Farewell Summer

Here we are, start of the school year.  Today our 4.5 year old starts Pre-K.  She's attending the same school she went to last year, just an extra day and a little longer.  Mama wasn't ready to send her off every day quite yet.

She is so full of promise, hope, innocence and love.  She has little fear when it comes to climbing rocks, trees, and other high places.  (She gets that from her Daddy!)

The sky is the limit my sweet girl, and I cannot wait to see you grow, blossom and flourish this year.

This one still gets mama time 24/7, although we have joined the Y and he loves the play area.  He's not quite as adventurous as big sis, but he's getting there.  He's still little.

I am pretty sure he'll miss her a little more than she'll miss him, for a few reasons.  One, she's all he's ever known.  She had 2 years on this earth without a buddy, and he has had her since day one.  Two, she'll be off and learning new things and he'll (sort of) be doing the same daily routine, now adding in the gym time.

Sure they bicker, but the love on one another even more.  Hug Time.

Pre-K Ice cream social....yes, our daughter is the one with a scarf tied around her back.  She is not Brooke when she is wearing it, please call her Meadow.

Cheesy grin.  "Where Brookie go?" was heard quite a bit this night.

August felt a lot like September...lots of pants and fleeces.  We still got outside as much as possible, unless it was storming.

My little buddies helping out as we work. (Again, look at the jackets! Craziness)

They like to pretend they're sleeping in the most random spots.  This is what happens when you turn off TVs and don't let them play on the iPad, phones or computers much.  C-R-E-A-T-I-V-T-Y #balance

His goofy personality is really starting to shine through.

She has begged me to let her drive the tiny carts for a very long time.  They keep them by the checkout area, so this time she remembered to ask as soon as we pulled in and my type A personality took a backseat and I let them be little.

They actually did quite well! I didn't need much, so I didn't grab a large cart, so we filled up theirs.  They made sure to evenly split everything so they both had the same amounts in their carts.

We squeezed in one more family fun day, and hit up Sea Breeze.

The airplane that goes, "up and down and round and round."

Daddy pulled out all the stops from pizza to Dip and Dots and even some fried dough.

I think it's safe to say they had a ball.

I had to distract him so Joe & Brooke could go on the bumper cars (he's not quite tall enough yet) so slushies it was.

I see a future man in these photos and it's crazy.  I just love him at this age!

Summer 2017 was a mix of lots of work and play.   I've mentioned before how I'll always miss the baby stages, but these ages 2-4 are priceless.  Not quite big enough to do everything, but big enough to do and understand most! 

As always the Summer slipped by in a blink of an eye and there will always be more on my bucket list.  It was a cooler and rainy Summer than most, and it makes me think that this Winter will be one for the books.  

Fall is around the corner and back to school is here, another season fleeting by.  My hope is to continue to stop and enjoy these small moments and breathe in all of their goodness.  

Summer Lovin' {Kids Edition}

I tried not to schedule too many activities for the kids, but I did put them in a few camps in July.  One was a two day mini dance/magic camp.  She loved creating a wand to cast spells and wearing this silly mask.  She kept trying to turn Bradley into different animals.

Our babysitter cancelled one Friday so we had to break off into teams. Brooke went with Joe to go to one of the houses. Bradley accompanied me to a few appointments. 

Baby girl wasn't feeling too hot, and she wanted a nice warm drink to sip on.

She did get well enough to attend her last day at Fairy Camp--they marched in a little parade around the school in their wings, crown & with a wand.

I felt bad her wings didn't have any glitter because she missed 2 days when she was sick. :(  Brother wanted to be a part of the parade too!

We were able to sped a Sunday at Grandma's. The kids just loved feeding the chickens.

Mr. Bradley had a 3 day mini camp as well!  He was so excited to put on a little backpack and "go to school."

Brooke was an excellent big sister and told him how much fun he'd have.

He did pretty well!! The teacher said Monday he got a little teary halfway through asking for "Brookie" and that he missed her.   Wednesday was water day and he didn't want to play in the water, but he loved being outside.

Friday came and he cried when I dropped him off, but the teachers said he was totally fine 5 minutes later and had a ball playing with other kids.  He made 3 pieces of art work and still shows them off to me, as they hang on our fridge.

Brooke went to Nana & Papa's so I had the boys all to myself one evening!

We stopped for burgers and fries down in Sea Breeze.

Joe took us to this adorable little beach.

Bradley just loved throwing stones & sand.

It's nice to not have a baby eating sand at a beach, I must say! I miss the squish of a baby, but having little kids is really fun.

And of course laying in it and rolling around.

Summer is slipping away and I feel Autumn trying to sneak up on us.  We've been able to do a few more fun activities, so I'll be sharing those as well.

36

I love getting a year older.  I'm not sure why one wouldn't want the greatest gift of all, yet another year on earth.  Sure I'm fighting like hell to keep the wrinkles off my face.  It takes a little more working out and eating healthy to look and feel great, but it's worth it.

36 was quite the birthday to remember! Instead of a swanky night out with family & kids, we had an impromptu back deck dinner.  Joe even bought me a mini cake!

I woke up and everyone seemed great! The kids were so excited to give/help me open my gifts.

Joe took this photo in Lake George and had it made into a canvas.  I love it!

On vacation our little cooler broke, so he heard this was the cooler to get.  He stocked me full of my favorite goodies!  I'm thinking these will be perfect for date nights in and when friends come to visit.


If you don't have a Corkcicle, I highly suggest one! This is my second one and I LOVE that I have two now.  Brooke picked it out for me.  I love my water ICE cold and this baby keeps it cold!

My mother in law came over for a few hours, so I ran up to have lunch with Joe.  He was stuck helping a customer and I had to wait awhile, but we still got to see each other which was so nice.  Thanks again Maria!


The weather was a little chilly so I got to wear my white jean jacket.

I came home and kids were resting/napping...and then they woke up.  As soon as Bradley awoke he was crying so hard. I went in and rocked him and he just snuggled and felt very warm.  Sure enough he had a fever of 100 degrees and was not feeling well.  I gave him something to drink. I told Joe but he said that they'll be fine...

Not even 15 minutes of Joe being home did Bradley get sick all over the place.  My momma gut was telling me to cancel and I'm so glad we did not push it, and have that happen at the restaurant!

SO we ordered take out and ate on the deck.

Delicious bacon wrapped spinach.

Red wine, bacon blue cheese topped filet and mashed potatoes.

I really wasn't mad or upset, I just felt so bad for my babies!

This one wasn't 100% as her stomach was off a bit...but she wanted to hang out with us.

Clearly we cannot control our circumstances, and I surely would have liked to have gone out with my kids and family, but there will be other days.  I felt like it was only fair since when we were supposed to go out in April for my sister's birthday, something happened and we had to cancel on her.  

No sense in fighting it, I think it's going to have to be my mantra for 36: Go with the flow.  Breathing in all the love and blessings, counting my lucky stars and wishing for health all year long.