Last Week of Summer

I am not sure we've ever had quite so much time between our final beach trip and the start of school. Mid-week after our beach trip, I knew I needed to plan a lot for our final week of summer because boredom and bickering fighting seemed to be increasing rapidly.

One day we went to a fun park/nature center and had a picnic. Later that same day, I took them to our gym's indoor pool. That is WAY more than I usually accomplish in a day and with no naps. It was a lot of fun and we all slept well that night ;)

My 3 school boys...

 

and my super heroine

  

 Mason was feeling artsy and composed this picture ;)

If only Owen's head was in this big blank space :( He wasn't feeling it ;)

 I mean...

  

The free nature center was perfect for my littlest ones.

 Now Ryan's turn for a photo-

If you are a mom you probably catch yourself wondering what your children will remember about you when they are older. So much of what I do goes completely unnoticed and I worry the mistakes I make are more memorable than the fun times we have together. We had a summer FULL of fun memories. I only realized it during our picnic, when I asked them to pick their favorite summer thing. They couldn't! There were SO many. God has blessed us. I am SO thankful to spend their summers at home with them. EJ gave me a high-5 the night before school ;) I did it- another summer with 4! I wouldn't trade it for the world, but man it was taxing!

I squeezed in a special date with my kindergartner. We shopped for his 1st day of school outfit and got frozen yogurt. Let's just say he was not interested in the clothing part ;) I love this little guy and I am dreading sharing him with his teacher. We had a fun conversation while he ENJOYED his watermelon/rootbeer-float/mango flavored fro-yo with plenty of candy on top. He insisted I try his delicious concoction. Ack!

 Our busy days of fun took it's toll. She said she wasn't going to sleep, and would "just be quiet" ;)

The Friday before school, Mom and I took the kids to Busch Gardens one last time. This is the only picture I took, it was a reminder to me of her life motto. "Higher...faster...more" No wonder she exhausts me. God is SO gracious to me because he meets me with peace and grace every time I try to panic about what this will mean at 10,16 and 18 years old :)

One more summer memory post to come.

Practice Makes Perfect

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try again.

 It will pay off :)

 He never complains about being a fan, even though I know he'd rather be the one the court.

Outside Without Snowboots

We were all very excited to play outside and NOT because of snow. It was a lovely day.

 3 posing, 1 ignoring, but all captured ;)

Piles of Fun

The boys raked some leaves for jumping.

 Avery caught on fast. So much for texture sensitivity.

 They took turns completely covering each other in leaves and each popped out to surprise Avery. 

I love Owen and Mason's expressions, they love to make their sister smile.

 Where's Owen? (Doesn't that make you want to sneeze)

 Kind of confused, but she found him ;)

I got SO LUCKY with these pics. They are hardly ever in the same spot at the same time. Yay!

End of a Long Weekend

After 7 days of rainy weather, we were so excited yesterday, to see the sun.

 She has clearly grown. Her feet reach(barely) the pedals! Yay!

You may notice the duck tape on her knees. She is ruining too many pants with her crawling ;)

I KNOW I should be enjoying the crawling stage, but I am over it. I just want her to walk already.

EJ did not have off yesterday, but did make it home early enough for some football playing. Good friends of ours have 3 boys. The perfect ages for ours. Fun times! Avery and I cheered from the sidelines.