August

August was incredibly hot, full of an exciting birthday and several trips. But we are all ready for cooler temps and our fun slate of Fall activities.

Seeing Lisa Loeb, Gavin Degraw and OAR at Chastain

Avery (12 years) - Avery and mom joined National Charity League which is a mother/daughter organization similar to what mom and the boys do. This one starts in 7th grade and focuses on philanthropy, leadership and culture to help develop woman that make a positive impact in their communities. Avery is the only girl from her school in the chapter so she's been nervous about it but she made a few friends at the kick-off meeting and we hope it is a positive way for her to work on building friendships during this tween years. Otherwise she joined the yearbook committee at school and has already jumped in taking pictures. And she accepted the role of Stage Manager for Jitterbug's Fall production which is is VERY excited about.

Making friendship bracelets for the Kindness Campaign

Visiting a replica of Jacob's soda fountain pre-Braves game

Watching wrestling at Varner's with dad - boys weren't interested this go round

Parker (14 years, 9 months) - Parker kicked off school year activities for YMSL where he is begrudgingly the Freshman President for this year. He gets to help lead and plan the monthly meetings which will be great life skill practice for him. He also started Fall baseball season playing 16u Rec with some old and a few new friends - go Cannonballers! Otherwise Parker has been immersing himself in High School particularly enjoying Friday Night Lights with Lovett easily defeating their local Buckhead rivals in the first two games. 

Carter (16 years, 3 months) - Carter was accepted to the Cobb Youth Leadership program for this year and had his kick off meeting mid-month. It is a program for juniors who live or go to school in the county to teach them leadership skills and expose them to county and business leaders. There are 60 kids in the program so we are hoping it is a good opportunity for Carter to interact with kids he wouldn't otherwise meet and get to dive a little more into areas that impact urban planning. Otherwise he is back in off season wrestling workouts and studying for the ACT. He has also been enjoying football season and attended a college fair at end of the month.

Headshots

Nashville Weekend

For Christmas, Colin received tickets to the Foo Fighters concert in Nashville so we made a weekend of it. We stayed at the Omni so dad could check in on his old work project which gave us easy access to Broadway and lots of activity. We fit in a visit to the National Museum of African American Music which we all enjoyed and would highly recommend. That evening we braved the heat for the concert. It was the last show at Nissan Stadium so there was quite the crowd. Mom and dad sang their lungs out and the kids rolled their eyes but bopped along, surely quite impressed that we knew almost every song! A quick stop at Buccee's and it was back to Smyrna.

First Day of School - Boys

It's an exciting year with the boys are back in the same building as Parker started High School!. He is excited for 9th grade with more freedom, class options and maybe seeing his brother around a bit more.

Carter is ready for 11th grade. He picked a challenging course load but he is confident in his classes. He has friends in all his classes and his teachers are all great. Our schedule has changed a lot with Carter driving the boys to school but he loves the freedom and mom/dad love the time back in their day!

Avery's Birthday and Banana Ball Celebration

Avery was lucky to have a number of birthday celebrations this year. We started with her main request, a family dinner at the Melting Pot and we also fit in a dinner with Mimi and one with Pops/Emme.

Free Starbucks for her birthday

For Avery's birthday, she took a few friends to Spartenburg, SC to see a Banana Ball game, Indianapolis Clowns v Texas Tailgators. We were able to get backstage tickets so the girls got to meet players before the game and were prepared with several TicTock dances the wanted to perform. The boys appeased mom and dad with a few pictures but refrained from any dancing. We were fortunate to get a Golden Ticket when we checked in for the game so the girls got a tour of a few backstage areas of the stadium before the game. Unfortunately there was then a 2 hour rain delay but everyone stayed entertained with dancing and snacks. The Clowns won the game and we walked across the parking lot to our very convenient hotel room. After several stops for supplies (Cracker Barrel, Squishies at a gas station and Starbucks) the girls were ready to return home to Atlanta.

Headed to the field for autographs

Girls got roses from the players

Headed for their backstage tour

Hacky sack and line dancing during the rain delay