summer catch up

I just had to do a summer phone dump because I am starting to take so many more pictures on my phone now!  I do a post and then forget to back up and post ones on my phone.

This was taken on my mom's birthday.  She came to spend the day with us and we took her to a yummy little italian place in town.  It was so delicious!

Kerigan discovered her love of good ol' Iowa sweet corn.  You just can't beat it!  And I think we ate on the porch several times a week all summer long because the weather was SO beautiful.  In the 70's most of the summer.  Even through July.  It was unseasonably cool and we loved every minute of it!

My girl on her first day of swimming lessons

I was so proud of her, she jumped right in and followed her teacher's directions!

First day of tumble tots!

She loved this trampoline.  Actually she loved the whole class so much she wanted me to sign her up again so I enrolled her in a class this fall.  She is so excited!

Andrew did the summer camp and he loved it too!  But he's sticking with Tae Kwon Do for the fall!

In other big news....

While apprehensive at first....

This little man learned to ride his bike without training wheels!

We took him to an elementary school that has a track on a flat surface so he could go without stopping, and it was the best thing ever.  We practiced for 2 days in the neighborhood and just weren't having any luck.  He was frustrated and didn't have the best attitude about it.  We may or may not have bribed him with a Skylander.  Worked like a charm!  Ha!

Someone else decided she wanted to ride her princess bike too!  I got her a new princess helmet and she jumped right on and learned to pedal in about 5 minutes.  She also rode around and around the track with Andrew and had a blast.  And who says you can't ride a bike in a tutu and flip flops!?

He was so proud of this- he built it at Ga Ga's one afternoon.

My precious little dancer.  I ordered her dance stuff online and it came in the mail and she couldn't wait to try it on.  She could not look any sweeter.  What is it about dance outfits??  I could just eat her up with a spoon!

This picture cracks me up.  With their cheetos and McDonalds drinks, konked out on the way back from the August heart meeting.  Our meetings are about an hour away, but we love going and they love to play with their friends!  I always bring their pajamas and we make it fun by stopping through drive thru's on the way there and back.  Mandy and I always take turns driving and love the time chatting in the car!  It's a win-win!

I think that catches me up!  Back to school...coming up!

friends

I can't believe it's time to wrap up my summer posts.  I have many special back to school memories to share, but want to keep this blog in order so I have a few more updates before we tell summer goodbye!

This cracked me up.  My friend Angie and I met at Starbucks one morning and then grocery shopped and we saw this book and had to take a selfie.  We are both teachers and were loving our sleepy mornings and not ready to start getting up bright and early again!  Ha!

One afternoon we took Andrew and a couple of his friends to the "jumpy house place" (as he calls it!)  They had a blast and I don't think they ever stopped running or moving once except for this picture!

A certain little girl refused to slide.  I decided to just let her wander around and see what she would do (I knew she wouldn't go, she is so hesitant to try new things, which I hope changes as she grows!)  It took her about an hour of being there (and one time getting stuck up in the play tunnels and crying for me to come get her, which I did NOT do, just for the record!  No way this mama is crawling up there and getting stuck!  Ha!)

As you can see, once she made the decision, she was off.  She absolutely loved it and she never stopped the whole rest of the time.  We had to stay a little longer since it took her so long to discover how much she loved it!

We saw Planes, Fire & Rescue with some friends one afternoon!  So much fun! (Kerigan hogged the popcorn- Ha!)

Lots of ice cream dates with our good friends!

These three crack me up!

We were passing through our old stomping grounds so I texted our old friends from Andrew's preschool and they joined us at the park for a picnic supper!  The boys acted like no time had passed and could have played forever!

Nicholas and Payton were Andrew's very first friends at preschool when he turned 3.  They have been best buddies ever since and they miss each other!  I think it's so great we can still all keep in touch and get them together every once in a while! 

Kerigan was so proud she climbed this giant rock!

She has fun playing with Payton's big sister too!  Silly boys!

We joined our friends for a benefit to support childhood cancer and look who was there!  More princesses!  The girls were starstruck yet again!

We all brought toys to donate to the children's hospital and Santa showed up!  Andrew couldn't wait to get on his lap and tell him what he wants for Christmas already!  Ha!

I made him take a picture with the princesses.  You can see he was thrilled.  But secretly I don't think he minded too much!  Ha!

The fire department was there and the kids had fun exploring the fire truck!

Seriously?  He really is this funny.

I've been having fun with my friends too!  I've never really had so many girl friends that all hung out regularly and went to movies, dinner and had drinks together!  I am loving it!  I have found the best friends in our new little town, and I am so blessed.  It's something I had prayed for for a long time, and God has provided me with that need for close friendships and community.  I love that our kids have all become friends too.  There have been lots of fun times and laughs this summer!

And some serious half price Applebees appetizers!  Can't beat that!

 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:12-15

lazy lake days

Before school started we had a little family getaway at the lake!  It was so much fun to be all together, relaxed and stress free!  Ahhh the lake is just my happy place!

Sweet family selfie.  

The kids absolutely love to anchor at the beach, have a picnic and go swimming up to the shore.

My favorite thing to do is go cruising around the lake, at a slower pace while soaking in the rays!  This doesn't work too well with the kids as they want to go FAST and they beg us until we do!  Kerigan loves driving with daddy.

A town staple

We love eating at the Barrel.  It's been in town for years and is a part of history.  They have the best chicken and ice cream ever!

A couple weeks later, we had a girls (and Andrew!) day and Mandy and I brought the kids for a boat ride again!

This is the life!  Ha!

Before we left I picked up a huge sack of sand toys for them to play with on the beach and Andrew just went crazy over it.  He is really into building sand castles and this helped a lot!

Working on their sand castle!

Mandy and I- heart mamas take the beach!  Ha!

My sweet girl

Of course we had to take them to the Barrel.  Where you seriously still place your order from a phone that's attached to the wall at each booth!  Something that will be a thing of the past in a few years, I'm sure!

They wanted to pose by the ice cream cone this time!  It's the "best in town!"

We loved our little end of summer lake adventures.  Hopefully there will be at least one more before we put the boat away for the season!