First day of school 2017

I have not added anything to the blog in a long time. I wanted to post some of the photos overloaded on my phone, so I added this post and 3 others to try and catch up. 

Due to hurricane Harvey, the kids started school several weeks late. Miles is no longer at the elementary school. He has moved to Hamilton Middle and is in 6th grade. Avery is still at Moore and is in 2nd grade. 

Our elementary got flooded, suffering significant damage and is now being refinished in a project that will take almost a year. Avery and all the other Moore students have been moved to an elementary school just a few minutes farther away. 

The empty school had recently been vacated after they built a brand new school to replace it and a speciality high school program was supposed to take over the facility. Instead that has all been postponed for a year while Moore is being rebuilt and the school is being used by the Moore students. 

The teachers and the community really came together after the flood to get everything ready as quickly as possible and to provide supplies and everything for all the students. People and organizations from all over the country were donating to help get the school open and get the students back to class. It was truly amazing. In the end they had so many donated books and supplies, they were able to give the extras away to other less fortunate schools. 

Avery - 2nd grade and Miles - 6th grade:

Avery's Birthday

Avery wanted to go out to a fancy dinner for her birthday, so Chris asked her if she wanted to go on a "daddy/ daughter" date. She was so excited. She got all dressed up. They went to Peli Peli a south African restaurant here in town. She ordered off the adult menu and even had a fancy, fruity juice drink. Chris said she had a great night. 

Picture update 10/2017

It's been a really long time since I've updated pictures, not including the summer swim ones from the previous post, but these are the random ones I pulled from my phone. 

Celebrating our Anniversary

Wearing my wedding dress

Miles likes to have his hair colored. He's done red, but he prefers blond highlights. He had the end of school coming up and needed a touch up.

Graduation from 5th grade - awards ceremony:

Miles and his best friend:

5th grade teacher Ms. Landrum:

Avery with her awards at the class party:

Avery's teacher Ms. Coleman:

1st grade class:

Avery with our good friend Ms. Jennifer who works at Moore:

Breakfast at Season's Harvest:

Chris' job has "Bring Your Child to Work" day, once a year. For all the things HP isn't, they definitely do this one event really well. Basically it's a whole day of events planned out and the kids and parents move from one area to the next getting to play different games or participate in some sort of  activity. They get little goody bags, have lunch catered, get t-shirts and lanyards, see a movie, and have lots of fun. The kids love it:

Summer pool fun with friends:

Avery wanted her hair cut before school, which makes me so happy cause it looks very cute short but it is also easy for her to take care of:

 Avery at Open House night with her new teacher, Ms. Behren's:

Avery was playing with one of her games, a kind of balancing game with metal rods, when her creativity took over. She decided to make a "sculpture" and then wanted me to send it to Auntie Steff since she is an artist too. She got my phone, took a picture and then wanted a selfie to go along with it:

Fleet has a special day each summer where they do a ninja warrior course in the water. Avery and Miles both did it this year. 

Avery and Miles with 2 of the 3 triplets (friends from Fleet Swim team):

Avery wanted a Hermione outfit for her American Girl doll for her birthday:

More pool fun, trying to sneak in those last days before the water gets too cold. Although Texas refuses to cool off this year. We are still waiting for fall:

Summer Swim

These are in no particular order. The end of season pictures are mixed in with the beginning. 

The kids both participated in summer swim team this past summer. Avery did it the year before and we convinced Miles to try it this year. Avery swam for our neighborhood team last summer, but this year we went with friends and swam at another neighborhood. They were Champions Park Stars. It was a great team and lots of Avery's friends from her club team, Fleet, swam there as well. 

A lot of the pictures were taken between races. You set up your tent and blankets on the grass around the pool and melt in the Texas heat while you wait for the next race to be called. The kids amuse themselves with snacks and games and stay pretty cool going in and out of the water for their races. 

Outside of the heat, it's a great time. The kids really bond with friends, learn and fine tune different strokes and racing skills at the 5 day a week practices, and get great exercise starting right at the beginning of their summer. In fact the first meet is usually at the end of May, while school is not out yet, and it can be 50-60 degrees still at 7am and although it's short lived, it's quite chilly. They definitely warm up fast though.

Avery with one of her medals:

This is a funny picture. It was too hard to take the kids to 2 different age group practices 5 days a week, so Avery went to Miles' since she was the stronger swimmer. It was an age 10 and up practice so there were a lot of teenagers there. If you look closely you'll see tiny Avery in with all these huge teens. She never seemed intimidated and kept up really well. 

Miles actually won a medal (3rd place breast stroke) at the Championships meet. He stopped and picked it up on his way to soccer.