1st days of school...

I have a special place in my heart for the 1st day of school.  The new supplies... the fresh, nice looking clothes... new haircuts... new shoes... squeaky clean classrooms... I really just love the start of a school year.  It is full of possibilities.   
Addie has been excited about starting 1st grade since the last day of kindergarten.  I have a feeling this little girl of mine might just have my love for school.  When she walked in the door of our lovely school for Open House she said, "Wow... I love that school smell!  I sure have missed this place!"  Well with that being said here is a look at Miss Addie's 1st days of school....

Addie's 2 year old Mother's Day Out @ Walnut Street

3 Year Old Preschool @ FUMC

4 Year Old Preschool @ FUMC

Kindergarten

1st Grade

She is ready to roll...

Addie's wonderful teacher Mrs. Annette

 

Drew will begin his journey this year.  He started Preschool @ First Baptist this morning.  Daddy took him and made my heart happy by lugging the "good camera" to take pics for me.  I am impressed with my fellas because they did a great job.  Drew walked in with zero tears and had a great day with new teachers and friends.   I am very blessed that Drew is spending the day with two friends that are going to be his teachers.  They have done an amazing job creating a brand new preschool program at our church. 

I don't know about this...

I think he is going to like it!

 

Happy School Year to everyone!!!! 

 Hug a teacher for me... we need it sometimes:)

Summertime...

I once read on another blog about a mom who counted her children's summers down.  Sounds a little depressing but also puts things in perspective.  Addie has 12 more summers at home before she leaves our home and Drew has 15 more summers.  So what do I wish to do with those summers??  Soak up all of the goodness that makes for long days but short summers with my favorite people.  Now that we are in the school years... dance... soccer... gymnastics... and the other million things we do as a family, summertime is even more special to me. I love the no schedule, pool going, playground finding, daddy stopping by for lunch, summer night walks to get flowers, cartoon watching, cuddles on the sofa reading books, and much much more.  I hope Addie and Drew have enjoyed their summer because I know I have enjoyed mine. 

Happy Birthday America!!!!

The Sanders' celebrated the 4th out west... that is West Tennessee with the rest of the Sanders!  This July has been a little strange in the weather department.  For our country's birthday the high was in the low 70s and very.very.rainy... but that did not stop us from having fun in the water, riding 4-wheelers and golf carts, and eating a lot of great food.  This day was made even greater because we got to bring our dear friends Dave and Renee with us for the fun. 

These girls were real troopers when they fell off unexpectedly.  Aly was awesome staying really close to Addie while Kyle jumped in to help.  Them telling the story was really fun.

Addie is ready to celebrate!

Hayden taking in the river.

Kyle relaxing on the tube... Poppy was being really careful aka too slow for Kyle.

Captain Poppy and Drew.

My Crazy Photo Bomber Brother In Law

Kyle made a blackberry pie with the fruits from Ninnie and Poppy's berry picking walk.

It was really good considering Kyle could not look at a recipe because we do not get Internet at the river... something he forgot about the day before when he was looking up pies.  He has a great memory.

Our Independence Day continued to the lake on Friday.  Clint and Kristen's awesome friends were nice enough to let us tag along... minus kids~ thank you Ninnie and Poppy for having an awesome camper.  We were able to soak in some sun before the bottom fell out of the sky and see some fantastic wake boarding.  

Kristen's brother Aaron showing his skills on the water.

Kyle watching and taking all the advice before his turn.

I was not brave enough to strap on a board so

 I just took the role of photographer... are you surprised??

Tripp loving the boat... this was taken when the boat was docked... he had a life jacket.

Clint jumping some wakes.  Funny thing about this boy... he can do this on the water but almost broke his ankle walking down some steps... oh that Clint.

Kyle giving it a whirl...

He still needs a little more time.

Our great host Corey.

Look at Kristen Go!!!

I think she was a little surprised.

 After fun times at the lake, we returned to the river for more tubing and fireworks.

Happy Birthday USA!!!!

Swim Time Anyone???

This summer has been full of my favorite summer past time... swimming!  This is about the only activity that can wear out both of my little peeps.  We have gone swimming in the ocean, lakes, rivers, and many.many.many pools.  Addie had swim lessons again this year and is just a little mermaid.  Last week she swam to the bottom of Uncle Clint's pool which is 9ft deep!  She can swim without stopping for hours... which I hear is just like her mommy when I was little.  

Drew has been a little more of a "lifeguard" this summer.  He has not really wanted to get in the water or put on his swimmys but Kyle has made some progress with him and this past weekend, Drew swam in the pool... with swimmys... for about two hours!  

I LOVE Summer!!!!