First week of School

Skylar made it through her first week of school and did great! All her teachers and therapists were so happy with the progress she had made over the summer, and she seemed to be having a great time at school. One week into school, Skylar got an ear infection and ended up getting pretty sick. We had a not so pretty sick episode at Target, followed by 6 long sick days at home only leaving the house to go to the doctor again to figure out a crazy rash that she had gotten in addition to her ear infection. They weren't sure what it was, but said it could have been an Amoxicillin rash, or a virus, or a rash from finally breaking her fever. Tyler was out of town all week, so it was only natural someone would get sick. They like to somehow only get sick when one of us is out of town. But, she is all better and back to her sweet pink cheeked self! She is back to school tomorrow, so hopefully she can beat the back to school germs for the rest of the week. 

Savannah is loving school! She had a great first week too. Her school does pick up for 2 yr olds on the playground. I kindof think this is cruel punishment for parents (for kids like Savannah that never want to leave anywhere), but I guess it makes sense for walking in the hall and timing logistics. So, on her first day, I walk up to the playground fence and her teacher Mrs. LaBella sees me. She tells Savannah that I am here and Savannah looks over at me and kindof gives me this- "how could you!" look and then tells Mrs. LaBella she doesn't want to go. Awww- what a  sweet welcome :) She got over it quicker than I expected though, and then had lots of fun things to tell me. On her second day when I picked her up from the playground, she said..all in succession.. "I'm sweaty and hungry and tired I need food" I call that a great day at preschool! She is getting so big! 

Savannah's First Day of School!

Skylar's 1st Day of School!

Summer is really over! :(

I am so sad about the summer ending this year. We had a really busy summer and it flew by way too fast. The last two weeks of the summer were a little more laid back though. (And by laid back I mean only Skylar's usual therapies and appointments, but no major tests or big dr appointments.) So, it pleasantly tricked me into thinking we had a fun, chill, laid back time all summer. We started with a three week long intensive physical therapy for Sky, so obviously that took up a big chunk of time. Then Ty was out of town for a week, beach trip for a week, lots of doctors appointments, and a few other quick trips out of town- and it was gone! I already wish it could be next June. Although I know I will really be a wreck next year because Sky will be starting Kindergarten at the end of the summer. 

It just feels sometimes like everything is passing us by so quickly, and I know they won't be this little anymore. I am going to have a three year old in a few months and I might never have a two year old again. Sad :( 

With school starting we are back to our busy routines of school, therapy, and doctors. Always on the go! I know lots of other kids/parents are on the go a lot too, but hopefully they actually want to be doing all of their activities. (otherwise why would they be doing them, right!?) Poor Sky has to do so many things she doesn't want to do. She would love to be having playdates or taking fun classes, or even just getting to stay at home and play with her toys. But she is making such progress and I know it is because of all the effort that we make and the hard work that she does. 

Savannah has to keep our busy schedule too- and she is such a trooper. She sits at the therapy office and is excited to play with their toys and most of the time stays out of trouble. She even gets to play iPad sometimes which keeps her very happy. We have 5 therapies between Tues- Wed....not by choice, but because that is when they were available. And sometimes while we are there I think- what are we doing!? All three of us would much rather be at the park or be chillin at home or anything else. And I hope we are making the right decisions with everything we try to do for Sky. I think we are or else we wouldn't try so hard, but I hope the girls feel like they get to be kids enough too. 

It helps a ton that we love all of Skylar's therapists. She has an amazing team of people working with her that love her and want the best for her. And that helps the constant schedule be a little more bearable. 

Skylar really likes her school too, which is awesome! She is going four mornings a week from 9:20-1:00 to our county based special ed preschool program. She gets great therapy services through school as well. 

Savannah is starting preschool this week too! She is going two mornings a week from 9:30-12:00 to the church preschool in our neighborhood. She is sooo excited! She has been asking to go to "kool" since we dropped Skylar off at her first day last year. It is still going to be hard to let her go! She isn't super attached or anything, and I know she will do fine...it's just going to be weird because we are always together. It will be great for her to make some little friends of her own and to learn all the fun things there are to learn at preschool. Like sharing and being quiet :) 

For the first time in 4 1/2 years, I will have 5 hrs a week to myself! I will get to grocery shop by myself and go to Target by myself...and maybe even run every errand we ever have??. The girls might never set foot in a store again haha! 

My summer whining is over :) Until next August...

10th Anniversary!

Ty and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on August 31st! I can't believe it has been 10 years! Sometimes it feels like ages ago and sometimes it seems like it has flown by. Regardless, it has been a wonderful and busy ten years! We have: lived in 4 cities, 2 apartments, 3 houses, gone from an old Jetta and Infiniti G20 to an old Expedition, an old Jeep, and a (new!)Passat, been on some amazing vacations, had two beautiful girls, had lots of parenting trials, and also lots of parenting triumphs! Looking forward to many more years! 

 We were able to get away to the mountains for the night over our anniversary weekend. I really wanted to just get "back to our roots" and get to enjoy some of the things we used to love to do pre-kids and pre-responsible adult lives :) We hiked about 9.5 miles and enjoyed the fresh air and the mountains. We haven't been hiking in forever, and actually the last two times we've been hiking, I was pregnant. So, those can't really count:) It rained some while we were out, but we managed to stay pretty dry. One of the nicest things about the weekend was having no schedule! We had time to wait out the rain and still get our hiking in, without worrying about anything like naps and diapers and snacks. 

Shenandoah National Park...

Pre rain fog and haze

We didn't get done hiking until 7:30 Saturday night and by the time we got out of the park it was 8ish..so, we went straight to dinner all sweaty and dirty. We decided on mexican and were joined by lots of UVA fans after their game. I order a medium sized beer and Ty ordered an XXL beer. Our waiter brought them out and said they were out of medium mugs and he had put mine in a XXL glass too. I was like- this thing is huge! And the glass weighed 5 lbs. Anyway, a little bit later I hear this whole table of UVA  fans talking about my giant beer. And to make it a little more comical/embarrassing...it looked like I was totally taking it down way faster than Tyler because it started out not as full. I looked totally redneck in my sweaty t-shirt, chuggin a beer, on a big Sat night out! 

Speaking of more fun semi-redneck activites....we ended the night with a late night trip to Walmart followed by a trip to Sonic :) Not how I would have originally envisioned spending our 10th anniversary, but it was so fun! 

Lots of cute little deer

Steep rocks! 

End of Summer

Tyler and I took turns taking solo trips to Knoxville this month to see our newest little nephew. A Fri-Sun trip is just a little too quick with the girls, and we want to at least wait until Wil is sleeping through the night before we all go causing a ruckus at their house. Caroline is doing great as a big sister and Wil was just an angel. He is such a sweet, handsome, good boy.

Lunch and a walk at Calhouns on the River...

Sweet boy! 

We had a great Labor Day at home...thanks Mimi for the cute outfits!