Dancing Queen

Dance classes started back on August 20th, and Abby was excited to try a new style this year - Jazz! (I also convinced her to take 2 days/week of ballet to improve her technique.) Her schedule is as follows:

Monday: Jazz 3:30-4:15 and Ballet 4:15-5:00 pm

Wednesday: Ballet 4:15-5:00 pm

Here she is, ready for her first day of classes!!

 She has a new teacher for jazz, named Ms. Nicole. She is a college student at UA and part of the Bama dance team! Abby loved her immediately. There are 7 girls in her class and on the first day, they all caught on very quickly and did a cute routine! I think Jazz is the perfect class for Abby.....it's a mix of hip-hop and lyrical, with just the right amount of sass :)

 For ballet, she has the same teacher as last year, Ms. Jenn. Now that she's in the 2 day/week class, they are a bit more serious and push her more. That's my hope at least! Abby doesn't *love* ballet, but she has a lot of potential if she decides to work hard. There are 14 girls in her class - more than I would have hoped for - but there are 3 barres for them to use so there is plenty of space. Look at my pretty little ballerina! :)

 September is "Bring a Buddy" month, so Abby asked her friend Ella to join her for a jazz class. Ella had THE best time! These two girls are so silly together.

I'm excited to see what this year holds for our little dancing queen!

Labor Day Weekend

Over Labor Day, we took a trip to Charlotte to see Becky's family for a few days! 

We checked the kids out of school around 12 on Friday, hoping to beat some of the Labor Day traffic....especially in Atlanta. (Sidenote: I did this same trip last year with just myself & the kids and it was miserable. I didn't check the kids out early, and we didn't arrive in Charlotte until 11 pm!)

Well.....the same thing happened :( It was a looooong day of driving but luckily Greg was there to help me shoulder the load this time. Needless to say, we didn't get to see the cousins when we arrived on Friday night because they were sound asleep. 

Abby was soooooooooooo excited to wake up and see Charlie Kate on Saturday morning!!

The feeling was mutual :)

As per usual, we took a family walk that morning. Anderson loves being one of the "big kids!"

Anderson & Poppy were going on a "run," and then Nate decided to join last minute. Gotta stretch first though!! :) #notstaged #promise

Poppy and his two favorite runners!

We saw them while on the walk and Anderson was talking up a storm, while running. Ha!

Speaking of running....Omega was having a great deal on running shoes, so we went to browse! Abby and I ended up both getting a pair. But this is what was mostly going on when we were there....

#shenanigans

Bec packed lunches for everyone and we headed to the pool for a picnic and playtime!! (A good way to wear out the little ones before naptime :)

As a belated birthday gift, Lora and I bought this pink Pottery Barn chair for Charlie Kate.....she loved it but so did one of her big brothers! :)

Teaching the kids to play Rummikub! Gibbs family tradition

I love this pic! Both Bec & I with our daughters! Now we just need to get Lora to have a girl :)

Sunday morning, Uncle Mike went out to get Duck Donuts for everyone. Soooo good! We were killing time because the waterslide people were supposed to arrive around 10 am to set up the slide. The kids were so excited!

And finally, it arrived!!!! We had planned on putting it in the backyard, but Bec ordered the 20 foot slide and it DID NOT FIT back there. Ha! Go big or go home.

So, it went up in the front yard! #whitetrash

Now, this is not something we normally do when we visit Bec. But, she felt bad that we had missed CK's birthday party 2 weeks earlier, and wanted to do something special for the kids. So, why not order a 20 foot water slide!? It took over an hour to set up and fill up with water. The kids could not wait to go down it! And to be honest, I was pretty excited too! :)

We had fun for about an hour and then some neighbors started coming over and wanting to play. Bec said yes - she is way nicer than me - but by that time my kids and I exited the slide because it was getting too crowded. Bec let the neighbors play for a bit and then we went inside for lunch and rest time! 

Abby decided to do her reading / rest time outside on the spider swing :)

After naps...…...Round #2 on the slide!  Greg was home this time (he had been on a long bike ride in the AM), so the kids had fun showing him the ropes. It started thundering an hour in, so we ran inside before the storm. Bummer!!

Cutest.thing.ever.

We had a pizza dinner and then ROUND 3 on the slide! No more pictures at that point. Just lots and lots of fun. I think the kids would have kept sliding all night if we had let them.

As a surprise, Bec got a cookie cake for Abby's birthday. Even though it's not till November, ha! She just said that we always make a big deal out of summer birthdays at the beach, and then mine & Poppy's birthdays over Thanksgiving, so she wanted Abby to have her own little celebration. So sweet! Abby was *very* surprised and very touched :)

We pulled out early Monday morning, hoping to beat the traffic. (And we did; praise the Lord!!) Give minutes after we left, I got a text from Becky saying that the boys were on Round #4 of the waterslide. They sure got their money's worth!!!

Again, it was a super fun weekend with cousins - we missed Otis! - and worth it to drive so far. Why can't Alabama and North Carolina be closer!?

Happy 11th Birthday Nate! [Part 2]

Nate's birthday fell on a Monday, so unfortunately, that meant.....school.

But at least he woke to lots of presents and Daddy's famous French toast!!

Nate said I "didn't need to" come eat lunch with him like in years past, so I just opted to drop by at lunchtime with 4 dozen donuts from Krispy Kreme for his class & the other 5th grade class. I was lucky to get this picture..... when I asked Nate if he wanted a selfie with me, he said "I'm good." My little boy is growing up and getting too cool for me! :(

Usually, he stays after school on Mondays and runs with the cross-country team. But he asked to have a "relaxing" birthday (you know, since his life is so tough!), so he got to play video games all afternoon while Abby and I were at dance. Lucky boy!

Daddy fixed Nelly Telly - an Italian dish with sausage - for dinner and then I surprised Nate with a mini-ice cream cake! Oh how we love this boy so.....