August Recap

 August means the end of summer and beginning of another season. For us, this year, that meant sending 3 kids back to school. But before we share back to school photos, let us stay in summer just a heartbeat longer. Long live summer. Let's start with the state fair:

So, this could possibly be there first time ever we made the 1.5 hour drive to the state fair. There is a bit of debate on that as I swear I went once with the oldest two when they were really little. Of course they wouldn't remember. But also my husband doesn't remember and my mother didn't either (the two people I think I went with, well one of them at least). In any case, we all had a blast! We saw all the exhibits, part of the dog show, rode the sky line and then let the kids do a few rides each at the carnival. My sister and her children were also there so we got to see them and we also ran into a few classmates from school. 

Payton was on the extremely high swing ride in this picture!

I also had it on the bucket list to make it to my hometown at least once this summer and make it once we did. We squeezed it in, during one of the last weeks of summer. But, we got it done! With a baby in tow, I planned for extra stops on the ride. Here we are at one of the parks on the drive:

We all made the most wanted list! Ha! 

There was also a dinosaur museum I have wanted to stop at for years but it has very limited hours. This time though was our lucky day and we stopped when it was opened and we had some time to go through:
                                                  

While in my hometown, we love to see family and we also love to do the tourist thing. Got out to all the water sights!

                                                   

                                                   

                                                   

                                                   

There are also some trails in the city park so we made sure to spend part of a day there.

                                                     

                                                     

And we also made it to a playground:

                                                           

Overall, it was a great trip back to my former home. 

Then the last few days of summer we did all we could squeeze in. Hot tubbing with lots of mysterious extra bubbles:

Swimming:

The lake, is always a must:

                                                         

                                             

And, just like that we were back to school:

I am never ready for this day. I could be on team summer forever. I could also homeschool my kids. Call me weird. Call me crazy. But, these are truly the days.

Now that it is just Avery and me again we are really starting to find our rhythm. Avery is really warming up to the splash pad:

We found a bounce house:

And mostly we are just doing all the things at home trying to keep up the house and enjoy our time playing together. Our favorite part of the day is having the kids back with us. We both get so excited. 

Speaking of having everyone together. Here are a few of our highlights on when we are all together.

We painted Riley's new room! He moved to a room by himself and he is quite thrilled and has adjusted so much better than I thought he would:

We have baked!

Riley is loving making sourdough bread.

I have paused to marvel at the beauty of the things that I have been growing, besides my kids:

We had company. Monte's parents came to stay and they all watched the football game together:

Jayden was thrilled to challenge grandma to endless rounds of uno again:

And that's a wrap. Our whole August summed up in a few minimal words! Life, we are here for it. And it goes too fast. 

I am looking forward to fall weather now as it feels nearer and nearer!

The Wedding Dress

 One totally random day out of the blue, my daughter and I decided to do something I have thought about for years. Years. We took pictures of my daughter in my wedding dress. I wanted to do this when she was a toddler as I saw some of the cutest pictures once of this being done with a little girl wearing her mother's wedding dress and looking in a mirror. I think I didn't do because it felt like so much work and I wanted them just so. 

In the end, as most things are, the easiest approach worked well for us. This meant throw the dress on and let's just see what we got. And did it turn out okay? Well, you can be the judge for that.

I think we were all pretty happy with them. And, a bit of a behind the scenes shot:

Our doorbell app caught us and we all had a good laugh. Riley helped and was parading around in the high heels (and in his pajamas) that Payton decided not to wear. I was in athleisure just chasing the kids and taking pictures. And, in this picture in particular, we are trying to get back inside the house before a vehicle drove by. 

As a note to myself, instead of waiting years to take the pictures: just do it and wing life. It turns out okay most of the time. 

Our July

 I am writing this as we are a week into school and I sigh. Summer seems so far behind us now. Summer break 2024 was a great one to us. We are in a season of life where everything is a whirlwind. Yet, we are here for it and soaking up every single moment God has granted our family.

We kicked off July with the 4th of July! Normally, my husband is home for this whole week but this year he worked almost all of it. We adjusted well and still filled the few days he was home with so much. We went to the town our school is in and watched their parade and town lunch. Then, we came home for a swim at our pool. Payton made festive 4th of July food. We let the kids stay up late and watch the city's fireworks, a beautiful scene from our house in the country. We didn't know if the show would go on as it was raining and storming off and on. But, it finally lit up the sky in all its glory. We ate s'mores and lit up our own firework show. All in all, it continues as one of our favorite holidays and we favor spending the time at our own home for this. 

