First Day of School

This morning we started our new routine and it went beautifully! I'd be kidding myself if I thought it would be this perfect everyday, but it was a great way to start.

I got up at 5:30 to start getting myself ready. I woke the kids up at 6:00 and started turning on lights and talking to them while I continued getting ready and they slowly started moving around. Izabel is pretty grumpy in the mornings so I was really worried about getting her going, but I just kept getting ready and kept talking to them. Before I knew it they were both standing in my room talking to me and I was thrilled. We went through the potty, clothes, teeth and shoes routine. We even made all three beds and made sure everything was cleaned up! Our goal is to come home to a clean house everyday so this is pretty important.

New book bags with matching lunch boxes :)

As we headed down the hall to the living room Daddy walked in. He ran home from work for a few minutes so he could see the kids off to school. He even had Starbucks in hand to help me start off a great first day :) I love him!!

This is our third year at Greenbrier Manor School and we couldn't be happier

 Breakfast and lunch was packed the night before so I put the last few things in the boxes, emptied the dish washer and out we went right on schedule. There was no traffic on the way to school so we actually got there early and had to sit in the car for a few minutes. The kids didn't mind since they were listening to Disney songs on Pandora...they love this station! Once we went in I helped them put their stuff away and set up their breakfast and headed out the door for work. Hugs and kisses (and a few waves from the car) were all we had....no tears! 

Eating breakfast at school with their new water bottles

All of us had a lovely day and dinner was already prepared so we rode bikes and went for a walk. Here's hoping we can keep up this routine for more than just the first week! Any suggestions for making that happen???

Hope you all enjoyed the first day of school!!!

Labor Day Weekend

We are here with mixed emotions about the last day of summer. The kids are super excited about the new school year, while I am sad that summer is over. Our new year is going to be a big change for all four of us. The kids are both going to school everyday until 3pm. This means lunch and naps will happen at school and Daddy gets to pick them up. I will have classes on Monday evenings and Noah has class on Tuesdays for a few more weeks and then moves to Thursdays for his last quarter of his degree. Izabel will have gymnastics one night a week, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday. My goal is to be as organized as possible. This means meal planning and cleaning on the weekends and packing backpacks and lunch boxes every night before bed. 

We wanted to enjoy the weekend as much as possible while still getting everything ready. We started with a Kecoughtan football game. Izabel loves cheerleaders and some of my students spent some extra time talking to her and making her feel special. Tanner loved them too :)

Friday I went to work for a little while and then came home to take Izabel for her back to school hair cut. I've been growing her bangs out for a long time and decided to cut her hair so it was all the same length. Everyone was sad I was cutting it off but I think it is super cute and much more manageable! 

Saturday we ran errands which included lots of breakfast and lunch items and new shoes for the kiddos. I still need to do some clothes and shoe shopping for myself, but I can do it a little at a time. Then we headed to the season opener for ODU football! We love going to the tailgate and then the game and always have a great time. ODU won 57-23 so it was a great start to the season!

Sunday we did major cleaning around the house and lots of laundry. I'm excited that the house will stay cleaner through the week since no one will be here during the day so I wanted to start off as clean as possible. The kids watched some movies and had snuggle time.

Noah was working the American Music Festival at the beach and got me Passport Pins to go to the Train concert. I met up with some friends and had a GREAT time even though we got rained on and pushed around by the other concert goers :) We were able to get pretty close without having VIP passes and found some awesome people to spend the evening with.

Today we are hanging out with Aunt Amy and Rowan. My plan is for a manicure and pedicure later and then we will start packing our stuff and getting ready for the big day tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon with pictures and a post about the first day! Enjoy the last day of summer :)