Tahoe

Michael and I visited his dad and step-mom in Tahoe on Labor Day weekend.  They always spend several weeks there at the end of the summer and we traveled there with Piper about two or three years ago.  But this time around was so much easier without the kids!  Michael's step-sister, Natalie and her husband, Steve, were also there!  It was fun seeing them as well. Tahoe was beautiful and relaxing.  And Michael's mom managed to survive watching both Briggs and Piper at our house!!  Briggs is definitely more aware of me leaving now and seems to be my little shadow at all times after our two trips.

NYC

This past year all I kept asking for, besides new light fixtures and fans, was to get out of town without kids. The big move and all the events of the past year had done me in.  Michael has been so busy at work that nothing seemed to be doable.  But, then Michael had to go to Buffalo, NY for business and so we just made a little vacation out of it by going to New York City and Buffalo!  Our friend, Sean, works for a company that has an apartment on Times Square and he offered us the apartment for free for the three nights we stayed in NYC.  Score!!  So nice! We were in NYC for Independence day, which happens to be Michael's favorite holiday.  It was fun but we both agreed that hometown celebrations in the South are much better! We didn't get any burgers or potato salad and definitely heard no Lee Green singing "I'm proud to be an American."  We did wait on the hot street for three hours to watch the Macy's fireworks.  Ehhh...that's my rating.  But, all and all it was a great, fun getaway and I'm so thankful we were able to do it!

Here's a few pictures...

 We took a helicopter tour and saw some amazing views of the city!

 We also saw the musical Newsies!  Fabulous!

 9-11 Memorial

 In Buffalo, we had the privilege of going to Niagara Falls with a private tour guide.  He was super fun and so informative.  NF is amazing!

School Time!

 It's official!  Piper is in school.  Big school.  Kindergarten.  All day.  Too many hours away from home!  BooHoo!  She does have a fun, spunky teacher.  Mrs. Patton.  In the picture above she looks like she is 15  years old.  But in person, she is definitely more like 18!  I kid!  She is in her late 20's!

 Rise and Shine early photo shoot on her first day.  She was so excited about starting school.

 We walked to school with her friend, Nora, because Michael was out of town on her first day.  I needed support from someone so my sweet friend, Kate, let me join them!  I didn't cry though.  I managed to get all my tears out after Meet the Teacher the Friday before school.  I cried and cried that she was leaving the nest and because she didn't get in a class with any of the friends we know.

 Piper has a locker!  Kindergarten students with lockers!!!

 She sits at a table with three other students.  She really doesn't tell me much about them.

And Michael was able to walk in with her on the second day.  We only were able to walk our kids to their classroom on the first week of school.  After that, we had to say bye-bye at the front door of the school! That and the locker situation is a bit too much for me!

The first week went well and after that, it has kind of not been a lot of fun for Piper.  She doesn't just get to talk when she wants to and it's fast paced all day.  She is the kind of kid that needs a little down time and needs to be away from people a little bit each day.  As soon as she gets home, she enjoys eating a snack and immediately begins playing make believe.  Sometimes her make believe begins aloud in the car as we drive away from school!

Summer Fun!

 June & July were hot, fun months.  I have so many more pictures on my phone that need to be downloaded.  Another day...

 We traveled to Oklahoma a few times.  I kept my sister's kids for almost 2 weeks while they celebrated their 20th anniversary in Hawaii!  Michael and I flew to NYC and Buffalo, NY.  And, I had my annual girls trip with my college besties!  They came to Dallas this year.  We stayed in our house.  We shopped and ate  very well, basically!  I can't seem to lose the weight I gained then!

 Piper had fun at swimming lessons with her cutie pie friend Nora!  Briggs didn't take lessons.  He needs them though!

 And Grandma took the cousins to the American Girl store for an afternoon of fun!  These are Piper's cousins, Victoria and Diana.  They live in Plano.

 Victoria wasn't excited in this picture! wink, wink!

And, as you notice.  Piper had to get glasses this summer!  She picked these blue beauties out all by herself! She has done great with wearing them, taking care of them, and keeping track of them.  With a little help from mama!  She only needs them when reading, working on school work, the computer...basically things up close!

May 2013

 In May, we took a trip to Fargo and got to see the cows!  Our kids love seeing animals.  Touching them is another story!

 Moms with Muffins at Piper's preschool.  She attended First Kids at FBC, Richardson for the 2012-2013 school year.  She went on Mondays and Wednesdays and never quite loved it.  She always had fun but never really wanted to go!  Below is a portrait she made of me!

 In May, we bed-trained Briggs.  He did awesome!  We started out with a mattress on the floor.  We only had a few incidents, but really it went rather smoothly!

 And, of course, Piper loved swimming just as much as last summer.  Briggs never warmed up to it!  He paced the pool mostly.  He never put his face in!

 This was on Memorial Day at Grandpa & Grandma Levy's house.  The lake was too low all summer to take the boat out.  Boo!  Piper was so excited about tubing this year.