And Just Like That...

We have a second grader! After meeting his teacher last Friday, Landon was very excited to start 2nd grade on Monday. He was most excited about his new Nikes, his new backpack, being on the back hallway of the school, and having a desk instead of a table...in that order.

He had an awesome day and loves his teacher, Mrs. Hall. Unfortunately, none of his really good buddies from 1st grade are in his class (he was bummed about that on Tuesday after the newness of 2nd grade started to wear off), but I am sure he's going to make new friends very quickly! He loves having a desk and told me all about his pencil tray on top and how he can store things underneath his desk. Big time! He also told me how his teacher asked him to escort a new little boy who only speaks Arabic to the restroom. That tells me that he has proven himself as a responsible 2nd grader to Mrs. Hall. Ain't nothing wrong with a teacher's pet! :) And people, he had homework on day 1. Ugh. I was dreading starting back with the homework and was hoping to have at least a week grace period...especially since Christopher is in Germany for 2.5 weeks and I am solo-parenting. Nope...homework on day 1! He had to read for 10 minutes and document on his reading log. Then he had to review his spelling words that he will TEST on at the end of the week. This is the first time for spelling words and tests. They give them about 15 words (these were all short a words like bat, can, etc.), plus some harder ones, and a few more even challenging ones. Without him even looking over his list, we gave it a shot. And my son spelled all of them correctly with the exception of two of the challenging ones (he missed the t in patch and spelled fabric with a k instead of a c). I participated in spelling bees throughout elementary school and was always 1st runner up to Felicia Thomas (sigh) every single year so I'm a little stoked that he seems to have inherited his mama's spelling capabilities. He also had a worksheet to complete on Tuesday night (in addition to his reading and spelling words) familiarizing himself with terminology such as citizenship, laws, and consequences. So yeah...just like that. My "baby" boy is in 2nd grade. Oh, my heart.

My Sweet Family

(Look at that little one munching on some sprinkles. You were supposed to throw those at Ashley & Josh, fool!)

My Cute Boys

Listen, I know that all parents think their kids are the most adorbs things ever. I just don't know how you could argue with me on this one.

Most. Adorbs. Things. Evah.

 

Carter & Olive's Wedding

These two talked for days about how they were going to get married too. I guess this seals the deal...

The Hottest Birthday Boy (& His Trophy Wife)

Happy birthday, Christopher! I love you like a fat kid loves cake.

(You sexy beast, you.)

Ashley & Josh Say "I Do" With A Tennessee Drawl

Christopher's baby sister, Ashley, got married last weekend in the Tennessee mountains. The day was beautiful. The wedding took place outdoors on a farm with the beautiful mountains as the backdrop and a creek winding through the property. And the reception took place in the property's barn. Ashley looked lovely in lace and the guys donned teal ties that matched our bridesmaid dresses perfectly. Little Olive and Carter Bear walked in, holding Dottie the Dog's leash, as the cutest ring bearer and flower girl you've ever seen. And my handsome Landon Cole came in just before Ashley and lit a candle as the ceremony began.

Ashley planned and decorated herself, with the help of her cheap labor (family). She made our beautiful paper flower bouquets and the guys' bootineers as well as her veil/hair piece. Paper cones held sprinkles that were thrown at the couple (they ended up being mighty sticky in the heat!), a Bible was left open for folks to highlight their favorite Bible verse for the couple, guests "signed" in with a thumbprint on a tree (she'll frame that later), guests took home birdseed favors to hang in their tree at home (cut in shapes of hearts and VTs, of course), chalkboards were found all over that included some of their favorite quotes, birds and bird cages hung, and wildflowers sat in glass milk bottles.

Landon caught the garter and was really concerned that he was going to have to marry the (really cute) girl that caught the bouquet!

The kids enjoyed coloring and bubbles that were at the kid's table during the reception. And Carter and Olive were obsessed with marrying each other.

  

We've got a tradition in the Bagley family where you're not really considered married until your car has been confetti'ed. It all started back in 2002 (at mine and Christopher's wedding) when the cousins decided to put confetti in EVERYTHING. I mean everything...the air vents, our luggage, etc. We still find a piece every now and then. I think it started with me putting confetti in birthday cards so that it fell out whenever the birthday boy or girl opened the card (note to self: start that back up). So, to get me back for all that confetti'ing, they confetti'ed Christopher's Mustang GT. So...its tradition now. Everyone gets it. After some searching, lying, maybe even a few tears, Josh begrudgingly DUG HIS KEY FOB OUT OF THE PLANT and handed it over to us. Now, this is definitely a cousin affair but based on these pictures, who do you think the main confetti culprit is?  ;) (Go ahead and say it, Matt. You love me!)

Many more\pictures to come...  (You didn't think I'd leave out the million pictures that I took of my cute boys, did you?)

Carter's 4th Birthday | Fresh Beat Band

Carter Bear celebrated his 4th birthday with a Fresh Beat Band party at our church's play space.

Since Fresh Beat Band decorations aren't readily available (except for a few free printables at nickjr.com), I decorated mainly with musically-themed things like microphones, tambourines, guitars, and music notes. 

Since Carter isn't a fan of cakes/cupcakes, Beth and I made homemade sugar cookies cut in a music note shape and flooded with royal icing. We also had a Chick-Fil-A nugget platter, grapes, chips, and cheese puffs.

Carter enjoyed the company of his family as well as a daycare friend.

Banner Elk - Other Outings

We spent a lot of time in the cabin playing games but also got out for a few other outings like a wine tasting at Banner Elk Winery and a visit to the Mast General Store.

 

Banner Elk - 4th of July

We spent the 4th of July in the quaint downtown of Banner Elk where we walked through a wet and slushy craft fair and participated in and voted for our favorite BBQ in the annual Banner Elk BBQ Showdown.

We finished up our day with some gem mining where we found an awesome ruby and other great gems!

Banner Elk - Our Day in Linville

We drove to Linville one day to visit the caverns and falls. We also ate at this great hole-in-the-wall restaurant where our food was cooked in one county, the waitresses picked it up in another country, and we ate in a third!

One thing that I learned about myself in the caverns, I have turned into a claustrophobe in my old age...even though we found a giant pickle in the cavern. Eeeek!

We all hiked up to two different lookouts to view the beautiful multi-tiered Linville Falls and gorge. Despite the massive downpour that the last of our group got caught in when hiking back from the third lookout, it was a highlight of the trip.