Nashville Weekend (Part 2)

Saturday morning, we woke up to sweet little voices in the next bed over, because really what’s more fun than waking up next to your brother or sister?

We eventually got out of our pajamas and headed to the breakfast buffet in the hotel and decided to spend the day hanging out around town.

We hit up the mall first for some back to school shopping, then we went to lunch at The Food Company, where we ate our farmraised organic non-GMO food inside a greenhouse! Gotta love Nashville!

After lunch we headed to the park and the Parthenon. In the 5 or so years Nick lived in Nashville, he never actually went in the Parthenon. It was definitely cool, and the MASSIVE statue of Athena blew us away! So fun!

When we got back to the room, we found the Winnies had made themselves comfortable in our absence.

By this point, the kids were pretty hot, and really wondering how much more walking they were going to be doing, in other words ready for the pool, but due to aforementioned college coeds, atmosphere of smoke, alcohol, suntan lotion, and Lord knows what else, that wasn’t happening, so we picked the lesser of two evils… The shower (GROSS, I know, but what can you do?!)

After we got cleaned up (lots of soap for these two!), we went downtown to eat and walk around some more. I think everybody and their mama was either bachelorette partying, out for a concert, sporting event or something, because PEOPLE… Everywhere!

We found a Mexican place that only had a 30 minute wait, then went down to the pedestrian bridge

Nashville at dusk was quite beautiful I must say!

Sunday morning, we got up and out in time to go to the best breakfast place ever Monell’s. Hello, yum! Z at 2 biscuits, 2 cinnamon rolls, and a small pile of fried chicken! Lu ate great too, and the rest of us, well, the motto of the restaurant is “I’ve eaten and I can’t get up” and now I get that.

It was such a fun weekend with Nana and Tata and the perfect getaway before school starting the next week!

Nashville Weekend (Part 1)

Our last weekend before school started, we packed up the car (again) and headed North (again). This time we met Nana and Tata in Nashville. The trip was pretty spontaneous and came about because Nick had an opportunity to check something big off the proverbial bucket list, seeing Counting Crows in concert!

We arrived at the hotel around lunchtime, and the kids were pretty excited.

What’s more fun to a kid than a hotel room?!

We met up for lunch on Friday, then walked around Vandy’s campus, which is something we always do when we go to Nashville, however doing it the weekend before Z started kindergarten did seem to take on a special meaning, but let’s not get into that.

Then we walked over to the dragon park, and they played while Nana and I perused the shops.

I love love this picture, it is so them!

We got back and the kids had some pool time. We were so glad we got it in on Friday because the rest of the weekend the pool was taken over by college coeds straight out of MTV Spring Break! Yikes!

Friday night, the kiddos and Nana and Tata went across the street for dinner, and we took off to the new amphitheater in Downtown Nashville for the concert!

The venue was so so cool, and the weather was PERFECT!

Not sure if you can tell from this photo, but the background of the stage is a see-through screen and you can see downtown and the sky through it!

We don’t do weekly (or even monthly) date nights, but concerts are kindof our thing. We’ve been to see several of our favorite bands over the years, but lately, it just seems like we haven’t made time to go to many. So we decided at the beginning of this year, that we were going to change that! This was our second and we have another one coming up at this same venue in Nashville in October, so I think we’ve achieved our goal, probably for the next few years!

So thankful for a little alone time with this guy!

They were so good!

After the show, we went to Nick’s favorite college hangout, the Flying Saucer, for a Root Beer then ubered back to the hotel to find the kids (and Nana) passed out asleep in our room. We are so thankful Nana and Tata came, so we got to make a weekend out of it!

Lu Goes to K4!

Z’s been getting all the attention lately for starting Kindergarten, but this little sass actually hit a milestone last week too. She graduated K3 and started K4!

They had an end of the year party in her K3 class, and they all did a song, Lu FROZE, I mean statue, the ENTIRE time. It was hilarious! My mom came, and I just knew she was going to run up there and snatch her up and put her out of her performing misery, but she held back, miraculously. Although, she did try to get her attention the whole time. #geezmom.

They did a special snack and awards. Miss Lu got the “Future Teacher Award” for her “love of learning,” which from what I understand is a nicer way of saying “bossiness.” #getsithonest

She was pretty proud of herself, though.

It was a fun day, and she had a blast and really came a long way in that class. The next Monday was her first day in her new class.

She did so well, and I may have teared up just a bit, when her new teacher took her by the hand to show her around the class when we left. It seems like only yesterday Z was having his first day in this very same class with these very same teachers! We have so many precious memories in this sweet school, where they started as BABIES, and now they are approaching the end of their time here, it’s just too much for a mom to handle!

Z Goes to Kindergarten! (Part 2)

Well, Friday Z broke my heart started Kindergarten. It has been an awesome 6 weeks with him spending mornings with me and afternoons with Nunna! As a matter of fact, I sit here at work on Monday morning wishing he were sitting next to me begging me to let him “watch something” instead of reading or practicing his handwriting.

Thursday was meet the teacher. Nick and I blocked off our mornings so we wouldn’t miss it! His teacher was PRECIOUS, and we were all so excited to be there!

I took him straight to Nunna’s for the afternoon. Then, Friday was the big day, and we were ready (as ready as we could be, anyway).

 

*This adorable printable can be found here.

We decided to all go together, because how many times do you drop your first born off to his first day of Kindergarten? amiright?

He did really well, and about two seconds after this walking in picture, when I couldn’t see him anymore, the full body sob hit me like a ton of bricks. Sunglasses anybody?!

That was rough!

Then, I get home and Lu is sitting quietly at the table, and when I remind her that she gets to pick her own show without Z interfering, I start crying again…. Sheesh, get it together, woman!

Lu followed me around all morning, and she was a SWEETIE! We ended up going to the grocery store together, having a quiet lunch and early nap, so we could pick up Z on time.

Now, I use the term quiet loosely, because while Z was not there to argue with her about every little thing, she was certainly never quiet. She actually talked non-stop the whole day, including in the grocery store, and I loved every minute of it. I’m really looking forward to this special time with my baby!

In the meantime, I’ll be trying to get my emotions under control….

Z Goes to Kindergarten!

Way back when Z “graduated” preschool, I had this feeling like that should have been the end, but I really didn’t have any plans for summer at that point, so he continued through May, then on the last day of May it hit me, that June should be his last month in preschool and I should make some plans for July and the first two weeks of August, so I put in the notice and declared the “Summer of Z” would begin on July 1 (or after our 4th weekend in Ohio). He was to come to work with me in the mornings and then Mom would pick him up and take him to her house for lunch and the afternoons.

It has been going really well. I made sure we had a Kindergarten workbook, several level 1 and 2 books to read (so he wouldn’t forget everything he’s learned), math flashcards (basic addition and subtraction), and lots of snacks and Netflix to get him through when I’m with patients (hasn’t always stopped him from coming into the room while I’m working or calling me when he needs something, but keeps him mostly in one spot). Needless to say, he much prefers Netflix over reading and workbooking, but who can blame him?!

This week we’ve had the most fun finding Waldo (and friends).

We are almost to the end of this sweet little time, and while we’ve had our ups and downs, it has been awesome to spend time with him before he heads off to Kindergarten.

Speaking of Kindergarten, we must be getting close because we got this sweet little gift on our mailbox from the Elementary school’s PTO. When I pulled into our neighborhood, I spotted one, and registered what it was, so I had a few seconds to cry have a moment, then I was good when we got to ours. Z was really excited and so cute!