End of summer break

The end of summer break is finally here. I have to admit, I don't want to see it end. We had a great summer. We started the summer with a mission... to completely immerse ourselves in 'summer fun' and focus on doing fun stuff together instead of keeping our 'normal' routine of errands/gym/household chores/etc. I didn't go to the gym nearly as much as I normally do (the girls don't like going there so that was certainly for their benefit, not mine. But like I said I was focused on doing fun things with my kids all summer, so that was my priority instead of my regular 'to-do list'. Yes, our house got cleaned, but we didn't give it priority over doing fun stuff. Yes, the girls had chores, and so did I...but we got them all done and STILL had fun. We wound up spending a lot of time swimming (of course), we also did a couple cooking classes for T (which she loved!). We went family bowling a few nights (free coupons). The girls played LOTS together and with their pets. We had a few swim dates with their friends and moms at our house. We went to a Bouncy place. Taylor cooked us treats all summer as well as a few dinners. We took part in a few of the library summer reading sessions and we went to the Children's museum a couple times, as well as getting treats at fro-yo shops all summer long. We did some night swimming and made homemade ice cream with grandpa. We also had relatives visit and went to a couple water parks.  About the only thing we didn't do (that they did repeatedly ask for) was ice-skating. I decided it was just too hot (100+) for us to wear jeans even just from the house, to the car, to the rink. Just too hot. We'll have to go in the fall when it cools off. We also have a free zoo coupon which I am planning to use on a fall weekend because it was just too hot to go during the summer.
We ended the summer with W losing 2 of her bottom teeth! what a big girl!!!!

It was a good summer, and I am happy to say I succeeded in fully embracing the summer and creating lots of summer fun for my kids. Now that school has started (2 days down), we will eventually get back to some sort of regular routine of 'normal' days.  Hopefully, anyway. Actually, though I don't foresee that happening for  about a month or so because there are lots of new things to get into a routine on for W's school (I'm the PTA treasurer), T's school (I am a volunteer who hasn't decided yet if I'll be a homeroom mom again this year), church (I am teaching W's age group every other week), and Dan's office (I do the books, and I think I've mentioned it previously, Dan has been working a TREMENDOUS amount this year on some changes and new projects. That has finally all come to fruition, which means, I now have a TON of work to do to get everything on track with our accounting systems/payroll/etc.) Therefore, I am needing to spend a lot of time at the office, and at the schools, which doesn't leave much of a 'regular' routine for the gym/household/etc.  I think though after this first month, everything should start to fall in place and a nice 'routine' will be established. Since W is now full days at school, I will be working (at least) 2 full days a week at the office, but will be able to still drop them off in the morning and be home when they get home from school. So even though I'm working, since I'm working at our companies, I have the flexibility to still be very actively involved in their schools, which is really nice.

So yes, the end of summer is here, and it makes me a bit sad for our 'summer' to end. But it also makes me happy, to look forward to new things and new changes.

Here are a few pictures...


T playing t-ball with a floating ball at the bouncy place. That's W on the floor trying to get out of her way lol



 Just a couple of monkeys here!

 Girls chasing minnows in a pretty creek in Arkansas. We went there one weekend and made a mini-vaca out of it by stopping by the Walton Five and Dime (Walmart's first store, now a museum)

Girls on the slide at a water park.

 
 T asleep with her cat, Chica  (who is now missing, as well as W's cat Nubs-so sad)

 T at her cooking classes. She LOVES this and loves to cook!

 W attached to cousin Richey's hip while he was visiting :)

 Som high-flying fun int he pool with daddy.

 Daddy teaches both T and mommy how to shoot a gun.

 W and cousin Julie helping grandpa make homemade ice cream on July 4th.

 Cousins giving hugs :)

 The first tooth falls out!


Some of T's tasty treats, homemade biscotti! She is good!



 More waterpark fun :)

Yes, I'd say it was a good, fun, activity-filled summer. Which was exactly what I wanted it to be when it started. We focused on summer that is for sure!  We also ended the summer with a last minute 'summer vacation' which I will give its own post :)
And now u can see why I wasn't doing much posting DURING the summer. I was too busy ENJOYING the summer, to actually sit at a computer and DOCUMENT it   ha ha  :)