senior year

Senior Sunrise is a fun tradition schools have started in the last few years.  The senior class gathers for sunrise close to the start of school year to kick off the start of the year. 

Our school does a staggered start for different grades.  The seniors didn't start school until Tuesday, but they met for sunrise on Monday.  

I sent Bryce with two dozen donuts to help ease the pain of getting up so early!

After senior sunrise, Bryce and the senior baseball players headed over to a local elementary school to welcome kindergarteners and walk them to class for their first day of school.  

Tuesday was Bryce's turn to head back to school. 

I can't believe he's a senior!

Another fun senior tradition is getting a child's backpack with characters or a design that reminds you of your childhood.  Bryce went with Cars/Lightning McQueen.  

And not to be left out, Emmy went to a sweet sixteen party on Saturday night with her gym friends.  Their teammate who turned 16 stopped doing gym this season, but they're all close friends and get together when they can.

emmy is in high school

We sent Emmy to high school on Monday! It's crazy that we're here.  She was not thrilled that Bryce's school district had another week of summer.  

We had the first round of Bryce's senior pictures this week. We took these on the baseball field since baseball has been such a constant in Bryce's life since he was 4. The rainbow as a backdrop was an added bonus. 

I kicked my exercise and diet into high gear this summer. I've lost 20 pounds!!

This little girl is the sweetest. 

Bryce and Avery saw Chris Stapleton on Wednesday night. 

We took Emmy and a friend to dinner on Friday night.  See below.  After dinner, they decided to go frog giggin' and then had a sleepover.  She doesn't have gym on Friday nights this year so she's loving having a high school social life.  

Sunset at dinner. 

Bryce and his buddy went to dinner with their girlfriends on Friday night.  I always appreciate any pictures he sends. 

Senior year kicks off tomorrow.  Bryce doesn't start until Tuesday, but he'll be at school for lots of different things tomorrow.  Jason and I went to school today to decorate his parking spot.  We were probably out of our league compared to some parents, but we did well.  We did a baseball diamond, volleyball net, and all the important senior year things.   

emmy starts school tomorrow

We celebrated MeMa's 70th birthday this week.  

Her birthday was on Thursday, but Tuesday was the best day to get our whole crew together.  

Emmy had freshman open house on Thursday.  These sweet girls have been friends since 6th grade.  I can't believe they're starting high school. 

Jason and Bryce were invited to go offshore fishing with friends in Hatteras on Thursday.  They caught a few, but not as great as some of the days that boat had recently.  

We had one last family meal on Friday night before we sent Chase, the first cousin, off to college on Saturday. 

We headed to our local horse track on Saturday for wiener dog racing.  

We heard about the races last year but couldn't go.  We wanted to enter Callie this year but somehow missed the deadline even though I stalked the website.  We hope to enter her next year.    

We had dinner at Nana's tonight and went on a golf cart ride to wrap up Emmy's summer vacation.  She's not excited about starting school a week before Bryce.  

summer is winding down

Emmy goes to youth group with friends from school and they do one last summer event called Tribal Wars.  It kicked off this Wednesday night with color wars.   

Bryce went to Virginia Tech night with his buddies at the new CarMax Park where the Richmond Flying Squirrels play.  

Jason had a golf weekend with our school friends this weekend.  There are 8 guys, and they thought everyone was going to make it, but they were missing one.  Bryce and another son got to play on Friday since they were missing two guys. 

My neighbor and I went to see Leanne Morgan on Friday night and she was hilarious.  

The guys had a second round of golf on Saturday and were just missing the one this time.  They played again on Sunday too.  They had a great weekend catching up.  

beach week #2, my birthday and our anniversary

This second beach week came about because Emmy got invited to go with friends this week.  When she was asking if she could go, she was worried about missing my birthday.  I told her she was fine to miss but then decided if she was going to be at the beach on my birthday then I should also be at the beach on my birthday.  Thus, a trip was born!  We picked her up for my birthday breakfast and dinner. We got acai bowls at The Spot and they were so good. 

Birthday dinner pictures. 

Vacations are looking a lot different as the kids get older.  We enjoyed having Avery along for the week.

We're going to have some senior pictures taken of Bryce locally, but I really wanted a beach picture of him.  I was pleased how this turned out. 

These two had lots of bonding time. They threw the football, played beach putt putt, bocce ball, and even fished in Jason's kayak.  

We missed Emmy but she was having the time of her life with her friends. 

The two sisters each got to invite a friend to the beach, and I love that they all go to the gym together.  

They enjoyed the ropes course. 

Matching shirts 

They had a bon fire with smores on the beach. 

I love that they had this week together. 

My pretty girl. 

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary.  We've celebrated anniversaries with dinner dates, solo trips and family trips.  Today we celebrated at the baseball field.  Bryce played at Longwood today, so we hiked the High Bridge Trail and went to a nice lunch between games.