Back To School 2013

Sharpen the pencils, label the school supplies, and pack the lunch boxes! It's that time again…. back to school!!! This year the kids are finally together. I've been looking forward to this moment for so long… watching my two little ones walk up to school hand-in-hand. There they go!

Let's get this party started!

We're going to the big think tank to get all cerebral!

And that's my baby… off to the big school    

Emma's senior buddy waiting to welcome her to school!  I just LOVE this!!!



Emma and her senior buddy

This is old hat for my little man!

Emma's senior buddy gave her the most precious back to school gifts!  So sweet!!!!

Emma and her senior buddy

The 4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July!  We love our tradition of going to dinner at Hawthorne's Pizza uptown and then watching the Charlotte fireworks from the private rooftop next door.  ooh la la.  It's very fun and very cool.
But to start the day, we had firecracker cinnamon rolls and Drew wrote a little something for his journal for Mrs. Milam about the 4th.  It was pretty cute and I know he was really looking forward to the evening.
We played with water balloons in the front yard between storms.  Yep, unfortunately it was pretty stormy off and on all day.  booooo!
But we made the best of it!
After some good ol' video game time (during the storms), we got ready for our evening with friends.
Off to Hawthorne's and fireworks.
We tried some new photography with these fireworks (since it was our 3rd firework show of the week) and I really like what we came away with.  It was so fun and some of the firework photography ended up looking like a science experiment or blown glass.  It was neat.
Anyways, here's the day in pictures.....

Drew's journal entry for the 4th

Emma starting to chow down

And Drew too

Some water balloon piñata

bam!

and now her turn

she's a little power house!

and now for dodge-balloon

aaahhhhhh!

and now some target practice...

bull's eye

a night with the McLarens 

and Siscoes

the "gaggle" minus one

the gaggle

LSU firework!  Geaux Tigers!!!

Crazy science-experiment-looking firework picture

Anneke's Visit from The Great White North...

... Ok, so it's not white right now.  As a matter of fact, I think it's hotter in parts of Canada right now that it is here.
But anywho,
Anneke passed through with her girls on their way to Mexico.  We were so excited to see her and meet her kiddos.  Yes, it's been that long!  I had never even met her girls yet!!!  Time goes so fast.

We had a great time.  We enjoyed a nice lunch at Ri Ra's and then we were off to Discovery Place in uptown.  The kids had a great time playing and exploring all of the stuff they had to offer while we got to catch up.  It was as though no time had passed and we picked up just like we saw each other yesterday.  It was so nice.

We went to dinner at Taco Mac on Fairview Road and then it was time to tuck those girls in.  They had had a long long day and were worn slap out after a day of fun fun fun!

the three of us

As Colin would say, the rose between two thorns thorn between two roses.... haha

fun with air

these kiddos were ready to get out of Ri Ra's and get this party started

where is the air suppose to go?

haha!

she has "the force"

girl power!!!

and we have lift-off!

pulling herself up... learning about the power of a pulley

But the power of delegating is better!

weeeee!!!!

weeee!!!!

intrigued is good

Georgette of the Jungle

hangin' with the jellyfish

getting his courage up to touch something creepy

her courage is always on-hand

and there we have it

they loved it!

but Daddy, I want to be IN the fountain!!!

you want to see IN the fountain.... I'll show you IN the fountain!

checking out the sky scrapers

girlfriends

The walk to the restaurant

from the patio of the restaurant