Making our Home: BOYS CLOSET

Compared to alllll of the other renovations we have done, this one was very, very minor.  Even so I wanted to document it, since it was on our "project list" since we moved it.  Dawson and Carter share a room and a closet.  This has worked fine, but we knew they would eventually need more space in their closet.  Now that Carter and Dawson both are into picking out their own clothes, etc. we decided it was time. 
We took out everything that was previously in the closet--a shelf and a bar.
And replaced it with two upper and two lower bars. Shelves down the middle with two drawers at the bottom. and Shelves up top to hold out of season clothes.  I'm thrilled with how much better their closet looks now and how much more accessible it is to them!  It's a win-win.  The only downside to the project was that our only time to work on things is after the kids go to bed, but this was challenging since they sleep in the room where we needed to be working.  So we had them go to sleep in our room for a few nights while we did this project.  Then we would carry them to their beds (whew, they're getting heavy for that!).  But it worked, and we got it done!

Before

After

After

Carter's First Day of Preschool

My sweet, affectionate, comedian Carter started preschool.  Oh how I will miss having him with me 24/7, but thankfully his preschool is only 3 hours a day two mornings a week...but it's still an adjustment.  Carter absolutely loves it when I teach him and work with him on things at home, and he's always very focused and wants to get it just perfect.  I'm hoping he will love school because it will be fun with friends and learning lots of new things.

The first day of school shirt I made for Carter.

And his school bag.

First day of school pictures.

SO SO excited for his first day! LOOK at that smile!

Can you tell who is SO happy to have her brother back after his first day of school...love how's she's looking at him at our afterschool lunch picnic.

I missed my boy on his first day!!!

Cannot believe this little boy is big enough for preschool!

Dawson's First Day of First Grade

Dawson's first day of first grade has arrived! I still feel like we just made the drive home from Huntsville Hospital with him in the backseat beside me as I watched him sleep in the infant carseat.  How could that same blue eyed baby be this same big boy that I took to first grade...even just typing this makes me teary eyed!  Well, it is the same big boy that I took to 1st grade, and the reason he's not teary eyed is because he's ready thanks to all the experiences, learning, and growing he has done in the time between that first car ride home from the hospital until this car ride to first grade.  Dawson is SO ready for first grade.  He says he's excited to go back to school.  He enjoys learning, being with friends, and the structure of school.  He learned A LOT last year in kindergarten, and I know he will do well!

Here's his first day of school shirt I made!

And he had to have his own headphones for his school iPad, so I personalized these too!

Here he is in his class at Open House Meet the Teacher Night.

And first day of first grade pictures....

He requested to carry the same lunchbox again this year (yay!) because "I still am going to be a farmer so I'll carry the farm lunchbox."  But now that he's not in kindergarten anymore he can carry any backpack he likes.  He selected a shark backpack.

Think he's a little excited?!

We (me, Carter, Nora Kate, and Clayton) walked him in and all the way to his classroom door for the first three days...per his request!

When I picked him up from school he said, "Remember how we ALWAYS go to Sonic to get ice cream on the first day of school?!"  (Even though he's only had 1 first day of school before now, I loved that he was remembering our fun first day of kindergarten treat and wanted to do it again...so I obliged!)

I think this boy is going to have a great 1st grade year!

August 2016

***Well it is safe to say I have NEVER been this behind on posting our blogs before, but in my defense I was having major issues getting pictures onto the computer after our computer did an automatic update!  I did manage to *almost* all the typing/writing for each month of the details I'm certain I would have forgotten.  Now (thanks to Amazon prime photo) I have the photo saving issue solved, so prepare yourselves for about 16 blog posts being uploaded (finally) in the coming days/weeks as I have time to import the images!!  I'm glad to have finally figured this out!***

August was a sad month in that both big boys began school (more about this in another post), and so I started really missing having everyone home with me everyday to do whatever fun thing we chose for the day!  August was a hot month, so there were many days spent playing in water in the yard and driveway!

Bentley (who lives with Lolly and Pop) stayed with us for a week in August.  Dawson has always loved Bentley so much, so he was thrilled to have her here.  Of course, if there's water, Bentley has to be in it!

The kids are usually so good at helping me clean.  I'm not too sure about the wardrobes here-Dawson dressed normally, Carter in pajamas, and NK in a swim suit...but I love how Carter's actually vacuuming and NK is pretending to vacuum.

Our family has a rule that on Sundays everyone naps (or at least rests quietly in their rooms).  One Sunday in August, Dawson and Carter asked if they could both nap together in our bed.  I wasn't sure how this would go, but we let them.  When I went in to check on them they were sound asleep looking so peaceful that I just had to get a picture!

Nora Kate continues to love Clayton! She is always right with him!

Since school is back in session, that means time for lots more lunches with Dawson at school.  Here is his with one of his friends this year!

We did a little project this month to make the boys' shared closet more accessible to them by installing a closet organizer and two upper and two lower bars.  Now that Carter can look through all of his shirts when picking his outfits for the day we have had some interesting ones.  This is a tye-dye shirt I had made for Halloween (obviously), but Carter selected it the first day he could reach all of his clothes...in AUGUST!

Now that Carter's in school two mornings a week (he goes 8-11am), we have started a fun little routine of picnics at the park.  One of his two school days each week, we pack a lunch and have a picnic lunch across from his school.  Then we always stay to play on the playground!

Nora Kate is always SO happy to have her Carter back with her after school!

We had Nora Kate's birthday party the weekend after her actual birthday, so we had to do a little celebrating on her real day.  We celebrated with a cookie cake, a trip to the Air Bounce in foothills mall, and lots of play time!

We managed to sneak in one playdate with our friends the Taylors before both Carter and Charlie's preschool schedules sadly began conflicting too much for morning playdates.  Violet had just turned one and was VERY interested in Baby Clayton!

Look at those legs! I LOVE it!

August also meant a trip to Tumble Bears for Open Gym...

it was Clayton's first time there!

and we met up with our friend Harper there!

Carter loves the rope!

More afterschool park/picnic fun!

John took Dawson on a special date to play Laser Tag for the first time ever.

They both had a great time!

Every day when Dawson gets home from school, Clayton is SO happy to see Dawson...it's like he knows that he hasn't seen his biggest brother alllll day! Dawson's always so sweet to want to hold him when he gets home too!

I just love this family picture Carter drew.  I love the angle he put Clayton on my hip and he said he wrote "3 4 7" so I would know everyone's ages in the picture.

Always always always so happy.

This month meant time to make baby food!!

I have made 100% of Dawson, Carter, and Nora Kate's food and I intend to do the same for Clayton. 

First bite of sweet potato! He loves it!

Staying cool in the heat!

LOVE this one!

Carter and Nora Kate love dress up! Here she said she was getting married to Carter

Carter loves to practice writing his name.

In August on what felt like the hottest day EVER, John had committed to volunteer at the Asian Festival in Downtown Knoxville.  I thought it would be fun to take the kids, so mom and dad came with me.  The kids enjoyed building these little things out of wood...

Poor Mr. Baby (as Nora Kate calls him) was about a million degrees! There was not shade in the children's area nor was their a breeze.  We survived though and the kids had fun.

And we got to see John who was volunteering.

More outside pool play time!