Fall schedule and activities

Well the 2nd week of school continues to go well. Though we have had a few bike accidents on the way to school. Friday Zav fell and landed on his elbow and then Monday he and Nell got tangled up and his fingers got smashed, ouch! But overall it is still a really nice way to start the day and get some energy out. 

New activities started last weekend. Nell is doing gymnastics and I think the program is really good. The class is an hour and twenty minutes and quite a workout. Nell loved it and now has a new leotard which is sure to make the second class even more fun. 

Zaven took a competitive tennis lesson. It is 30 min of instruction and an hour of play. He is doing quite well. After that he stayed and played with The Fiels for a long time and had a great time. 

Friday was his draft for Fantasy Football. They had a great time and he got a decent team. He won his first matchup on Sunday and has been negotiating some trades this week. 

Sunday Esmé was happy to go to her nursery at church and the kids had choir. Then Zaven went to the Oneill's and watched football and Kate came here and played and had dinner. It was a nice day. 

I feel like we have a good fall schedule. It is nice having fewer days running all over and the days that we do have things they are close to home. Zav went back to piano and was reminded how much he does like it. Nell had a great tennis lesson 

I have my tennis finals coming up. We were going to play last night but rescheduled because it was going to be so hot. I think we are playing again on Saturday. 

Back to School

Well Nell is off to a great start in 1st grade! She loves her teacher, Mrs Watkins. She says her days go by quickly because she makes it so fun. Sounds great!
Zaven is also loving school this year. He is in 5th grade, I can't believe it. His teacher is Ms. Corneliuson and he seems to like her and his class.
It was a good first week. The kids rode their bikes to school all week and even got up and went for a bike ride before school. Activities start up tomorrow and into next week, hopefully we will be able to keep up. I managed to pack healthy lunches and we ate around the table for dinner. Trying to get back to good habits.
Esmé and I had a good week, though she has been a little out of sorts. A little feverish early in the week and just red eyed and fussy the last few days.
Nell also lost her other front tooth. It had been hanging by a thread and came out Wednesday morning. She looks cute. No more corn on the cob for her!
In other firsts, we shipped our first gift basket for Wrapped. We sent a photo of the basket to the giver and they replied that it was "BEAUTIFUL" and that she would be talking to us again soon. So that is exciting. We are still sourcing new products and having more ideas and developing. Next step is to go out to Realtors and pitch our Welcome Home baskets. Fingers crossed.

Vacation!

  Well tomorrow we drive all the way home to Virginia. It will be a long drive. But we have had a great time. 

We left Va and went to Tn for a few days. We loved visiting with the Burbanks a d Eppersons and Wieberleys there. 

Then it was onto Watercolor with Meg and her boys. Chris drove us there and spent the night and then came over to St George. Meg and I had a great time catching up and the kids all enjoyed each other. Lots of swimming, wiffle ball and Madagascar 3!  Miss Tosha kept everyone smiling. I was supposed to be working during esme's naps, but the connectivity was terrible. We got through a d Katherine was so patient and calm. I think that she and Meghan had a good showing for Wrapped at W&m and we are excited to be officially launched. There is yet a lot to do. But we are moving forward. We even have our first order!  After a fun filled week with Meg Chris came back to get us and we all came to St George. Armen and Ellen came down and we enjoyed lots of pool time , yummy food in Apalachicola. 

We are starting to wrap our heads around the fall schedule. Decide on activities and ready ourselves for school. 

Chris rode his bike over 200 miles while on vacation. I did a yoga class and played a lot of pool volleyball. 

Esme has befriended the flamingo lamp that she calls "Gamoo"

Nell has worn her favorite dress to the exclusion of almost evety other thing in her suitcase and Zaven has tanned into a little brown berry. It has been a great time away and I am ready to get home and into a routine. 

Hopefully the drive home will go smoothly. 

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Z but no N

Nell is off having a great time in Chattanooga. She spent a few days with Milla and Poppy and then went to Cleveland to work in the shop and is now spending the weekend at Ella and Spencer's with Grammy too. They look to be having a great time. 

