our last weekend of summer

i keep going back and forth about whether to refer to these days as summer or fall. it still sort of felt like summer over the weekend because school is just starting today for azalea, but my mind has been all pumpkin spice, booties, and cardigans for a couple weeks now ;) the weather cooled down quickly in seattle once september hit, so it has been feeling very fall-like here. but this past weekend was 70 and sunny and beautiful! 

first let's back up to thursday night. azalea had her first soccer class at the community center. it's meant to be a class rather than a team, which is perfect for her right now! a while back i asked her if she wanted to sign up for gymnastics because she always seems very interested in tumbling. but she quickly said "i can't take gymnastics, i don't know how to do it! i want to take soccer!" i had to laugh because she has no clue how to play soccer either, but that's what she wanted, so i signed her up. last thursday was the first night and she looked so stinkin cute in her apparel. she really loved the class and i thought she looked like a natural out there. they play in the gym rather than the field, which will be nice once it gets more rainy here. i can't wait to see her learn more about the sport and see if it might be something she wants to stick with. she also really loved dance last spring.

friday afternoon we had our "family meeting" with azalea's kindergarten teacher. every family gets to have one before the start of the year, and like the name suggests, the whole family is invited (thatcher left work early). we had informally met her teacher (as well as the other teachers) during jumpstart, but this was our first time meeting her as "our" teacher. we got to see the classroom, which is a brand new space converted from being a preschool room. nice hardwood floors, cheery green walls, and tables set up in little pods. it looks awesome! the only thing that's a little strange is that the room is attached to the school, but only accessible from an outside door. i will be dropping her off and picking her up there each day. anyway, the meeting went well. she interviewed azalea a bit and did a reading activity with her. i think azalea was a bit nervous knowing all of the attention was on her, and therefore acted a bit strange, but i'm sure she will be fine once school actually starts. after that we went home and grilled dinner and it was early to bed because a certain 2 year old in our house refused to nap all day (so not ready for that....) 

saturday morning i asked thatcher if i could have some "me time". sometimes i go weeks without having more than a 30-60 minute break from the kids, and it had gotten to that point. he took them to the zoo and i drove over to uvillage which is a really nice outdoor mall near the university of washington. it was beautiful outside, so it was the best of both worlds (shopping and fresh air, that is). i got to sip an iced coffee while browsing at my leisure (i seriously love shopping alone!) and then i got a delicious salad at a juice bar for lunch.  it was such a refreshing morning to myself and very much appreciated :) 

i bought a pair of tan suede booties, and an oatmeal color flutter short sleeved shirt at h&m. i also got a cute pumpkin spoon rest from crate and barrel ($5!!) that i may use as decor somewhere else. we'll see! 

both kids napped in the afternoon (woo hoo!) then we headed to ella bailey park for my friend allison's daughter charlotte's 4th birthday. it was such a nice evening and as you can see the views are incredible from the park! i had only been there in the morning before and it was not nearly this clear. 

they had pizza and cake and the kids ran around. it was a really fun night! 

sunday was a nice low-key last day before kindergarten (eeeek!). in the morning we walked to mighty o's for donuts and then took a stroll through the farmer's market on the way back home. we also came across this quirky little playhouse in the middle of our neighborhood: 

 both kids napped in the afternoon and i did a little work. then i went to the grocery store to get stuff for the week the next 2 days. in the evening, our friends vanessa and matt dropped off their son ewan so they could go out for their anniversary dinner. this was part 2 of the date night swap from a couple weeks ago. the kids can be a handful when they are all together, but we are more than happy to do it for them because we know as well as they do how hard it is to not have many opportunities for date nights. we grilled chicken and veggies for tacos, then took the kids to the field at the community center to burn off some energy, which was very smart! 

i'm sure i'll be back here later this week with some stories from azalea's first days of school!