Avery is a Junior!

Taking Avery's first day of school pics were amusing. She totally enjoyed every second of it.

Yes, time is flying by.

Not much of a baby face anymore. 

Daddy got in on the pictures.

Of course Ross did too. 

I even managed a good one showcasing those missing teeth. 

Per the request of Avery - Big Baby needed her picture made as well. 

Now that the new year is officially underway we are getting settled in our routine a bit better every day. 

Grace End of Year Program

Well Grace had their end of year program. I was prepared, got there early, and even asked which side to sit on so I could get a few decent pics. Never thought that she'd sit behind Mary Catherine the ENTIRE time. This is the only pic I halfway got of her face.

After the program we went down to give gifts and get pictures with her teachers. We love Ms. Andrea! 

Ms Aliya is another favorite, of course. Avery asks to go to her house all the time.

Ross was there too, and helped introduce her to some of the cool things about being in the Junior class.

I say it all the time, but seeing the pics posted on the blog definitely makes me realize just how quickly they grow up. It seems like just last week we were introducing Ross to the Junior class. 

Rewind - last day shenanigans before school starts

So the day before school started Ross was home with his Daddy for the morning. They went swimming and ate lunch. Then I met up with them and we met his teacher, Mrs. Somers. 

After that we made our first, of what will probably be many, visits to Big Rock for mini golf and other fun. The golf match was HOT!! We were all a sweaty mess. 

Next Ross decided he wanted to do the water bumper boats, and he was able to drive them solo. I spent majority of the time being shot at in the face and laughing hysterically. 

Cooling off, but soaked. If you notice mainly Ross and I got wet. Dad is ruthless. 

Next boss decided we needed Icees and we all agreed we definitely did. 

Lastly we played in the arcade there. He loved it and won a lot of tickets for a bunch of stuff we didn't need. 

...and lucky day because as he finished his tokens and made purchases with his tickets someone leaving gave him all this! Pretty sure we were given "best day ever" status a few times by Ross. 

So fun and glad we get the 1 on 1 time with him! 

First Day of 1st Grade!

Well we have a 1st grader. He was quite excited when the day rolled around. The night before he got a little nervous, but you'd have never guessed it when he woke up that morning. 

I love his many faces. 

Fun shirt picture to compare each year.

He's losing his baby face for sure.

He wanted Avery in a picture.

Love him to pieces! 

We all went for drop-off.

Once he saw his 2 buddies he was good to go, and they are in the same class again. Definitely a great time! 

Potty Dance

So things got real a bit ago with potty training. I tried all the ways that worked with Ross and no luck. I finally bit the bullet and bought a potty chair. When I took it out of the box and showed it to Avery this is what she did. I was scared. She didn't quite grasp the concept immediately. 

However, about an hour later the girl decided to give it a go! She peed 3 times in an hour! Who has 2 thumbs and pees in the potty? That girl! 

I'd promised her if she did she would get to go to the toy store. She's been to the toy isle at Target of course, but never to the legit toy store. She stayed for an hour and with each turn got more excited. 

In the end she picked a horse (no shock there) and a mermaid. Both water friendly so she could take to the pool or bathtub. 

Like I said we were in the toy store a solid hour, and it was late so I enticed her out by suggesting we go to the pet store next door. Mistake. A fun mistake, but mistake nonetheless b/c we were in there just as long. They always have kitties in the adoption area and that night there were some mega personality kitties. 

Fast forward a few weeks and she finally decided to get on board with this whole potty training thing at school and had a much successful day! That meant a final trip to the toy store, and of course she now associated the pet store with the trips so we went there too. 

Crazy brother was with us.

The cats were different, and though not as friendly still a fun trip. 

Due to the hugely successful day we ended it with Dad meeting us and going to the Mexican restaurant. A fav of the kids. Her new goods from the toy store had to dine with us. Another horse and fairy to go with.

We've finally turned the corner and all is going great with the potty. Mommy is happy. Daddy is happy. We are all happy. No more diapers! WOOT! 

Summer Awesomeness!

We had a really great summer. We played a lot of dress up.

Lost a lot of teeth. The first front tooth was quite traumatic, and a lot process. First it got all twisted when he took a bite of something at dinner. Then the sight of blood totally freaked him out. It was about an hour's worth of tears, screams, bargaining, and threatening before he finally let his Daddy pull it. 

The second; not so much. It was so loose it just fell out at Bass Pro.

His summer camp was great this year too! On "Boys' Day" they got their faces painted. 

They also had super heroes there which was awesome too! 

Granny turned 96!

Baseball games were attended and Ross was even surprised with a bat from Mrs. Suzanne!

Meme turned 89!

Ross graduated from Speech Therapy with flying colors! We love Ms. Allison!

The summer ended with Anna Beth's birthday party! Always so great to see our friends!

I think we'd all agree that Summer of 2015 was a good one. A lot of firsts this summer for sure. A lot of memories made and cherished.