summer snapshots

Is today already the first day of school for my girls?  Are they really starting 2nd & 4th grade?

Is the summer already over?

And has it honestly been almost 4 months since I sat in front of this screen to update the blog?

Wow...

I'm always emotional on the first day of school. Always.  And although this first day wasn't nearly as bad as last year, I'm still not feeling very creative or catchy right now...

So that's why we're just going to do a photo update...

First, let's finish off the school year from months ago.  Both of the girls did exceptionally well at school and brought home many awards at Honor's Day.  A proud Mamma can brag, right?! {Addie even received the Principal's Award for having the highest GPA for the entire 3rd grade!}

 We enjoyed some vacation time with my parents!  We went to Dollywood, along with doing many other fun things...

...

Ellee has continued dressing Sam up.  Ellee was wishing for a little sister this day, much to Dad's disapproval...

The girls were beautiful flower girls in a wedding...

 We had our annual Brown Family Vacation...

While we were all together, we celebrated this little man's 3rd birthday.  As you may be able to see in the pictures, his obsession with Lightning McQueen continues...

  We enjoyed a few days in Kentucky with sweet friends... 

The kids and I, along with Mimi, my Aunt Joyce and cousin Lacie, survived a 13 hour trip to Arkansas to visit my brother and his family.  It was good to see their home and spend time with them...

{this is Charles, Chad's oldest son}

{and this is Paul, the youngest until January when their new baby arrives!}

  We went home by way of St. Louis, and you can't go to St. Louis without seeing the arch!  We even rode to the top...

Just for fun, here is a glimpse into dinner time around here...

My hubby and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary {which is so hard to believe - not because I'm surprised we've made it but because it doesn't seem like it's been that long!}...

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Although the summer wasn't filled with anything too extraordinary, we did enjoy a lot of traveling and a lot of time with family and friends!

Whew, I think that brings us to today.

Here are the girls and their answers to the questions I always ask them on the first day of school.  You can see that the answers haven't changed that much from last year...

{Addie}

{last year's}

{Ellee}

{translation on a "Feven" baby - they have a cousin from Ethiopia named Feven.  The girls really want us to adopt again, but this time they want a "chocolate colored" baby brother!}

{last year's}

Here is what the girls took their teachers this morning.

The tag says "I did 'extra flipz' when I found out you were my teacher!  Happy 1st Day of School!"

It's a bag of Flipz chocolate covered pretzels with a pack of Extra gum attached.

Now I realize how super cheesy it is - Lee gave me that "really, you're going to do that?!" look - but I'm hoping their teachers will see past that and appreciate the thought.  I had to do 5 gifts, so it couldn't be too expensive!

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More to come!!