The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

First day!

Back to school! Yesterday was the first day of school and it all went great. Maxwell had to wear his football jersey but was pretty excited about it all…and maybe a little nervous about the logistics of the day and finding his way around the Junior High.

school

Spencer was pumped to be in a class with all of his best friends in 5th grade…

spencer

and Samantha can’t wait to shine in 3rd grade!

school

The junior high carpool left first…

school

and then the other two were off and running with buddies.

Abe

school

school

Hoping for the very best year for all three of them!

first day

Let’s go!

Post graduation

After graduation Maxwell and I with a group of his friends went to Paramount for lunch. Burgers, fries and video games! Best celebration of 6th grade ever!

paramount

That afternoon the class had a pool party and they all had fun despite the chilly temps!

pool party

Proud of all of these graduates and thankful for such a great experience at MBE!

Abe

Congratulations MBE Class of 2023!

Graduation

Maxwell is officially an elementary school graduate! I’m so proud of Maxwell. He excelled at MBE and made the most of his 7 years there. Straight As, exemplary behavior, involved in all kinds of activities – he’s an all around great kid! Graduation was a special day and he looked extra sharp in his new suit!

First day of Kindergarten…

kindergarten

to last day of 6th grade!

suit

suit

suit

Graduation was in the auditorium which worked out well because it was a rainy morning. We ended up being able to snag seats for Spencer and Samantha too so they got to come watch.

award

All the graduates looked very nice up on stage in their best attire!

attire

Abe

They gave out a few awards during graduation…but no academic awards. I have thoughts on that which I’m sharing with the principal! In my book, Maxwell got the STEM Robotics award and the All A Honor Roll! I’m also going to give him the “kind, cool kid” award!  🙂

award

graduation

grad

grad

After getting their diploma, the graduates stood alongside the wall and Maxwell ended up standing right beside me and Robert. We loved this! Maxwell did not. ha!

maxwell

mob

mob

Congratulations graduates!

graduates

Luckily there was a break in the rain right after graduation so all the kids got to go outside and shoot off confetti canons! fun!!

confetti

grad

I love this class and the group of friends Maxwell has made at MBE. I hope they are lifelong buddies!

Abe

Abe

graduation

I sure do love this smart, handsome young man!

mob

mob

mob

From his globe before kindergarten (with unfortunate face paint that day! ha!)…

globe

to his globe at graduation!

globe

We are so proud of you Maxwell! Congratulations!

mob

Now on to bigger adventures at the Junior High!

T Swift

I think it’s safe to say I’m officially a Swifty now! We made the trip to Atlanta to see Taylor Swift in concert and – wow! – what a show!! This was Samantha’s first concert and I’m not sure how anything is going to live up to it! We stayed at the Omni right next to the stadium and that was key. We just had a quick walk there and back after the show which was really nice. We were all ready to go nice and early!!

swift

It was thankfully a beautiful day and the Swiftys were out in full force and full costume! The people watching was top notch. We were definitely in the minority not having on sequins. But Samantha and I felt pretty darn cute in our matching tie-dye!

tie dye

GJ had on her Lavender Haze shirt…

gj

and Delaney looked fab too!

swift

swift

We had our Lover heart eye too!

swift

Taylor Swift fans must truly be the nicest fans in the world. Everyone makes friendship bracelets that say song titles or lyrics and hands them out and trades them at the concert. Samantha came home with a stack of bracelets!

bracelets

swift

bracelets

We finally made our way down to the floor level where our seats were and I think Samantha was blown away! I was too!

swift

swift

swift

swift

We got some food and sort of listened to the opening acts and then the countdown was on!!

taylor swift

taylor

Samantha was so excited I thought she was going to cry. Sometimes with events like these, the anticipation is so great that the actual event can’t live up to the hype. That was not the case here!! The show more than lived up to the hype and was incredible!!! We’d been listening to the setlist in the car for weeks so she knew almost all of the songs and that made it so much more fun for her. I obviously loved seeing Taylor…but watching Samantha see Taylor? That was the VERY best!!

taylor

taylor

swift

She performed for over 3 hours and it was just so good. Samantha stood on her chair the whole time (except during the Evermore album when she sat!) and held on to me and GJ’s shoulders all night. The best! And thank you to whoever the sweet lady was behind Samantha that never complained once about her standing on her seat!

swift

swift

swift

swift

swift

swift

swift

Our seats were 15th row at the top of the T and when she came to the top of the T, she was so close to us! Samantha was waving and waving to her and I’m sure she saw us! 🙂

swift

swift

We danced, we sang, we screamed, we lost our hearing…we LOVED it!!

taylor swift

What a show, what a night, what a perfect memory!! Taylor Swift fans for life!

 

Bunkin’ party

We have a “no sleepover before 10” rule but….rules are meant to be broken! ha! Samantha got invited to a sleepover birthday party and we decided to bend the rules just a little since it was a birthday party. She was pretty excited…

party

and had the very best time!!

party

party

Now let’s see if I can get the term “bunkin’ party” to be used around here!!