First Grade and Walking

We had our first day of FIRST grade last Thursday! It's so weird that school is starting at the beginning of August, and I keep thinking it's already September! 

Thankfully, Noelle was super excited about getting back to school, and for the last two weeks of summer was asking me daily how many days were left until the first day. She woke up excited on Thursday morning, and put on her uniform (which she had picked out at least a week before school started!)

And Jonah was awake also and jumped right in to her first day pictures. :)

She loves her teacher, and I've heard nothing but good about the teacher. Parents who have had other kids go through her class talk about how genuine her love is for the kids. Her class is 15 students this year, which is the biggest size class in the school, but Noelle will still get a lot of attention, I'm sure!

Luke stayed home with the little two since Clara was still asleep at 7:30 (which was a complete miracle, by the way) and I took Noelle in for her first day. We walked to her classroom, hung up her backpack and lunch box, and found her desk. She squealed over all the books in her desk, and was already laughing at the class clown who was sitting next to her.

We are so proud of this girl, and are excited to see all the things she learns this year. Her first day was a half day, and when I brought her home, she sat down with one of the Magic Tree House books and started sounding out words on the first page.

Girlfriend is loving seeing her old friends, and meeting a few new ones!

After school, I showed the kids how to use the self timer on the camera on my phone.

And we snapped a few "fun" ones!

And a side note to all of this- Clara WALKED last night!! In the last two weeks, she's taken like 3 steps if Luke and I are sitting a few feet away from each other, and she's been holding on to one of our fingers and walking for awhile. But it was like all of a sudden she got her confidence, and took well over a dozen steps. And then of course today she was right back to holding on to my finger to walk around. But we're getting there! And growing up so fast!

Last Weekend of Summer Break

This past weekend was the perfect last weekend of summer! It was a mix of busy with some relaxation, seeing old friends and making new ones, and finding a new fun place near home!

On Friday evening, we joined some friends from church at a local vineyard for a picnic and music. The vineyard itself was out in the country, lots of open space with just enough trees for shade, and the weather was warm with lower humidity. We grabbed a pizza from Little Cesar's for the kids, and packed some food for ourselves. The kids had a blast running around, and us adults shared a giant slice of strawberry shortcake from one of the food trucks. As we left, we saw the beginnings of a beautiful sunset! Definitely a place we want to come back to!

Saturday morning, I took the three kids to Leiper's Fork to visit with some MD friends who were down in TN for a family member's graduation. Noelle and Jonah jumped right in to playing with their three little girls, and my friend and I had a little bit of time to catch up on life. It was SO good to see them, and makes me long for our first trip back to MD (most likely not until Christmas!) I miss those friends and seeing their little ones grow up!

The rest of Saturday afternoon was pretty quiet, and Luke and I were able to prep for that evening. We invited over a bunch of neighbors for a little ice cream party! We really want to be proactive about getting to know people, and building community. It stretches us way out of our comfort zones, but we firmly believe that God has us here for a reason, and who lives around us is part of that! In total we had 12 adults and 17 kids. There were three babies 13 months and younger, and the other 14 kids ranged in age from 3 years to 12 (maybe 13 years) old, and at one point, ALL of them were just running around playing with each other. It was so sweet (and loud), especially seeing the two oldest boys running around with the little kids and letting the smaller ones tackle them. Now we just need to continue to push ourselves to continue those friendships!

Sunday was a special day for our church. It is a church plant, and they were celebrating two years! They had four baptisms, and a lunch afterwards for some great fellowship and celebration time. We chatted with friends, and made new friends with people who were visiting. Even though we've only been there for a short while, we feel right at home with our church family. We're so thankful for our pastor, Luke and I are each being mentored in small groups, and there is a strong (though small) group of moms that have regularly scheduled get-togethers. Bible study will be starting up again next Friday, and I can't wait!

Noelle started school today, and Jonah will start at the beginning of September. Back to early mornings, packed lunches, and waiting in car-line! (Also, it feels SO weird that it's the beginning of August! My entire life school has started the last week of August, or later, and so it feels like September is so much closer than it is!)

All the Food!

One of the reasons we moved down to the Nashville area was for the food (kidding! kind of) :) and when Luke's sister's came to visit two weeks, we hit up some of our favorites!

After the zoo on Saturday, we went to Oscar's Tacos. You usually can't go wrong with mexican, and their tacos and chips and guacamole are delicious! (I've been twice more since then...)

We all went to church on Sunday morning, and then met my brother-in-law and sister-in-law in Franklin afterwards to meet for lunch. Luke figured Bishop's would be a good choice because it has Nashiville's Hattie B's hot chicken. Bishop's is a meat and three place, where you choose your meat and your three sides. I got the turkey, but tried some of the hot chicken, and it is HOT!

Afterwards we wandered around downtown historical Franklin. It was a surprisingly not hot day, and I always enjoy hanging out down there!

Aunt Hannah got roped into giving piggy back rides

On Monday we made reservations to eat at Loveless Cafe. It was an early lunch, and with the reservations, we didn't have to wait at all! The biscuits were of course perfect soft, melt-in-your-mouth buttery taste, and if I remember correctly, a lot of people got either country fried steak or chicken fried chicken (southern staples!)

We spent a lot of time just hanging out at our house so that the kids could have some downtime, and had to of course get Bluebell ice cream. We got the groom's cake flavor, which was FULL of chocolatey goodness!

And we of course had to take them to The Factory in Franklin for Five Daughter's Bakery. Donuts that cost $5.50 each just have to be the best, right?

And funny story- while we were at Five Daughters, I saw a woman waiting in line who looked familiar. When I looked around, I saw her husband walking towards us and realized it was indeed Jenna of Chris and Jenna the singing duo, now Wild Harbors. Chris was our favorite librarian in MD, and Jenna was best friends with a girl I worked with after college. And together, Chris and Jenna, besides singing of course, are also known in our house as Elephant and Piggie (as in the characters by Mo Willems.) I chatted with them for a little, and then we headed home!

We had some sparklers floating around that needed to get used so Noelle and Jonah flew through those one night. Other adventures with the aunts included a coffee shop trip with Aunt Debbie, and then to lunch at Chick Fil A. We also made a trip to McKays for books, played baseball with Aunt Lyd's boyfriend, sat around the table coloring pictures, and some grown-up games after the baby went to bed. It was a lot of fun having more family visitors!