Back to School

Brooke started first grade on August 17, which is also my birthday. Never would I have imagined starting school on my birthday growing up. It was always at least a couple of weeks after. Craziness. We stopped by Aunt Jamie's room again last week to "help" her for a bit.

I gave Brooke a back-to-school mani/pedi, so Miles got some tattoos.

Paige also got a pedi. I started on her hands and quickly realized that was going nowhere good.

This is a horrible picture, but Brooke chose alternating bold colors for her hands and alternating pastels for her feet. The poor thing got a cold a couple of days before school started, so she wasn't as pumped about it as I'd hoped.

She was well enough for the first day of school, though. We found out her teacher less than a week before school started, and she was thrilled to get Mrs. Olson. In addition to being the youngest first grade teacher, Mrs. Olson is a friend of Jamie's and the sister-in-law of one of Matt's good friends from high school. Gotta love the small world of Wheaton.

Obligatory first day chalkboard shots. I'm probably behind and chalkboards are "the thing" anymore. Oh, well.

Brooke was really worried about being late, but we got there in plenty of time for her to see a lot of her friends and be third in line. I got choked up as she lined up, realizing that this is it. She's gone the whole day now. While it's sad for me, she's loving it...and it's also nice to not have to cut our day in half picking her up. Here she is with McKaileigh, a friend from last year.

And Maggie and Elise. Maggie was in the PM class, but played soccer with Brooke on Brooke's team. Maggie was on the "aggressive" field and Brooke was not. They still seem to get along well.

I'm trying to find ways to stay busy with Paige and Miles. Today, we went to the splash pad with Baby Bri and Cam and Max.

These two also braved some of the big kid activities at the attached park before we left.

Happy back-to-school!

August Randoms

We tried to fit a lot of fun into our last couple of weeks before Brooke went back to school. We had a family water fight.

The girls had an indoor "picnic."

Miles and Matt played ninjas.

Checking out the renovated park near our house.

I took the kids to a water park solo, so these were the only shots I could safely get. Miles was not eager to smile.

...until I threatened him with losing his treat.n He actually loved the water slides and is still talking about them.

Of course Brooke loved it as she loves anything related to water.

And Paige was happy tagging along.

We also went to the pool again. Miles is officially over the pool, btw.

We've been watching the Olympics together a lot.

Amy and her kids came in town, so of course we got a performance.

And had a lemonade "tea" party.

And some downtime, thank God.

Brooke made this card for Mati on her arrival.

Brooke pulled one of her top teeth.

Two days after Matt had pulled the snaggletooth.

This girl joined me walking Ozzie, but had to take her purse with her.

And finally, they spent an afternoon catching toads in the backyard and making a "habitat" for them. They were not happy when I made them let the toads go.

This summer has been so fun and gone too quickly!

On a Boat

A couple weekends ago, we had talked to our friends, Jeff and Michelle, about taking the kids out on their boat. It turns out that we weren't the only ones with that idea and the river was very full that day. Because it looked like we may not get out on their boat, Matt took the kids to the Forest Preserve across the street for a little canoeing.

 

Matt commented that Brooke was not the best co-pilot and it took a lot of work on his part for them not to go in circles. Luckily, we were able to get out later that evening. This girl has a need for speed.

Tubing, always fun. Brooke tried kneeboarding briefly, but we were short on time so the effort was aborted.

Cuties.

Thanks for a fun evening, Clousings!

Spotlight Camp, Year 2

One of the highlights of Brooke's summer, nay, year, last year, was Spotlight camp, so she was very happy to be able to do it again this year. The theme was "Superheroes," which didn't especially excite her, but she got to perform, so it was a win.

She attended the camp all day for a week, and on the last day, we got to see the Showcase. These two had some good practice for the school year playing together without their ringleader. They did a pretty good job.

 

Grammie Deb and Pop brought Bri to the performance. It was a little over the heads of these three, but they liked taking selfies.

(Notice Brooke's snaggletooth. For some reason she did not want to let that thing go.)

Thanking her fans.

Here's a little highlight of her solo. I have to say, she did a great job!