Summer 2008 Greatest Hits

School starts for us on Monday.

On one hand, I can't believe how fast the summer has gone, but on the other hand it seems a long time ago that the kids got out of school!

We've had a really great summer. The boys spent a lot of time together and got along great! Looking back, it was packed with lots of fun, we reached some milestones and had our share of down time as well.

We took a lot of trips out of town....

Summer started with a wonderful trip to Hilton Head Island. We had such a great time with Nanny and Grandad there. I still dream about going back to that house. It was a wonderful way to start the summer.

We spent two weeks at my parents house in Michigan. We usually go for 3-3 1/2 weeks so the two we were there just flew by! And was action packed!

And most recently, we went to Florida for a long weekend. I don't recommend Florida in July, but we still had a great time!

And in between trips, we had all sorts of fun activities.

We took two trips to see the Braves play. Because baseball is summer after all...

Because Georgia in the summer is hot, we spent lots of time at the pool and at the gym or going to the free summer movies at our local Regal movie theater.

We picked blueberries, made forts, had a vegetarian experiment, and played a lot -- not just video games but lots of pretend play too!

But, summer wasn't all fun and games. We had a few major milestones as well....

Sam is very independent -- when I'm not around. When I'm around, he wants me to everything for him. It gets quite tiring. This summer we worked on him doing things by himself even though I'm there. He's started dressing himself -- he gets his clothes backwards more often than not but at least he's doing it!

He's also started going potty without me (woo hoo!!!). Of course I had to bribe him and tell him NO PS2 games if he can't go potty by himself. This worked a charm!

We also rearranged our seating at the table so Sam is in a "big boy seat" now next to Mom -- not stuck between Mom and Dad at the end of the table.

We upgraded our play room and tossed the sippy cups!

I can't believe School starts on Monday. My little boy is going into second grade! We met his teacher yesterday. She seems really nice.

He's got some really nice kids in his class that we know from kindergarten, first grade, sports, ALP (his gifted class) and just around the neighborhood. There are also some new kids in his class so he'll get to make new friends.


Josh has already targeted one child to be his "best friend this year." I'm not sure if I should warn the child or not... Luckily, he's picked a nice boy for his future "best friend."

Sam starts pre-k3 (that's pre-school for 3 year olds) in 2 weeks. He'll be going 4 days a week for 4 hours. He's grown so much this summer too. He's always been a good communicator, but his language has just taken off. His coordination has gotten much better (he's not falling down as much).

And he's grown! It's just amazing! I had to bring him to the store yesterday to get new shoes. My mom just bought him a really nice pair in June and they are already 2 sizes too small! I paid a small fortune for these at Stride Rite so hopefully they will last more than 8 weeks!

So here's to a wonderful summer that is coming to a close and to moving forward to new friends, new teachers and new fun times!