Another month full of everything AND back to school! Now I have not just one, but two, kids in school and it's still a shock even a month after starting.
But, first, the end of summer break. It was the best!
We made a final visit for the summer to the children's museum. The kids always love "second breakfast" and playing.
Then we made tie dyed shirts together:
A friend gave me the leftovers of her kit and I graciously accepted. We had fun!
And, as always, lots of outside time! We all have bikes now and so we have taken up riding at new locations. Our youngest still normally walks or rides in the stroller. But, overall, we are all enjoying trying something new (to us) together.
What doesn't say summer like eating ice cream outside on a hot day?
We also do lots of meals (typically breakfasts) out on the deck:
We also went to the park so many times I lost count. But caught this beautiful kiss:
Even superheroes exercise:
So this month we also hit a big milestone for our house. 1 year ago, we became 100% debt-free after paying off our mortgage. It's been a wild year filled with personal reflection and growth. This had been a huge goal for our household and we stayed focused and did it! We didn't do it as early as I had hoped but totally a goal worth completing, celebrating, and celebrating yearly!
We did an extra special movie night at our house. We paid to see the new paw patrol movie! I made some extra special treats (drinks and food) including popcorn and we had a blast pretending we were at the movie theatres! This movie was super cute, too.
My favorite part was that the kids got all their paw patrol stuff out before we started the movie. They made sure to act out most of the movie with their toys! It was the cutest. Life sure is sweet.
Prior to starting school, I organized my homeschool stuff for preschool. The kids found some of their recipes we had done in the past, and were determined to do some of them. Here we made fruit cars:
I also made homemade donuts to wrap up our summer break:
And, just like that, we started school! This year was hard for me. I really didn't want to send either kid to school and it was especially hard having 2 go instead of just 1. Jayden and I still feel like we're floating through our day unsure of what's missing. It's been an adjustment.
I can't stop time. So, I sent them to school. My kindergartener and my second grader:
We started school for Jayden as well and do that at home. We have been taking it slow and easy, but are really loving the crafts:
Payton started piano lessons this year and I took her for a special treat after her first lesson:
She is loving piano so far! I'm loving watching her try something new and learn and grow! The coffee shop dates are a real perk, too.
I also got to sneak away with Riley after his first week of school to catch up and hear about all things kindergarten:
Our weekends are filled with some craft projects and visitors:
All the busy ness that comes with kindergarten and then guests sure wore Riley out:
One last swim in the pool before we took it down.
Riley and Jayden created a golf course at our house earlier in the week and showed dad and grandpa how to play.
This picture below is very special to me. Payton checked out an art book from the library and found a game where you roll a dice to determine different pieces you will put into your picture. She politely asked all of us to play, including her grandparents. We agreed. There was so much laughter! We did several pictures and also presented our pictures to the group. It was so fun:
I never pass up a chance to take a good picture of my kids reading together:
We also went out to dinner and enjoyed the city pool (twice this month)! We hadn't been there in years. It was a good time!
Jayden finished up his occupational therapy. We didn't know it was the last session until we got there. Of course, we ended on a day he wore his Spiderman outfit to the session!
And we just had to hit up our favorite location to celebrate! The coffee shop! A kind individual walked by and offered to take our picture and I did not refuse!
As we prepared for school, the kids helped clean out my van!
And to wrap up this post, I wanted to share a picture that will probably mean not much to you but means so very much to me. A dead end road. My dead end road or lovingly dubbed "the side road" at our house. A road we have put hours and hours of time into.
As we celebrate a year of being debt-free I am deeply grateful for this road and have thought about it and the meaning it holds for me most of this month. My kids have learned to pedal bikes on this road. I have heard about the hard stuff at school on this road. Dreams have been cemented into goals on this road. So much of life is done on this short bit of pavement that lead to nowhere. Yet, it has taken us everywhere.
It is home.
Until next month!
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