Back to School

Ahhhhhhhh...It's that time of year. "Back to School" time! It's one of my favorite times of the year. I love the store aisles filled with new pencils, erasers, binders, folders, paper, and countless other unnecessary items that kids think they must have to be successful students. I love the excitement of meeting the teacher, planning what to wear the first day, and packing the backpack. I think I was born to be a part of this routine year after year until I grow old.

It's hard to believe that we already have a fourth and a second grader. Being a teacher seems to make the years pass even quicker. We were just reminiscing about the day we dropped Reagan off to four year old pre-k. She was excited, and we were crying. It's not much different now. Romeo still walks his little girls to their classrooms. They're still excited, and while we don't cry now, we realize how short this time is in our lives and relish every moment.

Today marked the sixth year of Reagan's educational journey and Sophie's fourth. This year is special for Reagan because she gets to be in Randi's class. Most of you know and love Randi as we do, but for those who don't, let me explain. Randi is my precious, dear friend who has mentored me as a teacher from the day I walked through Arlington's doors thinking I knew what I was doing. She has watched and helped me grow as a teacher, wife, mother, and Christian for the last thirteen years. She has been in Reagan's life as a "third grandmother" since the day she was born. Now, she will fill the role of educator, bestower of knowledge to my eldest. What a unique experience!

Sophie's year promises to be filled with excitement as well. She is in Mrs. Scheu's class. Mrs. Scheu was Reagan's second grade teacher, so we know her well and know that she can handle Ms. Sophie. As it turns out, Sophie also has her two BFF's in there as well. OH MY! Three drama queens! Watch out Ms. Scheu!

It's going to be a wonderful year I'm sure! One day down...one hundred seventy nine to go!

Sophie took this picture of her school supplies without us knowing it. I have a feeling she is a teacher in the making.

These are some goodies I baked for our "Back to School" party at church Sunday night.

Monday, the girls' bookbags and lunch boxes arrived from L.L.Bean.

From Mimi and Poppy with love! Are they excited or what?

Ready to leave for the first day

Reagan hardly slept a wink all night.

Riley and Reagan-These two precious girls have been together since they were one day old. They were born a day apart in the same hospital, have been raised in the same church as the only two in cradle roll for two years, were in the same third grade class, and now will be together in Randi's fourth grade.

Riley, Randi, and Reagan

Sophie getting unpacked in her room.

Farewell to Summer...

Today is officially my last day of summer vacation. It has been a WONDERFUL summer. The Brinkleys did not travel far from home this year to find adventure. Instead, we had a "staycation". The most difficult decision facing each day was "Which porch shall we have our coffee on this morning?" and "What book shall we start next?". We spent countless hours at the pool and playing tennis. We read dozens of books and enjoyed our fabulous new library. We entertained many play dates and sleep over guests, even throwing a tea party on one occasion. We piddled in the yard, endured six hours of gymnastics each week (Sophie), visited the free movies each week, enjoyed a great VBS, had a screaming great time at Six Flags, and loved seeing my brother's children from Montana. It was the most relaxing and enjoyable summer that we have had in some time. I am so very thankful that we were all together, healthy, and for most of every day truly enjoyed one another's company.

I was so lazy this summer that I didn't get the camera out very much, but here are a few shots that I did capture.

Our visit with Morgan and Garet- My aunt Anita hosted a party for the children to visit with all the extended family. Below are a small number of the great-grandchildren represented on my mother's side.

Morgan and Garet spent one night at our house. I asked Garet if he would like pancakes for breakfast, and he informed me "only if they're homemade". Here they're enjoying their homemade pancakes.

Reagan helping me bake homemade blueberry muffins. We picked blueberries on two different occasions this summer. YUM!

Reagan and her friend Carsten enjoying some pool time

Sophie and her pal Elise

It's a wonder the girls didn't grow fins and webbed feet this summer!

Reagan planned an American Girl tea party at our house and invited the Huster girls over. She got the recipes for the party from an American Girl book that she has. The four girls and I spent the morning baking and had the tea party afterward.

Sophie and Rebecca

Reagan and Laurel

The menu included petit fors, wedding cookies, candied pecans, and PB&J sandwiches.

Dad and Sophie easing into the morning on the back porch

Lily found that she could watch the squirrels from this chair.

It's back to the five a.m. routine starting tomorrow!

4th of July cont'd

Friday evening my parents brought the girls home so that we could all go to the fireworks and Partner's Pizza in PTC. Unfortunately, Reagan wasn't feeling up to it, so she went to grandma's instead. We met up with Chris and Melanie and their girls and Mark and Mandy and their cutie pies and Ms. Charlotte on the lawn. The kids had a great time running around waiting for the fireworks to start. Here are a few snap shots.

Sophie, Allie, and Avery

Romeo and me sporting our road race shirts

Mark, Ethan, and Nina

Ms. Charlotte and Mandy

Ethan

Sophie Bug

Mimi and Poppy

Chris and Avery

Somehow I didn't manage to take a single picture of Melanie. Sorry girl!

