Irving Splash Park

For our first playgroup, we went to a splash park in Irving. Both kids really enjoyed it in this hot weather. Some of it is even shaded which was nice. Only a few other women and their kids showed up but that was good enough for me because we had a lot of fun.

Dilan could not get enough of this place

The girl would NOT stop running around either no matter how many times I told her she was going to fall but she kept going and ended up not stumbling at all.

At first, Drake didn't know what to think...

then he conquered the lady bug/frog thing

and then it conquered him.

Her attempt at smiling at me but really she was focused on playing with all the other kids there

Sitting on the bumble bee

Lunch with Drew

We wanted to come eat lunch with Drew during his first week of school and today was the day. Although I took more pictures with him smiling, I had to post the first picture I took of Dilan's sweet affection for her brother. When I told the kids I was going to take this picture of us coming to eat lunch with Drew, she immediately put her arm out to touch him like she was so proud of him. She loves to come see Drew at school and when we leave, she is waving and making sure to say, "Bye, Drew!" even when it's totally quiet in the lunchroom. I love these three kiddos and even more, I'm so glad they love each other!

School Bus

Drew made it onto the school bus this morning. And he has a new friend riding with him! It's a smaller bus (more like a big van) but hopefully, he'll enjoy riding it as much as he did riding the school bus last year.

Drew's First Day of First Grade

Drew is off to his first day of first grade! He had to be woken up at 6:30 a.m. to be ready by 7 a.m. to walk out the door. He is supposed to ride the bus BUT no bus came for the 15 minutes we were out there (we will have to get this problem fixed). So, I gathered up the other kids and we all took Drew to school. We even parked and walked him in which worked out great because I could make sure he knew where he was going. He was so excited that he felt like he was going to throw up but he didn't. He also shed a few tears over his cereal this morning sad that this last week of summer had to end. But I reminded him about how much fun school will be and the friends he was going to meet. I think he's ready for the first grade!

waiting for the bus that never came

outside his school

outside the classroom

Putting his backpack in his cubby

Sitting in his seat!

Last week of summer and Waffle House breakfast

To wrap up our last week of summer, we had movie day on Thursday as we headed to the library, did puzzles and checked out lots of books and movies. Drew got to pick the movies we watched, we ate popcorn, and had a lot of fun. (by the way, I did offer to take all of them to the movies but Drew prefers watching them at home).

On Friday, we went to the Sun Valley Aquatic Center. It has a lazy river and little slides in the water. We waited for David to get home so we could go around 5 when it cooled down a bit too. We also finished the night off with cheeseburgers and french fries from Whataburger!

To cap off the finality of the summer, we went to Waffle House this morning and ate breakfast. This is simply Drew and David's favorite thing to do so they were in heaven! Then, we drove to the temple and showed it to the kids. Goodbye summer, hello school year!!!

Eating breakfast at the Waffle House

Yummy!

Meet the Teacher, Mrs. Baker!

We were able to meet Drew's 1st grade teacher last night. Her name is Mrs. Baker, and she was very nice and friendly. We think she's going to be great for Drew! He was able to sort his school supplies, pick out his cubby for his backpack and things, sign up for his "assessment" (why does this make a mother nervous?) and get a lot of information.

Drew is actually not going to the school we are zoned for but one a little further away from us. He was "wait-listed" (who has heard of such a thing?) because there are so many 1st graders and not enough teachers. So, he is going to another elementary in the district that did have enough room for him. The positive side is that the school is a mile further which means Drew can ride the bus and that was his favorite part of school last year. What boy doesn't like riding the school bus? Since we are temporary here, I have no idea what school Drew will be attending next year so it really doesn't matter as long as he has a good experience which I think he will.

His school is called Cottonwood Creek Elementary and they are the Colts! We already bought him a school t-shirt too.

Mrs. Baker and Drew in his classroom

Took Drew and the kiddos out for blizzards afterwards

Drake had bites of his first mint oreo blizzard - he liked it and kept screaming for more

Last week of summer and Lunch with Dad... and some cool airplanes

We are having a non-stop party the last week before Drew starts school. Right when we moved here, Drew did soccer summer camp, then went to stay a week with my mom, then a week in summer baseball camp, and now for the week before school starts, we have something planned every day just for him!

