silly string summer

So in an effort to catch up I'm combining pictures from before and after our vacation and posting this first, then I'll move onto our trip!  

I saw this on Facebook the other day and it made me chuckle.  I used to teach summer school back in the day, before Craig and kids.  And I loved it.  But these days it's just not in the cards.

So this is how we started our first day of summer vacation!

We had planned to meet our friends for an innocent last day ice cream at Ev's celebration... then they get out of the car and start squirting us with silly string!

We still got our ice cream... but a war ensued!

Andrew was beyond excited about going to sneak up on daddy at school!

Here we go!

There was a baseball game going on...  but that didn't stop these kids!

I'm pretty sure I've never seen Craig move this fast!  Ha ha!

He was a good sport!  And the kids will never forget this fun evening with our friends celebrating summer!

Our first morning at home together, Kerigan decided to scare Ga Ga with a picture of a chicken!  Ha!

They played so nicely together and actually let mommy sleep in!  Then Andrew wrote this sweet note to his sister.  I'm betting this isn't going to last all summer... but it was a nice start!  Ha!

Then some days I get woken up to this and fighting.  Ha!  So it's just a guessing game if I get a sleep in morning or not!

He might kill me for this someday, but seriously?  How does the kid fit into his sisters pajamas and flip flops??

There's just nothing better than friends and summer mixed together!

Baseball boys!

We are taking advantage of these summer evenings with our friends.... Whenever our time together ends, Angie and I always say, "So.... what are we doing tomorrow?!"  Ha!

Then of course we celebrated National Donut Day one morning!

Andrew had a safety camp all day so we had a girls donut and shopping day!

Yum!

Then we shopped til we dropped!

Icees at the mall!  Side note- we've given lots of Kerigan's clothes to Piper and she's wearing Kerigan's shirt here... I just love seeing Piper in clothes my girl used to wear!

As usual, our kids have been swimming a ton this summer thanks to our best babysitter, Olivia.  They live across the street and have a pool and Kerigan and our other neighbor, Brooklyn, have loved swimming together these days!

Olivia has been keeping the kids for me a bunch so I can get some packing done!  Kerigan used to be scared of dogs by the way- Ha!  We are so blessed to have her and I hate the thought of moving away from such great neighbors! :(

Speaking of great neighbors, Heidi came over one night after I had put Kerigan to bed and surprised her!  Every single day when we drive home and pass her house Kerigan says she hopes Heidi is outside.  So she was thrilled to see her and her puppy!  We will miss her too!  (And we are NOT getting a dog!)  

Then the other day the kids made a tent and wanted to sleep in it.  Sleepover in the tent?  Sure!  It's summer!  They actually slept all night- I was shocked!

My girl did her second year of dance camp and she loved it.  This year's theme was Candyland camp.

This day was dress up like a candyland character.  I admit I had to google this!  Ha!  The only one we could come up with was Princess Frostine!  Her costume looked like Elsa, so we had a win!

Then one of the days they had an American Girl tea party.  These two had a great time!

Dance camp was a hit!

It's been an awesome summer so far!  We've sold our house... twice!  Our first buyers backed out and after our first showing when it was back on the market, we sold again.  We are just waiting for their house to sell now... so we are praying it can happen soon!  Daddy has already started working an hour and a half away and we're ready to be closer together!

Vacation updates coming soon...

last day of school

What??  These aren't your typical last day of school pictures?  Ha!  The kids were very excited on this morning... do you think they were trying to make me late for school??

Her sass... it just kills me.

I have no words for these... he has grown SO MUCH.

And this girl... 

they are both my world.

Andrew and I had our last day of school on the 31st so Kerigan still went to Ashley's.  This is Andrew and his awesome teacher Mrs. Pfantz.  

I snuck outside during 3rd grade lunch to snap a picture of him eating with some of his friends.

These boys were Andrew's best friends- Gavin and Ronnell.  I think every single day Andrew came home with a funny story of something hilarious that Ronnell did.  And Gavin?  That kid has had Andrew's back for the last 3 years.  No one messes with Andrew because they'd have to deal with the wrath of Gavin- Ha!

Our school held a carnival for the last 2 hours of the day.

Daddy even picked up Kerigan early from Ashley's and she was so excited to come!  Can you tell?

This was so funny to watch her try to eat this donut with no hands! 

They had all kinds of games set up, bounce houses, prizes, etc.  It was supposed to be outside, but rain was predicted and coming in on radar in the afternoon so they moved it indoors just in case.  It didn't end up raining, but it was fun inside anyway!

I thought this was a great idea- because seriously?  Who learns anything the last 2 hours of the last day of school anyway??  Ha!

So we just had FUN!

These two... how can they be a year older already??

Andrew's turn doing the donuts!  Ha!

He got his face painted by his favorite art teacher Miss Williams.

He said he wanted a mustache so she gave him one... and a beard to match!  This kid.

Tossing bean bags to knock the balls over!

These are a couple of my students.  Lucy is by Kerigan- she takes dance at Kerigan's studio too and Kerigan just loves her.

They all went on a lot of the bouncy houses together!

Then Kerigan ran into another dance friend who is in Kindergarten at my school!  Sweet Kyla!

Kerigan was so happy she had friends at mommy's school too!

So this was such a funny story.  These giant crayons were given to each classroom for teachers to draw a name at the end of the day.  They were technically an incentive for parents to leave their kids at school and not take them home early.  So after the carnival we met back in our rooms for the drawing.  I let Kerigan pull a name, and she picked Lucy!!!  Ha!  It was so funny... then, look who came running down the hall...

Ha ha ha, Andrew's name had been drawn for their class crayon!  I died.  And like I need this giant thing sitting around my house that I'm trying to pack up!

Andrew and his principal, Ms. Williams... and a giant crayon. :)

Andrew came back for an hour the next day with me on my last day as I was finishing packing up my classroom.

He wanted me to take his picture outside next to everything so he could remember his school.  Sweet boy.

Our last day at Hoglan together.  There's been nothing better for me than to have been here with my son the last 2 years.  They were the best 2 years of my career because of it.  Getting to walk down the hall and peek in his classroom, seeing him wave at me in the halls, attending his special class parties... there's just nothing like it.  We have been blessed.  I will treasure those years with all my heart.  I would have loved to stay and be with Kerigan during her years there, but God had other plans for our family.  I have to believe that this is the right move for us, and things will continue to work according to His plan.

Just for fun... a look at "last days" over the years...

 The first 2 of Kerigan she wasn't in school but I took her picture on Andrew's last days!

And here's to a busy but fun filled summer!  Looking forward to our next adventure!