First Day of School

The day has finally come.  Ava is going to Kindergarten.  I'm sad that she is growing up but as always it is amazing to see all the changes that happen too.

Ava got Ms. Brown for her teacher this year and her first day was this past Monday.

 Here's the big girl getting ready to head to her first day.  She was excited because her friend Sydnee is in her class too. So at least she will not be completely alone.

 Darren and her walking into school.

 Ava & Ms. Brown.  Ava was excited the first day and surprisingly did not cry (I was expecting the tears since she had said several times over the summer that she did not want to go to Kindergarten because she would miss preschool).  The rest of the week was much harder for her because although she says she loves school when she gets home, she has a hard time wanting to leave home.  But I know it just takes time to get used to the new routine.

Port A - Day 3

 Familiy photo attempt

 Mom, who was a bit surprised by the wave!

 Burying Ava in sand

 Dirty face

 Scary pirate face

 Darren & Ava on our bunk beds. Note: Darren, Ava & I slept in the bunk bed room so that Rudy & Jeanie and my mom could all have their own bigger rooms.  But we did manage to pawn Ryan off on my mom -- he slept in his pack n play in her closet. Hey you do what you got to do sometimes!

 And one of Ry's favorite things to do.  Find a hole on the beach and sit in it.



Somehow I managed to not get too many shots of the adults on this trip.  Which I guess is what always happens but I tried not to take too many of people in their bathing suits because I don't like to be photographed that way myself.  Sad that there are not more of Rudy, Jeanie, my mom in these.  We had so much fun and are thankful that they all wanted to go on our trip with us.

Port A - Day 2

To Port Aransas

For vacation, we headed down to Port Aransas for an extended weekend.  It ended up being the 4 of us and my mom and then we met up with Rudy & Jeanie too.

We stopped at the giant new Buc-ees in New Braunfels on the way.

Both kids liked the beaver statue.

 I was amazed and the aisles and aisles of nuts, pretzels, etc that Buc-ees has.  They also have a huge clothing section with swim coverups, tshirts etc.  This place is rather ridiculous but I highly recommend stopping here.  It's nuts. 

 For the first part of the trip, I hung out with the kiddos in the backseat.  I watched a lot of Wild Kratts videos.

 This was on the ferry to Port Aransas.  Ava was cracking us up as she kept saying "It's so beautiful I could cry."  She thought it was neat that our car got to ride on a boat.

 The cute little condo complex we stayed in.  Love the bright colors.

 The kids on their first trip to the beach.  Ryan loved it.  I've never seen a kid get sand so close to his eye, in his ears, mouth etc and not be upset by it. This kid loves to be dirty and had no fear of the water whatsoever.

 Another shot of our condo.

 The grandmothers relaxing on the beach.



In Other News

I got a part time job at the end of July working 6 hours as a play lounge attendant at Barre 3, a fitness studio.  I get paid a small hourly fee and more importantly, I get a free membership.  If you know me, you know I hate working out but I LOVE this workout.  First time I have ever been motivated to work out probably in my entire adult life.

And the best part is that Ryan gets to come to work with me.  So yeah I get paid to watch my kid play (which I would be doing anyways). 

Birthday Bowling Celebration

Just like last year, we invited all our Austin family out bowling for my birthday.  This year that included the McFaddens.  We hit up Dart Bowl again to bowl and eat a yummy lunch.

 A family photo

 And in case you can't see the nice photo bomb by Darren, Ry and Jack above, here it is. Hadn't really noticed it at first since we took these photos on my phone.

 Cort & I and our little guys.  It was a bit more chaotic this year since Ryan and Guthrie are mobile now but luckily our lane was by the arcade so the boys spent a good deal playing in there. (supervised of course)

 Cousin love with Sawyer

 Ryan enjoyed the green icing on the cupcakes - matched his Kermie shirt!

 The kiddos playing in the arcade

Ava the Hairstylist

Early Birthday

With my birthday falling on a Tuesday this year, Darren and the kiddos decided to celebrate it early.  I got this very cute coupon book with the things that I got to do: eating lunch out, shopping, a surprise hour and a half massage and mani/pedis with Ava.  All super fun!

 Check out the fancy nail designs they did for Ava...total cost for for her mani/pedi with designs was only $10!

 And I took this shot while my mom and I were finishing getting our nails done.  Ava just looked like such a big girl to me sitting by herself at the nail dryer.

July Randomness

Hanging out the McFaddens

Grocery shopping  (she now has her own list that she is responsible for and she loves to shop with me!)

Playing with cardboard boxes

Enjoying her school supplies.  She was excited when they arrived and can't wait for Kindergarten.

Summertime fun

Saw this activity on pinterest.  Just need a water bottle, dish soap, sock and a rubberband.  Ava loved it!

Later that day, I turned around to find that Ava had dressed Ryan up.  Poor guy!  Good thing she doesn't have makeup yet or I am sure he would have been even more dolled up. (Oh and check out my new rug that I stitched together...4 IKEA runners with twine to make one giant dining room rug - cute & inexpensive! Still working on painting the dining room set though)

And here's the kids at Target...tried this cart out today and it was a success.  Wasn't sure Ryan would stay in even though he was buckled.

More of Ava's fashions...this time she took pajamas and dressed herself up.

And then gave Ryan a little skirt too.