the first day

it's so hard to believe we are sending another child off the kindergarten. but, he is so ready!

he picked out his backpack and lunchbox and all the fabrics for his nap mat. 

(speaking of the nap mat, at registration day, they only had a few left. he said they were unacceptable, and in his defense, they were unacceptable. his sister has a cool barbie nap mat from last year, so he thought for sure they would have something like super heroes or star wars. instead, they had clouds, bumble bees, and raggedy ann and andy. no, thank you. then, i mentioned i might be able to make it since it was just some straight lines. so, off we went to find the perfect supplies. while at the store, i inquired for some help with the type of backing i might need. as we talked about what i was trying to accomplish, the woman said, "you do sew, right?" to which miller responded, "my mom can sew anything! she's awesome!" and, from that moment on, no matter what stress this mat caused me, it would be made for him because well, i can sew anything, right.)

and, his big sister is super excited about another school year!

 i know most of you are shocked when i tell you we were running so late. like later than late. it is so much harder to get twice the amount of supplies to school the first day, not to mention five people including a toddler who demanded to walk all by herself which was only half bad because we were using the stroller to get the supplies to school. and, i am sure our lateness was not at all perpetuated by the child who asked for me to make her dress and then cried because the headband i surprised her with was the wrong shade of aqua. seriously.

 notice how big sister is carrying her brother's nap mat this year. do you remember that he carried her backpack last year? sometimes they are so sweet to each other it makes my heart hurt. other times we won't discuss.

 we took carter first. she acted like the seasoned pro from the get go.

 then, it was miller's turn. this is miller with his sweet teacher, miss grashot.

 miller wasn't the only one who thought he was going to kindergarten. he was very sweet to let her pretend for a minute.

with a little coercion, we were out the door and headed back home.

and then there was one . . .

hotlanta

as i mentioned, the summer is long. not only is it the heat, but because it is josh's busy season, we rarely get a change of scenery. with temperatures in the 100s and humidity off the charts, it doesn't take too long for our family of 5 to go a little stir crazy. luckily, josh had a couple of weekends off so we headed to atlanta to visit grammie & papa joe.

our first day, Wednesday, we hung out at their house.

josh and the kids scavenged the basement for vintage toys and, of course, uncle john's lego's provided hours of fun.

 my sarah richardson inspired bunkie . . .

 complete with seating area. the interior decorating is a little lacking as the pirate ship and space kits i had to choose from really limited my seating choices.

 but, i did find a rotary dial telephone base . . . i think.

 after naps, the kids helped papa joe make his famous oatmeal raisin cookies.

this was the first of several batches because these same cookies are the primary source for breakfast whenever we visit. "eggs, milk, wheat . . "

later that evening, our friends, the tillmans, arrived to vacation with us. grammie and papa joe claim they love house guests, but they may prefer it when the majority of them are over the age of 6. let's just say, i am pretty sure it took days after we left before the ringing in their ears ceased.

Thursday, we had big plans including . . .

 lunch with free ice cream and . . .

 the American Girl store!!!!!

 everyone was excited about this adventure. (well, miller's enthusiasm for his sisters' and friend ended shortly after arrival when he realized there was nothing there for him to buy.)

 but, this little girl's enthusiasm for her new bitty baby, shhhhhoclate, was hard to deny. and, yes, that is her name. and, yes, she chose her all by herself from the display of bitty babies. and, yes, she even used her own money from christmas and birthday and easter egg hunts and what not. and, yes, i am aware that she doesn't really understand that.

 after miller scored a phineas and ferb (or vineous and verb, as he calls them) voice-inator, he was more than happy to play as others shopped.

 after a trip to the outlet mall and dinner at a mexican restaurant, a nap with her new friend seemed completely necessary.

 and, luckily, after a quiet day at home, grammie was renewed enough to share a book with all five pajama-clad munchkins.

Friday, jennifer and i had big plans, too. the scott antique market was our plan for the week. i took several pictures with my phone i will share in another post. let's just say, it was worth the trip.

Saturday, we hit the road again. this time . . . with one destination in mind . . . ikea. our kids loved the play area last time and they couldn't wait to share it with avery. the "babies" had to miss out on that experience. in fact, spencer missed out on most of ikea all together.

when we go to atlanta, we spend most of our time hitting our favorite things . . . restaurants, shops, etc. so, our dinner led us to the cheesecake factory where we were shocked to learn that even at 5:45 pm we had an hour long wait to seat a party of 9.

i will say time passes quickly when you spend most of your time escorting little ones to a potty that is no where near where your party has decided to wait it out.

while we were eating, i noticed spencer doing this . . .

 i was completely curious. after observing her for quite some time, i heard her talking to the light . . . come out or come play with me, she would say. then jennifer said tinkerbelle. ahhh . . . spencer thought it was tinkerbelle inside this little light. our love for peter is still strong.

 after a very long dinner, we entertained the fab 5 at the fountain while the daddies took care of the tab. i love the wind in this picture!

Sunday, we had even more plans. this was definitely the busiest trip to atlanta we have ever taken.

josh wanted to take the rest of us to a place known for their amazing burgers. let's just say they don't have amazing customer service as when we were entering i noticed a sign on the door saying kids were not allowed under any circumstances due to a state law. the guys had already entered, one of which toted a toddler. the person at the front of the restaurant said, "uh, we don't do kids."

 uh, wow. is all i have to say. we had already paid to park and had pushed lunch to the last possible minute so we had to regroup.

 an art store on the corner was creating a canvas outside allowing anyone who wished to be part of the creation.

 we had 5 little artists who wanted to be a part.

 they even provided smocks . . .

 and were ah-mazingly patient.

 meanwhile, the adults scoured for a lunch location . . .

 one, served peanuts. our web results said the peanut debris was definitely dangerous if you had an allergy. next.

 we settled on a kid-friendly italian restaurant that was quite yummy though we were so hungry i'm not sure we would have known the difference.

we finished just in time to head to our last destination . . .

 and for the first time in our lives, we were early. we checked our kids in and sat down to find out this guy was there to lead worship.

 what an amazing end to a really needed break from our summer reality!

thank you, grammie and papa joe  . . .  and thank you, tillmans . . . we will definitely do it again!

hot summer night

 we had another beautiful summer night . . .

 this one included water ice. too. 

 water ice quickly became water melt . . .

 followed by water mess. but, it was definitely fun to watch.

 there was music, too . . .

 and a stage for dancing . . .

and you know how she feels about dancing. 

this was the last night for this series in the park. we can't wait for next year, let's just hope the weather is cooler.