Sweet Caroline

4k!  My baby boos started their first day of 4k today- so unreal that this is what should/could be their LAST year before big school!  * These little stinkers have July birthdays, with a cut off of  September 1  for starting kindergarten.  If we send them “on time” they will be some of the youngest in the class… we are going to wait this year and see how they do before we make a final decision.  After going through kindergarten and realizing it’s  not  the kindergarten days of my youth, I want them to be READY for it and not struggle/dislike school.  We shall see what the future holds!  *  Regardless, here they are…ready to attack 4k.  They are going 5 days a week in the hopes that this will prepare them for kindergarten next year if that’s what we choose to do.  They have the same teachers Collins did and I love them, I just know they are going to have a wonderful, fun year!  Meet the teacher fun  First day!  *can you see my reflection ?! Curlers in my hair and all- lololol

We enjoyed a little two night getaway to Charleston last weekend - we left Thursday after work and stayed until saturday after lunch- need to make that happen more often.   We had lots of pool time- and a Mikey and I got to sneak off Friday night to attend a beautiful, fun wedding of one of my college besties! Crazies  Gorgeous venue- gorgeous night  Gorgeous bride  Can’t ever come to Charleston without a stop at daddy’s alma mater Saturday night your truly was inducted into the Chapin Hall of fame- our 1999 state championship cheer team was honored and now in the hall of fame, pretty cool, eh?! Happy hump day. 

First grade-  how in the world did we end up here SO incredibly fast?!  Everyone talks about how  time flies , but y’all- it’s unreal.  When you are little, time creeps by, but the older you get the faster it goes- and that’s when you want it to SLOOOOOOOW down.  These years are fleeting, the innocence of “young children” doesn’t last forever- and it breaks my mama heart to think how much she’ll grow this year.  I wish I could keep her sheltered from the world forever, protect her heart and her mind from all things ugly, but as much as I  wish  that could happen, it’s not realistic.  So, I just pray that I have done and continue to do as much as humanly possible to help her out in the real world. Raising several young children is one of  the  hardest and most stressful things I’ve ever done in my life,  you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders all while trying not to lose your ever loving mind on them.  It’s a constant battle- parenting, that is.  But, it’s also brings me th

This post should really be titled “weekly recap” because that’s really all I do on this little space anymore- but, such is life - I’m just glad to have somewhere to document our mundane and magical times as a family.  I surprised the kids last week and took them to see Christopher Robin- I left work a little early and we made the 4 show- it was a semi success. I saw some of the trailer and thought it’d be more like a paddingtom the bear remake - but this movie was definitely not “suited” for 4 year olds. Graham did just fine and watched the whole thing, but Thomas- welp, I basically had to hold him in my lap to keep him from bouncing around and moving the recliner seats 4297 times. (Totally different kids- Thomas just does not have the ability to sit still for a long time- takes after my side of the family ;-) ) Collins enjoyed it- and watched the whole thing, but I’ll say it wasn’t her fav either. All of my kids love the new paddington bear movies but this one just wasn’t as good.  T

Welp, our summer weekends are dwindling- and I HATE it. We had a wonderful weekend with equal parts fun and relaxing.  Mikey and I started out strong Friday night- we had a big group going out to celebrate a dear friend turning the big 4-0! We had the best time at dinner and a little dancing afterwards.  Collins had dance for a couple hours Saturday morning and one acro class after church Sunday- she finished off a week of dance “boot camp” which was awesome! They had a jojo theme one day- which of course they all loved! We had a very chill Saturday afternoon and evening- we had a few friends over to swim during the afternoon- very laid back - it was just what we needed. We ended the night with a family boat ride, grilling burgers and hot dogs and movie night! Mikey and I were asleep by 10- glorious! I didn’t get hardly any pics of the day- but we enjoyed it.  Milly got to enjoy the ride too:-) Wearing my dress - silly girl  Love a sunset pic  We finally made it back to church- it make