Aug / Sept

 Things are starting to get back to normal around here.  Our kids went back to school at the beginning of August and haven't really had any issues.  They wear their face masks every day.  Rachel is in 8th grade and Jackson in 5th - both of their last years at their current schools.  

This was the first day of school.

This was another morning when we tried to do a different kind of braid on her hair.

Lucy got a major haircut one Saturday...she was so much shorter!

Jackson has started back to playing soccer.  He and Dax are on the same team again this year. He didn't want to take his picture before the game...

Swim started back for Rachel and she has participated in two meets so far!

This was the before and after on the day Rachel got her braces off after two years.  She was so excited to be able to chew gum again!

Jackson is back to Cub Scouts...

Last week the kids were out on Fall Break.  They hung around most of the days but Friday went to Zoo Atlanta with Grandmama and Granddaddy.

Rachel recreated this picture in front of the flamingos from many years ago.  So cute!

And last weekend we celebrated my birthday.  We went out with the family for dinner Saturday night and then Michael and I went out with a couple of friends on Sunday night.  No pictures from that one though...

July 2020

Out of all of the months lately, July seemed to go pretty fast.  We are still continuing to do a little more than before, but just trying our best to be careful with what we do.  We've had a lot of pool time.  I've continued to go into work once or twice a week and officially started back the last week of July.  The 4th of July festivities were all cancelled, except for the fireworks, but we didn't go to those this year.  Rachel spray painted stars in our yard though so that was very festive!

Rachel made a cake for Michael and he tried to blow out the candles... 

Jackson, his buddy Dax, and all the girls trying to get on the float...during one of the times we were at the pool...

Jackson has spent many of his afternoons over at Dax's house this summer...they live at the end of our street and have a pond/creek in their backyard.  One of the times, they went fishing with Dax's dad.  They focused on letting Jackson do it since it was his first time down there...and he caught a big one!  Jackson was proud!

 Jackson turned ten towards the end of the month!  Double digits!  This wasn't his year for a friend party so we did a few things as a family.  The first picture is him in front of a You Tube Happy Birthday video that he loves.  

Then we had breakfast at Waffle House and went to Andretti Speed Lab to ride go-carts and play in the arcade.  

And he chose sushi for dinner!  This wasn't all for him - thankfully!

Sometime over the summer, we got a loft bed from a friend in the neighborhood and put it in Jackson's room.  He loves sleeping up high.  For his birthday, we got him this hammock to hang underneath.  

And the last week of July, the day after his birthday, he was lucky enough to go with his friend Dax, and his family, down to their condo at the beach in Florida.  Dax has never taken a friend before so this was a treat for both of them.  They did a lot of bike riding, catching fish, riding boogie boards, etc.  

He had a good time!  He was very tired when he got home though and only had one day before starting back to school!  

I think I mentioned before that Rachel was going to have to get a brace for her scoliosis.  That was an all summer process, but finally, 4 days before school started, she got it.  She had two weeks to work up to the full 18 hours a day.  I know it's been a huge deal for her but overall, she has done so good and has been so positive with it all.  She has already gotten used to sleeping with it on and tomorrow, she'll wear it to school for the first time (she didn't wear it to school the first week).  She's made it 18 hours straight both days this weekend and has been fine.  So now, we're just hoping people are kind at school.  If that's not a big deal, then I think the rest will be okay!  Here's a picture of her in the brace.