2nd Half of August

8/17--Poor Kenna isn't feeling well. I was sick the last two days and now she is, with a fever.

Poor baby didn't eat today and her underarm temp was 101.6 as of 20 min. ago. :( She's not puking or anything, just complained about a little bit of sore throat earlier today. She woke up crying an hour ago and we finally got her to take some Motrin, so hopefully she will sleep through the rest of the night. Guess I'll see how she feels tomorrow. At least she drank some water today and just a bit ago.

8/18--Makenna has just a slight fever today and has eaten breakfast and lunch. :)

I don't know if he's spoiled or tortured. 😆

8/19--Yummy lunch at Outback Steakhouse! The ribeye was delish!

This handsome, cool kid is 16 years old!!! The most incredibly cute toddler has turned into quite an awesome young man that I am so proud of and love so much. He's still my little Juddy Wuddy. I can't believe Kiki Tassin Tolman has a 16yo! I can't wait to hear about his first date! ;) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUDSON!!!!!! 🎂🎉🎈

Another lost tooth! I knew it had been loose but it seemed to all of the sudden be hanging by a thread today. She started crying when it bled a tiny bit after she brushed her teeth for bedtime. We didn't want it to come out while she was sleeping, so Jared just barely pulled it to get it out. She was not happy at all, mostly because of the blood. It took a while to get her to smile again after she put the tooth in her tooth fairy pocket. More snaggles in her cute smile! :)

8/20--She found her money from the tooth fairy! What a cute little snaggle tooth!

8/21--So Avery wants to do rhythmic gymnastics after seeing it on the Olympics today when they were doing the hoops. She's serious! Also, the girls are in the tub right now and I heard Avery yelling, "Synchronized, synchronized, synchronized!" Makenna told me they were practicing their synchronized swimming and Avery was putting her face underwater while pointing her leg up in the air, ha ha! Can you tell we've watched synchronized swimming? :D Oh, and Avery was bridging across the tub earlier so Makenna could swim under her. Funny kids!

8/22--5 years ago today: the adoption finalization!

I'm having Olympics withdrawals but at least my house is getting back to normal. Practically all I did the past 2 weeks was watch the Olympics and my housework was put on the back burner. :P

8/23--Kindergarten assessments today! Everyone pray that Avery will do well so she won't have to go an hour earlier every day (for Double Dose, where the kids who need extra help go an our before all the other kids). That girl is hard (for me) to teach! I'm not worried about Makenna at all. She knows everything. :)
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All smiles after their kindergarten assessments. The school didn't receive the funding to do Double Dose this year so at least I know Avery won't have to do that, ha ha. The teacher said she did well, anyway. :)

8/23--The twins loved having Jennifer Miller stay with us for a week while she was between apartments. Makenna keeps asking when she's coming back. :)

Happy Birthday, Maw-maw! We love you and miss you!!

We picked TONS of peaches from our tree tonight and rewarded ourselves with peaches and cream. Yum!

I'm in for a loooooooooooong day of canning tomorrow!!! This all came from our peach tree and garden! 15 cucumbers!

8/24--Woke up with a sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, and ear aches but I HAVE to can all these peaches today, which I already wasn't looking forward to. :P Oh, and my eyes are SO itchy!

I do not enjoy canning. Wondering if it's worth it, ha ha!

Makenna said this peach looked like a bum. Ha ha!

8/26--Fun at the school carnival last night! We had the kindergarten open house first, where we finally found out that they'll be in the morning class and who their teacher is (they start on Monday!).

8/27--We spent all day Saturday up at Grandpa's. The twins and I played while Jared and his sister, mom, brother, and brother's girlfriend chopped up and loaded wood on the property. [I didn't help because, when I helped do the same thing a few of weeks ago, it killed my back.] We had a weenie roast before heading home and stopped and picked up Oreo, our new kitten! We didn't get home until after 11 and it was almost midnight before the girls went to bed.

The Green Bomb

 

Playing hide and seek with Jason's girlfriend, Mikan:

That's a cattail she's holding; they were obsessed and ended up bringing 11 of them home!

 

8/29--Avery was a tad bit slow getting up this morning but they were both excited to get ready for school. I made banana/cinnamon pancakes with walnuts on top for them. We were ready in time to take photos before the bus came but I was still in the process of taking photos when it pulled up--I had to rip their "grow with me" shirts off and run them across the street. How nice is it that the bus stops right across the street from us?! So lucky! :D

They were so excited to ride the bus--they've waited to be able to do it for several years, ha ha. They got right on and were barely worried about saying goodbye to me. I hopped in my car after they left on the bus and went to the school to wait for them. I was at one end of the sidewalk and the bus dropped them off at the other end. I was too far away to make sure they went the right way, so Makenna just hopped off and followed all the older kids to the play area at the back of the school! Avery, on the other had, got off the bus and just stood there, ha ha! I went and got her and took her to the kindergarten play area, then had to walk all the way around the school and find Makenna in the sea of older kids. If I hadn't been there, I wonder how long it would have taken the school to realize she went to the wrong place?!

They got to play on the playground for a few minutes, then they went and lined up with their class to go into their room. The teachers said goodbye to the parents and the kids filed into the room (so I wasn't able to go inside and take the traditional photos of them at their desks). They weren't scared for me to leave in the least bit and happily went right into class. I, on the other hand, teared up a tiny bit on my way to the car. I can't believe my babies are in school already!!! I felt better once I was shopping by myself, though, ha ha ha!!

They were all smiles when they got home. They LOVED it, YAY!!!! The bus was about 15 min. later than it should have been and I was getting a little worried but it was all good. :)

Grow with me shirt I made; I'll take a photo of them in their shirt every first day of school until their senior year. I will also add their hand print each year--I need to do that some time this week!

"THE BUS!!!" I had to tear those shirts off of them and run them across the street to catch the bus, ha ha. I'm so glad it stops right across the street! :D

One of the other little girls did not want to leave her mommy today. My girls just went right past her to get on the bus before I realized what was happening. They were just so excited to finally be able to ride a school bus!

So happy to be on the bus! They've been dreaming of it for years! 

I put their monograms on their backpacks

They got to play for a few minutes before the bell rang:

After the bell rang, they went and lined up with their class to go into their room

The teachers said goodbye to the parents and the kids filed into the room (so I wasn't able to go inside and take the traditional photos of them at their desks)

After school

Oreo! I can't handle his cuteness!! We picked him up Sat. night. Whiskers is not a fan, ha ha!

8/30--Day 2, still excited. Their bff, Bailey, missed the bus yesterday but rode with them today. :)

Just chillin' with Oreo that night:

8/31--Best buds already. Whiskers spent Sunday and Monday growling, hissing, and pawing at Oreo if he got within 2 feet of him. But yesterday morning they started playing together and Whiskers was bathing Oreo by the end of last night. 🐺❤

I'm so in love with this little guy. He loves to climb up and sleep on my shoulder while I'm watching TV.