And like that, summer is gone...

The time since we have been back from the beach has flown by.  We jumped right into the great bed swap.

It was time for Zoey to graduate from the crib.  She had climbed out at 12.5 months and crawled to meet me, so she had a tent on her crib.  She was starting to climb in herself and try to zip it up.  Plus, it was the crib Chip and I used and had been retro fitted to be up to today's safety standards and was not holding up super well.

Zoey's room before.

Sam's room before.

Nick built Sam an amazing lofted bed with a desk underneath.  I helped stain it as well.  It has stairs with some storage and a slide on the other side.  Sam was a little nervous at first, but loves it now.  Zoey was happy to try the desk, but I hope Sam can use it for her homework for years to come.

The girls on the lofted bed.

A panoramic view of Sam's room.

 And that freed up the car bed for Zoey.  She loves her new car bed.

A panoramic of her room.

Other than the massive reorganizing, we have had some time to play.  I took the girls to the children's museum in Tampa and met up with a friend from my mom's club.  We have a free 3 month trial, but it was a back to school fair day, so it was crazy, but we had lots of fun and got some free stuff.

Splashing was fun.

So was climbing.

Sam the vet.

Zoey the firewoman.

Sam the firewoman.

Dancing with friends.

 We went to a fine motor playdate and strung cheerios on spaghetti.

A general park playdate.  Zoey loves baby Claira and begs to hold her.

Nick spelled the girls names in the blocks he made.

 I tried pigtails in Zoey's hair, but they were out by the time we got to the playdate. :(

And the back to school stuff.  I was on the committee for our back to school bash.  So that made me busy, but it was fun.

I was in charge of making apple cupcakes.

And taking the pictures.  Luckily a friend and fellow planner had props for some really cute pictures.

Orientation day where we found our her room has a pirate theme.  What fun!

Her desk.

Her teacher, a sweet, young woman I am sure Sam will adore in no time.

A special Sunday blueberry pancake, K for Kindergarten.

Ready for school.

A special first day breakfast of cinnamon rolls.  They actually had some at school, but she was too upset to have another.

Sam cried a bit the night before and morning of, but I am hoping she had a great day.  Zoey was upset too, she finds it hard to leave her big sister and talks a lot about going to her own she when she is older enough.  I cannot believe my little peanut is big enough for Kindergarten.  We got her in a great school (the 4th in all of Florida), but it is far away and requires a lot of homework.  I hope it is a good fit and helps her blossom into her full potential.  Happy start of school!

The next Annie Leibovitz?

We recently let Sam start using our old camera to see what she would capture.  She had a toddler camera, but she was begging for a better one.

There are a lot of photos with fingers in them.

Close ups of stuff.

Set up shots that show her creativity.

Shots of loved ones that show her perspective on the world.

A selfie.

And the photographic evidence of a crime in progress.

And its aftermath...

It will be exciting to watch her develop her art over the years.

Sandcastles and sunrises!

We just returned from our week at the beach.  We had an amazing time.  And although we took over 300 pictures, we did not get a family shot.  :( But we got a lot of amazing pictures to share and we had tons of fun, if not tons of sleep :)  A super thank you to Linda and Hal for letting us crash at both their houses and thanks to Nana for coming with us.  I cannot believe we are 2 weeks away from Sam starting Kindergarten!

Sam loved almost every second of the trip.

Zoey was a little more hesitant about the water, but loved playing in the sand and letting the waves come to her feet.

Look at that joy!

Sweet smile.

Pure joy!  Sam was a great boogie boarder.

Nick built a lot of sand castles.

We spotted a dolphin.

Bubble on the beach were hard with the wind, but Olivia tried.

Sisters playing in the sand.

We tried to catch some fish, but failed.  We did see a lot of minnows though.  They were just too fast.

Nana even came to the surf.

Another sandcastle.

Zoey being silly.

 Daddy and his girls.

Zoey also loved lying on her belly and wanted me to join in.

We did manage to catch a ghost crab.

And we saw a lot of sunrises.

Nick even stayed up for one moon rise.

He was not up for sunrise that morning, but both girls were.  And even though you cannot see the sun because of the clouds, I got a great picture of my sweet girls.

More sheer joy.

Until next year...