The Other Fun Events of July

 Emily and Grace helped me with a Yard Sale.  It was pretty cool, and the mosquitoes were terrible, but we sold lots of stuff.  The kids made some money on a covid lemonade stand: Bottled water & mix your own lemonade pack.  And, my streak of no more than one car at the end of a sale still holds up!

I'm in use up gift card mode, and that took us on a trip to Panera!  We were returning the school shoes that we had ordered online that did not fit, and Panera was a nice convenient stop.

For Avia's birthday, Haley flew up from Texas and Sarah agreed to a picture.  I made a German chocolate cake for all to enjoy, but I think Avia enjoyed it the most.  = )  Hopefully she had a great birthday!

We had some playdates this month, and when Abby came, she went with Emily to the mural meeting.  Grace wanted to go too.

William attended a board breaking camp, and loved it so much, we signed him up for karate.  It's twice a week, and he's already earned his white belt!

As part of the summer reading program, the kids all received a book coupon to a book store in East Lansing.  So, we headed that way to pick out books, eat a pizza lunch, and then went to cold stone (to use up another gift card that I had had in my walled for years.)  I told the kids that Cold Stone is where Daddy and I went on our first date when we were in college.  They were all shocked, because their initial thought was that we came to this particular one. lol.

Alice did not eat lunch, so she skipped the ice cream and went back to the car with Avia.  The other four wanted to recreate the picture that I took of Daddy in the snow. = )

Grace's friend Zoey invited us to go out to MooVille with them.  It was a much more fulfilling experience this go round.  Everyone enjoyed some ice cream, the petting zoo and playground!  We attempted to go to the park in nearby Nashville that we had spied on our previous trip, but there were so many mosquitoes, that even with spray it was unenjoyable.

At his last appointment, we learned that William gained enough weight (yay!) to move up to the next dosing of his medication.  An unforeseen consequence of this is that we will now be receiving two shipments of medication, since he will be taking two shots.  = /

Building towers with the twins!

later days

Playdate with Abby (and Aubrey)

About a week after the playdate with Zoey, it was Emily's turn to host Abby.  The twins were happy to have Aubrey too!

Between the snacks that Nicole sent and the ones we had, we had quite a selection!

Abby and Emily were the only ones who wanted to play out in the pool.  I think they had a good time.

The twins and Aubrey had a great time with the American girl dolls & accesories!

And this is what it looks like when you are already the only boy, and even more girls come over!

later days

February 21st

Today was a very sunny, but cold day with a high of 34F that we were in the car to witness!

Before we went to visit William's friend, I called to make an appointment for my Grace who has just not been herself.  We found a 1:30 time slot, and while I knew that would cut our play time short, I needed for Grace to be seen before the weekend.

William and Jack had a great time, and Emily totally enjoyed spending time with her classmate Clara and her hermit crabs. = )  The other four (their youngest brother) managed to find a place to play too.  Rachel served us a fantastic taco lunch, before we had to dash out the door.

At the doctor they tested her for strep, and sure enough, she has it again. = (  She sent over a prescription and we loaded up for some other errands.

Our next stop was the oil change.  Here in Michigan you don't have to get out of your car while they change your oil.  It's pretty nice when I have a full car!

Next up was the recycling building at Billy's work.  Then we begged a cup of water off of him, since we were all pretty thirsty.

From there it was the grocery store for some 'liquids' for Grace.  I bought some popsicles, jello and orange juice.  And enough of all of these for her to share. = )  Attached to the grocery store is the pharmacy, so we picked up her prescription.  Next was the bank, and finally the library, in the village, to recycle the collection of batteries.  whew.

At home the kids made up cards for Aunt Rocky's birthday party tomorrow.  The three younger ones reused some birthday cards from our stash, just adding Aunt Rocky's name and drawing some art over the previous names. ; )

I also found the motivation to call, at 4:45 and reschedule an appointment that I just realized yesterday is in conflict with our great wolf lodge trip.  It was a good move too, since it will now take our doctor trips to Grand Rapids in June from 2 to 1!

For dinner we had pizza rolls and apples.  It was a productive, busy day, and an acceptable way to end the break.

later days

Busy Summer

I love summer! I love the sleeping in, days in nightgowns, simple meals and long hours of daylight.  However, for the past two weeks we have been living it up!  Go, go, go!

I'm happy now to say we had a ton of fun, but have a very minimal schedule this week.  So, I'm updating my blog and catching my breath before August arrives.

William enjoyed two birthday parties, we went to the Eaton County Fair,  took a trip down the river in a canoe, spied all the animals at the zoo, enjoyed a murder mystery night with some super fun people, and went to a Lugnuts game!

This is how life looks in between. #hastags

One day all of my children decided that the 'no internet connection' game on chrome was more fun than the internet, so they all pulled out their wireless cards. #weirdos

Grace loves dressing up like Masha #mashaandthebear

Shopping online, at home while my children play and pulling up to retrieve all the things we need is the best thing in the world.  #clicklistforthewin

On they way to the library we found a #dimondalerocks rock and saw more construction, this time a road roller! #bonusfun

Catching lightning bugs in the back yard #stereotypicalsummer

The three little ones had to go in for a blood draw. #nofun

Emily had picked out a balloon from the dollar tree earlier in the week, so everyone else wanted one too.  As their treat, following our trip to the lab, everyone got a balloon.  A sweet couple, a few customers in front of us bought them for the kids.  #sosweet

I'm not sure what Alice was doing here. #flamingo

How they watched Coco for the first time #notyetasingalong

They opened their first box and found all sorts of goodies, including an ice cream kit. #favoriteitem

We marked another summer bucket list item off too #icecreamforbreakfast

I took almost two days to migrate my entire library from my old computer to my new one #onlytookayeartostart

And upstairs, I have fabric cut for my next two projects, which I'm hoping to finish this week! #bloggingfirst

Right before my mom left, we took a trip to Sam's, where we had lunch.  While I shopped, they saw a movie #HotelTransylvannia3

While Alice was at her summer camp, we also celebrated Cow Appreciation Day. #chickfila

Met up with some of my favorite ladies and their littles for a playdate at the park. #goodtimes

At one point, William managed to pull the horseshoe pole out of the ground.  It is a really long pole.  I still have healing blisters from banging it back into place. #wiwium

 

 Spent time reading every morning #20minutes

Wore pants around like a hat #sillygrace

Celebrated with Avia, the day before her birthday #germanchocolatecake

And met up with one of Emily's bffs for a playdate at the school playground. Ended up with some entertainment #portapottymaintence

I'm sad to be quickly approaching the end of summer, but we still have a few fun things planned before school is back in session.

later days