farewell, summer! hello school!

thursday 8/29: after the splash pad excitement, we went to uncle paddy's to visit with him and grandma val and grandpa don - and of course, wally! rex was super tired and was wrestling with grandpa and uncle paddy. malloy loved playing with wally!! 

 friday 8/30: we stopped at panera and got some yummy breakfast treats and brought them over to grandma val and grandpa don's hotel. we ate breakfast and then went to some garage sales. the kids got some loot! rex got a spiderman bike, some guys, a comic book, and a few other books. malloy got a bigger hopper, some dolls and some books. when we got back, we went swimming in the hotel pool. both kids did awesome!! they were jumping in the water on their own with their puddle jumpers on! we swam, warmed up in the hot tub, and the  went to lunch at cheeburger cheeburger - yum! we drove around for a bit afterward hoping the kids would nap. malloy did for a bit, rex did not. both kids were cranky so we decided not to go to dinner and ended up ordering chinese food. we haven't gotten it in a while and the kids really liked it!
thank you grandma val and grandpa don for everything!!

saturday 8/31: we went over to grandma val and grandpa don's hotel to go swimming in the morning. the kids were jumping in and swimming without their puddle jumpers today!!! well, malloy was. rex was floating from person to person. they were both jumping in the water without their puddle jumpers. rex would sink right down to the bottom and pop back up - it was hilarious!  we said good-bye to grandma and grandpa and headed home for the day! 

 sunday 9/1: we went to the gym in the morning. in the afternoon, neal went to work and then his friend's house. i took the kids to mcdonald's play place for the first time. it was so cool - they LOVED it! we were there for 2 hours!! i drank an iced coffee and read my book while they ran around like crazy! we took a break and had some fries and hot fudge sundaes, then they ran around some more! we had to leave because malloy had an accident. apparently the tunnels were too fun to take a break and go to the bathroom! grrrr!!! it was time to go anyway!
we ran to the store quick to buy some corn starch so that we could make some goopy goo! it was a HIT! we started out playing with it in bowls and it ended up in the tub! they were putting it all over themselves!

monday 9/2: kari and bella came up today because uncle ryan was coming home!! the kids were SO happy to see bella!! neal took all the kids to the park while i made strawberry rhubarb pie and crisp and kari got to rest a bit. the kids got back and played well together for a while. then it was time to start dinner. we ate and the uncle ryan was here!! the kids stayed up late, playing outside in the dark then went to bed. another successful sleepover with bella! 

cousin love! 

dancing

they're so cute! 

tuesdat 8/3: bella hung out and played in the morning. in the afternoon, it was time to go check out malloy's new school and meet the teacher! there were a lot of kids in the room, but malloy had no interest in talking to anyone. she told me "i'll make friends tomorrow".  malloy went to be so excited for the bus and school!

checking out the new classroom! 

 today's the day! time for school!!!! i had to wake malloy up at 6am to get ready and eat before school. she was so excited to take the bus and start school! i can't believe she's old enough to take the bus and go to school on her own!!!! she did it and had a great time!! i interrogated her  about every step of her day when she got home. she answered my questions at least! she didn't make any friends or remember anyone's names, but it was only the first day!

there it is! 

mr. zach the bus driver - he was great!! 

bye, mom! 

coming home, all  smiles! 

 malloy ate lunch and took a nap. she was out before noon! her 7:30-10am school schedule is tiring!! plus, she needed to rest up for gymnastics! she was pumped!!!!!! it was a bit confusing when we first got there. the kids all went in one room. i was watching malloy and had to ask another parent if her daughter was in the preschool class or not. turned out malloy was in the wrong group, but we got it all sorted out and got her over to coach mike. there are 2 other boys and 2 other girls in her class. she had so much fun and i had fun watching! rex very badly wanted to go!!! i felt bad!! poor bubba!