It feels weird to type those grades. My kids are in the middle grades of elementary school. You anticipate K for so long and subconsciously forget to think that it just keeps going and going. That's a theme as this fall has brought a few silly things that have made us feel ushered into middle age. Haha! More on that later... Here are my cute second and third graders. I chose Peter's outfit. Lily chose her own- and surprisingly, I think it actually works nicely- which isn't always the case. I gave the kids their back to school haircuts. I took 2-3 inches off Lily's and left Peter's on the long side to preserve the summer blonde a little longer.
Our bus stop crew was thin the first morning, but THICK with donuts. Mattie is our high school senior, cul de sac neighbor who is also a lifeguard at the pool, who is also just all around amazing (& follows Jesus). She bought the kids donuts on the first morning. The other kids really missed out. Grateful for her sweet & cool influence on the kids and we may not let her leave next year. :)
Oh, the many faces of Peter & cute photobombs by BenBen.
Bye Bye, Kids! Like I said in an earlier post, it felt more mixed this year to send them off.
But certainly, I've adjusted just fine. :)
The first day of school also just so happened to be our anniversary! So with a few months notice, I was able to convince Mike to take the day off. It helped me ease back into having the kids gone and didn't feel so eerily quiet. His mom generously offered to adjust her schedule to be able to watch Ben so we could run out for a lunch date. It was lovely. We sat outside, had complete sweet conversations and dreamed that we were somewhere coastal (it was breezy & warm so that helped us dream).
And then they came home. How fun to have Daddy at the bus stop after school!
And an after school picture to include more of our neighborhood crew.
Back to the middle age thing, our sweet kitty, Clove, who is front and center here died this fall (Oct 13). So it was a fun surprise to see she made it into these pics. She was 18 & 3 months (July 1998-Oct 2016). She had a nice, full, long life. Mike joked that she wanted to live to be old enough to vote but then when she realized who her choices were, she decided it was OK to go. She had been my kitty since college (and now much prefered to be Mike's kitty). She was a good girl, living different places through two different years overseas, a new marriage to Mike (adoption by her favorite human would be her boast), and through three new babies and toddlers who pulled her tail and petted her any way but gently. She was sweet, patient, and friendly. We will miss her. Ironically, she is standing on the rock Mike buried her under. Haha! We are those people who buried their cat in the front yard. Ben talks fondly about "my kitty who's under the ground".
Speaking of Benny, aren't his locks and his cheeks beautiful?!
{We also sold our '99 Civic the same week Clove died. Also ushering us away from any semblance of our college & young adult season. We cleaned it up (first wash since it became Mike's car 9 years ago) and sold it on Craigslist. We had 5 responses to our ad within the first hour of it being listed. So we sold it quickly. Mike got a 2014 Subaru Crosstrek and we all love his new ride.}
The first weekend after school was nice and HOT. This mama's dream to help ease the blow of summer ending. So we hit up the pool once more.
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