First Day of School in TX

It was a big day in the Brower house.  First day of school for both boys....Kindergarten for this one!

How can that be?!

Our traditional first day pics....just in TX. 

A big 3rd Grader over here. 

Made them take a picture in front of the school sign.  

I would say they were not happy about that. 

First time ever being at the same school. 

We dropped the Kindergarteners off in the cafeteria with their teacher.  The teacher led the class to their room when it was ready, so all the Moms could say goodbye a bit easier.  Some little guys were so sad, but this one was like "see ya".  

They had a Tears and Cheers in the library for the Kindergarten parents.  I went and almost walked right out after I didn't know anyone, but a sweet Mom grabbed me to chat.  I was fine after that.   Met a few Moms and learned a bit about the school.  It was really nice. 

They LOVED Day 1 of school.  They both met friends right away and LOVE their teachers. Like I mentioned in the last post, they both got really great teachers.  It was obvious right away. It sounds like most of these teachers stay forever once they get into Shady Grove....just like Tara Oaks.  We have been very impressed.  

We were a bit more worried about Mason since he is in 3rd grade and was nervous himself.  Well when he was walking down the hallway to his classroom, his teacher saw him and said "oh its cute little Mason from Tennessee".  A little boy in his class heard that and immediately asked Mason if he was new, then asked if he wanted to be his friend.  He sat with him in the cafeteria, played with him at recess and introduced him to all of his friends, and on and on.  What a blessing.  That was all Mason needed.  They have been buds everyday after that too.  He has helped Mason meet all the kiddos in 3rd grade. 

You better believe next year when school is starting, I will remind both boys to make sure no one is new in their class.  And if so, take them under their wing and show them around.  Something so small can change someones entire school year around. 

Excited about Day 2.  

Boys went to school, so Mom and I finished all the painting we could do and ATE. 

The house needed a lot of paint.  Problem was, 80% of the walls were wayyyyyyy too high for us to paint.  We did what we could and finally hired someone to do the rest. 

Got the tall foyer painted. 

And this red in the dining room.  Two of the walls were really high in here. 

I went with a navy, which I had to talk myself into....but I LOVE it.  

My favorite room in the house. 

Mom and I ate more.....haha

Mom had to go home Saturday morning, so we all decided to go to a Rangers game Friday night. 

None of us had ever been to this stadium before (John had only been in the old one).  The Boys and Mickey Mouse had never been to a major league game period.  

It was hot at the beginning but the sun finally went down soon after. 

It started to fill up more once the sun went down.  

Smart people. 

Spoiled rotten.  School has been tough on him.  He is so tired.  I will say by Friday, he was exhausted.  But don't worry, Mom was there to hold this 6 year old like a baby and scratch his back.  Ha. 

It is just so hot here.  You walk to your car and you will be sweating.  

Every.  Single.  Day.  

Fun family night. 

And the Rangers won.  

They turned a triple play the night before which is crazy.  Just missed it. 

It was late so we watched the fireworks as we walked to the car. 

Had to pull them out of bed to drop Mickey Mouse off at the airport....and yes he was in her bed.  

Got this bad boy up and running Saturday. 

After all of our hard work Saturday morning, we decided to take it easy and swim at the pool that afternoon.  Se met some neighbors/kids.  It was a fun day. 

Starting to feel like home. 

This week I finished up painting.  The office has no light oddly enough.  (think it was a sitting room) I decided to use a really light color to brighten it up. 

Looks much better. 

I had Kindergarten orientation this week.  Brody is a Roy's Rock-N-Roller and his favorite thing about school is recess.  =)

Mason's teachers use an app to update with pictures throughout the day.  He is just loving school.  They are using so many fun games to learn and he LOVES it. 

I went to Trader Joe's for the first time this week.  

Talk about excited.  

We decided to have a family movie night last night and watched Peter Rabbit.  

It was actually really good.  

We have a back to school bash tonight at the school the boys are looking forward to.  We also got invited to another 3rd grade boy's birthday party a few houses down.  The Mom spotted me in carpool line and introduced herself.  It is going to be a water slide with a lot of the neighbors, so we are hoping to meet some people in the hood so the boys can play with the other kiddos.

Happy Friday!

