First day of the last year of Pre-School for SB

Today, all of the local pre-schools started school in town, including miss sissy who has been waiting for what feels like an eternity to catch up to her big brother and FINALLY start school!! Jackson started two whole weeks ago today (his school jumped the gun a bit by a week) and SB started one week later than all the other schools in the district, it just feels later this year since big brother started a whole week early!! I will post pics tomorrow, it is SO HOT AND HUMID here and gross due to the tropical depression off shore (although sunny amazingly) that the camera was totally fogged even after being outside for nearly 15 minutes to "acclimate". I only got I phone pics so have to load those tomorrow night, too late tonight!! She did great though, no tears, the teacher had to remind her to come back to me to give me a hug goodbye...she is shy, sweet, soft spoken BUT LOVES SCHOOL so much:) I was so happy to see her so excited and at home in her new Alley Cat Pre-K 4 year old classroom. She has a wonderful older, experienced teacher, Mrs. Grizanti. I have heard wonderful things about this teacher, and she actually reminds me a lot of Grandma!! Something about her mannerisms and teaching style I think! We met Mrs. Grizanti and some of the other moms and students a week ago when we went for a playdate with her class. Two of the girls in her class of 12 will be joining her next year at our little Catholic School for Kindergarten so that is also exciting to have some friends made in advance of starting Kindergarten and a new school next year!! We went to a dinner party this past weekend where kids were included and one of the families that is going to our Catholic School, and in SB's pre-school class (that I had just met a few days before) was also at the party...that's life in a small town, and I LOVE when things like that happen:) That's all for a Monday!! I am madly getting our photos in order from this summer, and got some random spurt of energy on Sunday when we had a rainy day from the storm to get the photo closet organized...that was a bigger project than I anticipated but it needed to be done...I'm still catching up, I found the entire year I was pregnant with SB I printed photos but did no ALBUMS.....so...getting ready to re-live and organize photos from 2010 and current ones as well!!! Always a major project but much overdo!! I am changing photos to more current ones in frames around the house as well.....I'm on a role...got the Turks and Caicos album done last night, tonight I did the recent trip to Ohio album...now to conquer 2010 and the rest of 2014 and 2015!!!

Erika can't get us down!!!

It's been a a CRAZY week for us Floridians with a hurricane/tropical storm/ no one really has any real idea what it is out there circling the eastern Caribbean creeping every so slowly towards Florida... Stores are sold out of water...batteries....alcohol....flashlights....AND NOW THE THING IS GOING A DIFFERENT DIRECTION or may completely die out and just become a rain event (best case)!!! The forecasts here have been literally all over the board day by day causing panic, relief, panic, relief...REPEAT!!! I dug out my office hurricane policy, the building policy for hurricanes where my office is at, the school policy, and secured electronic copies of all of my insurance...its been 10 years since a storm hit near our area so we also dug out my "hurricane preparedness kit" I created after Wilma back in 2005 OMG...note to self...do not store candles, or batteries IN STORAGE IN SOUTH FLORIDA....I found destroyed flashlights, batteries that has liquified, melted candles...an umbrella (clearly I was not from Florida when I put this together as any idiot would know an umbrella is a hazard in a hurricane, not a help)!!! OMG. So...if nothing else this past week has been a good "fire drill" without the fire...we are now stocked on all afore-referenced items to the excess as is everyone else, we have copies of all of our insurance policies on hand for the house, the lake house, and my business....including wind, flood and normal insurance....let's not talk about our insurance premiums.....and it is SUNNY AND NO WEATHER AT ALL TODAY................ In other news...Jackson had his first sleep over at our house last night. Earlier in the year he slept over at this same friend's house, good friends of ours and Jackson and Dale have been buddies since diapers, they are pre-school and daycare buddies and now are at our little Catholic School together as well!!! We are family friends too so that helps. The boys (and SB) did great last night. We went to the club for dinner and the back to school event and then brought everyone home, they whooped and yelled in the backyard swinging on the swingset and playing in the pool until 10pm and then settled right down for bed (tired as can be from a week of school and playing all night) and were asleep by 10:30...not bad!! Sb was right there with them and is a bit of a grump this am but the boys seems fine. They are mine crafting it and skateboarding this am..........to be 7 again!!! This weekend we are home again catching up after another busy week of school...I'm about beat from all of the meetings these past few weeks and we are gearing up for a little Labor Day Weekend cruise with Disney's Dream out of Cape Canaveral! Weather should be perfect as the storm will be past and is not hitting the Bahamas area now anyways and usually we see the best weather after a storm. We leave Friday am and come back Monday. Just a quick one to enjoy some Disney fun and a last summer hurrah before we get into Soccer season and full on school events!!! Jon and I are practicing regularly these next few weeks as Jackson's school's biggest fundraiser, their golf tourney is coming up the end of September and we are playing!!!

