Our May

 It's full on summer around here. Complete with 90+ degree temperatures and kids home all day, every day. I may be an odd mom, but I am 100% here for it.

The first part of the month, we were still in the school routine for my big 3 and then I was home during the day with the baby. We keep ourselves entertained. We went to our last monthly mingle at the children's museum for the month:

And just played at home:

Avery loves being outside and playing. She also has to bring her babies with her everywhere, it's the cutest thing to watch her carry them and hug/kiss them. She is obsessed:

Working on her writing skills here, she's a natural:

Getting outside:

Payton's teacher sent me this photo. She got to try sushi for the first time (and loved), now the kids want to do this for our summer bucket list:

And then, the end came. The last day of school was here and our family was all excitement! I thought Jayden wouldn't be as he didn't partake in the countdown but by the last few days he accepted the end of the school year and was looking forward to all things summer.

                                                 

                                                 

We sent some teacher gifts with them:

And when they let out at 11, we all went to the park for a lunch meet up with daddy. He brought Jimmy Johns sandwiches and I brought all the drinks and sides:

                                                          

They are all mine again for the summer and I am so very thankful for this time with them. So excited for summer break 2024!

We kicked it off with a warhead eating challenge, my mouth is watering with the tangy taste as I even type this:

                                                          

We all survived and only a few spit them out. But definitely won't be doing again any time soon. I also snapped this photo after the challenge:

                                                 

The rest of this summer break has so far been full of so many of our usual favorite things:

Trying out s'mores: 

We have had several picnic lunches at our house:

Sitting outside:

Taking naps:

We are on the constant hunt for bird nests on our property:

Watching sunsets:

Walking to get the mail together:

A few activities, including Riley playing for one ball tournament:

And going to the summer reading program kick off. Payton and I did an escape room here that was so very fun and Payton's first time:

We tried and upside down strawberry cake we all loved:

And made sourdough english muffins:

For Mother's day, Riley brought home the sweetest little plan for me that he made at school:
                                                          
We also started off our break with a little vacation out of town to see our nephew graduate high school. We loved the time to see cousins and a little hotel swimming and tv time:

Jayden took some swimming lessons. Riley tested out of swim, so we have 2 kids done now:

One random afternoon the boys made chocolate chip cookies together:

Oh, and Jayden lost his first tooth! And his second came out not too long after:

Our cousins came to town so we went out and met them for an afternoon of play:

There is always so much to do just outside our door:

Or at our local park:

Or our local ymca when it's too cold out to swim at the public pool, we head to their indoor pool:

All in all, it's been a great start to our summer break. May has been good to us! See you for the June recap.

April recap

 April went so fast for us. We celebrated two birthdays! Yes, two! Our oldest, Payton, turned 11 (you can see that here) and our youngest turned 1. You can read about her day here. It made for some busy weeks. We kept Avery's party simple with just our family and then Payton had an all class party that was gamer/escape room themed. Who knows if those themes really go together but we made it work!

Outside of birthdays, we also encountered some health stuff. Sweet Avery got very sick. We ended up in the doctor's office a few times and then headed to our nearest Children's. As I type this, she has recovered and is doing mostly very well. During this time her eyes started to cross and we are continuing to get them back to baseline but we hope for a full recovery. We will never know for sure what all she was sick with (we do know strep throat for sure) but are so thankful she's doing so much better and is not sick any more. 

So, I have lots of pictures of her just resting and sleeping. Some have her with an eye patch, which is what we are using for short periods of time each day to help her eyes become stronger. 

I am just so thankful for her sweet little soul. She was exactly what our house needed:

The big news at our house is that we got a hot tub:

We decided to get this for our 15 year wedding anniversary and we are loving! Well, the adults are at least. Some of the kids aren't sure how much they love long term since it means mostly sitting and resting. But, Monte and I try to enjoy daily and the sunsets can't be beat.

We made it to the park a few times this month and got outside to play every day:

This picture above reminds me so much of baby Payton. She played with this same toy and had crazy long hair that blew in the wind, too. Some times the most simplest of days makes my heart skip a beat. Time goes so fast.

I took a quick picture of the kids all on the blanket with Avery. Just an afternoon of being outside and together.

And just a random picture of Jayden outside:

He is a total vibe!

A picture I caught of Riley and Avery looking outside:

She loves looking for the horses across the road and watching cars go by. Her siblings are always quick to indulge her. 

Before the kids got out of school, I wanted to make sure I got all the 1 on 1 time with Avery we could. We made several trips to town to play in a small children's play room. She was obsessed with the dolls they had there.

They had to come with us everywhere the whole entire time we were there. She never wanted to put them down.

With our trip to the nearest Children's hospital to check on Avery's health, we made a few vacations out of it. Here is some of the fun we encountered, starting with a random park in the middle of downtown:

Big swings!

A climbing bridge!

A sleeping baby!

Table tennis!

And the zoo:

After coming back we got a ton of rain. Unfortunately, one morning after school drop off, I went downstairs to find an unpleasant soaked spot in the carpet. I quickly learned we had water come into our basement because of a broken gutter.

The room was cleared out and we dried the carpet out. All is well now and the gutter has been replaced. Hopeful we don't have to deal with that kind of stress again any time soon (or ever again would be okay). 

                                           

We ended soccer! The kids had a great time. This was Payton's last year and so it was very bittersweet for us all. 

Just a few random photos I have found on my phone. Dad with his girls:

And Avery playing away with her eye patch on (one that matches her shirt):

I know the hard stuff makes us better people. I'm trying to stay focused on that and all the good that will come out of this experience. One thing is for sure, I love this sweet little girl more than words can say. We are so thankful she's here.