Flag Football Anyone?

We have so far been a soccer family...but we are changing it up this fall! The team Houston plays soccer with has decided that they want to try out flag football! At first I just knew that they wouldn't have the slightest clue or care about the game of football...but was I wrong! The boys get the game...almost like they are born wired to play! They are passionate about it...but as the season has worn on...we seem to be the youngest and smallest team, which stinks! But our boys have played like CHAMPS!! (Oh, they are too cute running around with those huge mouth guards in their mouths!) Jackson has really enjoyed coaching Houston!

ice cream after Cole & Ava's 1st day of school

We met Angie and Dax for ice cream after the kids first day of school...we had so much fun!

Ava's first day of school...

Ava too was very excited about the first day of school! She loves her teachers (Cole's teachers from last year...they are precious and we are so glad we get to have them another year!). We are going to have a great year!

Cole's 1st day of school...

Cole was so excited for his first day of Pre-K! This is such a switch from last year...last year was a year of adjusting to being away from Mom. After school we had ice cream with our sweet friend, Dax! He is at our school. They were so cute!

Houston's 1st day of 1st grade!!!

I can't believe my baby is in the first grade! I am one of his homeroom mom's and I LOVE it! We love his teacher and Houston loves her too...loves getting a recess everyday, eating lunch with his friends and getting to go to P.E. My friend Amy gave me the great idea of making "back-to-school cones" for my kids...so I did for their first day of school! I packed it with some fun little gifts and we made a special breakfast (butterflies out of biscuits..didn't get a pic though). Oh, I don't have any pictures of Houston in front of his school on the first day...we get out of the van, I have my camera in hand and when we get to the steps to walk in, I ask him to get right in front of the steps so that I can take a picture of him on the first day of school...just like all of the other kids and parents around us! He looked at me in all seriousness and said, "Mom, no way! That is embarrassing!" Man, I thought I still had a few years left before I heard that! Guess not with this child! After I picked him up from his first day of school, we stopped at Starbucks for some hot chocolate...it was chilly that day.

Pelican Bay

We spent a LOT of our summer at Pelican Bay! We had a great time and got great tans. Ava learned to swim under water all by herself. Cole does an AWESOME cannon ball off of the diving board and Houston learned to dive. They have a lot of other tricks too...it was awesome to watch them!

The Perfect Morning for Golf

Again, I am going back to this summer...All the boys got new golf clubs and were itching to go golfing, so Ava and I tagged along...probably will be the last time too! You can see in one of these picks that Ava didn't like the bugs and dirt on the green...she decided to clean it with a wipee...it was the cutest thing ever!

Blackberry Pickin'

I know I am going way back, but this summer we went blackberry picking with two of my little cousins, Tyler and Jacob. They came and stayed a couple of days with us. We all had so much fun picking blackberries...we will definitely be back next summer!!

More time by the pool...

More smiles by the pool!

Date Night

We traded off and did a date night! Jackson and I went in to Sea Side and checked out their great shopping, had ice cream, walked the beach and ended the night with drinks on the beach! It doesn't get much better than that! Next time we will be visiting Sea Side more...it was great!

Lizard Hunting!!

Lizard hunting is great in Florida...well, it was right by our house we stayed in! The kids had a BLAST looking for lizards. When we were pulling away from the house leaving to come home, Houston got really sad and said he is really going to miss lizard hunting...and asked if we could lizard hunt at home. Jackson and I looked at each other and said, "Sure Baby! We can lizard hunt when we get home!" But we both knew as we looked at each other that it would be near impossible to go lizard hunting at home. We have yet to see one since we came back!!

Our Backyard Pool

The house we rented had a GREAT pool in the backyard...we spent a lot of hours in it and made some priceless memories!!

The Crab Trap

Our first night in Destin, started our trip off with dinner at the Crab Trap. It is very kid friendly (as long as your kids haven't spent 12 hours in the car and are delirious!) but we had a great time! It is right on the beach...beautiful!