Hooray for August!

It's been a wonderful month with family and fun PLUS a very gigantic milestone for my favorite little person :)

We started off the month with a visit from the cousins to our house. Rose always loves seeing Regan and Payton and loved having them stay with us for a few days.

Who doesn't need two cute diaper cousins playing piano? Pop is an excellent teacher :)

We also enjoyed some girl time and Rose had her first pedicure.

Everyone went out to the Turkey Hill Experience and let's just say, no ice cream was left unfinished :)

Rose is a master ice cream mixer :)

Look at these cuties! Rose loves her big cousins :)

After the clam bake we loaded up and headed to the cousins, even Lily!

Rose and I had lots of fun outings.... including a Children's Museum with a touch tank

and a Butterfly House

and HUGE Lite Bright

We drove up high for a view of the mountains from the famous Roanoke Star

We happily discovered a new water ice place, this place has the best water ice EVER! We loved it so much we went 2 days in a row!

Rose and Colton enjoyed cooling off in a water fountain, I wish I had packed my swimsuit to join them!

We then dried off playing on an amazing Peter Pan inspired playground!

Then it was off to dinner at a Hibachi restaurant. 

Luckily daddy got to join us for meals :)

Because daddy was usually busy installing Aunt Laura's new kitchen :)

But we did still find lots of time together this month and enjoyed every moment of it while counting down to someone's first day of school :)

Rose was exceptionally proud of herself for conquering her fear and climbing onto the BIG beam at gymnastics!

We found a new amazing playground to explore

We made a final summer visit to baby Ellie. Most weeks we took Ellie and Aunt Kate lunch and enjoyed watching this little girl grow!

We also got some last summer fun in with cousin Luke and Aunt Jenni picking raspberries and peaches. 

Rose was insistent on making a pie, but then declared that she likes apple better :( oh well, daddy and I ate it all up!

Rose has also become a seasoned at cannon ball jumping, so beware if you are around her and a pool ;)

We also said 'see you later' not 'good-bye' to Rose's beloved Miss Megan who was a tremendous help this summer watching Rose some afternoons each month. 

It was then time to prepare for school {big sigh} as Rose officially became a kindergartner this month!

She packed her lunch with daddy

Stood with the first day chalk board and then was off!I am happy to report that it's going pretty well. There are lots of hugs and a few sniffles in the morning, but at the end of the day she tells me all the wonderful things she's been up to and says she'll go back tomorrow. 

We've been adjusting to our new schedule and finding ways to make the most of our time together and have lots of fun :)

We even fit in a trip to Knoebels!

And we ended the month by visiting the newest Stillinger cousin! This was the summer for girls and Rose is so excited to have two little girls cousins who she can have over for tea parties, nails, sleepovers, and lots of fun :)