On Monday, we went to the Ark (massive indoor playground) with some new friends, Tuesday we went to Going Bonkers which is also quite the indoor play complex, and on Wednesday, after registering Drew for a bus pass all morning, we were able to visit David for lunch! The kids had not seen where David works yet and it was quite the experience.

Drew outside Southwest Airlines where Daddy works now

Inside the main office - tons of those airplanes hanging from the ceiling - the picture could not capture them all but it did capture David and his kiddos

Walking down the halls to his office

At the cafeteria eating lunch with Dad

Drew took this picture but it's a bit blurry

Right outside the window where we were eating, you could see planes taking off an landing. We went out on the upper deck to see it all take place.

Here is just a view of the planes and notice a sand volleyball game going on - yes, those are SWA employees!

Taking off with the Dallas skyline in the background

Plane coming in to land right in front of us

Just as the wheels touch down - you can see the smoke!

SWA is a very cool place to work - just such an ideal job right now for our family. I'm so glad the kids got to see it, especially Drew before he starts school this year. They print out these fancy name tags and there is plane memorabilia everywhere. The kids had a lot of fun being there and now, we're off for our last two days with Drew before school starts!

Pics of the kids

Today, I just went outside in the morning and took some pictures of my kids. We all lasted about 5 minutes but I chose to put a shot or two that I got up.

This little one was so tired so I couldn't get a full smile but he did show me his teeth and his ever-growing mohawk.

So hard to get good pictures of this little girl. But I did buy her a new outfit with sparkly shoes so I wanted to try and see what I could get.

My handsome boy wanted to be an army ranger today so he dressed in camouflage and brought his gun outside too. The gun at least got to rest on the grass while I took a few shots.

Summer 2011 Pictures

Once again, we got family pictures done because Drake needed some 6 month pics taken. It was a hot summer day in Maryland and we didn't last long with the mosquitoes and the heat. But some good ones turned out! Thanks to Chantell for her time and talent!

Family picture where Dilan is once again not smiling

(we are kind of used to 2 year olds not smiling for pics around here)

Sibling shot: Drew, Drake, and Dilan

Drew - right before his 6th birthday

Dilan - 2 years old

Drake - 6 months old

Daddy and his little boy

Mommy kissing the sweet baby

Train Tracks

Drew rejoined our family after being gone an entire week at my mom's house and we were back to making train tracks. Dilan missed playing trains with her brother and Drake likes to crawl and climb over the tracks. It's a win for all three of my kiddos! Plus, I get to use a creative side of my brain, help make the track itself, and enjoy the play time.

I have to admit my blog and life are pretty boring lately - we aren't doing much but trying to settle in here in our new place. We've been able to see old friends who live here (from high school, college, graduate school) but not really making any new friends in our area yet. I know it will come but I feel there is more pressure to connect with people this time because it's a permanent move. At least we aren't in a permanent place yet and things can still change if we want them to (although I really like the area we chose to live in). It all just takes time... for life to become interesting again. :)

The Tubes

We heard about The Tubes from a friend on FB and decided to try it out last week. It was like a McDonald's play place but bigger. Eventually, I had to leave because it was so loud in there but the kids liked it and had fun. We had already played at Chick-fil-a and McDonald's this week too. :) The Tubes is at a local church in Irving and it's completely free so that was nice.

Soccer Camp

Right after we moved here, I signed Drew up for soccer camp at an indoor athletic facility I found here in Coppell. Literally, I looked up sites on Sunday night and signed him up for Monday morning at 9 a.m. He got the last spot and we were in!
Drew loved soccer camp - every morning of the week from 9a.m.-12p.m. was perfect. He met other boys his age, played and played, learned how to play dodge ball too, and came home sweaty every day. In fact, as a coincidence, two boys from our ward were in this soccer camp too so it worked out well. And I didn't hear, "I'm bored!," so much anymore.

This current week he is at my mom's house for his first week by himself and next week, I signed him up for baseball summer camp to have him try baseball. He is on the wait list to play soccer this fall and so we signed him up for the baseball season. We'll see if he likes it! :)

After a hard day's play at soccer camp

for some reason, these pics came out blurry but here is Drew playing in the scrimmage

After soccer camp with his teammates and the coach