Allie's First Day of School

First grade here she comes. Allie started school last Friday. It really was only a half day of school. Kind of seems like once I dropped her off it was time to pick her up again. She had a great day. She has a few new kids in her class. She was glad to see her old friends. She has two great teachers this year. We are really looking foward to a great year. She was excited about going back to school, but not getting up early. She told me the other day, she wished school started at 12:00 and then she would like it much better.

Our First Grader!!

Allie and Avery in Daddy's office

Ready for the day!!

Allie's Early Birthday Present and Avery's Trouble

Allie's 6th birthday is coming up on August 19th. My mom and dad came down this weekend to visit and gave Allie her present early. They bought her an American Girl doll. We headed to Atlanta and met my brother Danny, sister-in-law and my niece. We had lunch and then headed to the American girl store. Mom and Dad got Allie a doll and they got Avery and Charlotte and outfit for their "Bitty Baby" dolls. The girls had a great time shopping. Allie already knew what doll she wanted. They have both been looking at the magazine for weeks. She got the "Julie" doll. We had ice cream and rode the carousel with their dolls. It was a great day. The girls had so much fun. And I will say I love the American girl dolls. They are so cute and they have such cute stuff to go with them. They have a restaurant there you can take your dolls to eat, a salon where you can get their hair done. It is really fun. I am sure we will go back sometime.

Allie with her doll

She couldn't wait to get it out of the box!

Here is everyone helping to dress Avery and Charlotte's babies in their new clothes.

Avery and her baby "Nina" in her new clothes.

The girls with Pop and Nana

Taking a ride on the carousel

Ready to go home with her new doll.

Avery's art work on Chris' car! One day we noticed all these scratches on Chris' car. Allie said something about seeing Avery with a stick scratching the car. So we asked Avery if she scratched Daddy's car with a stick. She kept saying no she didn't. We asked multiple times. Finally, I said "Avery, what did you scratch Daddy's car with?" She said "a rock, a colorful rock"!!! My guess is that she thinking it was like sidewalk chalk. Anyway we had a few discussions about not touching cars with anything! Who would think you should tell you kid not to write on the car with a rock. I guess I thought that was a rule that was just understood. I guess not.

Here's the little stinker eating Oreo cookies. You can't stay mad at her for long.

Girl stuff

Well, today Allie got her ears pierced. She has been talking about it, so we took her today. They did both at the same time. I would definitely recommend that. She looked like she was going to cry, but she didn't. We let Avery pick out something from Claire's. She picked The Little Mermaid purple nail polish. She also wanted to do it herself. So, I let her paint her toes. They are something to see. I think we better not wear sandals to church tomorrow. Here are a few pictures.

Before

After

Avery loves to have her nails done!

I don't think this picture shows her paint job very well. It looks AWFUL!! But she is very proud of them, so maybe I can live with it for a few days.

July 4th

We broke tradition this year. We skipped the parade and fireworks in Georgia and headed to Alabama for the fourth of July. We went to visit my parents and my brother, Jeff and his family. My other brother, Danny and his family came too. So we had a great time with everyone. The kids love going to Pop and Nana's house where they get spoiled and they love playing with their cousins. On Friday night, the town where mom and dad live has a kids carnival. So. we all went and let the girls and my niece, Charlotte ride the rides.

Here they are waiting for the first ride: the pedal cars. I chose this as the first ride,because it looked the least exciting. Thinking it would be better to save the more exciting rides for later. Little did I know that Avery couldn't handle much excitement.

Here is Avery before the ride.....

... and once it started she did not like it. I was going to tell the man to let her off, but Chris said to wait. It turned out to be ok. She settled down and didn't really love it, but was not so scared by the end. Really, how scary can the pedal cars be????

At the end of the ride she was ok,but still not really liking the ride

Telling daddy all about the scary ride!!

Avery with Mommy

Charlotte and Allie on the swings

Pop and Avery

Nana and Avery

Charlotte and Allie on the train

Avery with Pop

Allie on the big swings

Avery rode the cars again before we left to go home and she liked them this time.

Time to go home. Thanks Pop and Nana for the fun night.
Getting ready for bed at pop and nana's house

Fourth of July - We went down to my brother and sister-in-law's house and spend most of the day in their pool. It was so much fun and the weather was perfect.

Allie and her daddy

Charlotte and Avery playing in the pool. Avery really didn't like to get in the water, so she spend most of her time on the steps.

Is she swimming or drowning?

Enjoying some chocolate cake

Avery enjoying some watermelon by the pool.

Chris got the "biggest splash award" He kept splashing everyone as they walked outside.

Allie shooting some baskets.

Allie relaxing in the pool.

Avery fell asleep watching Dora after we got back home on Monday. It was a fun trip. We really enjoyed spending time with the family.