Owen goes to kindergarten and Grayson is a Zebra...

It is hard to believe that my oldest baby is now going to kindergarten.  It was a bittersweet day for me.  On the one hand I know that he is ready but it was a weird feeling sending him on the bus knowing that I wouldn't see him again for 7 hours.  That is a long day, especially for a child who has been home with mom everyday of his life.
I have to say that having a new baby helped me get over the initial punch in the gut.  We were all craving a little routine and to be honest I needed some time to get things done around the house and spend more time focusing on Leo.  It was an extremely difficult summer having three boys at home and a baby who wasn't sleeping much at all so the start of school was a little bit of a relief.
Here is Owen enjoying the last few summer days at the pool...

Grayson is going to be completely lost without his best buddy...

The night before Kindergarten...

And he is off...

(of course my sweet baby needed his picture taken with snuffle bunny and other baby)

Walking home from the bus stop...

Much to our surprise Owen loved his first day.  His favorite part of the day was riding the school bus.  It was helpful knowing that two of his best neighborhood friends would be riding the bus with him and although they are not in the same class they have lunch and recess together each day.  Although Owen was completely exhausted the first few weeks, he didn't let it show one bit...

Owen's teacher is Miss Fernkas and the teacher's aide in his classroom is Mrs. Hink.  He goes to Carmel Elementary which is next to the library in downtown Carmel.  So far it seems like a great fit for him!  This is my favorite first homework assignment ever...

One month after Owen started school Grayson began his first year of 4 year old preschool in the Zebra classroom.  He is with his buddies that he has been with for the last 2 years.  He loves going to school there and was ready to have some freedom from his mommy days...

 Don't look too closely at this picture.  I had Grayson get dressed and he put his shorts and underwear on backwards and his shoes on the wrong feet.  At least he still needs mommy a little bit...

Leo even gets to go to school this year too, only one morning a week.  It is a nice four hours of time to get some work done and get the house cleaned up...

Rosemary Beach 2017

Leo took his first trip to the beach in July.  It took a lot of courage to agree to a trip with a 5, 3 and 2 month old children.  However, we thought a two month old would be an easier traveler than a 1 year old.  And much to our surprise they all three did pretty great!

The car packed and loaded with three little ones...

I spent a lot of time in the backseat...

Next to this one...

We rented a beach house and stayed with my sister Kristin, her husband Tim, and their two boys Max and Luke along with my mom and stepdad.  Then my sister Nicole, her husband Kurt and their three kiddos rented a house nearby.  This was a great opportunity to spend time together as a big family.  We only get to see Nicole and her family once a year because they live in Arizona.

The cousins were so happy to see each other.  We spent a lot of time at the pool...

Some time at the splash pad near the donut truck...

And several days at the beach....

We loved spending time with our cousins...

Leo loved being adored by everyone...

 The boys were so exhausted each and everyday that we had a lovely nap each afternoon...

We had so much fun with our family...

Especially when Uncle Kurt brings us the best mojitos...

We had to document our time at the beach with all of the cousins by getting professional pictures taken.  These are the ones I took, I will share more when I get them back from the photographer...

We had the best time and the kids were doing so well in the car that we decided to drive the 11 hours straight home from Rosemary.  We were so happy to be home and have the entire Sunday to get settled, that is until we walked down to our basement and found this....

 Three inches of standing water...

Our sump pump stopped working and the battery went out on our back up.  We spent the entire night and next day getting everything out of the basement and drying out.  

Now three months later we have it completely renovated and it looks better than ever.  Brad decided to turn a bad decision into a good one and finally got the theater room he always wanted.  It was an extremely stressful month after we returned and we are now getting things back on track.