We went to Ware's Wharf with Isabel and had a great time as always. Zaven was clearly a little lonely without Nell. But we had fun. Zaven really enjoyed getting to drive the boat and Esmé even got a turn. Isabel's brother and his children and grandchildren were there and Zav got to so some wild tubing with Latane at the wheel and Roxy rode with him.  Esme really enjoyed Isabel's dogs and started saying a new thing. When Splash would jump on her she would say "don't get on mere". She loved being with Isabel and fell asleep a few times riding in the boat. 

The fun goes on and on

This is really turning out to be a great summer. And we still have more fun things ahead of us. Even with starting a  company and a few PTA committee meetings cropping up we are fitting in lots of fun. 

Cousin camp aka Milla and Poppy camp was a great hit for Zaven. He loved being with Blaise and Berk and getting to see all the Chattanooga Burbanks. He also loved getting to be with Grammy, Ella and Soencer. There was a touch of home sickness but mostly fun! 

Milla and Poppy were so nice to meet us in Roanoke to pick Zaven up. We had a fun time staying over at a hotel and swimming, getting dinner and playing in a playground. While Zaven was a away Nell had her first sleepover at Kate's house! She had a great time and boy was she worn out when she got back. The O'Neill house was still standing so I think it was a success. We had lots of pool time too. Then Friday Milla and Poppy brought Zaven home and we had a great weekend of visiting with them. The kids participated in the VPSU Champs meet. Zaven qualified in three events, the free relay, the IM and 50meter Butterfly. He did really well and was pleased with his performance. It was a neat meet and it was cool to be a part of it. Nell qualified in backstroke and ended up with a 6th place overall finish. Knocking 3 seconds of her time! It was such an exciting thing. She got a medal Dan to stand on a "podium". A great finish to a fun summer swim league. We love our Kingspoint swim team and pool! 

I have been really enjoying my summer tennis league though sadly I suffered my first defeat after a marathon three set match. It was disappointing. I think I will meet the girl in the finals of the season and I hope to have a different outcome!  The match was 6-7, 6-4, 6-7. So we are pretty evenly matched. 

Now Nell is off to Chattanooga with M & P and is looking forward to time with Grammy, Ella, Spencer, Brice Christie and Bea!

Chris is getting lots of good rides in and loving being able to use the trainer for days that he can't go outside. Work is keeping him busy and I know he is looking forward to our upcoming vacation. 

Esme continues to love the pool. She gets her suit on first thing and is ready anytime the pool comes up! She loves the water. She is talking a lot more now. Learning more people's names. Saying lots if funny things. And asserting herself more. She is a very sweet baby with just enough of a funny/ naughty streak that we know she is ours!

Wrapped is going well. Things are clicking along. The Orientation Vendor Fair at William and Mary is keeping a fire under us to get things done especially with me planning to be away!  But we feel very positive about the fronts we are moving forward on. 

Enjoy the pics 

Loving every minute of it!

We are having a great summer. 

Swim team continues to go well. Zaven qualified for the Champs Meet on Tuesday night. He will be in the IM and Butterfly. Nell is qualified for backstroke. 

Esmé loves being at the pool and talks about it all the time. We still read "the Very Hungry Caterpillar" every day at nap and bedtime. 

The kids have all done the summer reading program at the library. They have done well. Every week we go and share titles with volunteers and the kids earn a  prize. Zaven has earned his Golden Library Card. He and I have been reading books recommended on the NPR Backseat Book Club. We have had good luck and it has been fun reading the same books so we can talk about them. 

We found out from school that we are getting a new principal for this year. We will have a chance to meet her next week    

I am working hard not to get to far ahead of myself and let these last weeks of summer pass us by. We still have a lot of fun ahead of us. 

We had a great time last weekend up at Ware's Wharf with Isabel. The kids loved a lot of time in the water. Time with Isabel and her sweet pups. Zaven did a lot of fishing. He caught two small fish. Isabel pulled us all on the tube. Even esme tok a turn!  Zaven tried water skiing and got right up no think he liked it. We are wonderful food and had a day with the Driscoll's. it was a really fun mini vacation. 

Church was nice on Sunday. After the kids and I walked around Merchant's Square and they got their free candy from the summer reading program. 

Wednesday we drove to Roanoke and met Milla and Poppy. Zaven headed home with them for Milla and Poppy camp with Blaise and Berkeley. He is excited. They stopped at Benton Bacon on the way home and I think Zaven was thrilled. Poppy said that as they entered the store Zaven just shouted "BACON!"