And That's A Wrap!

What a great summer! It definitely went by too fast. 

I usually spend a good amount of time planning activities, making goals and buying crafts before summer vacation hits. This year, I didn't do any of that and I think this has been one of the easiest summers so far! The kids just played with each other and came up with some great ways to spend their days. At the beginning of summer, the girls did nothing but play with Legos. I'm always amazed at the things they create and it's so much fun watching them build and play. Kyle found ways to play with them but after a few weeks of nothing but Legos, I would often hear him say, "Why do you guys ALWAYS play with Legos?" He was definitely ready to move on to something else. 

The highlight of the summer, as always, is swimming. We house sat and dog sat for friends who have pools, we went to swimming parties and we swam with friends at their houses. We definitely got a lot of swim time in. At the beginning of the summer, Makena got rid of her swim vest and started swimming almost immediately. Her swimming came a long way over the summer months. Kyle spent a little bit of time this summer in the water without a floatie and even with his head under water (thanks to the girls for letting him wear their goggles and for waving to him in the water!). He will definitely learn to swim next year. 

Here are some more highlights of our summer vacation

We met some of Makena's friends to paint pottery

Cow Appreciation Day

We celebrated the 4th of July with friends

Makena wanted to learn how to make coffee for me!

We got to meet some firefighters at Dairy Queen. Who knew firemen eat ice cream too?!

Lazy days

Getting Kyle ready for PreK in the Fall

Best friends playing at The Tubes

Enjoying a warm summer night with friends and water balloons

Karis was so excited to find the kid version of my devotional at the bookstore.  We did our devotionals together each night. 

Hanging out with these goofballs who don't know how to drink out of a water fountain. They were soaked and left a big puddle of water at the water fountain!

I'm definitely going to miss these days together. School starts tomorrow!

Wrapping Up Our Summer

Summer went by fast! We had a great summer doing a little bit of everything. The first part of the summer was busy with playdates, activities and traveling. The second half was more relaxed and we spent a lot of time at home (playing well together!). The kids have grown so much closer to each other. Here are some pictures we took this month. 

Enjoying a birthday party with swimming, dinner and snow cones

We went to a couple birthday parties for Makena's friends. 

Daddy met us for lunch at Chik-fil-a

Lazy mornings on the couch watching TV

The girls mainly played with their Legos but every once in awhile they broke away and played with other things

Silliness at home

This is the way Kyle kept me from turning the TV off one day. He put the remote really high up so I couldn't reach it

A train ride at the mall

Back to school shopping

Dinner out -- pho and then slushies right after for dessert. Yum!

Taking care of little brother

There was no sleeping in this summer for this little guy. He typically woke up around 6:45 am every morning. The only other one awake at that hour is the dog. 

We swam several times at Miss Lindsay's house. We got to hang out with her the day before she left for school 

 We created a new craft area in the back hall for the kids

Karis is always hoping for mail. You could probably guess that on most days she is sad because Daddy gets all the mail. I told her to make a mailbox and then she and Makena could make mail for each other. She loved the idea so I helped them make their mailboxes. They spent the rest of the day (and the next couple of days) writing love letters to each other. It was super sweet! Kyle wanted in on the action too, so we made a mailbox for him and he received a few pieces of mail too!

Here are just a few cards Karis received from Makena

Here are a few cards Makena received from Karis

We got a swingset for our backyard! Most days were too hot to play outside but the kids were able to squeeze in some time in the early mornings.

We are looking forward to a little cooler temps. We are all a little happy and a little sad that school is starting next week!

A Glimpse of Our Summer with Videos

Karis has learned to swim! 

The kids didn't take any swim lessons this summer, but we have been swimming a lot with friends. Karis practiced swimming every time and now she can swim across the pool. 

Makena is reading!

Makena has been making great strides with her reading.

Kyle always makes us laugh!

Here is one example of how he does that.

Overnight Getaway

Daddy had some time off from work for his birthday and our anniversary, so we spent a night away in Glen Rose. We came to this same hotel last summer. It's a great place to spend the night in a hotel room and swim in the pool. It's also just an hour and a half away. 

We arrived around noon on Thursday. The girls went with Daddy to unload the car so they could take a ride on the luggage cart. Kyle and I watched from the hotel room.

We had a quick lunch in the hotel room and then swam for only a couple hours. I think the anticipation of the trip wore them out. For the past two days, the girls had been packing for the trip, stuffing their backpacks with everything they would need -- things like flash cards, baby dolls they never play with, and old photos. They kept saying, "I wish we could go to the hotel today! and Kyle would say, "I want to go to show and tell!"

Since the kids were tired that afternoon, we had a little "rest" time before going out to dinner. This is how that went:

The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel -- the highlight always being the pancake machine. We had some time to kill before the pool opened so Daddy taught the girls how to play horseshoe while Kyle and I collected rocks. 

We spent the rest of Daddy's birthday in the pool. We were the only ones at the pool the entire time. We were there for almost 5 hours! Mommy's shoulders were burned and Makena's face was getting pretty red so we called it a day around 3 pm. 

Karis practiced swimming and got much better and more confident. When we got in the pool the first day, Kyle was too scared to get off the steps. But after two days, he walked off the steps by himself and floated on his own. He kept his mouth closed (see photo!). When he was floating, he would announce, "I'm swimming! I'm swimming!" and then Makena would mumble, "Why is he saying he's swimming? He's just floating!" It's a start!