Ending our summer, 2013

It's the first day of school. I was more happy than sad this year - 

not because I was ready to get 'rid' of them, but I think the twins' first year is over, so it's easier.

I'm happy to be back to our 'normal' schedule. And it's nice to clean the house by myself (it's faster that way) and to have it stay clean until 3:00 when the hurricane returns home. :)

I'm also glad to spend 1-on-1 time with Alee - her behavior has been asking for it.

But before first day of school pics, let me finish out our summer - 

We tried out 'chalk hair color' (you just drench chalk - we're cheap, so we used sidewalk chalk, not artists' chalk) and you rub it down the hair. It washes out at the next washing. (Assuming you wash your hair well - Alee's got washed by a sister, so not a thorough job and it stayed a little longer. Same for Carolyn - could have been the blond though. Either way, there was no trace of it 2 days later.)

We had our last hurrah to the zoo. Seth had a blast taking pictures.

(He and Carolyn have been so excited about learning to take pictures this year - I've been passing on little beginner tips and they've done really well.)
(You can't really see on the blog, but on the computer - Seth's taking photos in the aquarium - for some reason  it's very dark on the blogger page?)

One of his pictures later:

Baby Flamingos were so cute - and of course, we had to "pet" the galapagos tortoise.

Rob wanted to take us to see the Governor's Mansion and the state capitol.

It was our last family outting of the summer. So fun. So hot.

(We invited some family to tag along - my kids think their cousin is a toy, I believe!)

 Beautiful area - the fountains were of course, their favorite part. They wanted to know if they could wear a swimsuit the next time we visit! haha

 We were a little perturbed that Seth had chosen to stay up ultra late (like most of the night) at a sleepover party the night before. I regretted saying yes the night before our family's plans. 

Live and learn...I will be wiser next time (and so will he, I believe).

He fell asleep EVERYWHERE all day long...and was grumpy in the waking moments.

I never posted an update picture from his July appointment, so this is just for color - his teeth have moved in the past month.

And he chose pink for this month's braces - and YEA! the forsus (little springs attached to his back teeth that would pop and have to be put back together if he opened his mouth too wide) were removed this month.

Look at those summer freckles! :) I love them.

Some of the girls wanted to scrapbook their pictures from this summer - so I told them how I scrapbooked (and they've seen their books lots of times for examples) and they took off!

I did have to help Kaitlyn a little more than Carolyn - age 8 seems to be the skilled enough to do it without help age! (note the piece of paper extending beyond the edge of the page?)

(Natalie did some too, but I haven't taken pictures of hers yet. She finished last.)

Seth was not interested.

And lastly, we got all our school supply shopping done (I did not even try to bargain shop this year, other than hitting the dollar tree for a few things and shopping around for lunchboxes/bookbags this year, so I won't disclose how much $$$ I spent on the lists from school!) Yikes.