Labor Day and first days of school

Two days after we got back from Alabama the kids started school.  It was a little crazy making the switch from summer to school after such a long trip, but the kids did great.  Since we moved, Madison started a new school this year.  She didn't even get nervous until Saturday night, which I think was mostly related to trip fatigue.  We had a conversation about all the things she was nervous about and quickly put her fears to rest, except her reluctance to start waking up at 6:45.  When she got to that point on her list of fears, there was really nothing I could say.  Cause waking up at 6:45 every day sucks.  The end.  

Anyway, we live close to our school so we've been walking to school every day.  It's great (except the first couple weeks when it was 100 degrees every afternoon.  That was not great).  Here's my little Kindergartener and second grader.  I can't believe I have two kids in school full time!   

Having only one kid at home all day has been an adjustment.  But not a hard one :)  Colton really enjoys being an only child.  And he definitely increases his talking during the day when the kids are gone.  There isn't a moment of silence all day!  Who knew a three-year-old had so much to say?!

I was a little worried about Jaxon starting Kindergarten.  With a summer birthday, he's one of the youngest in his class.  I was 80% sure he would be fine, but 20% of me had a few concerns.  He has done GREAT!  He's had good behavior.  His school work has been awesome, and he loves going to school.  He takes all of his homework assignments very seriously!

After the first week of school, which went smoothly, we headed up to Arkansas for our real, final trip of the summer.  All in all we were out of town 4 of the 5 weekends in August and we had company on the other weekend.    

We went out on the boat with grandma and grandpa.  The kids had fun, but it was short lived.  We only got about 45 minutes on the water before the boat died.  Poor grandpa's boat.  It's been on its last leg for a while, and I think it might have finally reached it's end :(  We had to be towed into the dock, which the kids actually thought was pretty cool.  Grandpa, however, did not enjoy it as much.

We still had fun swimming in the lake and we picked up some malts on the way home!  Nothing like eating ice cream in your swim suit to make it feel like summer!

Monday morning the weather was gorgeous, so we had breakfast outside on the deck!

On Monday afternoon, before we headed home, we went to an exotic wildlife farm/drive through safari.  The kids got to pet a couple of pretty fun animals.   This is a baby cheetah.  

And we got to get up close and personal with some of the other animals that were wandering through the grounds.  This zebra got really close to our car.

We saw Chris's cousin and their two kids, who are the same ages as Jaxon and Colton.  The kids had fun playing with each other!  

The kids had a lot of fun playing with grandpa!  He's a good sport letting them climb all over him.

Then it was back to school and our routine and all that craziness.  Jaxon has done really great with the intense routine of all-day Kindergarten.  Our only issue has been that by 5 p.m. every day he is "about to die" because he is so hungry.  I don't blame him, he has lunch at 10:30 a.m.!  

After Labor Day, Madison and Jaxon started tennis lessons.  We wanted them to do an activity that would be good to teach them hand-eye coordination, but wouldn't have games every Saturday!  Tennis is nice because they can both go at the same time!

Colton got to start preschool this year! I signed him up for the same school that Jaxon went to last year! I love the program there, plus it's very affordable compared to almost every other school in the area,  especially when you consider that he goes 5 hours, two days a week!  He needed a little nap mat for school.  I was going to just buy him one, but it's expensive, so I broke down and made him one.  It turned out great and he picked out the dinosaur fabric himself!  Also, he's very good at pretending to sleep :)

And here is Jaxon at his first lunch with mom at school!   I wasn't allowed to go for the first two weeks, so the very first day that moms could come Jaxon insisted that I come and eat with him!  How can I say "no" to those big blue eyes!?

Finally, finally, Colton started preschool.  He didn't start until two weeks after the big kids did, so it was a long wait.  I think to say he was excited would be an understatement.  This kid was ecstatic!!!  He loves preschool and all the fun things he does.  And most of all he loves getting to talk about "his school" when the big kids talk about their days at school!