1st Day Back to School

One child down, one to go.

Parker starts school tomorrow, but Payton started school today with a bang! Literally.

We were riding our bikes to school this morning, in an attempt to avoid the chaos of cars that bottleneck all the way around the entire building, when we slowed down to stop at the cross walk and "POP!" Payton's back tire popped!

Fortunately, the crossing guard said, "Just leave your bikes here and I'll watch em until you come back." So, I went on ahead with Parker on the back of my bike, and Brian and Payton walked the rest of the way.

In the end, we all arrived safely at school and that's what's important.

Here are a few obligatory "1st Day of School" photos...

We couldn't convince Parker to get dressed. He said, "But I'm not going to school today, so I'm staying in my PJ's!" Can't argue with that.

By next year, I fear he'll be almost as tall as me.

Proud Daddy

Payton's sweet teacher

So, to wrap up my back-to-school post, I want to share some great pics from the last couple weeks of summer. We crammed a lot of fun in to those last few days!

Brian took the boys to two baseball games:

I don't know what Parker likes best at baseball games: the food or the mascots?

 We also hosted a little pizza and ice cream sundae party for the boys and some friends.

Puttin' my Baskin Robbins skills to work!

Payton & his buddy Macklin before...

...and after. (I love the pure joy on his face!)

Nothing like a little whipped cream on the nose to make for a good laugh!

Of course we also swam... a LOT! Both in our neighbor's gorgeous pool, and in our own plastic blow-up pool (I'll spare you the redneck images). :)

 And the last weekend night of summer wouldn't be complete without s'mores. The perfect ending to a super fun summer.

 And, somehow, the day before school started, I got talked into baking a "Back to school" cake. I seriously don't even know how this happened. But it did.

I won't end this post with all of those cliche sayings about how the summer went by so fast, or how time passes so quickly as my kids get older. I will just say that I'm savoring this time with them. I'm learning how to love the great moments, and learn from the tough ones.

I'm happy with the growth that our family experienced this summer - both mentally and spiritually, and I'm very excited for this fall... our first trip to Disney as a family of 4, a new job opportunity for me with Brian's company, my brother and his family are moving to Orlando, and many other fun things to share. Stay tuned... it's gonna be a wild ride!!