The Growing Caldwell Family

We blinked and Charlie was seven! It is so hard to believe that our precious baby boy has grown into a funny, bright, boisterous boy! He was excited that the elves brought him a bunch of balloons and made signs wishing him a happy birthday! There was also general silliness and happiness over his free dress day for school! Carpool happiness too! His teacher sent this adorable picture in his birthday crown and fun glasses! I had the privilege of being his lunch buddy!  He enjoyed a special lunch from Chick Fil A that included a warm chocolate chip cookie! He was excited to see his room refreshed in a Harry Potter theme!  Sweet guy on his birthday! He picked dinner and chose to go to Golden Corral! Of course, opening some of his gifts was a lot of fun! So many thoughtful family sent cards and gifts to him. What a lucky boy to be loved by so many people. I think he went to sleep feeling like he had a great day!

Charlie was picked at chapel to help Chaplain Porter Cade demonstrate her point of how we are all connected to one another.  So grateful his sweet teacher took the moment to send this picture!

With the start of school also came a return to acolyting!

Sarah Graves was so proud to be picked to help with presenting information about the uniforms to the troop! She added her own bit of flair to it and I'm so proud of the courage she has to get up in front of others.

The Girl Scout year kicked off with a bridging ceremony! Sarah Graves was really excited for this special experience. Her troop made it a fun and special way to kick off the new year! Daddy and Charlie came to watch after Cub Scouts A lot of hard play at Cub Scouts tired Char out! He can still sleep anywhere! Sarah Graves was not a Daisy, so this was her first opportunity to bridge and she really looked forward to it. She was given her new vest! We were both excited to not have the brown anymore, but it was hard to give up all the badges she earned as a Brownie! The whole troop feeling so proud of all they accomplished! We also heard that our troop was #1 in cookie sales in our council! Way to go!

The kids and Aaron were so excited for the start of scouts! Sarah Graves is moving up to Juniors and Charlie is moving up to Tigers. Aaron will be the den leader for the Tigers this year! 

After spending most of a Saturday cleaning out the garage, we welcomed the chance to take care of some returns and enjoy dinner out. Everyone enjoyed the break from work and some yummy cookie skillet!

All too soon the first day was here! The first day is always exciting and something about it makes me nervous too. When the kids are with Lovie, I don't worry so much. When I send them off to school, it feels like I am leaving them vulnerable to all the world. Their school couldn't be more loving, every teacher knows them, and it is the same kids from year to year.  I love that she still asked me to walk her to her class on the first day and posed for pictures! Proof that school is good! Charlie was much more relaxed on the first day and seemed his usual good natured self.  Proof that first grade is fun! They both had great first days and came home full of things to tell about class rules, who sits where, and what they like about their teachers!

To continue with the trend of living their best life this summer, Lovie took them for breakfast at Chick Fil A and to see the Dora the Explorer movie! Both kids agreed they really liked the movie and thought is was better than they expected! So glad their book reports and summer math packets were done and there was no struggling over finishing that on the last day!  There were many days like this struggling to get her to do the work! Even a nap was more appealing than math worksheets!

 Then it was time to meet the teachers and see the classrooms! Both kids were really excited to see what was in store for the new school year! I miss that excitement of starting fresh and the possibility of a new year! Charlie got really nervous. Not sure if it was anxiety about meeting the new teacher or just overwhelmed with how crowded and noisy the halls were as everyone excitedly greeted one another after summer away. He handled it way better than he did a few years ago, so there is progress.  Here he is with Ms. Kindrick, one of his first grade teachers. Sarah Graves has a big classroom and was really excited to see where it was! They moved 4th grade back to the lower school building, so a lot of shifting took place to make space for three classes of 4th graders. They are back on the hall where they were for 2nd grade! Lovie came to help me manage getting the kids to their classrooms and meeting the teachers.  The school had a happy hour at M