S M Squared: August 2018

Summer vacation went by in a flash. We managed to squeeze in a beach trip, a coast trip, a birthday trip. This will be a dump of phone photos in reverse chronological order, so bare with me.

I'm calling this photo first day of school, but really, it's Evie's first day of school and the first time i had a moment to put them all together for a photo.

Sullivan is in 3rd grade, Evie in 4k, and Holland has moved up to the toddler class at her daycare. So far everyone is adjusting and enjoying the new year. Homework, particularly math, seems much harder for Sullivan this year. I'm hoping we'll get in a better routine, so that every evening isn't spent scrambling to finish homework, eat dinner, bath, read books, etc. Throw in soccer and nights get even tougher. Evie is a Monkey this year (just like big brother was), and Holland is loving her new teacher, Ms. Jackie (who also had both Sullivan and Evie).

We were very sad to say goodbye to Holland's nursery teachers, Ms. Solly and Ms. Daisy. Ms. Daisy has also had all three of my babies, and they all just loved her. She definitely made having to be separated from them easier since I knew they were in such loving, good hands. Holland still loves to stop by and give them hugs on our way in or out of daycare.

This is Sullivan's "real" first day of school picture. Taken in a rush from the car. This is also how I realized we had forgotten to put his booster seat back in the car! Constant chaos and endless to-do lists these days.

We took a quick trip to the Coast for my sister-in-law's baby shower (she's having twin girls), and a visit with family. We don't get to see our Martin cousins very often, so it was nice for them to get to hang out. Unfortunately, Holland may have shared a stomach bug with them, but somehow the rest of us all avoided it.

German restaurant was amazing!

St. Leo with the girls

I celebrated my 40th birthday in July, and it was quite a celebration. My girlfriends had a lovely dinner out at St. Leo for me, and gave me some awesome and extremely generous gifts. Daniel followed that up with a weekend away to Hot Springs with some of our closest friends. Daniel's mom came to keep our kids, and I think they had a great time with their Nanna. We ate, drank, spa'd, hiked, and had a great time on our weekend getaway. I'm not sure I'd put Hot Springs on the list to visit again, but there were some charming parts of it. We stayed in a very old Victorian house that had been updated, and it was beautiful! Old houses creep me out some, and Chip telling ghost stories on this trip didn't help, but it was a neat place.

We changed up our beach trip a bit this year by going to Gulf Shores instead of 30A. It was definitely faster and easier to get to, but I did miss the walking/biking friendliness of Seaside and areas on 30A. The kids were crazy about the friend's condo we stayed in because: 1. it had an elevator. Holland LOVED it and was the first on and first off every time. 2. it had an indoor pool and hot tub and an outdoor pool. Night swimming in the indoor pool was a favorite activity. The week flew by, as vacation weeks typically do, but we had a great time.

We took Julia, Sullivan and Evie to ride horses one morning at Oak Hollow Farms, and that was great. It was about an hour and a half trail ride through live oak lined paths, woods, and by rolling fields. It was lovely and totally worth it. I'm glad we went early before it got too hot, but it was a treat for my horse loving, Evie. I'll have to get those photos off my "big" camera to share.