3rd grade, 2nd grade and 3P- Here they come!

I cannot believe Bennett and Will are in 2nd and 3rd grade. If you go back and look at this blog from the beginning, it is unreal to me that those little babies in Kansas City now live in Texas and are in the middle of their elementary school years. Everyone tells you that it flies by... and everyone is right.

Here is Will at meet the teacher night. He was so excited to get the fabulous Mrs. Fortenberry who was Bennett's teacher last year. He was hoping all summer he would get her and Bennett was thrilled for her little brother. He is going to have the best year.

And Bennett got Mrs. Virden. She is as cute as can be and loves Disney as much as we do. A match made in heaven.

Look at this handsome boy! I can't stand it. He is growing so fast!

Hello 2nd grade!

My beautiful 3rd (!!!!) grader.

Go get 'em, kiddo.

I love the fact that we get to walk/ride bikes to school every day. best part of living in Texas. Seriously.

Hooray for our favorite crossing guard, Ms. Linda! We missed her so much over the summer!

The kids are in the same pod for the first time ever. All of their classes are right across the hall from each other. That's what happens when you are 16 months apart.

And this is where I leave my 2nd grader. I don't worry about him for one second. He loves school and was bummed most of the summer because he wanted to go back. 

Same goes for this one. I lucked out with kids who both really enjoy school. They did not get that from me.

And then the second we got home and Lainey realized she was alone for the first time June, she ran straight to Bennett's room, pulled a stool up to her bookcase and stole all of her Shopkins. That's my Lainey.

Here are a few shots of the neighborhood kids on days 2 and 3 after school. these kids are going to have the best memories of all growing up together.

And then it was Lainey's turn to go meet her teachers. She is in the 3P class this year. She is only 3 years younger than Will but they will be 4 years apart in school since he had a summer birthday and went on and she has an early Fall birthday and just misses the cut off. That's fine with me. I get to keep her home just a little bit longer. You won't hear me complaining about that.

Meeting Mrs. Barkley for the first time.

And then meeting Mrs. Alexander (Hamilton). Yes, we listen to Broadway musicals way too much.

And here is my spunky, hilarious, quirky girl on her first day of pre-school. What a mess. An incredibly beautiful mess. But a mess nonetheless.

It's going to be a great year. I can tell. this is literally the very first year since 2010 and Bennett started pre-school that someone hasn't been starting at a new school. All three kids are going back to the exact same place they were at last year and for someone who has gone through a massive amount of change in the past 8 years, that is a huge relief. Looking forward to this restful year.

Special Days with my Three

Each summer before school starts back up I try to take one day and do something special with each of my kids. I love the one on one time with them and I think it means a lot to them as well. It is rare that they get undivided attention from one of their parents and they can just talk freely without being interrupted (or, let's be honest, punched) by one of their siblings.

First up this year was Bennett. Unlike her brother, she had no problem deciding what to do. She wanted lunch, shopping, a pedicure and then she begged to finally get her ears pierced. Since I knew it would really change her look, I was hoping we could avoid this until she was 25, but we decided that going into 3rd grade was a good time to do it.

We had lunch at the American Girl bistro in Dallas. Oh, how I love these lunches with her. This was our 4th time to do this together and I cherish each one. I loved talking to her about 3rd grade and what her hopes were for the year. She opens up so much when it is just the two of us and I honestly didn't want our meal to ever end.

Lord, thank you so much for blessing me with such a special gift. I love her so.

Since she was getting her ears pierced later in the day, her doll Caroline got her ears pierced too.

Shopping! This kid did not get her love of shopping from me.

Pedicures with my girl.

And then we went to this really great salon in downtown Dallas where Dad, Will and Lainey met us. She is looking a little nervous here.

She is looking really nervous here. :)

And true to form, Lainey was really upset that she couldn't get her ears pierced. Being the little sister really stinks sometimes.

Voila!

What a beautiful smile. She looks older already. Sigh....

And to end our day we headed across the street for dessert at Carlos' Bake Shop. Please note how Lainey is not in this photo. She was still mad about not getting hers pierced.

On to special day #2. Will is a lot harder than Bennett when it comes to decisions. With so many options in the DFW area he thought about this for weeks and weeks. He changed his mind about 10 times and then he felt bad because he wanted his sisters to be able to come as well. Oh, Will. Never change. He finally decided on the Legoland/Aquarium combo with lunch at Rainforest Cafe. Deal.

Here we go! Ready for our special day!

Legoland had rides. Who knew?  And here I thought we were going to play with Legos all day.

4D movies for the win!

Will also got to do this thing. I have no idea what it is called so I am calling it "this thing." He loved it and twisted and flipped a lot.

Lunch with y favorite Buddy at the Rainforest Cafe. I honestly loved just having a meal with him alone. This kid is so fascinating. He talked and talked and talked and I just listened and hung on every word. 

Riding some mechanical stuffed animal back to the aquarium.

And we wrapped up our day looking at all kinds of fish and sea creatures together. Will is so incredibly inquisitive and he reminds me so much of Rob in that he wanted to stop and read every fact about every species of every animal. I wish I could spend every day wandering around museums with this kid. Okay, maybe not every day. he would drive me crazy. But 4 days out of the week would work.

And in typical third child fashion, Lainey's day was much shorter and I only took a few pictures. How appropriate. I took her shopping for Shopkins (of course) and then took her to Steak and Shake for lunch and milkshakes. She may not be able to carry a conversation like her siblings, but man is she fun. I just delight in this kid and could stare at her all day.

What a great week spending quality time with my kids. I am so grateful for them and I am very humbled that God has entrusted me to raise them and care for them. I need to do special days like this throughout the year and not just in the summer before school starts. time is flying quickly and I am all too aware of how precious and fleeting these days are.