First Day

All too soon the first day of school was here! Thank goodness Xander and Noah were both excited to go back. Savannah wasn't too thrilled but only because we had had such a fun summer and she didn't want to see it end. A pancake breakfast, courtesy of David, got their first day started off right!

The traditional "First Day of School" picture. If only I could get the kids to stop making rabbit ears! Savannah is starting 6th grade (homeschool), Xander is now in 3rd, and Noah is a big 1st grader.

The long walk to the bus stop.

And there they go!

When I picked them up later that day they were both so excited to tell me all about their fabulous first day. Seems that the new school year is off to a good start!

Summer Highlights

All good things must come to an end, including our fun, wonderful summer. Here are a few ending highlights...

Tons of swimming fun, especially when we met up with friends!

Rocking a stylin' new hair do!

It was so cool even Xander wanted it!

Dinner and a movie at the park.

The movie showing was Madagascar 3 and even though we've seen it several times, anything is better when you watch it outside with fun friends.

Another successful Summer Reading Program at the library. The kids always love receiving a free book!

Breakfast in bed was definitely a special treat for me! What sweet, thoughtful kids.

Of course we had to indulge in an ice cream treat from Baskin and Robbins. Unfortunately their special Family Night with $1 cones is no more so this was a one time event this summer.

We were able to attend a few O's games, including Mormon Night at Camden Yards.

Noah and his cute little friend Brinley.

"Rally hats" in the hopes that our Orioles would turn it around. Unfortunately the hat trick didn't work and our O's ended up losing.

After the game Noah and his two little friends, Libby and Brinley, headed down for a closer look at the field.

They were chased back up by this grumpy man. Poor little kids!

A last trip to the "beach", if that's what you can even call this place. It has sand and water so I guess technically that's what it is. But the water is so gross that I have a hard time even putting my feet in. Oh, well, the kids love it and had been begging to go. What we do for our kids.

Enjoying the last day of summer vacation! It's been awesome!

Tournament Time

Although Savannah practices soccer all year long she hasn't played in any games since March; the spring league her team plays in has all Sunday games. Since it's been awhile we were all definitely excited for the first tournament of the season! Her coach picked several players from both the A and B teams to participate in this tournament so we were so glad she was one of the ones selected.  Unfortunately the team really struggled in their first game and ended up losing 2-1, the other team scoring their two goals off penalty kicks.

Rather than watching Savannah play, Noah usually has his nose in his DS but he actually had something more fun to play with at this game - this cute little Chihuahua puppy! What a little cutie! He was so itsy-bitsy!

The next day the girls had a lot more pep to their play and ended up winning their first game of the day, 1-0, with the only goal coming with just 20 seconds left in the game. It was really exciting! By the second game of the day and their final game of the tournament, the girls were in top form, beating that team 5-0.

Under the point system of the tournament, Savannah's team was able to win the whole thing despite the one loss. They all loaded in the truck to head over to the main tent to get their trophies.

First place always feels real good!

Glasses!

Both David and I suffer from poor eyesight so we knew it was just a matter of time before one of our kids started to complain about not being able to see well. The first Pierce kid to need glasses is..... Xander! He's actually quite excited about it and was bummed to hear that he only needs to wear them to see the class board at school. It didn't take him long to pick out the pair he wanted and I must admit he looks quite good in them.

Special Occasions

August is a special month for us - we celebrate our anniversary as well as David's birthday, both within a few days of each other. This year marks 18 years of marriage! Gone are the days of special getaways, though. This year we celebrated our big anniversary by heading to The Cheesecake Factory for a wonderful dinner. I have only eaten there once before and it was while David and I were in Nashville. Unfortunately I was recovering from the worst stomach flu I have ever experienced so when we went out for dinner I still wasn't up to truly enjoying any kind of food. This time, however, I thoroughly savored every bite.  And the cheesecake was divine! I had the Banana Cream and David devoured his Apple Pie. Cheesecake is the best!

My hottie husband of 18 years!

Two days later was David's birthday and we had decided to spend the day at Rehobath Beach, just like last year. Unfortunately Xander was still on the mend from a week long stomach bug so we didn't make it to the beach but we did head to Red Lobster for a tasty birthday dinner.
The kids love to check out the lobsters!

Gift time!

It's always so hard to buy David really great gifts. If there is something he wants he just goes ahead and gets it.  He had recently ordered some new shoes so I stole them and wrapped them up for his birthday.

What can I say? It's hard to find a time when everyone is happy at the same time. Noah is never too far from angry mode and Xander was still feeling a little under the weather. Oh, well, we were still able to have fun with Daddy on his birthday.