Ferris Bueller's Day Off

For some strange reason, the kids' school district planned a teacher's in-service day on a Wednesday, so the kids had a random day at home in the middle of the week.  We made the most of it, watching the Shuttle Endeavor fly by and going to the zoo:

So excited to get to sit on top of the car, in front of Daddy's building.

There it is, riding piggyback on an airplane, with an Air Force jet flying wingman.

It circled several times overhead.

This one was straight overhead so you can't see the shuttle on top.

I only had my ipod touch camera so none of my pictures are that great.  SO, I borrowed the best one from my friends' Facebook posts on the Shuttle, just so you can get the idea of what it was like in real life:

Then we headed to the zoo, meeting up with my friend Celeste and her four boys, and Mimi and Amelia.

Crawling through the piraña exhibit.

Everyone but Ryan, who was being shy.

Isaac's one request was to see "his friend" the white alligator.

But he was too scared to get too close once we got there.

The kids had the best time with the chimps, and loved any time they could get a reaction out of this male. 

Feeding the giraffes.

Drumming in the African area.

Amelia and Mimi had already headed home, but we managed to get a pic with all the boys and Abby.

Cutest little red panda ever.  The kids loved running back and forth with it along its enclosure.

The weather was perfect and it was a great day off.  Now for dinner, baths, and bedtime, because tomorrow it's back to school again.

Baseball Girl

Abby got the special treat of attending an Astros game with Boppa over the weekend, a fun tradition that Boppa has made with each member of the family.

Ready for baseball!

There they go...so precious.

Sweet tooth girl conned Boppa into cotton candy...

...AND ice cream!

She crashed off her sugar high and they headed home before the game ended.  Boppa's report says she fell asleep in the car on the way home.  Thanks Boppa!

First Day of School!

This is Abby at last Friday's meet the teacher.  We are so happy that she has Ms. Dahse, the same Kindergarten teacher that Isaac had two years ago.  We already know and love her so it was a big comfort to Abby on her first day of school.

Abby had to write her name on all her folders and belongings.  She's going by Abigail at school so it is quite an achievement to write it so many times.

Our traditional flag pole picture, this time with TWO students!  Adel and I had the chance to pray with the kids before we walked into the school today: a very special start to a great day.

Kindergartener and second grader!  Isaac said, "Mom, I think you're over-obsessing a little."  Ah, he's growing up.

Isaac got to pick his seat, so he is sitting at a table with kids from last year's class.  That's his best girl-buddy, Belle across from him.  (heart!)

Abby got settled in just fine. 

And went straight to work.  It's amazing how they just know what to do. 

And she didn't even look up as we walked out of the room.  That's when I almost lost it.  My baby is in kindergarten.  Sniff.

This is the moment of truth.  Everyone has been asking me all summer what I'm going to do when both the kids are in school.  I have stubbornly refused to plan ahead and so today came and I had very little on my agenda (yay!).  I came home and sat on the couch for an hour with a cup of coffee, staring at the ceiling, thinking, praying, and being amazed at the luxury of getting to think uninterrupted thoughts at nine in the morning.  I spent the rest of the day doing some deep cleaning in areas of our house that I have neglected for a very long time.  I will probably do the same tomorrow.  And then, I'll figure out what's next for my life now that both my kids are in school.   The day went by amazingly fast.  And then...

Here comes the bus!

Smiles.  A "Fantastic" first day of school (that was Isaac's actual word).

With bus buddy, Connor.

All smiles after the fun first day.

When they got home, they were surprised by schultutes, a German tradition for parents to give kids on the first day of school.

Our friend, Ms. Jen, gave the kids some fun surprises in their cones and I added to it and decorated to their own style (Hello Kitty for Abby and Harry Potter for Isaac).  

They had a great welcome home, opening all their new toys and treats. 

Last Week of Summer

Summer days are all about going straight from jammies, to swimsuits, and back to jammies.  We made an effort to live it up the last week before school started by using up some of our freebies and coupons we had earned.

Isaac and Abby earned a free 4D movie from the library for doing their summer reading logs.  

I got to watch them on the monitor from outside the curtain.

Then we went to the dollar store and bought silly string to surprise Daddy when he got home from work.

We left Daddy something to defend himself.

And waited what seemed like forever.

Finally, the kids got to attack.  Isaac is not in any pictures because he was too scared to get close.  But our friend Connor was brave enough for a close-up.

We used the last of our Jumping Jungle tickets for one last bounce session.

And one last trip to the YMCA fun pool (Isaac was just barely tall enough to ride down the big yellow slide this year.)

So many hours spent in jammies.

Some of my favorite moments are jammie-moments.

This summer has been busy and fun, lazy and exhausting, all at the same time.  We're all looking forward to the first week of school!