1st day of Second Grade

Sophie at our house before I drove her to school.

Sophie holding up a "2" for 2nd grade in the front of Clovercroft Elementary School.

Sophie with Ms. Strickland

Sophie at her table

 

Sophie's 1st day of school was on Matt's birthday, August 10, but he had to be out of town when school started.  A few days before school started we found out that Sophie was in Ms. Strickland's 2nd grade class. We immediately called her best friend from last year, Allie, and we found out that they were in the same class.  There are actually several girls and a couple of boys in her class who were also in her class last year which is great!  They had an Open House the night before school started and the first day was just a half day.  So far, Sophie is enjoying being in Ms. Strickland's class.

Williamson County Fair

Abbie and Sophie ready to go into the Lil' farmers area.

Abbie's ready to drive a tractor.

Matt and Abbie

Sophie, Matt, Uncle Phil, Abbie and Paula in the cornfield

Sophie, Abbie and Paula pose

Abbie and Sophie rode the swings!

About 2 weeks ago, Matt's parents, Mimi and Papa Tom, were able to come over for a visit before school started back.   One night while they were in town, we went to the Williamson County Fair.  The weather was very pleasant this year with temps around 80 or so instead of upper 90's like it usually is around here in August.  Paula's brother, Phil, had just returned to the U.S. after doing some mission work so he came and met us at the fair too.  We had a great time doing the Lil' Ones farming area, seeing lots of live animals, running into some friends from church, etc.  We always enjoy going to the fair and we had a wonderful visit with Mimi and Papa Tom.  We celebrated Matt and Mimi's birthdays while they were here.

Visiting the Treehouses at Cheekwood

This was supposed to be like Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond-it was built up and had a swing underneath and a small loft inside.

The Jolly Roger-like the boat from Peter Pan

This was supposed to be a treehouse for a hobbit.  It had an area you could walk through underneath and a big slide kids could go down.

Definitely one of our favorites-the Rainbow Fish.  Sophie and I are making our fish faces.  I loved that book and the treehouse!

The girls inside the rainbow fish treehouse. 

This was a "notions" treehouse out over the water.

We went back to the Thoreau treehouse so the girls could swing.

 

Weird expressions I know but sometimes this is what our kids give us when we try to take their picture.

One of the things that we wanted to do this summer was visit Cheekwood so that we could see their treehouse exhibit.  We finally made it a couple of weeks ago.  Summer can be such a busy time of year!  There were 7 different treehouses and most of them went along with the theme from a book.  They were really cool to see and a lot of fun for the girls to check out.  On the night we were there, the Nashville Ballet was also there performing some of Aesop's Fables for their family night.  It was held inside and was somewhat packed but the girls enjoyed watching them perform. 

4th of July

Katie with her 3 babysitters in the bounce castle (Abbie, Kate and Sophie)

our girls at Nana and Paw-paw's house

Sam and Eli Hyberger, Will Lassiter, Sophie and Abbie, Jonathan Brown, Katie Byars, Christine,Will and Clay Kelley

 in front of play house at the Gray's house

 

 

fireworks at Crockett Park

 Overall, we had a great 4th of July this year.  That morning, we went over to my parents for breakfast.  Unfortunately, I had a bad cold that week so I didn't feel the greatest but we had an OK day.  That afternoon I mostly lost my voice.  Then, that night we went to a cookout at our friends, the Gray's.  Many from our Sunday school class came.  The kids had a great time playing and then we walked over to the park and watched fireworks.  The Grays' have such a wonderful play house that Carley and Jessie enjoy.  It was a very late night for us!  When we went to the Gray's, I couldn't really talk at all so I just whispered (which I hate having to do).  We enjoyed seeing everybody though!  It was the first time that we had ever stayed and walked over to see the fireworks at Crockett Park.  (Last year, we left and watched them from Ravenwood High School). 

Busch Gardens (our trip to Virginia cont.)



Sophie and Daddy before riding Verbolten

Sophie, Abbie and Mama

Abbie loved the swings and the bumper cars!

Sophie with Hansel, Gretel and the witch after their performance.

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A pretty cool shot that Matt got of the foal in mid-air.

Sophie and Paw-paw Tom

Uh-oh!  What has Sophie done?

 We had such a busy week while we were visiting family in Virginia.  Some of us headed to Busch Gardens Sunday evening while Mimi stayed back with the kids.  There is so much to do at Busch Gardens!  On Monday, all of us headed to Busch Gardens.  Matt and I had ridden the new roller coaster, Verbolten.  Although Sophie was tall enough, I really didn't think she'd want to ride it.  There's no upside down parts or anything but a lot of it was inside where it was totally dark and it is pretty fast.  Anyway, when Matt and I were going to ride it for a second time, Sophie somehow decided to ride it.  I tried to tell her about it because I wanted to be honest.  After, we got off the ride though she got kind of upset because I think it was pretty scary for her!  I felt bad for her because I didn't want her to do something that was too scary for her.

We had a great time at Busch Gardens!  The weather was a little strange and it started sprinkling at times.  We were able to see a couple of shows.  I think we probably could have spent another day at Busch Gardens but we didn't.  The girls also rode in go-carts while we were there and we did several other things.  I'll try to post more pictures soon.

Bike Riding and Maymont Park (Part 1 of trip to Virginia)

Abbie riding her bike

Paw-paw Tom with Sophie and Abbie

Abbie and Sophie looking cool

bears at play

 

our gang at the Japanese gardens at Maymont Park

us with the waterfall

Mimi and Sophie (not sure what they are doing)

Sophie and Abbie in the beautiful gardens

the girls with Paw-paw Tom and Mimi

Abbie as I try to hand the butterfly off to her

Sophie holding a butterfly (no,there's really not one sitting on her head). =)

 

A little over 2 weeks ago, our family headed up to east TN and then on up to Richmond, VA to visit Matt's family.  We arrived in Richmond on Friday, June 15, just after Matt's mom, Teresa, finished the school year.  For the first couple of days after we arrived, it was so nice because the temperatures were much cooler there than at home.  The highs were only in the upper 70's and low to mid 80's.  The first few nights, it was so cool that I could have used a jacket.  The girls enjoyed riding their bikes some in the cul-de-sac where Matt's family lives.  With Paw-paw Tom's help Sophie learned to ride her bike independently without training wheels (finally).  We were so happy!

On Saturday, we all headed out to Maymont Park to enjoy the beautiful day.  We saw a variety of animals, walked around and enjoyed the gardens, and had a picnic lunch.  We really enjoyed being able to see the bears playing really near to where we were.  The girls loved walking across the large stepping stones in the middle of the pond (in the Japanese garden).  I was just praying that no one fell into the water.  They were also having a special event that day at the park called the Bumblebee Jamboree (what a fun name, huh?).  Anyway, they had crafts for the kids to do, educational stuff, a puppet show, etc.  We were able to go into a tent and see some butterflies up close and we all had a chance to hold them.  It was a fun day.  

Abbie's graduation

Abbie and Uncle Phil (Abbie smiled the whole time at graduation).

Abbie and Mrs. Gloria as she went up front to receive her preschool diploma.

Abbie with Layla ( a friend from church).

 

Mrs. Gloria, Paw-paw, Abbie and Mama

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here's some pictures from a couple of weeks ago.  We are in summer mode around here where we are not on much of a schedule so I'm a little behind on blogging.