daddy will play. Phil took Andrew to the Bass Pro Shop, Gander Mountain, and then fishing while we were gone.

"Driving" the boat

Checking out an Andrew sized ATV

Fishing for the first time
He caught one!
(it is really small and the same color as the rocks, but it was still a fish)

American Girl

The girls waiting for the store to open

Fruit and lemonade at the Bitty Fun Day! They were actually serving muffins to the girls, but the chef made Evie a fruit plate. I was very impressed that the head chef personally called to let me know what Evie could eat.Singing with the other girls at the party
Evie with her big doll "Kit"

Hooray for underwear!

When I filled in this calculator it estimated I have spent $3000 and 400 hours changing 12,000 diapers in the last four years. Yikes! Add this to the $2700 it takes to feed a Nutramigen baby the first year and the cost of our kiddos really adds up!

More about babys and free baby samples

Soccer & Success

Evie had her soccer evaluations last night, and they went much better than expected. She did a great job of listening and following instructions. We do need to teach her the language though. She had no idea what they meant when she was told to "dribble" and "hustle". On the way home she was excited and asking to practice in the backyard. Her first game should be really interesting! After soccer we headed to Bruster's to celebrate Andrew's potty training success. I had been telling him all day he could have ice cream if he did a certain thing in the potty. I will save everyone the details, but it has been a long road getting to this point so we were all really excited!

Evie looked like such a big kid dressed for soccer

Treats at Bruster's

Another weekly recap

I have been really busy getting ready for my MOPS leadership retreat that was held this weekend. It went wonderfully and I should be back in business on my blog this week, so hopefully this will be the last recap for awhile. In addition to things pictured below Evie finished up her swim lessons this week and passed with flying colors. We also took advantage of some tax free shopping on Friday. New clothes and new shoes that everyone was excited about. After two hours of shopping we ate lunch on the patio at Aubrey's and watched the crane at a nearby construction site. That was very exciting for a 2 year old little boy!

We hit the splashpad with friends to beat the heat this week~Evie and Andrew are having lunch with Sydney and Kaitlyn

Target has their sprinklers 75% off, so we now having spinning Pablo surfer

Walmart is also having their summer clearance sale, so I bought little trays to make popsicles. We have been enjoying white grape juice pops.

The kids helped Phil wash my car in the hot, hot sun. Evie is making sure our power T is nice and clean.

The girly girl got a new bikini that she is completely in love with (notice she is wearing it in all the pictures; the Aurora swimsuit has only been worn once this week).