August wrapped up!

We crammed as much fun as we could into the month of August since school was knocking at the door. We missed Grandma Joan on her birthday and started a new tradition with the extended family and all had a Diet Coke toast and sent her notes on balloons together all across the country. It was a bittersweet moment and the girls were sure she got our balloons as soon as they were out of sight. We swam some more, shopped, built lots of Lego Friends, scootered and loved being together. We ended our summer with a trip downtown to the Natural Science Museum where the girls loved seeing all of the cool exhibits and learning all about sharks, Egypt and gems. I have to admit I was so sad to see the summer come to an end. I love seeing my girls learn and grow and play side by side and it makes my heart ache to think the next time they will be really free to spend all their time together again, they will be another year older. I miss the lazy days of summer.

Back to School - 3rd Grade

Our summer vacation flew by at a rapid speed this year. Maybe we were too busy having fun or something, but whatever the case it was back to school time before we knew it. Isabelle wasn't overly excited for school to start again but she is getting more grown up nowadays and put on her happy face and headed back to Creekside Forest Elementary School. Third grade is the first year that Isabelle will switch classes during the day but she starts her day in Mrs. Arnold's homeroom class each morning. Her B.F.F. Abby is lucky enough to have Mrs. Arnold as well which took away a lot of first day nerves for both her and me. This will be a busy year for our little Jelly. She will switch to Mrs Reid's class for language arts and social studies and will spend time daily in Mrs. Karamath's GT classroom. Third grade already seems "harder" with tough homework and projects but Isabelle is blessed to be smart and kind and we know that she will thrive again this year. Olivia and I however sure do miss her during the day and we now look forward to weekends and Family Dates each week. We are proud of you Isabelle!

Just keep swimming

In Texas there is only one thing to do to stay cool and that is swim. We spent hours at the pool this summer and visited several different neighborhood pools to see which slides we liked best. Both girls took private swim lessons again and both swim well and love the water. Between trips and birthdays and gymnastics, we spent most of our free time in our swim suits and the girls have the tan lines to prove it.

Baby June

We have all been so excited for Aunt Alee to have another baby...and this time a baby girl. The girls counted down the days and asked constantly if she was ready to be born and could not believe it took her SO long to grow. FINALLY, little June arrived on August 18th, 2014. We played with Leo in the morning during her delivery and made pink cupcakes to celebrate. Then we quickly drove to the hospital and got to hold our tiny new cousin when she was just a few hours new. The girls and I were instantly in love and I can tell that it is going to be fun to have a new real live baby doll to play with around here. Welcome to the world baby Junie.

Cartwheels, splits, handstands and rollovers.

Gymnastics is very popular with elementary aged girls. They do cartwheels at recess and almost everyone takes lessons after school. Isabelle really doesn't have time for another extra activity in her busy schedule but she really was interested in learning to do a cartwheel just right. In all honesty, Olivia is more of a gymnast by personality, so I set out to find something both girls could do together this summer. I searched for a summer camp but couldn't find one that would fit our needs so we decided to just sign up for summer classes at a gym that gets great reviews.

Both girls attended class at the same time but with different coaches which was an ideal situation and made for some fun summer Monday nights. Isabelle surprised us and moved from Bronze level to Silver quickly and enjoyed the beam, floor and vault best. Olivia was as good as we expected and moved from Kids Gym 1 to Kids Gym 2 right away and could have kept up with the Bronze level but wasn't invited to until age 5. She did flips on the bar without her coach but was good at waiting her turn and moving at a slower than necessary pace.

In between traveling this summer and swimming lessons, the girls loved their gymnastics night and were a bit disappointed when the summer schedule was over. Isabelle definitely improved her cartwheel and Olivia got a taste of the sport and fun. Who knows, maybe we will revisit the gym sometime in the future.