The End of Summer

I kept thinking I would get around to blogging the last two weeks and it never happened.  Of course I have forgot a lot of the details of what we have done, so I am using our pictures to remind me.  On the home front, I set up Lincoln's Lego table down in the old office and he and his friends have enjoyed playing with it.  And I also got labels made for all of our office/school supplies in the new office.  This is all very minor to the awesome work my dad has been doing on the cubbies that will go in the new office.  I am sooo thankful that he is doing those for us!

The kids have also got to go out to the ranch a few times.  They got to hang out with Granny a little bit and also go check Andrew's cows.

And there has been a lot of wrestling/ninja fighting.  Ellie sometimes joins in and other times she does her tumbling around them while they fight.  There are of course some tears too, with Miles and Bennett especially.  They can get so mad at each other one minute but are totally sweet to each other the next.  I am still trying to figure our their "secret language".

My view from the treadmill one morning.

Sara and her kids came to visit for a few days while Ryan was out of town.  The kids all had fun playing and swimming together while I enjoyed hanging out with Miss Charlotte and visiting with Sara.  Brady made sure to tell us all to drive safe when we left my parents the night before they headed back to St. Louis :-).

Then after they left, it was time to pack up and head to Louisville for Amanda's 40th birthday.  Andrew stayed at home to work while I took the kids.  Actually Jackson and Lincoln rode with my parents along with Owen while the twins and Ellie rode with me along with Kaitlin and Lola.  I thought Lola would like having Ellie in the back with her but she didn't really care...she just doesn't like traveling.  While the twins are getting better now, we have totally experienced that with all of our kids in the past.  We made a little pit stop at a McDonald's on the way and they had a big grassy area with tables that was great for the kids to run around on.  Ellie spent her whole time working on her back walkovers.

Everyone but Molly (still at kamp) and Caroline and Jared were able to make it to Louisville for the weekend.  The kids were crazy, but they had a good time.  Everyone of them wanted to ride the little Jeep which caused a few fights.  At one point, Miles, Bennett and Lola were in it and they proceeded to take out every toy in the driveway that was in their way.  I really wish I would have gotten that on video.  We got there Friday evening and Amanda and Todd managed to fit us all in their house.  They are so hospitable.  Lissy and I shared Carson's room with the twins on the floor.  All the other kids except Owen, Lola, Preston, Grayson, Finley and Charlotte were in the basement together-that was a lot of kids.  Saturday afternoon, I went with my parents, Amanda, Todd and Andy to help set up for the party.  It all went pretty smoothly, but we were running a little late. So we just had a few minutes to get ready once we got back to the house.  Todd set up some sitters for all the kids and they were already there.  So I changed real quick and headed back to the party with my parents to finish up a few things.  It ended up being a great party for Amanda.  She had some of her close friends and family there to celebrate with her along with good food and cute decorations :-).  Some of my sisters may have had a little too much to drink though and decided it was fun to take a lot of selfies through the night-even with my phone while I was helping clean up :-).  Amanda and Todd had a brunch for us the next morning and then it was time to head home.  I am so glad we were able to go though and celebrate with Amanda!

We ended up going to my parents first when we got home to drop off Kaitlin and her crew but ended up staying so the kids could swim a bit.  Plus Molly had just returned home from kamp so they wanted to see her too.  Then Molly was so sweet to watch the kids for me most of the day on Tuesday so we could do special days-more like special 2 hours.  It all worked out though.  I was able to do a couple things with the three oldest that really suited them.  Lincoln was up first and we started the morning by getting him signed up for soccer.  He was so excited about it.  Then we went by a new bakery to try to get some donuts but they didn't have any.  So we grabbed a cookie and a muffin and headed to Wal-Mart because he really wanted a donut.  After that we went to the park and he had a great time.  We were the only ones there.  At one point he asked me to climb up one jungle gym and slide down the pole.  He told me, "It is okay mom-don't be scared."

After we finished up, then I picked up Ellie and we got pedicures.  She was a little nervous about having a guy do it at first but he ended up being really nice and did a great job with her.  He did little birds on her big toes and flowers with rhinestones on her thumbs.  She loved it.  Then we met Andrew for lunch at La Fuente.  So a totally perfect afternoon for Ellie.

After I dropped her off, it was Jackson's turn.  We headed out to 1000 Hills first and did one of the trails out there.  Then we went to Tru Yo for some frozen yogurt.  We had fun and some great conversations.

The twins were down for naps when I got home so Molly offered to stay a little longer if there was anything else I needed to do, so I went for a bike ride.  It was a bit windy, but it was still nice to get out there.  I was so thankful Molly stayed so I could do it.

Other than that, we have been trying to enjoy the last couple weeks of summer.  We squeezed in a couple swim play dates which we haven't been able to do most of the rest of the summer.  Miles and Bennett are getting a little more adventurous with actually getting out in the water rather then just playing on the stairs.  And Lincoln swims his heart out...with his life jacket on.  I was hoping we would be able teach him to swim this summer but it was just kind of a crazy, different summer.  So next year we definitely will.  The kids have also enjoyed playing four square (or six square or eight square) with their friends and finally got a night of night games in thanks to Leah and Joe.  I wasn't feeling that great that night so I didn't go out but the kids loved it.  That will be another thing to try to do more of next summer.

This past Saturday my mom had a surprise birthday party for Kathy Powell along with her daughters.  It appeared Kathy was surprised and that was great.  It was a great party for her and after getting around 6 inches of rain in the previous 24 hours, the kids got to even do some swimming at the end of the party.  My mom bought a typewriter for Amanda's party for people to type out birthday wishes and she was brought it out for Kathy's party too.  She actually used a lot of the same decorations for both parties which was perfect because they were so cute.  Ellie loved using the typewriter. 

Then on Sunday I took the three oldest to a back to school pool party at the Country Club while Andrew stayed home so the twins could nap.  I had not been out to the Country Club in a long, long time, but not much has changed.  I got to visit with some parents while the kids had fun swimming.  They really enjoyed the diving board.  Jackson and Lincoln probably went off of it for at least a half hour straight and then came back for some more later.  Then that evening we had our back to school dinner.  We are using the kamp/K-Life theme this year, Fully Charged.  Earlier we were talking about what it meant to be "fully charged" with God.  I was asking the kids how we could accomplish this and Jackson and Ellie mentioned things like read our Bible and pray while Lincoln piped up, "We can drink our milk."  Love that kid!  My parents and Molly came over and we had our usual chicken scallopine with lemon broccoli and cookie cake.  Then we let them play outside until dark on last time.  I can't believe summer is over.  It was a crazy summer that went way too fast but now we are ready to tackle the school year.  The rest of our day today will be spent meeting the kids' new teachers and dropping off their supplies.  I think they all have some great teachers for this year, so I am hopeful for a great year!