final days of summer

tomorrow is the first day of school. seriously! although i've been back in my classroom working, working, working almost every day for the past two weeks.

i may have skipped out on a couple of treat tuesdays and craft thursdays, but we have tried to make the last two weeks a little fun.

we did some back to school shopping. who doesn't love that?! oh, wait. my boys don't.


grouchy shopper, 20% off. not much of a bargain if you ask me.


don't be fooled by their sweet smiles!


my best shopping buddy!

this year we resisted buying unnecessary clothes, just because it's back to school time. it really was hard. my mind tells me that my kids need to have new clothes for going back to school, when in reality they don't. i know this, because i inventoried all of their clothes. they took everything out of their dressers and piled them onto the the living room floor. we pulled out the too small and too holey items. i made a list of what they have and what they needed. they didn't need much.

we are also re-using the same lunch bags and only bought one new backpack.

after our shopping bonanza, we had a little end of summer vacation bbq and swim party. bqq-ing and swimming are family favorites around here.


a back to school gift...


matching rainbow tie-dyed shirts!

the boys have learned a lot of new tricks in the pool this summer. honestly, i have to hold my breath sometimes watching them. being a mom to wild and crazy boys can be scary!!












this is a little more my pace :)






this too :)

tomorrow will be a totally different set of pictures. backpacks, lunch bags, only slightly stained clothing (vs. heavily stained... ha!), combed hair, brushed teeth.

5th grade and 2nd grade, ready or not, here we come!!

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and as promised, here is nattie and her birthday cupcake.


tired and unusually cranky


oh, what's that???


going in for the finger poke


forget finger pokes, she is going for a big bite!


and another


and another


and ANOTHER! mmmm!!!


almost finished


all done!

:)