End of August Rush

The end of August always proves to be full of activity between school starting and Katey's birthday. This year was no exception!

Seth was pretty excited to be heading into 3rd grade (with one of his all-time favorite teachers!). He was up and ready to go in plenty of time. It did help that his outfit was already chosen, weeks in advance! Seth could hardly wait to wear his "Just Do It!" shirt that matches his new shoes. I love it!

Katey wasn't quite as excited to be starting middle school, but she was excited that the morning routine can now move along a little more slowly. Seth leaves for the bus stop at 6:40 but Katey doesn't have to be up there until 8:05! Being an early riser and slow-morning mover she has really enjoyed this first week.

Check out those long legs!! She was ready to tackle 6th grade!!

We are now one week into the swing of things and both kids have had a good one! Seth talks about kids in his class and what special he got to attend each day (PE, art, music...). Katey has been excited about purchasing a lock, learning to use it, being assigned a locker and successfully navigating the halls of her new school. Great start to a hopefully great school year!

The first day of school was also Katey's 11th birthday! We celebrated a couple of weeks ago with a trip to Carowind's amusement park so the actual day was pretty low-key. Katey chose to have Chick-fil-A for dinner and then we broke into her 7 pound chocolate cake from Costco! (We took some cake over to a neighbor and we STILL have a chunk left after 5 days!)
It is hard to believe Katey is already 11! We are so proud of our wonderfully sweet, kind-hearted, energetic, Harry-Potter loving, unique, smart and fun Katey Beth! Happy 11th!

On Display

Thanks to a friend of Jen's mom, Katey was asked to be in a fashion show for Dillard's a couple of weeks ago. If you know Katey at all, you understand why Mike and I were curious as to how this would play out on the day of the show.

We made our way to the store about 2 hours before the presentation and started to get ready. The organizers put light make-up on the girls, and worked with the kids on how to walk down the runway, when to stand still and how to pose while the announcer talked about the clothes and shoes. Katey was pretty reserved that day but was still excited to be a part of all the action.

Here she is in her first outfit. This one was her favorite!!

And here is outfit #2!
Katey did a wonderful job, posed nicely and even remembered to smile during her 2nd runway experience! It is hard to believe how grown-up she looks!

Summer

Mike pointed out last week that it has been an entire month since I posted anything on here.  Summer has been too fun to stop and blog!

Since I am completely overwhelmed with all there is to write about, I have decided to do a quick poem to sum it all up (with a few pictures, of course).

SUMMER
The summer started out with lots of watery fun;
We spent a week with the Collins family (and Grammy) at a house on Lake Norman.
The kids learned to ski and we spent the week on the boat;
It took another 5 day for Jen to stop feeling a-float!
Next up was a trip back North;
To Ohio we went, just after July 4th.
We had fun at the Hankins' family reunion - what a treat;
Lots of aunts, uncles and cousins to visit with and good food to eat!
Packed and ready to head back home, until we heard a scream;
Seth scraped up his armpit but managed to not fall out of the tree!
Harry Potter camp is where we sent Katey;
She loved being a Hufflepuff and we don't mean maybe!
A camp filled with sports was where Seth then headed;
He loved it so much, the end of the week he dreaded.
Swimming with friends at the water park has been fun;
It's hard to believe that summer is almost done!!

On your mark, get set...

GO!  Seth up on ski's for the first time!

Check out Katey's form!  She skied like that the entire time!

The kids singing the National Anthem during the closing ceremonies of the Lake Norman Olympics

Uncle Jason with the kids.  They loved to go TOP SPEED!

At the reunion - the Ella Hankins clan