First day of 5th grade

 Monday, August 26th brought about many first "lasts" in elementary school. Many bitter sweet moments began the Thursday before when we had our last Meet the Teacher. Both Ms Draycott and Ms Simmons seem wonderful (Claire refused to let me take pictures of her with them) and we are excited for a great last year at Black Elementary. These are from her last First day of School in elementary school.

As per our tradition, we have to get a photo in front of the garage (even though it is still dark outside)...and of course, get a silly pose too. I wonder how long Claire will continue letting me do these!

 We got this cute picture at church the Sunday before school started. Hope it is a wonderful year full of many great memories. Then middle school will arrive...

A great 2 weeks with Ellie!

Our family had a great time with Ellie these past two weeks. We were able to make so many great memories and Claire and Ellie built and even stronger bond!

Some of the favorites were eating at Chick Fil-A

 and Orange Leaf.

 Ellie got her driver's permit only one week before coming to TX. We put her behind the wheel everywhere we went and we think she got in some great driving experience! We had her on the freeway and even in the parking lot working on parking, backing in, and parallel parking.

 Auntie Shannon came to spend a few days with us before taking Ellie home and we made many more memories! Night swimming was a big hit.

Auntie Shannon got to visit Claire's nail salon and got her nails done. 

 We went to an escape room and managed to escape with only 4 minutes remaining!

 We played lots of cribbage and other card games.

 Can't pass up Bahama Bucks on a 105 degree day!

 Who doesn't like matching hair styles?!

 Claire and Shannon had many fun times together and really enjoyed playing MarioKart!

 Finally, we had our last dinner together at Ellie and Claire's favorite place...Texas Roadhouse!

Finally, Claire's 10th birthday party celebration!

We were finally able to have Claire's birthday party. This year she wanted to go roller skating and do a sleepover. Everyone had a blast!

 Jeff had fun teaching two of the girls how to skate and by the end of our 2 hour time slot, one of the girls was skating without hanging onto anything!

 Addison V, Allison, Averi, Addisyn M, Claire, Karsen, and Addison H.

 Claire was lucky to have her cousin Ellie here to celebrate with her!

 As if skating isn't tiring enough, we then hit the pool for some free swim and some pool games!

 Claire wanted a taco bar for her birthday dinner and the girls all seemed to enjoy the meal.

 The first water game was Freeze Your Brain. We asked each girl a question about Claire. If they answered correctly, they got to dump a cup of ice water on Claire. If they were incorrect, Claire got to dump the water on them! They all loved the anticipation of this game!

 Claire especially loved to dump water onto her cousin Ellie! Brr! Thankfully Ellie was a great sport about it!

 The next game we played put the girls into two teams. They had to pour water over their head into the next persons cup without turning around or looking back. The final person in line then turns around to dump the water into the bowl and the first team to fill their bowl wins. The girls seemed to enjoy this game and the competition!

 The final game we played consisted of ping pong balls, each with a letter of the alphabet on it. We put the girls in teams of two and on Go, they had to go in one at a time to find a letter they needed to spell a specific word. This was so much fun and we mixed up the teams many times and played many different ways. The girls played this for an hour at least! Easy, cheap entertainment and so fun to watch!

 One would think by 10pm these kids would be exhausted! Think again! They stayed up until 1am giggling and talking! So fun!

 Claire and her two besties, Karsen and Addisyn, got to spend a few extra hours together after the other girls left. I love having these girls together! They have been friends since Kindergarten and their friendships are so special! What beautiful weekend! God is so good!

American Chinese Program through 2nd Baptist

We were blessed to host two boys from China again this year through our church. We had so much fun learning about their culture and teaching them about America! This is the first time we met the boys, Jason who is 13 and Jay who is 11.

 We had fun teaching them the card game called Spoons and they taught us a Chinese card game too!

 Jay said he likes to bake but doesn't get a chance to so we brought him into our kitchen and put him to work making cookies!

 The boys loved the pool and spent most every evening in it with Claire! She loved having other kids to be goofy with!

 We wanted the boys to try some Tex Mex so we took them to my favorite place, Gringos! 

I think all of the kids like the ice cream the best!

 Jay was super pumped to get a ride around the neighborhood with Jeff on his motorcycle! That was when I saw Jay smile the most!

 We spent one afternoon at Itz playing video games and bowling.

 Another fun pool day!

 The boys offered to cook Hot Pot and Chinese BBQ for us one night. It was quite a process but very entertaining!

 Since the spices are so strong when making hot pot, Jason recommended we eat outside and then wash our clothes to get the smell out! Cheers to Hot Pot and Chinese BBQ!

Last Vacation Bible School

Bittersweet VBS for Mom. This was the last time Claire gets to go to vacation bible school through church. She has so much fun at them and learns so much so I am a little sad this is over. However, once she gets into 8th grade, she can volunteer to help at VBS so she can still be in the fun!

Claire and her best friend Karsen had a great time!

 The decorations at 2nd Baptist are amazing! What a fun experience!