One is the loneliest number......or maybe not!

The last few weeks of summer, as always, were packed full of excitement! Here is a brief summary:

Our niece came to visit us for a week from New York. She was visiting her other grandparents in Alabama when the grandmother got sick and had to be hospitalized. She came to hang with us while her grandmother got better. It was fun! I think Kayleigh enjoyed having a GIRL to play with! While Emily was here visiting, our friends from Missouri (who just moved to Atlanta) came for a three day visit! So Kayleigh had 2 girls to play with, Bryce and drew got to play with their friend Carter, I got to hang with my friend Manda( and we had FUN!), and Sam got to torture their dog. In the picture above, we are taking Emily back to her grandparents on our way to Mobile! We spent about 4 days in Mobile! Dad went out of town, leaving Mom all alone, so we headed down for the weekend, and had fun! It was HOT, but it was still a nice trip! Sam played himself out, and fell asleep on the floor! After our trip to mobile, Jonathon and I went house hunting in Atlanta. We all know how that story goes, but we had a fun trip! Got to see Scott, Melinda and the boys (thanks for letting us crash!) We came home, and were in a whirlwind of job interviews, moving, not moving, and such when we got a phone call!

Blake's sister, Amanda, and her family wanted to come through for a visit. We haven't seen them since we went to Disney 3 years ago! They came on Wednesday! Andrew and his cousin, Bella, hit it off and were nearly inseparable.

The rest of the kids got along quite well too! Can you see all those kids!!!???!!! We had 11 children 12 and under in our house for 2 days, and they were all ours or Amanda's!!!!! Those are some busy parents....in many ways! :P

Truthfully, the visit went quite well, and we were sad to see them go so quickly. We played Rock band, cards, and only had one vomiting incident!
I will say feeding 11 kids at one time is quite the chore! We are used to having large groups at our home. Since we are the midpoint in my family, we often have family things here, but there is usually a higher adult-to-kid ratio. And again, the girls were out numbered 7-4.

The Jackson's left Thursday, and Blake started his new job on Friday!

Even BIGGER news....Andrew is an official Kindergartner! He got his shots and didn't even cry! What a brave boy! He loves school and his teacher so far! He looked SO cute carrying his school bag in and getting off the bus the first day!

Here are all the kids on their first morning of school!

And what is that????? That is a 2 year old with his shoes on. Why? Because he thought he was going to school too! Are those tears??? YES they are! He was not a happy boy being left at home all alone!

So what does a mom do with a very sad 2 year old???

Give him a paintbrush, a block, and some paint! Duh!!!!!

He made quite the mess, but he was SO proud of his block, and enjoyed painting with mommy! Today is the kids fourth day of school, and EVERY morning so far, he has gotten his shoes on and asked me, "mommy, we go?" The first day of school we went grocery shopping, the second day we went shopping for craft supplies for a baby gift i was working on, the third day we went to the park for 2 hours. So far today, I have been able to hold him off, but it looks like a trip to Target is in our future. Though, that is probably a mom thing, not a Sam thing! :)

And here is my project I complete while Sam was painting. It is a gift of a friend having her first baby! The frame is about 25x20. If you look closely at the frame, you can see hints of pink and green coming through the cream paint! I love making things for little girls! So fun!

Now, I just have a Super Saturday to plan (anyone got ideas for some great craft projects!) and I want to get my Etsy shop up and running! It has been a BIG adjustment having Blake back at work, 4 of the 5 kids in school, and the house to Sam and myself. I forget too how much a 2 year old needs to be entertained without 4 others around! I see lots of play dates in our future!!

Hope the school year is starting off great for you all too! Once again, I feel so lucky to live just across from the school. I can be a lazy mom, and still get my kids to school on time!