Happy Birthday America

Happy Independence Day friends! This morning I experienced the Peachtree Road Race for the the first time. It was fantastic! Romeo and I met Sandy W. this morning bright and early to make our way downtown for the world's largest 10k. Sandy was in group 2, and Rome and I were in group 3. Lucky draw for us! What an awesome experience! I'm not a serious runner although I have been working at the whole exercise thing for a few months now. I was very pleased to run about 2-2.5 miles altogether of the 6.2, and kept a steady pace for the remainder. Thinking it would take me an hour and a half to finish, I was excited to come in at 1 hour 19 minutes. Romeo finished in just over 1 hour 4 minutes. Sandy has bragging rights this year. You'll have to look at her blog for the details. It was such fun! Wonder if we're in the sea of people in this picture. The girls were watching the race at my parent's house, and both of them insist they saw us on t.v. I tend to believe they did since they told us what we were both wearing.

This was our third year having friends over on the 3rd for the "pre-race carb meal"-spaghetti. It was also Todd and Sandy's daughter, Kate's, birthday. In addition, the Hamby's joined us for the fun. I got some really cute shots of the kiddos playing.

Dean and Houston entertained themselves with Lily's doggie door.

Happy 6th Birthday to Kate!

Hey, is Dean stuck?

Playing on the gym set

This past Wednesday, Romeo and I took Reagan and her friend Juliana to a U-Pick It farm to pick blueberries and blackberries. Sophie was at a friend's house for a couple days. The girls had so much fun-as did I. We've had homemade blueberry pancakes and blackberry cobbler-YUM!

Reagan said, "Mom, please promise that we'll come back next year."

VBS 08

Last week was our VBS at church. The theme was "Castaway Bay". I had no idea just how much preparation a VBS really took until now. It turned out wonderfully thanks to the MANY MANY volunteers that we had. Our kids and their friends, Nikki and Rebecca, had a great time and learned important lessons from the Bible.

The group picture from the last night

Romeo and Jason performed a skit each evening. They were the two castaways, Izzy and Dewy. The kids thought they were great. I got quite a chuckle myself seeing my hubby in full character.
This is the 2-3 year old room. I taught two of the lessons in here during the week when Ms. Mary couldn't make it. I had no idea how difficult it can be to capture the attention of nine 2 and 3 year olds, but it was loads of fun.

The last evening craft was decorating sugar cookies. Sophie didn't waste any time eating her creation, and you see Reagan in the background with the hat on still laboring over hers.

The kids absolutely loved song time. Here they are doing "If the devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack." My two are still belting out this one in car everyday.
Reagan wore this hat every single night.

With VBS behind us, our summer is now wide open. We're filling our time with an almost daily trip to the pool, 6 hours of gymnastics per week, library time, free movies, working in the yard, and lots of reading. Each evening I'm reading Where the Red Fern Grows to the girls and Romeo. I remember my mom reading it to my dad, brother, and myself about 25 years ago, and I wanted to do the same for my family. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. I hope everyone else is having a wonderful summer. It'll be over all too soon!

The Cousins Are Here!

The "cousin countdown" has finally ended. The girls have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of their cousins, Morgan and Garet, from Montana. They've been counting down the days for about the last two months. Finally, they arrived tonight around 9:30. Mimi left the airport around seven this morning to fly out and accompany them to GA. After about 14 hours, she made it back with two kiddos that we barely recognized. It's been a year and a half since Reagan, Sophie, and I have seen them, and almost three years since Romeo has seen them. Needless to say, they've grown a foot it seems.

Morgan stops to give hugs to the girls.

But, Garet made a bee line for his Poppy!
The cousins, my brother's children by the way, wanted to head straight to the Varsity for dinner.

Garet never stops smiling! He's the happiest little fellow I've ever known.

All four kiddos-They're headed to Mimi and Poppy's for a sleepover.

Wedding Bells

Today was our niece's wedding. Ashley is Romeo's sister's daughter. Both our girls were in the wedding. Reagan was a junior bridesmaid, and Sophie was the flower girl. They both did a nice job. The wedding was very sweet, and the reception was lots of fun. It was held at a cir. 1850 home that is used as a special events center. Congratulations to Mark and Ashley. May you enjoy many happy years together. BTW-I have to brag...I made the cake!

The girls both looked so grown up in their dresses. It made me wonder about the day when our girls will marry.
I was so thankful to have the cake out of my house. I was terrified of some sort of disaster. There is NO way I would decorate cakes for a living. I'd constantly be a nervous wreck!

The girls with Shae, Romeo's cousin's daughter. She was so sweet to let the girls "hang out" with her for two days. Sophie was especially smitten with her.

Romeo's crazy Aunt Rachel-She is so much fun to be around!