School Picture Day 2018

The kids had school picture day. It seems the cost of those keeps rising so I decided to take a few shots of my own before they left for school...although mine turned out a little blue-ish which means I didn't have a setting right, which irritates me a little. Oh well. Obviously I take pictures of them all the time.

Amy, 11 years old, 6th grade 

Will, 8 years old, 3rd grade 

Tyler, 6 years old, 1st grade 

Although, if you are capturing personality, this is more "Tyler-like." He's such a performer! 

I can't believe another school year is upon us! 

Nicole and Kevin's Wedding

My darling and lovely cousin Nicole got married last weekend. I was fortunate to make the trip up north so I could attend. Lee and the kids stayed home as they all had school. The wedding was beautiful and it was the perfect weekend!!

When I flew into Rochester and picked up my bag, it looked like this. Mind you this was a brand new bag. The entire front pocket was torn off. The red is the lining. And the fact that my bag was shredded was not something I wanted to deal with at 11:30pm.

This book was brand new and inside the suitcase. There wasn't any water damage, this is just how it was compressed?? Actually we think the bag got stuck under a wheel and was dragged. 

But I did and got it replaced with this bag. Which is slightly larger (defeats the purpose of a carry-on) but its hard shell so I let it go. 

I am also sad to say that I was in NY for a full 2 days before I took any pictures. And the only pictures I took were on my not-so-great cell phone. I even brought my good camera and everything! Ugh, makes me so mad. I did the same thing this summer.

Here are the cell phone pictures I took from the wedding.

 

I thought this was neat. This poem and board remembering those who have passed away.

Nicole and Kevin wanted a cookie bar. 

Mom painted this tree and people signed it with their thumbprints. I didn't get a final photo but it looked really great.

The DJ asked for a couples dance. Me and Grandma were sitting by ourselves. :(  haha.

We were all quite surprised with how great Kevin's voice was! He is the karoke king!

I hadn't seen Ben and Ashley in a long time. It was so good to spend time with them.

(Better photo taken with Ben's phone. :)

Anna and I went in together and bought them this string art. It was delivered the day before the wedding- we were glad about that!

And just as quickly as it started, it was over. Time to fly back home and get back to normal life. I had an early morning flight and took this of the sunrise.

Congrats Nicole and Kevin! So glad you could get married so I had another reason to go to NY this year! (This made my 3rd trip!) The wedding the beautiful and it really was the perfect weekend!

First Week of School! Grade 6th, 3rd and 1st

The kids started school with a weird 2 hour day (something the county schools do.) They had the next day off and then went for a full day. I took pictures both days. Since moving the kids are in completely new schools and don't know a soul.

The 2 hours day... first up is our 6th grader. Yes, we have middle schooler. Yes, we still can't believe it. She was really excited and I have to give her credit. I would have been a nervous wreck. Well, maybe I wasn't at that age. I don't really remember.

And her new school shoes. Because, new shoes are always important!

And Will who is in 3rd grade this year.

And Tyler who is in 1st.

Bright orange shoes just fit his personality, don't they? He was so excited about them. Although we think they might be a tad too small. Grrrr....

We dropped Amy off at her school with shouts of "Good Luck!" and "We love you!" Then drove over to the boys school to meet their teachers.

Will's teacher is Mrs. Keel. She's from South Africa, which is really cool. We actually have a few small connections to her with is fun. And she graduated from Kennesaw State University (where I graduated from!) It's rare to find that around here.

Tyler's teachers is Ms. Windrow. This is her 1st year teaching so it'll be fun to see how that goes!

On the first full day of school I attempted pictures again. I guess I got distracted after Amy because I don't have single shots of the boys.

This was the first year that we just dropped the boys off at the door. And it's a new school so they have no idea where anything is (we don't either.) I was nervous Tyler would clam up and not talk to a teacher so I gave him a sticker that said "Please deliver to Ms. Windrow."

The play set has been one of the best things about this house. Most mornings the kids play for a few minutes before taking off (Lee drops them off.) 

After a few acrobatic moves they were on their way. They all said they had a the best first day. Amy is so excited about having a locker that she said during one break, she just went to it and stared at it. She's so funny.

The boys haven't given too many details, but they both seem to enjoy their teachers and their new school. I'll start volunteering soon and maybe substitute a little bit. That will help me learn a little about the school as well. We are exploring new places this year! So far it's going pretty well!