First week of school

Let me just start this out by saying that my girl is not a morning girl...wonder who she gets that from??? I think this is one of the main reasons she has been dreading starting school, well that and she has to take the TAKS test this year. It's not that she gets to sleep in during the summer. She still has to get up and go to daycare while I go to work, since my lottery retirement plan hasn't worked out for me so far, but for daycare she rolls out of bed, puts on some clothes and gets in the car, thus getting about 30 extra minutes of precious sleep. She loves the fact that she can eat breakfast after she gets dropped off at daycare!!! On school days, she has to get her breakfast in before heading out. She takes after her aunt Rebecca in that she doesn't like to eat right when she wakes up in the morning. She would prefer to be awake at least 30 minutes to an hour before actually having to look at food, but since she likes her sleep she is forced to not only look at food but try to eat it right after getting up. Doesn't she look so excited to be heading off to school for the first day?



After she eats as little of her breakfast as I will let her get away with, this little one crawls back into bed until her mean mommy yells at her to get her shoes on and her teeth and hair brushed. Then we come to picture time for the first day of third grade...another thrilling moment for J I'm sure. She is at least good about humoring me and posing for her picture, and so here we are on the first day...

She picked her clothes out for the first week on Sunday, because that also saves time for her in the morning, or saves her from me picking them out for her. This year I was proud of myself for just letting her wear whatever she had picked out and not trying to convince her that she had much cuter things in her closet that she could have chosen. This one has her very own since of style and her own ideas about what looks good, doesn't matter whether you agree or not...she is very confident in her fashion sense!!!

Below is her day 2 outfit. Took a picture of it so MamMaw could see what she helped her buy. Jaden was very excited to have some money to do her own shopping with and picked out and bought this shirt and shoes herself, so thanks MamMaw for giving her the chance to shop for herself, she had a great time!!!

Day 3 got a picture because she decided to wear her hair down for a change...probably because she got a haircut over the weekend even though I told her she didn't really need one since her hair is in a ponytail everyday anyway!!!

And since we did the first three days, thought we'd finish up the last day of our 4-day first week of school with a final picture...back to the ponytail of course. Every Friday J wears one of her school shirts, this years is our favorite so far. She was really excited when she saw it for the first time!!!

Anyway, her first week was good. She was glad to see all of her friends and really likes her new teacher so far. Hopefully it will be a great year and not go by too quickly cause my little girl is getting way too big way too fast!!!

Winding down the summer

We have had a whirlwind last two weeks of summer. Along with our vacation to San Antonio, we also managed to fit in a trip back home to Groom for my sister Karen's baby shower...we can't wait till September by the way to see the newest addition to the family!!!

Jaden has been watching her cousins climb PawPaw's trees the last several times we have been back home. This time she decided she was ready to try it for herself and was really proud of actually being able to do it (without breaking anything by the way).



She started with the smaller tree, just to see if it was something she really wanted to do. Luckily she had one of the tree climbing experts in Samantha to help guide her along.



She got a little more brave towards the end of the day and went for the big tree. She didn't get as high as Aaron and Samantha go, but she made it past the roof of the house and did a great job.

Devin had fun watching how high all the kids went.

Hope thought she was big enough to try it out too. Luckily for Sandie and Corkey she didn't get too far.

The kids thought the shower was a little boring, so Corkey set up their big water slide to help keep them entertained while the grown ups looked at baby stuff. The kids had a blast, and we didn't have to hear "we don't have anything fun to do." Although you never hear that at Sandie and Corkey's, they always have something fun for the kids to do!!!

Angie, Apollo and their kids came to visit us this week, and Angie and I took the girls to Six Flags for one last summer fun day. Here they are on Superman. J of course has her hands up, no ride is fun for her unless the hands are in the air. Angie is holding Samantha down just in case!!!

A little fun with Daffy Duck...he didn't make it long out in the 100+ degree heat so we were lucky to spot him and snap a quick picture.

Here is a picture of me and the girls finishing Tony Hawk's Big Spin. This was a favorite for J and Sam.

Here they are by themselves...with their hands in the air of course. They told everyone they rode with that they had to keep their hands up the whole time!!!

And here is the end of the day...they still had a little more ridin left in them I think, but I was tired and HOT and ready to head back to the house!!!

Hopefully it has been a summer to remember...I have the pictures to prove it if she ever doubts me anyway:)

Our vacation

Jaden has been asking to go to Sea World for at least four years now...I guess good things finally come to those who wait because she finally got her wish and we headed off on our first official family vacation to San Antonio. Joe and I are not big travelers but every now and then we like to do something to make the little one happy!!! We went with some of our friends and their kids and had a really good time, plus it was a great way to end the summer for Jaden.

We had just ridden this water ride, but J didn't think she got quite wet enough, so she took Jace down for a splash from the next group.

Here's Jaden and Jace with Shamu.

We got in a couple of shows in between the roller coasters...J's main focus...and they were really fun and entertaining. Even Jaden liked them after we pulled her away from the rides and convinced her that if you go to Sea World you actually need to see some sea creatures!!!

This was the dolphin show, Viva, and was our favorite of the ones we saw.

I had a really hard time getting a picture of the dolphins in the air...mostly I got pictures of the splash afterward...but did finally manage to get one.

Then of course we watched the show with Shamu called Believe. It was a pretty good show too. Jaden made sure we sat in the "splash zone" so afterward we were covered with really cold salt water...she thought it was hilarious. I would have liked it better if I would have had on some fast drying shorts, denim is not good for really cold salt water in case you were wondering.

Here is Jaden and her daddy on her favorite roller coaster. She road this one 5 or 6 times I think.

She got a little tired towards the end of day one...there was a lot of walking involved going from show to show and ride to ride. Luckily she had her daddy to give her a lift every now and then.

At the end of the day he was there to hold her hand and make sure she had a great time...that's what daddy's are for!!!

We spent our second day there in the water park area, but I didn't get my camera out for that. Our first official family vacation was a big success, who knows maybe Jaden won't have to wait another 8 years to go on the second one!!!