Slow weekend at home = golfing and beach time!!!

After a busy (and exhausting) first week of school and a pre-school play date to meet Sarabeth's new teacher (her school starts next week Monday 8.31) we spent a slow weekend with NO PLANS at home. Friday night we went to the Moorings for dinner and live music where we saw many friends and the kids always have a great time running around, swimming, and playing in the game zone. Saturday morning all 4 of us golfed. SB and I lasted 6 holes but she got out there with her golf clothes and shoes on, new pink bag and pink balls, and gave it her all and that is all you can ask of a 4 year old! After she was done (and we all had pink cheeks from the heat) she and I headed towards the pool to enjoy the water and order some lunch for the boys to later join us. We rarely enjoy the club like this on Saturdays and it was REALLY NICE. Saturday night we adventured out to a restaurant on the water as the weather was great, sunny skies, no rain. The weather was great, views were pretty, and the kids enjoyed exploring and trying something new. The place is called "On the Edge" and it is literally right on the edge of the intercoastal waterway before the inlet into the Ocean. Sunday morning we all slept in (had ideas of going to church but I decided to let the kids sleep since if they were sleeping in, that meant they needed it)!!! We hit the beach and for the first time, we took Buckeye with us. He loved it and we are trying to train him not to approach strangers and this is the quietest time of the year for the beach (because it is so hot) although we still had some walkers by which despite out efforts he approached!!! He is very much the "Walmart Greeter"!!! He is also big though and we are trying to stop this habit as I don't want him to knock someone over and cause harm unintentionally. He absolutely loved the beach and swam in the ocean and played in the wave and is sleeping now nice and quiet. Here are some pictures from our golf adventures as well as Buckeye at the Beach this am!!

First day of Second Grade!!!

And so it begins...the second grade year for Jackson!! This is a big year for Catholic sacraments which we have already begun to talk about with him including First Reconciliation and First Communion. First Reconciliation is in either October or November and First Communion is in April. We were up in the dark and with the chickens today and I had to wake him from a sound sleep at 6:30 this morning. After he was awake we managed to get him to eat a half-way decent breakfast and then we had time for a few quick pictures in the driveway and we were off to school!! Sarabeth could sense the excitement too and the early morning activity in the house and proudly got up and dressed herself for the photos:) When we arrived at school the energy and excitement in the school gym could be felt all around. His school does a really neat thing in that the classes all assemble and meet in the gym in the morning where parents drop kids off in their class lines and then the entire school prays allowed together and does the pledge together and any other announcements and then they are dismissed to their classrooms. You could just feel the energy and excitement of the new school year starting in that gymnasium this morning and it is times like this that I feel most that we have made the right choice for education for our children with this little catholic school where outside its walls the world is a tough place but inside its walls not much has changed in years, and in a good way. The prayers are the same that I grew up with and somehow even the school gym with its freshly waxed floor has the same smell and look that my old school had!! The kids all looked so cute toting their new backpacks, and fresh, crisp uniforms, teachers from prior years hugged parents and friends, I even got a warm hug from Jackson's first grade teacher. When morning prayers were over, I watched the kindergarten parents usher their little ones to the new kindergarten classrooms and I'm not going to lie when I tell you I was happy to walk right past the brand new kindergarten classrooms this year knowing that it would be my turn to drop off a new kindergarten student NEXT year, and knowing how quickly this last year of pre-school will go, I felt like I dodged an emotional bullet this morning big time!! I saw moms I know from Jackson's class dropping of their younger ones and I was glad I did not have to do that just yet:) Sarabeth and I have a playdate this coming Wednesday morning with her "Alley Cat Class" at her school to meet her teacher, and her last year of pre-school will begin in a few weeks at the end of August.

Ohio trip pics part two

Here are the rest of our trip pictures, some of my favorite pictures captured all with my i phone camera!!!!!