We are Texans (and we have internet)

We left bright and early the Sunday before last.  

Said our goodbyes and loaded up the circus. 

 Everyone did really well on the ride...including Emma. 

 Finally started to see signs to Dallas. 

We got to the house and showed Mom and the boys, but furniture didn't arrive until Monday.  We spent the night in a hotel the first night. 

Spoiler alert : Emma slept in the hotel and no one knew.  

She didn't make a peep. 

John took the boys swimming while Mom and I bought paint.

Monday was long with the movers.  A bit overwhelming with all the boxes and a completely different house.  Like there is no attic...I had lots in our attic in Collierville.  It is taking time, but we are getting it put away!  I like everything done right away, so this stuff is never fun for me!

John tried to take the kids to the neighborhood swimming pool after a long day of unpacking Tuesday.  Of course we had no key at this point, so couldn't get in.  We decided to take the boys on the trails in the neighborhood instead. 

Learned our lesson and got the pool key the next morning.  After another long day, we took the kids down there.  There is a pool and a playground right there together. 

And I guess since it is August and 100 degrees out, no one was out.  

We had it all to ourselves. 

Mason took this picture of Brody and the house.  

Was very proud of himself. 

The living room alone had about 6 colors of dark paint.  It was rough.  These TX houses all have textured walls too....it has been a joy to paint.  Lol. 

Well we finally had somewhere to go Thursday.  It was Meet the Teacher.  The school was great in getting all of our information via email so the boys would be assigned to a teacher by this night. 

They were nervous, but did great. 

It is a little bit smaller of a school than TOES (it also only goes to 4th grade).  They both seem to have gotten really good teachers and we felt so good about it walking out of there.  It could not have gone better.  

After meet the teacher, we rode bikes in the cove. 

Mom and I had decided to get the boys' school supplies Friday.  Plus, they needed to have a fun day outside of the house.  Unpacking/painting/no internet is NOT a good combo for kids.  Unfortunately I couldn't order a box because of timing.  And let me tell you, I would never do that again unless of course we can't.  I had to order two items on Amazon after searching several stores.  

We ventured out past Keller and saw a few other areas.  You can drive around for ten minutes and end up in about 4-5 different burbs.  Kids wanted Cici's, so we got Cici's.  

They say it never rains here and we are going to melt.  And I will tell you....that sun is HOT.  If it comes through your windows in the house, you are in trouble.  It is HOT.  But starting Friday it began raining....and it hasn't stopped.  All the people around here are so excited for all this rain, but we are not around here.  Ha.  It looks like it will dry up today. 

Friday night we all went to Hard 8 BBQ.  I had several patients recommend it.  It was really good.  You pick your meat off the big smoker and then go inside to pick sides.  Really different.  

It was in Roanoke which has the cutest little main street.  We stopped in the ice-cream/soda shop after for a treat. 

We had planned to put up the paintbrushes/boxes and get sucked into every tourist trap in Fort Worth. 

We started at the Stockyards.  They do the cattle thing everyday at 11:30 and 4pm, so we went that morning.  It had been raining and would drizzle off and on.  It was about 80 degrees.  Crazy.  We would rather have that than 115 degree weather. 

It was worth the $5. 

They have a gun show after the cattle come through....it was loud. 

John had been to Joe T. Garcia's before and said we had to go since we were down there.  It is basically all outdoors, so unfortunate if it starts raining like it did.....we all got pretty wet, but it was still good. That place is HUGE and been around since the 30's!

Eating in the rain. 

We walked around downtown a bit after the rain let up.  They have these beautiful water gardens right in the middle of downtown.  They were gorgeous.  

The kids couldn't believe it. 

We also say the JFK tribute. 

 Saturday night, John found an arcade in Keller with $15 all you can play.....probably shouldnt have gone there the first week we were here.....my kids love a good arcade. 

 We have had a great first week and a half here.  Mom and I have done TONS of work around the house.  We wake up and start.  But I think we have painted as much as we can for now....this is the tallest house and there are several walls we could only reach if we were on stilts on a ladder.  I hired someone yesterday to finish up the job.  

School starts tomorrow.  

They have 7:55am start time, so these kids are about to have a RUDE awakening!