Life as a Brandtito

Welcome Back College Football!!    Bring on the taunting Gavin Brandt ! 

This is the reaction most of my "new ideas" get Every year since Annabelle started school the kids are forced to do a "Back to School Survey". The questions are generally the same, but I usually mix in one or 2 new ones to keep it age appropriate, (For example this year we had to get rid of the "favorite cartoon" question in lieu of the "favorite TV show" question ::sniff sniff::). It's neat to look back over their old answers and also watch their handwriting and spelling improve ( in some cases ) each year.  This year I decided to up the anty and force the kids to particpate include a short video of the mini's to go along with their surveys...below are the results...Enjoy.. (You may have better luck viewing if you click to view directly from You Tube..)   If you listen closely...you can hear Gavin realize he's been eating Seminole germs all year...   "Can I get something out of my backpack" translation

First day of school "We Survived" photo One week down, 35 or so to go. The kids have adjusted really well to Dixon and other than a few first day mix ups, seem to be navigating their new school quite effortlessly. We're still struggling to actually get back into "school" mode at home...but we're working on it! The kids got to be car riders last week,  but have been officially back in the swing of things bus riders as of Monday. They'll be going to LEAD Academy 2 days a week and riding the bus to my office the additional 3.  Most days they won't have to be there too long as myself or John will run them home, but on the days they do they've got a designated "homework" area to use and plenty of snacks (as apparently being completely famished after school is a thing). I'll be uploading the kids back to school interviews as well as a few answers from our annual back to school surveys later this week so you can hear first hand some

Happy First Day of School Day !!! Token First Day Awkward Photo...and yes, those are leopard pants Annabelle is wearing...

Random Photo Rundown as we get ready for back to school TOMORROW   Teacher crafts for kissing up on the first day... Annabelle cooked dinner for us on Tuesday. No seriously. She did 80% of the work. Patriot Nails for the girls first day at Dixon Womby. The dog I would like to steal. The girls have started making tents in their room....like on the regular  I have to admit, I'm slightly impressed by their design. Separate "rooms" any everything. Annabelle in a sea of stuffed animals.

We had our orientation at Dixon Intermediate today.  The girls were of course super excited, but GAVIN ACTUALLY REQUESTED A PHOTO of him in his new desk...so I think that shows he's a little excited too. 4th Grader Heaven in her desk! She has Mrs. Kennison this year. 5th Grader Gavin in his new desk in Mrs. Orehosky's Room! 3rd Grader Annabelle in Mrs. Walker's class!! We were very excited with the kid's teachers this year...especially since it's a new school for them! Annabelle's teacher, Mrs. Walker was her Aunt Casey's 3rd grade teacher too!! Casey said it was her all time favorite teacher...so we're taking that as a very good sign. Heaven has Mrs. Kennison and she remembered her from her subbing days at Pea Ridge the minute she saw her! Gavin has Mrs. Orehosky who I went to school with. She is just wonderful and she'll keep a special eye on Gav. Gavin's classroom is also across from Uncle Brian's so he can drop in a

The Lady Brandt's adventured to the Pensacola Little Theater's journey to Oz this weekend! It was an amazing performance and the girls were on the edge of their seats the whole time. I was a little nervous it would be over their heads at parts, because they have never actually seen "The Wizard of Oz" only the newer Disney "OZ The Great and Powerful" which is quite different. They loved it though, and the leads were spot on! The play also followed the movie version almost to a T...especially the Lion, who we somehow missed a photo with. Of course Annabelle loved Toto best. We had dinner at Leisure Club downtown. The girls thought they were very Smancy. Lady Brandts Heaven was genuinely scared of this lady! The witch never broke character and told Annabelle she loved all her black.. Gelinda The Good  

After feeding and watering the dogs for 6 weeks, Annabelle earned herself a fish today! After much debate at Petsmart, she decided on a pink "dragon scaled" beta & a mermaid themed tank. She has named him Poseidon (we're a bit into Percy Jackson right now...for better or worse) though I personally pushed for King Tritian (I mean HELLO it's a mermaid tank!!). She could not wait to get home and get it all set up. Because we (I) underestimated how big the tank we selected is, we set it up in the girls room...as there is no where else to put it. He has lots, and lots of pink decorations...so hopefully he's not too much of a manly man fish.

Incase you've been living under a rock....Shark Week is upon us!! We decided we needed another reason for fun times...and Shark Week showed up just in time!  We had friends, "shark themed" food, & even a few shark games!   Shark Week Kid Crew Shark Infested Cupcakes Shark Fin's invaded our drinks! The grown up's stuck with "Chum" (aka gumbo) The more mature Shark Week patrions Hot Dog Octopus