Outside of the 4th of July, our next favorite for this month annually is the fair! We love the fair and make sure we are there each day it's there! Only a few days but so worth going for us. 

One evening we went to the carnival with some of our friends. It was a crazy blur of keeping up with children but all had fun and everyone went right to sleep that night at bedtime!

                                                            

We also got our faces painted (see above) at the fair. 

                                                             

One of the only pictures I got of us riding all the rides! I tend to put my phone down and just enjoy life now rather than trying to capture it all. Time is fleeting, my friends!

This year, we hosted cousin camp! My mother brought the grandkids to our house and we all stayed together. It was a quick trip but so blessed. I loved watching all the kids interact and play together. 

                                        

We did so much and I learned that, as a seasoned mom still living in the season, sometimes you have to adapt and meet kids where they are. The picture above had a child who wanted to walk and then decided it was too much walking. Therefore, I made a seat for her. I can't always control the circumstances but we can control our reactions. 

We can't wait until the next time we see them (spoiler alert, we will have some pictures in August of a reunion). It's always time well spent when we are with family.

And then, in the middle of this post, is all the simple every day moments. Just scenes from living our best life at home and out and about:

leisurely walking our side road

Cuddled up for an afternoon movie during the heat of summer

Playing at the park and taking the time to help the baby walk the play structure

Nothing better than a sleeping baby, ever

All the kids participated in our local library lego challenges.

We got out for a sweet treat together after cleaning the house (our preferred reward after this task)

Payton participated in so many library group activities. This one she got to make a camping cupcake before eating her sweet treat. I actually made one, too, as there were extra when I came to pick her up.

All the kids went to a few library programs, one about stars and constellations (no pictures though) and another about raptor birds in our state:

And just a random picture of Avery looking at picutres:

These photos need put back on the walls but, until that happens, Avery can be found looking and oohing and awing at all these old photos of people in her family. She can name each of the people in there. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow and see how her little mind works.

We also got a lot of rain in a short period of time during July. We went to the park to check out how high the small pond is and it was so high! The kids are at the dock in this picture and it is almost flooded. 

We celebrated Riley having a birthday in July! See that post here. He had created the sweetest birthday wish list that I can't help but put on here so I can remember forever:

 

For one of his presents, we took a trip. Our daughter had an eye appointment follow up so we made some fun of the trip as Riley got to take over the planning. So we went to a air and space museum:

We also went to the zoo, one of our favorite places:

                                            

We got out for some pizza and they even made allergy friendly so we ALL got to eat, a total win for all of us:

Our littlest kids were tired and so they went to bed and, for the first time ever, I took the bigger kids out for an excursion downtown walking. We went to grab some donuts together.

I hope the kids remember that one time we snuck out at night to walk, enjoy the city, and ended up with donuts. 

One of the last things we did on this trip and possibly the most important for this trip in particular was that we toured the Husker stadium! It was a real treat for our family and a total highlight of the trip:

We will be talking about this trip for possibly the rest of our lives. It was one in a million and so worth it. 

On this trip, we listened to the Wizard of Oz audiobook as a family. So, we watched the movie as we got back home.

It comes as no surprise to me, but the kids all declared the book to be better and the movie not to match the book enough. So, it goes.

Back at home and well rested from our trip, I realized we needed just a random day at the water. So one morning, I surprised my kids by packing lunch and all our swim gear. Not telling anyone where we were going until just before we left. We loaded and went to spend a good chunk of the day by the water! It was the best surprise and reminded me how good it can be to break away from the daily grind and just work in play. 

                                                  

Who doesn't love looking at these happy faces? I am soaking up every second I get with these babies of mine.

As I end this post, I found so many pictures of flowers and nature on my phone courtesy of Payton and also of me. Just some extra things from around our home:

When we had dogs at our house it was a rare occurrence to see rabbits. Now that it has been years since having a dog, we seem them a lot now. Payton loves taking their pictures and/or trying to catch them in her free time.

That's a wrap on our July! I hope you had a good month, too.