Blake Middle School

 The day has come!!! Blake is in middle school.... 6TH GRADE!!! I can't believe it! I think we have all the feels - the nerves, the excitement, the uncertainty, the motivation, the everything! EEKKK! 

Blake is the most sociable kid that I know. I have no doubt that he will fit right in and make friends and make good choices. 

Personally I am a little nervous about middle school in general - there are so many changes and I know that is a tough phase for any kid. I just hope that he can handle everything on his plate while maintaining good grades. Thankfully we have all the resources to help him succeed and we all support him in any way. He will do great things!!! 

Of course we had to take the traditional first day pics. Plus the picture in his graduation shirt. I also found all the previous graduation shirt pictures. It is so amazing to see how he has grown over the years. He is filling that shirt in quickly. He will be with me at this high school soon! WOW!

Kinsley School

 Our Kinsley girl is back in school. She has been going to school all summer, just to keep in the routine, but now she is in her new big girl class - Junior PreSchool. 

To be honest - she is still shy, but really coming out of her shell. She is in a bigger class now, so lots of new friends!!! She has Ms. Hailey and Ms. Kelly as her teachers. She HATES going to school in the mornings - like will scream and cry because she has to leave me, but once she gets there she has so much fun. We love getting the pictures and updates from her throughout the day. I know she will learn a lot this year! 

Summer Recap

 This summer flew by! August isn't my favorite month because it is back to the grind. We have to get back in all of the routines... Blake has started tackle football, so we have practice 3 nights a week. Many of our nights are now on a practice field. We are also getting back into the school routine and I am in full denial about going back to school this year. 

We had such a great time this summer with lots of fun memories. It is hard to leave summer behind! 

Guys Day at Fantasy Lake

 For Father's Day, Blake (and myself) got Joyner a pass to Fantasy Lake- a new Water Obstacle Course Park in Wake Forest. Joyner and Blake went and conquered all of the courses. It was a little too advance for Kinsley and myself, but we had a blast seeing all the pictures and listening to the stories. I think it wore them out! So glad they had this day to let loose and be adventurous! 

Family Lake Trip

 We went on our annual Dixon Family Lake Trip with my mom, step dad, siblings, and all the little kids! It is always a little chaotic and exhausting trying to keep up with the kids, but it is also the making of incredible memories! 

The house they rented this year was in a little cove of Lake Gaston, VA. It was perfect because when we weren't on the boat, the kids could swim and kayak and paddle board in the little cove. It had a ton of space for all of us and we had a blast! 

The funniest part of the whole trip was Kinsley on the boat. All of the other kids were so excited to tube and swim... and Kinsley just slept. It was something about the boat that put her to sleep instantly. She had it MADE on the boat under the shade. I got all the snuggles while watching Blake tube. Haha! 

I seriously love all the pictures from this trip because the smiles were everywhere! We all had such a great time. 

Farmer Brown Volunteering

 This Fall Blake will be playing on his first tackle football team - The North Wake Saints. As a team building activity they decided to volunteer at The First Fruits Farm with Farmer Brown. Now this isn't just any farmer... Farmer Brown is a former NFL player who retired and started this farm with his family to provide food for the needy. Blake and his team labored HARD for the day clearing out a greenhouse. Then their reward was a tour of the farm with Farmer Brown. It was so cool and I love that Blake is getting volunteer/service hours. This is so important for these boys to learn and it keeps them humble in the real lessons of life! I am so excited about this experience for Blake and the future fun with this team! 

Blake is Back

 FINALLY!!! My boy is back with us!! It has been a long two weeks without him. I missed him tremendously, but I think Kinsley missed him the most! She was SO happy to give big hus on the porch when he arrived. I am ready to have the rest of the summer with him making tons of memories. 

Btw - he did have a blast in Utah. He went to a baseball game, a theme park, camping, and had a ton of fun with his cousins. He also got a double ear infection...but that didn't hold him back any! 

We also started an adventure to celebrate him being back - we went to Go Ape and Blake had a blast watching me panic about the heights!