Road Atlanta and Seth's birthday

Seth celebrated his 25th birthday (hee hee) on Oct. 3rd....which was also the same day as his final race of the season at Road Atlanta

We prepared for the week by dressing up in race car driver attire

On Wednesday evening, Seth's parents hosted the entire crew for dinner at their house. James was all over the drivers and crew guys. This kid is anything but shy!

Nothing to do with the post title, but Thursday was bring your pet to school day. Adelyn chose to bring Bentley (poor Mac had to stay home alone). It was so cute hearing the kids introduce their pets. 

Friday was RACE DAY! Here we are at the Fan Walk with our favorite race car driver!

Headed up the hill to watch the race

The race didn't go as well as Seth and Dan hoped... 22nd place finish. Seth finished 15th overall for the season. 

After the race, Seth's sister had a cookie cake to celebrate our nephew's 7th and Seth's birthday. 

And then that night, the team went to dinner for a year end celebration (and we sang Happy Birthday to Seth)

Saturday we attended a Monster High birthday party. The costumes were hilarious!

Emily, Adelyn, and James (Frankenstein)

Saturday night, we ate at Vinny's with friends to celebrate Seth's birthday (for the 12th time). We had a blast!

Happy birthday to my love! I'm so glad he's in my life :)

Girls weekend in Birmingham

It's been SO nice to be back in the school/tutoring/extra curricular activities! I see a nice improvement in behaviors and we're loving the kids' new teachers. Seth has been gone A LOT and mama needed a break! :)

We haven't been on a girls' trip in a while and this one was thrown together very last minute (like, the week prior.... I can't believe that we could all clear our schedules and get together). Laura, Randy, and I stayed at Amy's house in Birmingham and her sweet husband kept her 3 kids all weekend so we could play. 

We got in town late Friday afternoon and spent the evening at a sushi restaurant 

Our friend Melissa couldn't make it so Amy put her face on a popsicle stick. She enjoyed a mojito (and lots of other silly poses)

Saturday morning, we went to a Pure Barre class. I have never done this. It is crazy hard! I was sore in all kinds of places. Then we showered, had a yummy lunch, and shopped 'til we dropped. I haven't had an all day shopping trip in ages. SO fun doing it with these ladies! 

Spotted this on a napkin and am still laughing. 

Posing before dinner. Amy is ROCKING her leather shorts. 

This Italian restaurant was awesome. I think I'd drive all the way to Birmingham to take Seth here for a date night. We had the best meal and the best time

Mussels and sausage in spicy clam sauce

I miss these fun girls already and can't wait for our next trip! Thanks, Seth for holding down the fort so I could do this.

Back to school

We got back from the beach Sunday, enjoyed Labor Day Monday, and then it was back to school Tuesday for Adelyn and Wednesday for James! Can I get an AMEN? We were all ready for it to start. 

 Yes, she wants to be a NICU nurse and live in Montana. 

 This is her first year that the teachers asked for a bookbag. Boy is she excited about that!

She had a terrific first day. Although, I think they gave her espresso and candy all day because she was 100% wired when she got home. I guess it was THAT good. And now all I hear is "In Kindergarten...." or "Now that I'm a Kindergartner...."

Love it. 

 And yes, James wants to be Darth Vader when he grows up. Hopefully his teachers are up to the challenge of preparing him for this career path. 

 How cute is my Jamesy-James??

James also had a great first day. His teacher is Adelyn's teacher when she was in the 3s. Mrs. Miss is also a Sunday School teacher at our church. She told me that James rubbed her face and said, "I lub you" and that she just melted. I asked James if he told Mrs. Missi he loved her and he said "Yes. And she said she was melting so I told her 'You're not gonna melt!'". Ha! Love hearing the story from both sides. 

And just for fun....here's the same poster with Adelyn starting the 3s class. 

IOP 14

Oh, what a great trip! I love a beach trip, and look forward to this week ALL YEAR LONG. We've stayed in the same condo at Isle of Palms, SC for several years now. We went with my parents and brother. The weather was fantastic- not even a drop of rain all week and it wasn't insanely hot. 

As soon as we got there, the kids wanted to see the ocean. It took about 3 minutes before they were both swimming in their clothes!

We enjoyed dinner on the deck. There's a restaurant next door and just about every evening, a man with guitar played music. Perfection. 

Hitting the beach!

They loved to dig a big hole and play for hours!

We had all been given the ALS Bucket Challenge over the past several weeks so we dumped ice water on our heads as a family. 

Monday night, we did our family photos before going out to eat. I love this picture of them. 

The girls

All of us after eating at Morgan Creek

Adelyn was amped up about building this castle! She was a little bossy :)

My dad spent a LOT of time with her all week boogie boarding

We loved playing Tidal Ball, a game one of my friends from college invented and sells. 

Seth and I had a date night in downtown Charleston! We ate at Cru and stayed at French Quarter Inn- it was seriously the nicest place I've ever stayed. We had a great night away!

My friend Heather from middle school lives at Folly Beach. She brought her son to to the beach one day. It was fun catching up and watching our kids play together. 

  

James and Zephyr

Seth could only stay for half of the week :( 

One night, we took a sunset cruise. We stopped at EarthFare and got sandwiches (for my dad and brother) and sushi (for me, my mom, and the kids). We had an amazing time! 

The boat started near Folly Beach and cruised slowly to Morris Island. My dad and Adelyn are taking in the beautiful scenery. 

I can't even tell you how many dolphins we saw! It was so cool!

Morris Island lighthouse in the distance 

Ok...anybody that knows how this summer has been with James potty training will think this is freakin' hilarious. 

We took the kids on a carriage ride in downtown Charleston (and strolled through the Market and ate at Fast and French)

This is what my dad and brother do everyday. ONE day, I WILL read a book on the beach again! 

On the last day, James begged for his own boogie board. Now they're both officially beach bums. 

We enjoyed dinner and a pretty sunset at The Boathouse on our last night

'Til next year, Isle of Palms! I think I need more than one beach trip every summer!